How would you like to win a trip to visit Raleigh, North Carolina in the Fall? All you have to do is register to win this FREE Raleigh Getaway: The perfect spot for a Fall Getaway!
-One night accommodations for two at the Courtyard by Marriott Raleigh Crabtree Valley
-$25 gift certificate to Bloomsbury Bistro
-Free VIP admission for two to Rum Runners
-2 tickets to the North Carolina Theatre
-2 tickets to the N.C. Museum of Art’s Landscapes from the Age of Impressionism
-2 tickets to Dinosaurs: Ancient Fossils, New Discoveries at the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences
I have never been to N.C. but I would love to go! Home of the 2005-2006 champion Carolina Hurricanes, NHL team. They beat my very own Edmonton Oilers in game 7! A sad day for us indeed, but throughout the whole series, during the TV coverage, they showed lots of sights from around the city! It looked like a beautiful place for a vacation.
Raleigh boasts the Best Small Concert venues, and ranks as America's best place for singles. Raleigh has plenty of museums to enjoy if you're more of the artistic type, along with theater, concerts, and performing arts.
If you're a sports enthusiast, like myself, catch a Carolina Hurricanes game, or play a round of golf! There's also plenty of locations to enjoy some outdoor activities, like canoing, sailing, hiking the many trails, etc.
If you're looking to have a great fall experience, a perfect event could be the Celtic Halloween, where there will be concerts, musicians, games, food, a haunted trail, merchants, etc.
Raleigh looks like a beautiful vacation spot!
Sarah absolutely loved the engagement ring that Jay picked out for her (all on his own), but when they went to look at the matching wedding bands, she was less than impressed! They really didn't care for it all, so they bought a ring for Jay, that he liked, and then they had a custom band made for Sarah, as her engagement ring isn't a typical shape. It turned out great!
Hubby has been in his element ever since he got his laptop. I set him up to get wireless access to our internet. He has remote access to his company intranet software, which enables him to do things like his payroll, scheduling of staff, etc, all from the comfort of his recliner!
There is a 30 Day free trial of their software. Contact them to get it setup. Epazz works with you from start to finish.
A few years ago, I redecorated our bedroom. I painted the whole thing, and bought new curtains, comforter, etc. Problem is, I'm totally sick of them now! Mine is pretty "busy", and I'm wondering if I would have bought something simpler, if I would not gotten tired of it so quickly. So now, I'm looking around for some new ideas for bed linen.
I've been browsing around Terry's Fabrics, and I'm seeing a lot of different options that I really like. The best part about their line is that all the comforters are reversible, so if you DO get tired of it, you can just flip it over! They also come with pillow covers.
The best thing, is that they have a "no questions asked" return policy, so if you order it, and don't like the color, or some such thing, they accept all returns without question!
Wow was it ever fall-like here yesterday! The grass was totally white with frost when I got up to go to work. The wind was blowing, The leaves have already begun to change colour, and yesterday they were falling and blowing all over in the wind. It reminds me that another cold, snowy Canadian winter is just around the corner! I guess the one thing I'm glad about, heading into this winter, is that I have my SUV, so driving isn't quite as big a worry as it was in the past! I seriously think it's time to look into some West Palm Beach real estate!!
I'm very poor at using my imagination in the "preschool" sense of the world! I am "older", and I love the new "Fegie" song! It's great! What do you think??
Ever since Trading Spaces reached popularity of epic proportions, and spawned the birth of several do-it-yourself, home decorating shows, people have gotten the DIY bug. Now with the internet, there are so many more great resources right at your finger tips for information and how-to's for all your home improvement projects. After all, knowledge is power!
