Happy New Year!!!

An Inspirational Thought, Motivational Thought -
Happpy New Year
by Catherine Pulsifer

H appiness depends upon your outlook on life.
A ttitude is just as important as ability.
P assion find yours this year!
P ositive thoughts make everything easier.
Y ou are unique, with special gifts, use them.

N ew beginnings with a new year.
E nthusiasm a true secret of success.
W ishes may they turn into goals.

Y ears go by to quickly, enjoy them.
E nergy may you have lots of it.
A ppreciation of life, don't take it for granted.
R elax take the time to relax in this coming year.

Well...

Yep, I've not made the time to really update this the last month.. SORRY!!!
I just thought I would stop in today and say, come the first of the year, I'm going to keep up on updates.
So much has gone on since Thanksgiving, I cant even begin to update it all... We've gone out and partied with lots of friends, had a great time, each time.... Christmas was great... We went to see Marley & Me that evening.. Great movie! We've welcomed home Josh and had a great time partying with him and all the family. My birthday weekend was fun, had a great time spending it with Scott... New Years Eve we are spending with our friends Matt, Stephanie and Chris... I'm thankful for the great year we've had this year and happy for all the times we got to spend with friends. So I guess its more important to spend time with them, then updating this!
Happy New Years everyone!!!! I hope the new year brings great things for everyone!

Catch up...

Okay, I'll probably have to do a couple of blog updates, since so much has gone on.
I guess I'll start with the oldest events. I don't know if my mind can get that far back, but I'll try. And everyone wonders why I take so many pictures, its because I cant remember what I did yesterday! UGH.. that's another post though. Okay. so where am I.... I guess I'll start with our trip to Charlotte over Thanksgiving. The weather up to Thanksgiving here in Cleveland had just been UGH! So, we leave for Charlotte early Thursday morning. We get into town and wow, the weather was perfect. It was 65 degrees and I realize I could live here and not miss the cold of Cleveland. Thanksgiving night, we decided since it was probably the only chance we would have, we headed down to Whisky River (Dale Jrs. Bar in downtown Charlotte). Great bar. I just felt bad for the ton of workers that came in on Thanksgiving night to work and they had all of about 15 customers. I actually finally got to taste the Sweet Tea Vodka that I had been hearing so much about. FireFly. The stuff is AWESOME... Mix it with some lemonade and your in trouble!!! I hope we make it back there some day! After that we were crazy... we headed off to Concord Mills for the opening at Midnight to shop (who leaves a great bar to go shopping at midnight, but ME!) The place was PACKED. We walked around stopped at a couple of stores and headed back to the room.. Just wasn't much out there I needed.
It felt great to sleep in on Black Friday though.... Friday morning, we woke up, stopped at a couple of stores to see what I could come up with on deals... Didn't do to bad. Stopped at the track for their annual blow out sale. Kind of funny, I didnt feel my normal frenzy of wanting to buy all the deals. We did pick up a couple of GREAT deals at the Michael Waltrip trailer. Didnt take the car on the track, like we used to do. We then headed out to my MOST favorite Winery in the world. Richard Childress Winery. We picked up my bi-annual case of wine... Another packed place. It was good to see them doing so good. We've gone in there before and its been dead. So its great to see it working out so well for Richard. No matter what wines I find in life, I will always have a special place for Childress Wine.
Saturday we woke up, knowing we were headed back to Cleveland, so there really was no rush. We got on the highway and were headed towards Statesville, when I start trying to find Benny Parsons winery on GPS and the Internet on my phone. I'm so glad we made the effort to find it. Okay, when they say its off the beaten path, they aren't lying, at all! We got lost twice even following their directions and ignoring GPS. I haven't meeet much a bunch of people that was so nice in a very long time. Terry is a great women and its obvious why Benny married her. For her to pick up where he left off with 'his' little project. WOW... They've put the winery tasting and museum in her walk out basement. The staff was the best bunch of employees/ friends I have come across in a very long time! I honestly, can't wait to go back, I don't care how far out of the way it is.
Oh, yeah, if you ever want to buy liquor in North Carolina, Don't... its expensive... we ended up making a run down to South Carolina before we left and picked up plenty of sweet tea vodka to last me till our next trip! And a few other fun things to try. like Absinthe... We will see how that goes, or if I just keep it for looks!
Well.. that's one weekend down.. tons of other stuff to talk about!

I dont know what to say...

