First Impressions!

Being a Coast Guard wife for over 20 years, I have met a lot of people. First impressions, for me, are key. When I met my friend Jan, I knew right away we were going to be life long friends. I guess it was her whole demeanor. She is the kindest person I have ever met. She would give you the shirt off her back if you asked her. I am so fortunate to have her and her family in my life. I have been fortunate like this throughout our military career. I keep in touch with most of the people we have met throughout these past 20 years. It does, at times get difficult with all of them transferring every few years. Moving from Station to Station you hope to find people that would even measure up to the ones you have met before. You move to a new location and pray that there is even one or two that will now be your new “best” friend. I am again fortunate to have found one gal here in Kodiak that has fit that bill at least until they transfer next spring. Unfortunately, I have also recently met a person that has just rubbed me the wrong way. I am sure that deep down this person is not as shallow as she portrays herself to be. At least I truly hope she isn't. My outlook on things is rather simple. If you want to be my friend, be yourself. You don't have to come off as if you are so much better than the rest of us. You have no idea where I have come from, what I have done in my life, or even who I have met. I certainly hope that my first impression of this person is wrong. I am no better than anyone else, I believe in giving everybody a chance because you never know in this world where you are going to end up. First impressions tell me right away if I want to continue toward a friendship. I want to try and be this person’s friend, but each time we meet, she usually says something that solidifies the "first impression" of not wanting to have anything to do with her. Being the person I am, I am willing to look past her unsavory behavior in the hopes that she sees that we are all equal.

1. Annie Leibowitz exhibit 2. calories..., 3.Thomas Jefferson, 4. Autumn, 5. Baker, 6.Coffee 7. Pool at Dreams Resort, Cabo San Lucas, 8. Mudd Pie, 9. Animal Cop 10. Family 11. Loving 12. Sea Turtle

Here's how it works:
a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLS for the images into hhtp://bighugelabs.com/flickr/mosaic.php

Choose 3 columns with 4 rows.

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The Questions:
1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What High School did you go to? (or what year did you graduate?)
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite Drink?
7. Dream Vacation?
8. Favorite Dessert?
9. What you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One word to describe you?
12. Your flicker name or favorite animal?

Homecoming 2008

It is hard to imagine my baby is finally growing up. It is sad. Patrick took his first date to Homecoming on Saturday night. He was so excited. We had picked out his outfit and bought new shoes, belt, slacks, dress shirt everything you need. He went the day of Homecoming and got his hair cut. It was so funny to watch him get all ready. Matthew decided last minute that he too wanted to go. So both my handsome boys went and they had a blast! I wanted Patrick to get formal pictures but Patrick said the line was "crazy" long. Thank heavens I was able to snap a couple before they went into the dance.

40th Birthday Weekend

Hello Everyone!!

It has been a good weekend. I turned 40 this past Saturday. It was kind of bittersweet. I really really miss Mark and wish he could have been home. Unfortunately, my birthday wish didn't come true! Of course I knew it wouldn't LOL. Anyway, my friend Kris and her son Ryan and my boys took me out to dinner at Henry's! What a fun time! I splurged and shared an ice cream sundae with Patrick! I have been dieting since August 3rd and am down 11 lbs, so I really wanted to be careful. But that sundae was soooo good!! After dinner we were going to go see "Mama Mia" but decided that it was such a great evening we would head over to Sergeant Creek and so some fishing. We were there for about five minutes before I noticed the bear poop on the river bank. Fresh & warm bear poop (Matt put his hand above it to verify the warm part!). Then I noticed a salmon flopping by the shore and it was all bloody. That is when Kris noticed the bear in the marsh not far from us. So we slowly left the area for the car. We drove down towards the Russian River and noticed some people looking out over the marsh land so we pulled off and got out and there he was!! Our first Kodiak bear!!! He didn't seem that big from far away. But as you can tell, as he got closer to us, he got bigger. All in all it was a fun evening, I truly wish all of my family had been here for it, but as my Grandma Gray would have said, "if wishes were pennies we would be rich!"

The scarf you see above and to the left is one I had been working on for about three weeks. I bought the hand dyed wool yarn in Ketchikan when mom had come for her visit. I finally finished it last night! I think it turned out beautiful!

The crock pot above is my birthday present! 5 Qt crock pot!! It is really nice and I love it!!!!

The birthday cake, I made from scratch! I was going to put an nice fattening butter cream frosting on it, but opted out of that for a nice sprinkle of powdered sugar. I have only eaten a very thin slice! LOL