Several years ago, my in-laws had a small flood in their house while they were away on vacation. Because their existing hardwood floor could not be matched, they had to have the whole thing ripped out. I suggested that perhaps it could be salvaged, and installed in our house! The in-laws checked it out with their insurance company, and they had no problem with it, if they removed it themselves. They painstakingly removed every board! At least they got paid for their labor! They hauled it all out to our house, and the project was on! Hubby had done a lot of research, and even purchased a book, but had he had more information as to how to install wood and parquet floors, the project would have gone much smoother! The end results were very good, largely thanks to my father-in-law's expertise. Had hubby been just on his own, with his inexperience the results would have likely been less than satisfactory!
Now, there's no excuse to have a similar problem! With a wonderful resource such as DoItYourself.com and their available DVD's, you should be able to find all the help you need! It is a free community with thousands of articles, and over 100 help forums. Before you mess up an expensive job, do your research!
I bought a digital photo frame for Sarah's wedding. It was a huge hit! We drove the wedding party around from photo site to photo site, and I took pictures right along with the photographer. When we got to the reception site, I simply switched my memory card from my camera into the digital frame, where I had also previously saved a special piece of music, and there you had it! Pefectly crisp, clear wedding pictures, taken only minutes earlier! It played throughout the evening and was a complete hit with the guests! It also makes a perfect wedding gift. Sarah and Jay received one, and were extremely pleased!
Now I'm strongly considering buying a digital picture frame for each of our parents for Christmas. I could have it loaded with the wedding pictures, and then if and when great-grandchildren arrive, we could load it with pictures of the babies!
There are many other formats besides photos which can be viewed on these photo frames. You can also upload videos, DVD's, MP3's, etc. So far, I've testes out the photo, DVD and MP3 features, and they work easily. You do not need to be a geek to figure it out. Digital Frames Australia offers 4 different sizes, and 4 distinct styles of frames. They also include a free 256 MB memory card with every 10" digital frame purchased. They also offer next day shipping!
Last year, at work, we had a speech path, 4 days a week working right with us. This was invaluable, in that the majority of our kids have severe speech delays. The kids really benefited! Well our speech path took a different job, and the school board has had no luck hiring anyone. They are extremely scarce around here. The plan now, is for one of the teacher's assistants I work with, who also has a speech and language assistant certificate do the speech therapy under the guidance of a speech path who will only be on site once/week or so. This means they will have to hire a replacement for her, to work with us. Obviously, there is no succession planning in our school!
Have any of you started Christmas shopping yet?? I haven't. In fact I can't even imagine it! I am at a loss as to what to get just about everyone too! It's hard to imagine Jay and Sarah need much of anything after their recent wedding. I'm almost always stumped as to what to give Jess, so I usually just buy her gift cards. I think for Ben, I'm looking at some truck accessories, since he drives a really sharp little truck, and I think he'd really appreciate that!
Today was a PD day. So, there were no classes. Usually us support staff, don't have to participate in any of these, but today, it was a team building day, since it was the beginning of the school year. The teachers had work and meetings to tend to in the morning, and then we all met at the golf club for an excellent lunch. After that, we watched the movie, "The Secret". As soon as our "duties" were finished, I took off shopping. I picked up some things for the pups, and then hit the clothing stores. I had great luck, and was really happy with the items I found! I browsed some office desks, but didn't find what I'm looking for. I finished up finding a really sharp pair of shoes, and a great new bag. Whoo hooo for blowing cash!
Hubby and I always golfed pre-children. Once we had them, I gave it up, and have never golfed since. Hubby enjoys a weekly game of golf on his day off. My goal is to find out what I can do to fix my shoulder, so that I can resume golfing with hubby in our retirement. I have to admit with my love of shopping, I've been eying the Callaway golf equipment lusting after some of their "finer things"!
I love Chef Ramsay. I always watch Hell's Kitchen, and Kitchen Nightmares. Even though he's rude and crude, and loud, I still like what he does. If you dream of being a successful chef one day, like Gordon Ramsay, you may want to check out http://www.twincitiesculinary.com/ . They teach a culinary arts program. Check out their website, for program information, how you can get admission, and information about the possibility of financial aid. Check it out. If you think it's for you, you can apply online!
