Godparent-To-Be

I guess before I become an actual parent I will be a Godparent first. You heard right - Brett and I are going to be Godparents. Erich called Brett the other day and asked us to be Mia's Godparents. What an honor!

Of course Erich said he chose us 'cause we would give her more stuff. Like we are going to give her more then we give Eva and Chelsea.

I guess we will definitely be home for the Christening. That will all be determined once she is actually born. Just a few more days.

Though I came to the realization that I will eventually have the youngest grandkids in one family and the oldest in the other.

New Year, New Friends, New Life

I always feel like I am on the outside. Back home in Cleveland, I felt that way with my friends. Always the last know what was going on and usually an afterthought to the invite. I am sure part of it is just my personallity versus theirs (most of them are a little more outgoing than me). Then what do I do - I up and move and get married. Now I am totally on the outside.

I guess it is time for me to get over this. I need to go on with my life and not think about all the things I may or may not be missing out on back home. Maybe part of it is my fault because I don't take the time to call or write any of them.

Unfortunately, the same thing is going on where I live now. I like to be involved but I am always the last to know. this will definitely be something I change when we move to North Carolina this summer. No more waiting for the call. I am going to be the one making the calls.

Sick...Once Again

Someone must be trying to tell me something. I have a TTV event tomorrow afternoon and once again I am sick. How does anyone expect me to do well with this business if I keep getting sick when I have to do an event. Hopefully my sniffles will go way.

Gosh - I need a beer! But I will resist because it will just make me more stuffy and I promised myself I would not drink it anymore.

The End of Beer

I have decided to try and give up beer. I drink way too much of it. I want to see if I give it up if I will loose any more weight without actually having to exercise.

My Kuma Nada will be so disappointed in me.

North Carolina Here We Come

It is officially unoffical. We are moving to North Carolina this summer. Get to sell our new condo and find a new place to live. We lead such a fun life!!!

A Weekend at Home

Well Brett and I are sitting in my parents' living room right now watching Las Vegas with my mom. I didn't tell anyone we were coming home because we always have too much to do when we come home. Here is the schedule for this trip:

Friday

• Work from 8am to 12pm
• Lunch with Brett's Mom
• Pick up contacts
• Go to License Bureau and Title Bureau regarding the Jeep
• Dinner with Brett's parents

Saturday

• Paige's basketball game
• BMW dealership
• Visit Buba
• Dinner with Theresa and Garrett

Sunday

• Breakfast with Brett's Parents
• Church
• Lisa' Baby Shower
• Visit Grandma
• Eric & Lindsey's

Monday

• Drive home

Now everyone knows why I have stopped telling people we are coming into town. I don't want anyone to be hurt by the fact that we don't have the time and/or energy.

What the .....

I am still alive. I just haven't been around to blog lately. Hopefully things will calm down in the next week and I can catch up all you who read this (all 4 of you) on what is going on in my world.

Damn Condo Living

I like my condo - I really do. However I do not like the parking situation especially when my BRAND NEW car gets scratched. You read right - some moron tried to squeeze into a non-existent parking spot and scratched the bumper of my car.

Brett had planned on taking the jeep to work because he had to drive to West Virginia today. I parked it on the street in the parking spot a few condos down. Normally I park in the garage but I didn't want to get up at 4:30am to move the truck so he could get out. The spot where I parked it only fits 2 cars. Someone decided they didn't want to walk across the street so they squeezed their station wagon in between my jeep and a truck that was in front of me. Guess what - mine is the one that got damaged.

I left a note on their windshield to call me. I wonder if they will. If they don't, I have their license plate number and also pictures of how they were parked. I will try to do this the neighborly way but I will get mean if I have to. I finally have the car I have always wanted and some jackass scratches it up because they were too lazy to find another parking spot!!

The Long Road Home

So I get to go back to Cleveland for a whole 36 hours. I fly in tomorrow morning and leave Thursday night. Why you might ask. I am asking myself the same darn thing at this moment.

