Sunday afternoon drive

Lately, Justin and I have been on this classic car kick. His 1998 Ford Expedition has over 280,000 miles on it, and is still going strong, but we know that the end is near. We bought me a 2005 Expedition Limited at the end of last year, but our intent was for Justin to get the '05 when his decides to expire. At that point, we'll get me something different. I must admit that it has really been Justin's thing, but he was slowly convincing me that a classic car might be a really fun thing. He showed me about a million cars from a 1966 Cadillac DeVille to a 1965 Ford Thunderbird. The first one to put a twinkle in my eye was a 1964 Chevrolet Corvair Monza - convertible. The body is maroon, the rag top and interior are white. We saw it while driving down the highway headed to Gulf Shores. Today, we went for a drive. Here are a few pictures.

Even though it was 96 degrees outside, and the car has no AC, we felt so cool driving around in this vintage convertible.

No power steering and the brakes were stiff, but it drove pretty well! It had a lot more get-up-and-go than we thought it would.

My turn!

After driving it, we came to the conclusion that it is a great and wonderful "fun" car, but it just doesn't really suit my needs for a daily driver. We would still love to have a classic car sometime in the future, but it's just not time right now.

After the drive, we went back to Justin's mom's house and played with the dogs before settling down to watch a movie. I love Sunday afternoons. I wish I had more of them! Most Sunday afternoons for me are spend being a circus monkey in the model home at Ross Bridge - by far our busiest days. Here are a few pictures we took this afternoon in the yard. Too cute not to post.

Justin and me.

Show me those pearly whites, Rez!

Rez and Justin having some bonding time. Yes, Justin did get a very very very very short haircut. It looks nice, although he looks like he's trying to cover up a receding hair line.

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend, too! It's back to reality tomorrow. Sad.

Birmingham Home Theater

And now, for the official unveiling of the Birmingham Home Theater logo!

A huge thanks to Ashley M for putting her talents to work! Justin's business continues to grow with the help of his very loyal customers who continue to refer their friends and family.

Justin began his company as The Audio Video Connection in 2003. As a practicing engineer at the time, he set up home theaters for friends and family as a hobby, and took on a few customers as they came. As his business grew, we made the decision that he could leave his engineering career to focus on his home theater business full time. The Audio Video Connection turned into Home Theater Solutions which turned into Birmingham Home Theater in 2007. We have finally reserved the website and incorporated his company in the state of Alabama, so bring on the business! Justin can literally do EVERYTHING related to home entertainment - briefly described as home theater sales, installation and service.

Just wanted to show off the new logo and of course throw in a shameless plug!

A time to be born...

Ecclesiastes says there is a time to be born, and apparently this was the week! Congratulations to all my friends who have had babies over the past week. This post is a tribute to you!

Anna Kate Rogers

July 12, 2007

to Michael and Hannah Rogers

in Lakeland, FL

Her big brother is Wesley.

Jackson Robert Sellers

July 16, 2007

to Brandon and Ashley Sellers

in Birmingham, AL

Noah Patrick Cheketri

July 17, 2007

Patrick and Jennifer Cheketri

in Brisbane, QLD Australia

Adler's Boo-Boo...

So many of you are mothers. I am a mother, too... but in a different way. I have two precious baby-dogs. Rez and Adler are, for now, the closest things to children that Justin and I have. They go everywhere with us... vacation, work (well, they go to work with Justin), shopping, they sleep with us, and have even been known to wait patiently in the car while we are at church or eating at a restaurant. They are great dogs - so well behaved. Here is a picture of them just before our walk yesterday. Aren't they cute?!

Adler is very photogenic, but Rez refused to perk her ears up for this shot.

This one is from Christmas 2006.

Hannah, I know you (and probably others, too) think this humanizing-the-dog thing is absolutely ridiculous, but I can't help it. If I've accurately painted the picture of how much we love our dogs, you can imagine my intense concern when I saw the below flesh wound on Adler's back.

I tried to blow up the actual wound so you could see it a little better.

The vet said he could stitch her up, but Justin opted not to because we're not crazy about the idea of putting the dogs under anesthesia. It's so sad to see her in pain, although I think it bothers me more than it bothers her. I've been cleaning the wound with hydrogen peroxide several times a day, and she's been taking amoxicillin to fight any infection. I must say she's been quite a big girl. After about a day of trying to figure out what actually happened to cause such a wound, Justin noticed there was a little bit of Adler's hair on the knob that adjusts the umbrella on the patio table. What are the chances!? Poor Adler... hopefully her wound will heal soon, and without infection!

And because Justin hasn't gotten much face time on the blog lately, I found this picture fitting. Here's my #1 baby with my #2 and #3 babies - my precious family.

Pictures of the new house...

Yesterday I had a little time after work to stop by the new house and tooka few pictures. The trim and mantle are in, and the CABINETS were installed Thursday! I watched the boxes of cabinets sit in my house for three days, so I was starting to get ancy, but they turned out great and the entire kitchen was set up in just one day. I think tile is next, and countertops, and paint. Our good friends, Daniel and Dana (and their son, Chase) are moving in just a few homes away, and they already have paint, tile, countertops, and light fixtures. I think their home is about a month ahead of ours, and it's been fun watching it grow.

This is the exterior of our home... it was a little wet and dreary the day I took this, so I think the one I posted a few days ago looks better.

This is our kitchen! I can't wait to see it all finished out with granite and the backsplash! (Maybe I should learn how to cook now!)

This is the living room.