I have a lot to talk about.. Everything from our great trip to Charlotte and North Carolina over Thanksgiving weekend, to Christmas, to Job cut backs, To the loss of my CEO at Medical Mutual today. Unfortunately, I am not in the mood to talk about much of anything. Kent Clapp, the CEO of Medical Mutual charted a flight back and crashed in the rain forest of Puerto Rico. Him, his fiancee, and the pilot were lost. I'm not in much of a mood to talk about anything. Its bringing back a lot of memories of Clayton's crash that was not that long ago. And Kent was just a great person to head up our company. He will be missed, but most of all, I hope the team of people he spent 11 years building will carry on, everything he believed in.
So, when I am up to it, I will post about everything. Including the great Christmas party I have with a great bunch of friends I have. I'll even try to post the picture I have from my 10 year service awards with Kent. But right now, Wine just seems to be the best option, while cooking for the party tomorrow.
Please, pray for Kent family and Tracy's and most of all the pilots.
What a year! I just pray god have a lot better things in store for us. But, I sometimes waver!

Just a little vent.....

Those that know me, know when I eat right and follow a plan they way it should be followed, I follow it without fail. So when people say things like Weight Watchers didn't work for me or Atkins is all about eating cheeseburgers, I get defensive! Maybe a little to much. So yesterday someone made both of those comments. If I remember correctly, when I did Atkins 5 years ago, I never touched a cheeseburger, piece of pork bacon, whatever. I followed the book, from the first two weeks to everything that should be followed. Just got to a point, where it was to restrictive traveling as much as I do. So I just went back to eating WHATEVER. But this poor girl, I jumped down her throat. I know I shouldn't have. But I hate it when people think they are following a plan and they aren't. So then later on someone asked the points of something on Weight Watchers and that they weren't following WW because they didn't want to be told what to eat, but they were just wondering what the points were. When I follow WW, like last year, or I am trying to do again, I eat what I want. WW is about learning correct portion size and learning whats important. I never didn't eat what I want. I built it into my day, if it meant my daily points, my weekly points or I had to work out a bit more to pay back those point. SIMPLE as that! I remember splurging at Sonic, special dinners, whatever. I just wish people would figure out if they want to follow a plan, learn what the plan is all about that's all....

Anyway... the winter is upon us here in Cleveland. (Did we even really get a summer, really????) My yard is covered in snow and I hate it. I hate the fact that I hate going out when it gets cold. I become a hermit for months. I sleep, eat and not much else. Scott said last night unless I am officially diagnosed with SAD, he wasn't taking me for a weekend in Arizona in Jan or Feb. MMMM... wonder what the doctor would say.... LOL... I'll probably just hold off for Utah in May. I just have to get past this and deal with it. I live in Cleveland, I have to move on with my life and do things. I cant let this get to me!!!!!!

Sorry....

I just haven't made the time to get out here and write whats been going on. I've been to 'busy' playing on facebook. Yeah, now I am a gamer over there. That needs to stop.
Not much has gone on really...
We went out with Kristie and Lenny to the winery for dinner one night. Had a really nice time with them and Logan is getting SO BIG!
We went to the benefit concert at House of Blues for Josh. Mark Wills,Burning Vegas and American Rockstar all played. Burning Vegas totally rocks and I can't wait to see another one of their shows. Mark Wills, great country singer. American Rockstar, wasn't bad, just didn't get me like Burning Vegas did. I won two CD's (Mark Wills & Darryl Worley) and a bunch of Brigton Jewelry. All the proceeds went to Holly and Thea.
This past Saturday we went to a fundraiser with Diana, her brother Ronnie & his wife Kim, & Diane, her husband. It was for Ronnie & Kim's son Jason for his traveling baseball team he is on. We had a great time. I didn't win anything, but still had fun with friends! Walking into the place, there was a women standing outside, that I just knew who it was when I saw her. I hadn't seen her in years. Thinking back, its probably been at least 10 years. It was Anita, who was in my wedding. I think the last time we saw her was her wedding to Tom. She has two kids now, seems happy. I just wish we would have had more time to catch up and chat, but Tom is one of the coaches, so she was running around helping. But it was good to see her.
Thanksgiving we are going to Charlotte for a couple of days. Really just to get some Dinner at Lancasters. I cant even say its for Barbecue pork, because mine is better. It's their hushpuppies! It will be worth the trip and it will be fun. Its been a couple of years since we made it down to Charlotte for Thanksgiving.
Thats all I got for now!
Oh and what 45 days till Christmas??????heeee...

Facebook and old classmates.