My boss is insisting I come home for the annual wrap up dinner. I told him if he wants me there he has to buy my ticket. Needless to say, he bought it and now I am stuck going. The only good thing about this is I get to bring home all the Christmas presents and maybe bring some back. (Our tree is very bare underneath!!)

There is just so much going on here that I don't really want to go. There are crisises occuring that I am just afraid to see what the out come is going to be. Between things going on with Brett and me and then things going on with our friends and neighbors I just want to stay here.

I never thought I would say that but I just did. I don't want to go back to Cleveland.

Before the Christmas Tree....

I figured I should posted the pictures from our first Thanksgiving as husband and wife before I posted the pictures of the house decorated for Christmas. So here we go....


I made the normal Thanksgiving dinner...turkey, stuffing, mash potatoes, peas. I think you get the picture.



Oh, and by the way. I made pumpkin pie...

from scratch and out of real pumpkins!

The Traveling Vineyard

Today I had two random people book events for the month of December. I am so excited. One of the people I met at a trade show and the other was someone searching the website. Hopefully from these shows I will get some more experience and also I will book shows for 2007. I was starting to think I was going to have to get out because I wasn't getting any leads.

I am also trying to weasel some business when I go to North Carolina for New Years and some in Florida while we are on vacation. I know I can always get some business when I go home but that is a really long drive.

Anyone who wants to book a show let me know!!!

Let's Plan To....

Believe it or not I am a planner. I like to know exactly what I am doing and when I am doing it. My parents used to threaten to take away my day planner when I lived there to see how crazy it would drive me (lovely parents I have, don't I?).

Anyways, I am trying to get out of this habit for 3 reasons. One - it is boring. Two - it drives Brett nuts. Three - there is no such thing as planning when you are a military spouse. No planning weekends, no planning vacations, no planning where you are going to spend the rest of your life (at least not until you get out).

Brett learned yesterday they are still working on where he will go next. They haven't given him a definite answer yet. We could stay here (I hope not), we could go to North Carolina (that would be great), or he could go overseas and leave me here for a year. I just want to know but I know that won't happen until the last possible minute.

Hopefully our vacation plans in January won't get changed. That would make me really sad!!

Memories

With him it was always who could one up the other. Who would be the first to be potty trained (he was), who was the first to go to school (we went at the same time), who would have a kid first (he was though he never saw him), and the list goes on.

One of my best memories of him was the night I gave him a bloody nose. Now to all of you reading this I know that is not a good memory for most but you don't understand the relationship we had. He was constantly picking on me which included poking me and making fun of me. That was just how he was. This one particular night I could't take it any longer. I went and asked my mom for permission to hit him ('cause that is the type of person I am) and his mom said go ahead. A few minutes later he was running up the stairs screaming "Kelly hit me". Aaahhh, what relief!!

As much as he annoyed me, I knew he loved me. We grew up together. It was him and me and his cousin. We were pretty much inseparable when we were put in a room together.

Things are different now. He is no longer here to annoy me. And as much as I hated it, I miss that. Then there are the other things: never seeing his son (who sometimes reminds me of him so much), being there for his mom (who is part of the "clan" that raised me), and just being him.

Happy Birthday! I miss you more than you will ever know!!

Ugghh

I hate being an adult and dealing with life problems. Can I go back to being a kid?

Oh and I got a new car.

Another Year Has Gone By

Yesterday I was 30. Today I am offically in my 30's. I am not sure how I feel about it. I dreaded turning 30 but it turned out to be okay. Lots of good things happened when I turned 30. Hopefully this year will be just as good as last (with the exception of Brett leaving for a year - that will totally suck).

Brett did a great job with my gifts. I got a Coach purse and a T-shirt and some make-up. We are going to dinner tonight for half price burgers. Maybe I can get him to buy me the expensive wine on the menu!!!!

I am going home this weekend to see my family, go shopping with my mom for more presents, and do a wine tasting event. Should be a good weekend with the exception of Brett being back in Virginia.

