Tuesday, September 13, 2011

When the person cutting your hair says "uh oh"

I want to explain my horrible hair in the pictures below. So, about 2 weeks ago, I was at the Aveda Institute having one of their students highlight & cut my hair. You can't beat the deal. Yes it takes forever & yes it is not as great as a salon, but since I've gone to part-time (therefore cutting my salary), I just couldn't justify my $160+ hair appointments every 6 weeks. (I tried, but Robbie wasn't going for it). So the Aveda Institute is a great deal. This is my 2nd time going, but 1st time getting my hair cut. I guess that's why they say "you get what you pay for".

The highlights were okay. The initial hair cut was okay. Then came the bangs.

I had shown the student a picture of this...


And walked out with something more similar to this...

As the girl went to cut my bangs (which I showed her the picture & said that I wanted them pushed to the side & way past my eyes), she pulls my hair the opposite way across my face, & cuts in slope to above my eye. And says "uh-oh, let me get my instructor". I do not know if she was absent on bang cutting day, but I have no idea what she was doing. Then her instructor had the nerve to tell me "well, you probably just aren't used to having bangs". Um, I've had these types of bangs tons of time. But the bang cut they just gave me looked the same as when my dad cut my bangs in 2nd grade. Both = too short & uneven. So now it is just a mess to try to fix. I've manage to push them kind of to the side, but tiny short hair can only stretch so far.

I'm trying to remember how long it took my bangs to grow out in 2nd grade.


2011 Football Season - Week 2

We were back in Auburn last weekend for the Auburn/MS State game. Another fun weekend with friends!
Robbie & his Sister - Andrea

The Bush's


Our family

Thinking hard about lining up the cars


Just hanging out at Aubie's feet

Jake & Alex

Hanging out with Bruiser under the table

Taking a little nap while everyone is at the game

And folks are back & ready to play!

Jake & Aunt Andrea


Alex, Jake & Owen playing (or rolling over each other)

Jake, Alex & Owen

Just relaxing on Aubie...

... or under

Not ready for bed anytime soon!
It was a super nice weekend before things get crazy! We had our final walk through on the house on Monday. We close on Thursday, our furniture is moved in on Friday, we travel for my grandmother's 80th birthday party on Saturday, I leave for a 1-day out of town trip the next Monday, we are back in Auburn that following weekend & then I head to Chattanooga for the week for business. Hopefully we'll be moved in by Christmas:).

Sunday, September 11, 2011

9-11

I think that everyone can remember where they were / what they were doing when they found out the news that planes had hit the World Trade Center. I was living in Montgomery, AL, in my first year out of college, working as an assistant manager for Victoria’s Secret. I had scheduled myself for the closing shift, so that I could spend the morning getting 4 new tires for my car (m y 1st post-graduation big purchase!). I was sitting in this dinky little waiting room reading Mechanics Digest & Highlights for Kids while they worked on my tires. One of the workers came in & turned on this tiny 13” TV and said that a plane had hit the World Trade Center. When the first plane hit, it was like “oops, what an accident”. Then we watched in horror as a second plane hit. Then it was like “uh-oh, this is bad”. Thankfully they were almost done with my car, so I paid & left. It was scary & sad, but I didn’t know anyone who lived in NY & I didn’t understand just how much those actions of that day, would change our world forever. At time, Victoria’s Secret was owned by Limited Brands, and since we had stores in the World Trade Center, they went ahead & closed all stores throughout the US. I really wasn’t that worried, until I heard them talking about all of the major cities that could be the next target. One of them was Chicago. I knew my dad was in Chicago on business meeting in those very types of large business buildings. Thankfully, they were all safe, just stranded! (His company ended up sending a van from Montgomery to Chicago to pick them up & drive them back home.) Each hour I watched TV, the more serious it became to me. The fear, the sadness, the questions, the anger, the pride. The events of that day changed our lives forever.


I can remember as a little girl, walking with my dad all the way up to the gate for him to board a plane & we would be waiting there for him to arrive (& we were probably parked curbside). You could pack shampoo as large as you wanted and probably even a kitchen sink. The job I have today is really in existence because of the events of 9/11. Because I work for a prepaid card in which individuals can load, transfer & remove funds, we fall under similar guidelines of a financial institution. A little over a month after 9/11, the USA PATRIOT Act was signed into law. Because of it, I have to make sure that every person that has one of our cards can be identified and is not on an OFAC watchlist. I have to monitor cardholders card activity for large loads or transfers and anything international. Each month, I run all of our cardholders through a database of watchlists to confirm that none of our cardholders are on a list. It is scary to look at the thousands of people on those lists who want to hurt America.

