How I spent the last weekend of my summer vacation:

The last precious days of my summer vacation have been awesome. At this point, I'm not even too depressed that I'm starting back at work (gasp! shock!). Friday night, David was in town, so we went to Pizza D's so we could get the boys (David, Jeremy, and Jonathan) to hang out with each other. We ended up having a lot of fun (see the table). It's so fun when we're in the same place again. Cue: "Memories..."

Saturday night was the fabulous house warming/welcome home party for Leah, Blue, and Chandle. Be sure to see all the deliciousness over at Leah Billings Living. FANTASTIC. Their house looks beautiful! And I'm so glad to have Chandle back! We had lots of fun, kids. Let's do it again soon. Except we won't make Leah work so hard, although it was fabulous. Unless she wants to. In which case, I'll let her.

Last, but not least, I went to a shower for Judith on Sunday. She scored lots of fun stuff. Their wedding is coming up August 12 in beautiful Hawaii.
And that's it, friends! This is OFFICIALLY my last day of summer vacation. I thought it was Monday, but I got a happy surprise that it's not till tomorrow. So be thinking of me this week and next as I'm planning and decorating my room with inspirational posters with cats on them: Hang in there!, etc. Just kidding... I'm not that teacher. Pictures to come once everything's actually set up. Peace out!

Bloggersucks.com... as Kat would say.

I have lots of pictures to post. But blogger no work-ie. So that means I'll go to bed instead. And post tomorrow when I wake up. ON MY LAST DAY OF SUMMER VACATION. Sadness. Pictures to come as soon as blogger starts working again. Who knows when that may be. Boo.

PS, the Grey Matter blog (see link on the right side) has some new posts if you get bored today. I miss good tv... And did you know that Meredith and McDreamy are doing ads for NY & Co.? I went to the mall today. Weird, I know.

If you could see me now

Natalie Dee is totally feelin' my pain today. The complete and utter dispair of starting back at work on Monday has officially set in. So today, friends, I boycott the workforce by doing anti-work. It is now 1:30 p.m. and I am still in my pajamas. Jammin' in the jammies. I started out the day with a little "Made" on MTV (he wanted to be a fashion designer). I stuck with the theme and watched "Project Runway" that I taped from last night. For the past few hours, I have been playing on the computer. Looking at all your blogs... hi everyone! And I'm looking at places to stay for my sister's wedding in Hot Springs. Check out her wedding site here. She'll be getting married at the Hamilton House (on Lake Hamilton), and it's gorgeous! It's just around the corner... September 30th! Congrats again to them- love you!
Uhhhhh.... that's about it, folks. I'm fully in stress mode about school. Turns out I might be having these roles for the coming year:
1. 7th and 8th grade Spanish
2. 3rd-8th grade gifted and talented teacher
3. Creative writing (super pumped about this... wish I could do it full-time)
4. 7th and 8th grade volleyball coach
5. uhhhh... "technical support".... I am fabulous at restarting computers, so I win this title!
6. Webmaster-- MASTER of the web. I am the master. Errrrrr.... what?

So be thinking of me. It's a hard knock life. :)

Hoody hoo!

Q: What happens when the boys go out of town for a bachelor party?
A: The girls all get together and go out... and out... and out... till way too late. We act like we're in our (ahem) early twenties or something crazy like that. And we get a lot of stares because we're a group of 8 women with no men in sight and we're having a blast.

Saturday night from left to right: Holly, Judith (whose future hubby was having the bachelor party in Memphis), Kelly, Jaime, Liz, yours truly, Kat, and Franke. Somehow we ended up at the Cowboy (seriously... what??) till the whee hours, but it was great. Love these girls. I have many, many more pictures that I will post, but I can't get them to work right now. Soon, friends, soon!!

Surprise, yo!

Thursday night, I drove up to Siloam Springs with Christy to pick up Chandle from the airport Friday morning. She had absolutely no idea we were coming to get her (notice the look of complete, utter shock on her face). Her mom did an awesome job covering for us, and she thought her grandparents were picking her up. We made her cry- ha, ha. So glad she's back!! We have missed her so!

And it's about time!!

... and now she's happy! I had an awesome time up in Siloam. Virginia came up Friday night and we hung out in the Devor family pool for hours and hours. In fact... I think 3 hours. Pruuuuuuny. Here are some more funny pictures:

Arrrrrrrgh!

Baby Jed is a pirate-in-training. He even took a few stabs at the dog. I love going to the Devor house- constantly entertaining!
Love them. PS, this child looks freakishly like a small Chandle. Absolutely adorable.
We also played "photo shoot" with Ashur, so look for those on Chandle's bloggity blog soon.

Hilarious.

Right now, as I type this, I am laughing hysterically, and my eyes are watering. When Christy and I were driving up, I took a picture of Sebastian in the back seat. Sebastian, the adorable little miniature schnauzer who NEVER looks like he wants to eat your face... except in this picture. With his devil eyes. So Chandle re-created her own version of the devil dog picture. I have to go. Can't stop laughing...

Entertain yourself at work!