I've been thinking about this post since last week. I first have to start off by thanking another blogger and former classmate. If I would have never found Darren Carter's blog. I wouldnt be sitting here today writing this. We all graduated from Bedford High School 20 years ago this year. As fate would have it I have missed every reunion. I have always had other plans (or was that god working AGAIN!). The first one > 5 year. I was getting married that weekend. 10 year, we had plans to take a trip on the same weekend. This year when I got notice for the reunion, I realized it was the same weekend that we would be in Mid-Ohio racing motorcycles. I don't think I am ever going to make it to a reunion. Truthfully, I wasn't real sure I ever wanted to go to a reunion. Honestly, I am glad I made it out of Bedford High School in one piece and actually did something with my life. Long story short, 8Th grade ended bad at Heskett. 9Th grade started worse with the loss of one of my dearest friends 1 month into school. After that, I didn't much care anymore and I didn't care for 4 years. I remember plenty of teachers trying to set me in the right direction. I remember lots of friends trying to get me to care. I didn't. I just wanted to get through school and get away from it. There was NOTHING fun about school and being here. I know now a lot of it I made so much harder on myself, then really needed to be. I know I didn't keep the friends I should have kept, heck even most of the people I thought were my friends at graduation, we have lost touch with.

Anyway, about the time Scott's cousin got married in June, I was just getting interested in face book. At that point, I think I had only seen one person in the last 10 years that I graduated with and that was Deann Hegidus (some time in March or April of this year~ again god at work here) So I knew I wouldn't be looking for very many classmates on facebook. I just didn't feel like I connected with a lot of people from high school. And the ones I wondered what happened to, I know they wouldn't be out there. I think Deann was one of my first friend requests. In the mean time. Michelle Grecko left me a message on classmates.com, off I went looking for her too. Okay, long short getting longer here... Jump ahead to August sometime. I was searching blogs from the Cleveland area one day and happened on Darren's, just as he was posting info about pictures from the reunion. Wow.. I couldn't believe it. I don't remember if I left him a comment on his blog or facebook, but I added him as a friend. I started looking for other people we went to school with. I've been kind of shy about requesting friends with some people. I just don't know who remembers me and who doesn't. I've connected with about 16. Some I have talked to more then others. Some I've even shared a drink with recently.

Last week, I started pulling out old pictures. Anyone that knows me present day, I have a serious issue with taking pictures. I can go to a motorcycle race and click off 2000 good pictures. I went on my honeymoon and took 30 rolls of film (before digital, that was a pricey honeymoon) So of course 95% of my photos are sorted and in boxes waiting to be scrapbooked. Well I guess if I didn't travel so much, I would have time to do that, I digress. I pulled out the three OLD boxes of pictures and started pulling out photos. Scott started scanning. Here I pulled out pictures from Heskett. Some of Scott's pictures when we just started dating and he was still at Bedford and I was already working a full time job. I pulled out picture of my cousins through the years, just so many pictures and so many fun memories. So I started by posting some of my family pictures late Thursday. Wow, talk about feedback and response. Amazing.
Last night, I posted some more from School and tagged the people I was friends with on facebook. (I still have a ton more pictures of more people not yet on facebook, maybe someday, those will get scanned too). Feedback almost immediately. People couldn't believe I still had photos and they wanted them burned. No such luck there. I now have digital proof! Its been fun talking with everyone and seeing how some people remember more then I did about what class it was. Its been great to hear that. I wish I had more pictures of school and I know somewhere in my parents house, there is probably still pictures!
Now to the point of this whole post.... When Scott and I were scanning the photos, I came across my senior proofs. Hey anyone notice, I am not in the yearbook for my senior year. Yeah, I planned it that way, thanks! I asked him what he thought of me back then. He said I always looked like a was a bitch and to look at some of my senior proofs, I came off with that unapproachable look. Did I really? Was I that unhappy and that bad? Wow....Amazing what time does now, doesn't it? I think life is way too short now and I don't let what I used to think about people still rule on what I think of them today. We are all so much different now. Maybe there are reasons I haven't talked to some of the 'friends' and why I do talk to people from high school that I never did before. I do know one thing. I wont miss the next reunion or get together! I can only think god has a plan in all of this and it just amazes me sometimes how he works. I try not to question it and most times I've learned to just go with the flow and let everything happen the way he has planned it.
So to sum this rambling up! Thanks Darren, had it not been for you I might not have ever connected back up with old school/classmates.
And Darren, if you happen upon this, no you aren't old because you are searching out talk radio. I'm doing it to. I know Scott does it too. Age is all a state of mind!