Looking from the living room into the dining room.

Everything is going really well on the home front. Mom and Dad have actually been wonderful hosts, and Mom and I have really enjoyed walking together most evenings. I think they're going to go through Empty Nest Syndrome again after we leave. Oh well, it's all about adjusting these days! Hope you all are having a great week end!

Introducing... Anna Kate Rogers!

Click on Hannah's blog to get the full update!

Eye Emergency and Celebrity Look-Alikes

Am I the only one who glances through my entire blogroll about once a day? Sometimes I don't get a chance (like the last 2 weeks in June this year), but I usually try to click through to check for recent updates... even if I just skim the post and don't get a chance to comment or write a post of my own. Well, I have begun getting sad sometimes when I check day after day and there's not a new post! I know that most of us have more to do than sit around pounding out new posts on our laptops every day, but I really enjoy getting the daily updates... no matter how trivial. So tonight, after parousing the blogroll, I noticed that my last entry was 6 days ago!!! If I were someone else, I'd be wanting me to post!!! (Um, does that even make sense? Oh well.) Anyway, my life mainly consists of of the basic mundanes, with the spice of life added every now and then, so I KNOW that most of you are not waiting on pins and needles, clicking on my blog every day for an update, but here you go. And I'll be brief. Ha!

We had a great time at the beach. Justin and I just hung around mom-in-law's house and watched movies, slept in and just enjoyed spending time with each other. I put an away message on my voice mail so I could leave it off GUILT-FREE! It was wonderful. Anyway, Saturday while cleaning my contact lens, I tore it. Not sure how, it just tore. Unfortunately, my prescription was expired (by 2 months), so I had to go to the eye doctor. Now, two visits, two sets of contacts, and two optometrists later, I'm hoping to get fitted in the CORRECT prescription tomorrow. The doctor in Gulf Shores made such a mistake that I can barely read street signs while driving until I have practically passed them. I have an optometrist friend named Dr. Bonnie Mallard, and I am seeing her tomorrow to get this all cleared up (pun intended). Thanks Bonnie!

I'll leave you with this. I've seen this before several times, but for some reason, tonight I felt like adding it to my blog. I'm curious to see who YOU look like! Do you agree that I look like these celebrity ladies?


Aloha (from what I hear, this can be used as hello OR goodbye in Hawaii... ooh, I want to go there...NOW!)

Update on our house...

It just occurred to me that I haven't posted an updated picture of the house in quite some time. This is an old picture, but the outside really hasn't changed very much from when this was taken about 3 weeks ago. Our home is now completely sheetrocked and I expect cabinets to go in sometime next week. Please let September come soon!

Still waiting on those red brick columns to balance it all out, but as you can see, it's coming along! We were a bit worried about the yellow because almost all the homes around us are in earth tones, but we were so pleased at how well it turned out. The brick columns will certainly lessen the blow. I really can't wait to see how they change the look!

Tonight we met Justin's brother, sister-in-law, and our neices for a surprise dinner. They live in Mobile and we try to see them as often as possible, but unfortunately it's been a few months. The little rugrats grow like weeds, so it's always fun to see how the girls have changed. Meghan is 9 1/2 going on 19 and Caitlin is all about being an almost-4-year-old little girl. She and I have the same birthday, so she's my special buddy. She always puts her hair next to mine and tells me it "matches." Her mommy has red hair and her daddy has dark hair, so I think she feels a special bond. ;-) I like to think so anyway. Also joining us for dinner were Joel and Che, some of Scott and Hilary's friends who used to live in Mobile. So, here is a picture of the girls from tonight.

Well, leaving for the beach super-early in the morning, so I'm off!

Lehitraot (Hebrew for bye-bye!)

Workin’ Like a Dog. Oh, and Happy Birthday, America!

I wish I had good excuse for not blogging in a while. Such as basking on a yacht in the Caribbean. Or building homes in Honduras for those who don’t have them. Or possibly even traveling so much visiting friends and family that I haven’t had time to blog! But no. My “excuse” (if you can call it one) is that I’ve been working non-stop from dawn until well past dusk every single solitary day since Father’s Day… incidentally, the day after my last post. No kidding, y’all. No weekends, no light days, no time off in the middle of the day for a pedicure, no leaving early because all the work is done. This has been 8am – 10pm for over two weeks… until today… which has quite possibly been the laziest day I’ve had since I was in college. I proudly let everyone in the house know that I was going to have a “ME” day. Everything was going to be on MY schedule including when I get up, when I eat, when I exercise, when I shower, and when I go to bed. It’s almost 10:00 now, and this has been the most wonderfully relaxing day. Thank you, God, for days like today.

And to top it all off, I got to watch the beautiful fireworks explode over the Birmingham icon, Vulcan, and listen to patriotic music. I love goofy military band tunes and old American favorites like “You’re a Grand Ole Flag,” “God Bless America,” and their more recent counterpart, Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA.” The fireworks were great, and so were the ribs, baked beans, slaw, peach shortcake and ice cream that I’ve been indulging in throughout the day.

If you are curious to hear about the class reunion update, I’ll give you a brief rundown. Nothing had changed. Seriously, about 3 people looked different. It was very nice to see everyone, and I really did have a good time, but it definitely took me back to 1997. And 1996. And 95, 94, 93, etc. I wonder what 2017 holds in store! Gosh, that seems so far away!

We're beaching it again this weekend for the first time in a month. I'm going through some serious withdrawals. Will update soon!

Cheerio!