Go now to the Project Runway bloggity blog here and have a ball. Did you know Keith Michael (this is a picture of Malan because he makes me laugh, however) was accused of ripping of his audition designs?? Crazy. There's more! Read on!!

Awwwww...

*Somebody's awful sweet to me. Thanks, Jeremy. They're beautiful! You're the best!*

Goin' to the chapel...

Well, not these fellas, but Mike and Audra. The wedding on Saturday was awesome. Audra looked beautiful, and everyone had a blast. The food was incredible- lots of veggie choices! We had so much fun! So here come a million pictures to show just how much fun we had! Enjoy.
Other than the wedding... Friday I watched "Transamerica," which is excellent. I highly recommend it to all. It's not nearly as heavy as you would think it would be (it's really funny). Yesterday, we went to Lake Ouachita and spent the day playing on the water. It was so wonderful. Hope you're all having a good week! Chandle comes home in just a few days!!
Here are just a few of the pics I took...

This is the only picture I got of Mike and Audra together that kind of came out. All the other ones are too dark or far away. The bubbles were so fun! Congrats to you both!! Much love!

Everybody's working for the weekend

And you made it! Congratulations! Just mere hours left till you can hit the ground a-runnin'. This picture is Julie and Ben Tuesday night at the Fountain. It turns out that Tuesday is the new Thursday here in town. It's the night to go out, I hear.
Last night I went to Wild River Country with Jeremy. His mama had her company picnic up there, so we got to go play. I saw, ohhhhhh about a million of my students. There's nothing like being in the wave pool and having a 13 year old swim up to you. "Hey Miss Ross!" in your bathing suit. Totally awesome. What IS, however, awesome is the rapids (an old classic that I never tire of) and that new huge slide in the back. Ahhh, it brings back memories of being 15.
Coming up this weekend... Trav's game tonight, I believe (good Lord it's going to be HOT) and Mike and Audra's weddin tomorrow. Perhaps the lake on Sunday? Hopefully I'll take lots o' pictures. Can't wait to see some of you (Tulsa Brooke, my love, aren't you coming to the Rock?) tomorrow! Have a good weekend!

A yeah and a couple grrrrs

Let's start with the good stuff, shall we? Weekend: yeah! Fun stuff. On Saturday, Jeremy borrowed his parents' new Honda scooter and we rode down by the river and in the Camack area. Hence, the hot motorcycle helmet. Ahhh yes. I'm an easy rider, ya'll. Holla.
Ok, ok, that's enough of the fun stuff. Let's get to the grrrrrs. The not-too-bad-grrrr: my phone is (ONCE again) broken. It no ringy no more. Me= sad. So if you're calling me, call more than once if I don't answer.
The does-this-happen-to-people-we-know grrrrrrr: someone ripped off my credit card (and Jeremy's as well) number in California. Puts a little damper on the whole thing, actually. We both still have our cards, but someone's been having a little fun out there on us. He noticed his last week, but mine just started today. Who buys $130 worth of Starbucks? Apparently this guy does. So the card company called me today, and it's all taken care of. But seriously, HUH? Who does this happen to? Me, that's who.

In celebration of our nation's independence...

Typically, the 4th of July means BBQ and ducking from rogue bottle rockets (is it rogue when people point them at you?). This year was only slightly different (am I old?). I blame it on the fact that the 4th fell on a Tuesday. Isn't there something that could have been done about that??
Monday, Little Kim, the Queen Bee (not the one who just got out of jail, yo, the better one) was in the Rock Town. So we met up with some peeps (a good chunk of you who read this blog, actually) at the Faded Rose. Good to see you, John and Leslie! And Kristen, Kat, Karl, Jeremy, Eric, and Matty P.! Hope I didn't forget anyone...
Ummmmm.... Saturday, I went to the river alllll day. I am now sporting a VERY stylish sunglass tan line. Pretty hot. That evening we went over to Kelley's house for some cookin' out. There's just nothin' like a veggie burger hot off the grill. Except for maybe a beefy burger hot off the grill...
Less than a month left of summer. Sadness. Peace out!

La, LA, luh-la, la, la, la, luh-la, la, la

I was a bad blogger this weekend and did not take any pictures (my bad), so I will post a picture of these two fine ladies that has not made it to the blogosphere yet. Let's seeeee.... my weekend.... Friday I hung out WAY too late. Went to Pizza D's and to IHOP around 4. Saturday, I went wedding dress shopping with Brookie Smalls (for her, not me!). Saturday night, Kristen came over and we watched a movie. Fun stuff, fo' sho'. Jeremy starts his new job today! Congrats to him! I'm going to eat lunch with Melissa at the Flying Burrito downtown. Aaaaand tonight... Kimmy P. is in town!!
Meanwhile, let me tell you a story......

So, the night before we left for Cali, this opportunity for blogiture took place... Meet Ben and his little friend the Freaky Green Bug. Freaky Green Bug was minding his own business at Julie's place when he was swept from his solitude and thrown into the mix of a bunch of people. Here, he was picked up and placed on people's faces to crawl around. Freaky Green Bug seemed perfectly happy with his new surroundings, and he happily switched from person to person. Freaky Green Bug will forever hold a special place in our hearts. We may never see him again, but he will not be forgotten...