Halloween is coming fast and furious! I do NOT like Halloween! I admit it! I don't like dressing up, and I despise children ring a ding dinging my doorbell every 5 minutes rudely demanding candy! It just all annoys the bejeezus out of me! My first year at work, I dressed as a great big old chicken. the grade 1 kids I worked with were completely stumped as to who "I was". I wonder what animal costume I should get for this year in preschool.
I definitely need to go shopping. I haven't got many clothes for fall.I need slacks for sure. I don't think I can wear my capris and flip flops all winter long. I probably could because of my internal thermostat, but the snow would make it a wee bit uncomfortable! Especially if I got stuck in a snow bank!! I think a North Face jacket would be a great addition as well.
When we bought this house, it came with full window coverings. They were reasonably new at for that time, and I was very pleased with tI soon came to realize that the vertical blinds, are a pain with pets!! The pet hair absolutely sticks to the fabric, because of its texture. UGH! I replaced the living room ones with fabric curtains last year, but I still have the nasty old verticals in the family room and I despise them! I've been looking at the faux wood blinds and thinking that they would be much easier to clean!
I wish someone could explain my hubby's obsession with all things sports! I'm hockey fanatic for sure! Mostly the Oilers! I don't watch too many games other than theirs. This year I convinced hubby to order "Center Ice" instead of "NFL ticket". I used to hate that every Sunday, the kids would come out for dinner, and he'd be sitting there watching Tennessee football or some other team equally unknown, and NONE of us have any interest whatsoever in NFL football! *gag*
When Jay had graduated from high school, he and his best friend set off to Australia for 6 months. They worked their way across the country. Experiencing all the country had to offer, bungie jumping, the beaches, the wildlife, etc. Since both were farmers, that's how they worked for their keep.
Sarah has also talked of going somewhere like that, and getting a nursing job for a year. It's rumored that most countries are desperate for nurses, so that should be easy enough to do. They are thinking of going to Hawaii, actually. I guess if I want to go to Australia to work, I'll have to get Nanny jobs Melbourne!
For the past year my hubby has been driving to a town 45 minutes away from home. I realize in big metropolises, this isn't a long commute, but here, for a highway drive, it is a long drive. It also cost a small fortune in gas. Yesterday, he finally got transferred back to a store that is just 10 minutes away from home. He's beyond happy! In about a year, we hope to get a transfer to a town several hours south of here, but close to where Sarah and Jay will be living on the farm. Because of their great love of boating, and water sports, they're really hoping we buy nc waterfront property so they can come and visit, and boat!
Sarah and Jay LOVE boating! Jay's family bought a boat last summer, and they love to take the boat out to a local lake for the weekend, and spend it in the sun wake boarding. Sarah had a terrible time learning to pull herself up out of the water when she was first learning to wake board, but now she does really good! In fact they bought themselves new wake boards for wedding gifts!
Sarah's wedding was great! When you plan a wedding, you really have to pick and choose where you spend the money. For her, the cake wasn't a huge priority, so she just 'let that go'. Her choice was to spend enough money to get great photos. Really, that's the only part that "lasts". So, she hired a professional photographer, who too exactly 777 proofs for us to look over, The number amuses us only because they got married 07.07.07! She also had a girlfriend who is a great photographer, but not familiar with doing entire weddings. She specializes in black and white photography. I wonder what Brooks Photography School specializes in!?
As I've mentioned previously, I hope to take hubby away on a surprise trip to destinations unknown in a year and a half. I've been researching a city vacation, trying to get a feel for what I'd be interested in. There's so many to choose from!
The reason for the trip, is that in December, 2008, we will be celebrating our 30th wedding anniversary. I'm considering Florida as a possible destination, because being the dorks we are, we love Disneyland, so I'm thinking some time in Miami, and then on to Orlando! I just haven't decided if I want to include the kids in this trip, or not.