A few months ago I was in NY & DC for business. I was at a dinner party with some lobbyists, many who work in both NY & DC. To hear their stories of what they went through, their families, their friends. They all knew someone who passed away that day. It was fascinating, but so heart-breaking. I had never talked to anyone who was actually in NY, much less actually in the area when it happened. It was very eye-opening.

And I close my rambling post with just how proud I am to be a United States citizen. We might not have made all of the right decisions since 9/11 and I’m sure there are some things we would have done differently, but I’m so proud of the way everyone came together as Americans. It didn’t matter if you were Republican or Democrat, black or white, Baptist or Jewish. If you were an American citizen, we were on the same team. And I hope that we never forget that bond. And I’m so proud and grateful for all of those men & women that leave the comfort of their home, their families & their safeness to go fight to protect this county and to keep us all safe. God bless them and God bless America.

2011 Football Season - Week 1

Here we are... our Labor Day weekend started where Robbie has spent the last 32 years, I've spent the last 6 years & Jake has spent the last 3 years... Auburn, AL. The last year, our lives have been so crazy and inconsistent, I was actually looking forward to the fall just so we could have some routine & normalcy in our lives. Plus, who doesn't get excited about college football. Even if you don't like football, you got to love the food, the friends, the parties. I love all of it. And even though I'm not an Auburn fan* (and never will be), I feel very lucky to get to experience the games, the tailgating, the RV. Hello Football Season!
Helping daddy set up the tents
Dad's little helper
This year we've added a kids area. Not only is our tailgate in the middle of an RV field with cars & RVs, but our spot is on the corner of the main road. There is so much going on, needless to say you have got to keep a super close eye on the kiddos. So we added a tent over to the side away from the road, put plastic fence around it & added some toys. You still have to keep a close eye, but at least it helps!
Trying to get a family picture. Fail....
Fail again
Trying to get a picture of the boys. Not working so great.
Close. We at least got a picture with 2 of 3 looking.
Henry was making funny faces.
We took Jake to the game. It's his 4th Auburn game he's attended. He was pretty overwhelmed & unsure at first. But it didn't take him long until he got into it. And cheered. And got restless. And got hot. And got tired. We made it until half time.

I tried to get the annual picture of the Bush's, but as you can see,
it was my 100th failed picture of the day.
(And yes, I do think it is kind of funny that Jake is frowning at Auburn.)
Watching the game with Daddy
  *I know I make this disclaimer every year, but I feel like it is a must. I am NOT an Auburn fan. I never have been and never will be and Robbie would never want that to change. I love my husband, I love my in-laws, I love our Auburn friends, I love us all hanging out & tailgating, I love watching our kids play together, I love the fellowship. I do not like Auburn, I hate the color orange, I hate the weagle weagle chant. But you can't love everything in life. And as long as your loves outweigh your dislikes, then life is just fine. Hope everyone has a GREAT football season and have fun cheering for your favorite team!

Thursday, September 1, 2011

We have an announcement to make....

We are happy to announce a new addition to our family.....



A house!

That's right. We are giving up being nomads & squatters. We have bought a house. We put the offer in a few weeks ago & should hopefully close on the 15th. We are actually a few months ahead of schedule but life just kind of guides you sometimes. (Well, I hope it was guiding me & I just wasn't pushing it!) It is the neighborhood Ballantrae, which offers a golf course, swim, playground & walking trails. It seemed like a great neighborhood to raise a family. Our original plan was to build (but building evidently is WAY more expensive then picking out a new house that the builder had already built!) The builder was offering a great price on a new spec house, he had built some neat features like an outdoor kitchen and when the interest rates on existing homes dropped below 4%, we felt like the decision was right. We made an offer (with a few requests) and the builder accepted. Yahoo! We are having them do a few things like continue the hardwoods into the master bedroom & replace the electric range with a gas one. But we are very happy with the house & think that it will be great for our family. So far, the experience has been great and everyone we have worked with have been awesome. But, I've gone through this enough times to know that lots of things can happen before a closing! So once we have successfully closed, I'll list out all of the different people & companies we've used. I love giving praise (or complaints!). Hopefully these last 2 weeks will go as great as the first 2 weeks went!