Cinderelly, Cinderelly...

Matt gave me a special gift for part of my anniversary present this year. He's a very generous guy and has pretty much innundated me with presents all year. I am very lucky.

We got to eat dinner in Cinderella's Castle in Disney World. It was such a fun experience. The little girls around me were smiling from ear to ear and I have to admit, I joined them. I pray that someday I'll have a little girl or boy I can share this experience with. It's a bit pricy, but worth it. The food was delicious, the atmosphere was, of course, magical and we made some wonderful memories.

I'm loving my new camera because I can pull off cool pictures like this. The old camera would never have picked up this color or detail.

This is the veiw of the rear of the castle. Notice the middle bay window. Notice the middle window of that bay....that is where our table was!

When you first enter the castle, you wait in the Grand Hall for Cinderella herself.
Here, Jacques and Gus, her mice friends watch over the photo shoots.

She was a gracious host and a beautiful princess all in one. Too cute!

We sat down to our seats right at the fireworks show was starting over the castle. We got a great view of the awesome fireworks.

Cinderella's Golden Carousel.

Me and my Prince Charming!

I heart Florida and the warm Orlando weather in January. It's been cold and gray in Tallahasse and we needed this break in the sun.

I had a wonderful time. I am so blessed. I love you, Matt!

My Kodachrome!

Matt waiting to enter the caves at Florida Caverns State park.

(even though I was still feeling pretty sick, I ventured out of the house for Matt's sake. He was going a bit stir crazy.)

Matt, my wonderful husband, bought me a new camera as an early birthday present. We found a nicer model than what I originally wanted that had been returned to Sam's after Christmas. We couldn't find any problems with it, so we bought it and I am having a blast taking pictures and playing with them in photoshop. Some of these photos have been PhotoShopped but some of them are straight out of the camera. I'll probably have a lot more photos to post, but here are some from this weekend.

Wil was upset when Margaret left on Sunday morning.

Steve is trying to wrestle with Marg's feet.

Matt put Wil in the garbage can and I had to snap a few pics. The flash was a little bright.

He pretended to hate it, but he liked the attention.

Matt in the Caverns.

Inside the caverns.

Marg eating tasty sushi with us at Lucy Ho's.

Me and Wil Pickle at the beach. It wa a chilly day.

Me and Matt - Shell Point - January 2009

The love is back.

In the Fall of 2008 I wrote a blog, Clear Blue Water, about being sick of the campaign and pretty much politics in general despite my love for it. Today I am home sick (more on that later), and I got to watch the inaguration of President Obama. I am back in love.

Depsite who you voted for, you have to admit how amazing our political process is. We hold an open vote for all men and women, despite race, beliefs or religion. We stand by the results of that vote and we welcome the next leader in with the same pomp and circumstance regardless of who was elected. The peaceful transistion of power is such a moving thing to watch. As I said in the blog I mentioned above. I LOVE politics. I watched the inaguration today, looking for familiar faces, enjoying the music, the prayers and even the poet. (too many people just walked away, she was great). My excitement for this has less to do with my personal political beliefs and more from my love of tradition. Regardless of what is going on in our world, we do the same thing every 4 years. It's just great to see these traditions be carried on.

Today is a historic day for many many reasons. The excitement and wonder I have for these traditions that started centuries ago. I love history and to see it in the making just dazzles me.

*on a side note, how cute was it when they showed his little girl (Malia, I think) recording her Dad's inagural speech on her little digital camera. That just touched me.

Ok - on to the sickness. I have been knocked flat by an awful sinus infection. I took off work a couple of Fridays ago because I was feeling bad, then this past Thursday I woke up with a swollen eye. The Dr. said that my congested sinuses had caused my eye to become infected. I was sent home with eye drops and a perscription for antibiotics. But my congestion and sneezing just got worse over Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Marg was in town and we had a fun weekend, but I mostly spent it under blankets with a box of tissues nearby. I went back to the Dr. this morning to see if I could get stronger antibiotics and I left with 2 shots in my rear end, a new perscription for antibiotics and an order from the Dr. to continue resting at home, knocking out my plan to go to Orlando this week for a conference. Oh well. I do feel pretty crappy. Keep me in your prayers that my meds will kick in and I'll be back to my old self soon. I'm tired of being sick for sure.

Mars Hill Bible School Class of 1999 Reunion Blog

http://mhbsclassof1999reunion.blogspot.com/

Calling all graduates of Mars Hill circa 1999. Please check out this blog for class reunion updates and spread the word. Leave a comment. Send me old pictures to post. Send me anything you'd like to post. Let's get back in touch!

Start spreadin' the news....

New York, New York! We flew up to NYC on New Year's Day for a fun weekend celebration. We did so much in just a few days. We are always able to pack so much into one trip. We saw The Little Mermaid and Shrek the Musical on Broadway. We saw La Boheme at the Metropolitan Opera House. We went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Macy's, Bryant Park and tons of other little places around the city. I even found a flea market in the bottom of a parking garage. It was a wonderful trip and we always find other stuf we want to do so we HAVE to go back. haha.

Our sweet, but, tiny hotel room.

Times Square, New Year's Day 2009

Matt loves NYC hot dogs.

New York and football games are the only places I've ever seen Matt eat a hotdog.

We saw Shrek the Musical. It was really funny.

I was way too excited to see this poster. We didn't see the play, I've heard the play was actually really bad. I basically only wanted to see it for the eye candy.

Rockefeller Center - New Year's Day 2009

Me!

Ice skating. So fun. We just watched this time though.

Love this picture.

Grand Central Station
Metropolitain Museum of Art

Egyptian Temples. (can be seen in one of my favorite movies - "When Harry Met Sally"

Suits of Armor

Degas - Ballerina

(I can't remember the real name of this art piece.)

Van Gogh - Irises

When we got out of the museum it was snowing. It was very light and tiny flakes, but, it was still snowing and really pretty.

View of the Empire State Building from Macy's

Matt outside his favorite place - The Metropolitan Opera House

The Swarovski crystal chandelier in the Met Opera.

Times Square.

More Times Square.

My rockin' 2009 glasses.

This play was really good, too.

Fountain in Bryant Park. Totally awesome.

(I'm a big Project Runway fan.)

The Chrysler Building

We went to the New York Public Library but it was closed. The lions were good enough to pose for some pictures, though.

Another view of the Empire State Building.

Matt found a comic book store outside the Empire State Building.

More Daniel Radcliffe madness. He's so cute!

Shopping for fabric in the fashsion district.

New York Skyline on the way out.

Leaving New York's never easy......