Ohio is going back to Texas!!! See ya'll later!!

Sore Throat from Hell

I have the sore throat from hell. I can't even talk because it hurts so bad. The worse thing about this is that I was supposed to go to a meeting for my wine business and I can't. I need to rest up so it goes away by Friday when I go to Texas to do my first offical in home wine tasting.

Marianne - I promise to be all better by Saturday afternoon!!!

Question Answered and Lesson Learned

A few blogs ago I posted concern for a friend who was in an abusive relationship. I wondered how all the neighbors could sit around a pretend they didn't see what was happening. Well I got my answer this weekend.

Brett's brother and sister-in-law came to visit last weekend. Being that Eric is a chef and loves to cook we had invited our friends, C & K, over for dinner. K and I had planned on going to an open house at the local craft store that afternoon. Lindsey came with us. We ran over to the mall afterwards. On the way to drop K back at her car before Lindsey and I stopped at Hooters to pick up wings for the boys, Brett called. Told me he had just spoken to C and that he blew a fuse when Brett told him we were stopping at Hooters. Just as I was explaining to Brett that K was not coming to Hooters with us, C called her. And all hell broke loose.

From that point forward, the name calling started and accusations started. C has a slight drinking problem. He had already been drinking and continued to drink the rest of the night. He kept calling her and leaving nasty messages. At one point he stopped by to get her garage door opener. When I brought him the keys to her car, he made a point to tell me not to have her come home. So, of course, she didn't and stayed at our place.

On Sunday, Brett ran the Army Ten-Miler (in 1 hour and 17 minutes). K drove Eric and Lindsey to the race to meet up with us and then we all went to breakfast. During breakfast, Brett received a call from one of our other neighbors to see if he could go check on C. Apparently he had a mishap on Saturday night and his face was all messed up. Brett called C but got his voicemail so he left a message. Still haven't heard back from him. K was so upset when she heard about this that she had to leave the table.

The drama continued until last night. They finally talked and are resolving the problem. Hopefully she won't move back in but I know that she won't stay with us anymore. Last night when she went over to talk to C, I made mention that if she ended up going back to him that she wouldn't be able to stay her again. Brett (and I) don't want our place to be a hotel. She seemed to be okay with that...Until this afternoon.

She didn't come back last night. I figured they had made up and she stayed there. I got an email from her this afternoon stating they had talked (most of it playing the blame game). She wanted to know when Brett would be home because after what I told her yesterday she feels uncomfortable staying here. She wanted to come get her stuff when he wasn't home. Of course I told her that she was more than welcome to stay and we just wanted her to make a healthy decision that would make her happy. I haven't heard from her since.

Now I am the outcast. C is trying to put some of the blame on me. All I did was be a friend and do what I thought was best. Brett is tired of the drama and is already counting the days until he leaves for Korea (or wherever he ends up). I am to the point that I am just going to hole myself up in the condo when Brett is gone.

Now I know why no one ever steps in and tries to help. Lesson learned!!

He Would Have Been 70 Today

Today would have been my dad's 70th birthday. That is sort of amazing especially when you look at the fact that my mom just turned 52. The even crazier part is he has been gone for 16 years. Maybe he wouldn't have made it to 70 had he listened to the doctors but he would have seen a lot more of my accomplishments.

He would have seen me graduate from the 8th grade and enter high school. He would have taught me to drive. He would have seen my first boyfriend and kicked my butt for dating the 2nd boyfriend. He would have seen me graduate from high school, college, and post graduate (since my mom and stepdad made me walk in the ceremony). And maybe he would have met Brett and walked me down the aisle along with my stepdad.

I used to have a hard time on this day. Maybe because we were so close. But now I am okay with it. I think it has to do with the fact that I am happy now and don't need my daddy to turn to and tell me that it is okay. Or the fact that he has never been there for me to turn to because he wasn't there any more.

Happy Birthday, Dad!! I love you!!