Ta Daaaaaaaaaaaaa

So here it is...my masterpiece! This 3-D puzzle of Cinderella's Castle had 560 pieces and took about 12 hours to assemble. Was I crazy? Yup...but it was worth it.

Let's start from the beginning...I didn't think that I have had this puzzle for THAT long, but i also think that this might have been the one thing that put me over the top when it came to believing in Santa Clause. I unwrapped this gift, what i think i remember as this puzzle, still had the sticker price on it from Brand Names!! I kept that secret with me and finally told my mom yesterday! I tried putting it together but I soon figured out that i was over my head and put it up in my closet.

Lately i've been in a puzzle kind of mood. Whether my brain is starved for stimulation or i had a need for some sort of hard accomplishment, it had been going on for a couple weeks now.When i go and visit my grandpa at the nursing home they have all sorts of puzzles and stuff around, so i would put 100 piece puzzles together and was ready for a challenging 500 piece one. There was always some one in the room so i never got to start my 500 piece puzzle.I was cleaning my room on friday and found this puzzle. I started it Saturday night after our soccer tournament and dinner with mom, Aunt Mary Jo, and grammy. I worked on it saturday night for 6 hours, i was ready to give up but decided to go to bed and try it again on Sunday. I got back at it sunday afternoon around 1 and finally put the finishing touches on it at 7. My neck is stiff and my back hurts but i finally have a sense of accomplishment!!

So I had ALL ACCESS to the Casting Crowns Concert last night....

So last night, Sunday March 19th Casting Crowns, Nichole Nordeman, and Josh Bates were at St. Bonaventure for the Lifesong Tour. It was AMAZING! And since I work at Bona's, and there's got to be some sort of perks here or there...I got free tickets and an ALL ACCESS PASS!
I showed up at Bona's at about 2:00pm with plans to help set up a little (and earn my ticket), hear and experience sound check, and also do some actual work at Bona's. I had an in with the maintenence guys so they schmoosed one of the managers of the tour to get me in to the Meet & Greet session that Casting Crowns and Nichole Nordeman do before the concert, so I was able to get into that at about 7:00pm. I met all of the band members and shook their hands and held a conversation here or there, but i didn't get my picture taken with any of them because i'm a woose (is that how you spell it?) and didn't ask. I did, however, get all of Casting Crowns autographs!!

I actually got 2 free tickets, called a few people to see if they wanted the extra one, but oddly enough they didn't for one reason or another. That was fine though because I was prepared to use my all access pass for all it was worth and go here, there and everywhere! So I brought both tickets with me just incase i saw someone i knew.

At about 3:30, Mrs. Mac (my Kindergarted teacher and my second mother) called me and asked if the extra ticket was still available because there was another woman who needed some "spiritual guidance" and thought that the concert would be a good place to bring her. So I put my extra ticket at will call and met up with her at the concert.

The concert was awesome and Casting Crowns treated it like a worship service with the words in the background so everyone knew what they were singing about and could sing along. The Lifesong CD is a great one, i recommend it to anyone!

They also had a preacher named Tony something, that used humor when telling about his witnessing technique, and then gave an alter call where over 200 people dedicated their lives to the Lord...how amazing, and a lot of them were adults too! The best part about it was that the lady who went with Mrs. Mac's ticket dedicated her life to Jesus!!!! Everything has a reason for happening!

After the concert i stayed a little while helping fold up chairs and going back stage (cause i could!) and seeing Josh Bates and a couple of the Casting Crown band members again! It was a great experience, I wish you all could have been there!

Vacations seem to fly by...

Well here's my last blog of Vacation, tomorrow is our last day here and it's not actually even a full day, we fly out at 7:30 tomorrow night. We have to check out at 11am so i'm not sure what exactly we're going to do.

We've had a great vacation, but we're at the point where some of us start getting on some others nerves and the innocent sarcasm that was funny at the beginning of the week gets a roll of the eyes and a shake of the head at this point in the vacation! Oh well, family is family and we're all proud and glad that we're so close most of the time! The past few days have been great so i'll recap them for you.

Wednesday was Katie's day to pick our event and she picked a dolphin tour. She has always wanted to swim with the dolphins and this was just one step closer to her dream. We boarded a boat that was a mix between a speed boat and a pontoon with another couple from Minnesota and our captain, Rick. We took off from the harbor and saw 3 dolphins almost immediately. We tried to coral them and get them to chase us and play with us, but they weren't in the playing mood! But we did get to see a bunch of them and one even swam right under our boat. Dolphins are very sneeky suckers and one minute they'd be right next to the boat and the next minute they'd be 500 feet away in the other direction! So the pictures aren't that great...but i did get some!


After seeing the dolphins we drove through houses in the harbor that were worth MILLIONS of dollars...one house there was priced at $40 Million!! It was crazy!! From inside the harbor we went out into the Gulf of Mexico and did some jetskiing, i wonder what my face looked like going 60 mph!!! (My mom even went too: see picture!) From there we went to a private island and got to spend a half an hour just searching for sea shells and chilling out, it was fantastic! The whole day was great, but unfortunately we all got a little fried as well...so wednesday night was spent covered up on the couch watching tv, which is never all that bad!



Today we didn't have anything planned to do, which was nice. We layed out by the pool for a bit (I was definately in the shade or in the pool...not much sun exposure for this girl), hit some shops that were WAY out of our league, then went to the peir to catch a little more sun and then out for dinner...

Who know's what's in store for tomorrow, maybe a little shopping at the outlets, but I can't buy too much because nothing else will fit in my suitcase!

So this is it for me from Florida...it's been great, but now it's back to the real world and to coaching and figureing out what to do with this Asthma Coordinator job...no more excuses for me! Wish me luck!

Holy airboat ride Batman!

Woah man...I was NOT expecting this! Monday, March 6th was dad's day to pick what we're going to do while in Naples. He had talked all weekend about going on an Airboat ride in the Everglades. At first he thought that just he and I would go and Mom and Kate could go shopping, but then they both decided they wanted to go too.

We had an appointment set up for 2:00pm, so after a few hours in the sun we packed up extra clothes, towels and headed south. We were driving for a little over an hour, the further south we got the more country and swampy it got until we were sure that we were in the lower socio-economic status of the Everglades. We stopped at a gas station to grab some lunch, there was a Subway in the gas station where we weren't sure if the attendant was a man or a woman! The smell outside wasn't the most pleasant and we had no idea what we had gotten ourselves into! Dad decided that we either go big or go home and had chosen the hour and a half ride, and boy was mom and Kate not pleased!

We finally got there and found a trailer with the address on it, it didn't look like a professional place at all...but we were already in too deep! We got there on time and got into the airboat with our guide named Daryll, along with another couple. Katie wanted to sit in front so she got what she wanted and i sat with her, with mom and dad behind us and the other couple in the third row with Daryll behind.

It started off slow through a no wake zone, then we got into open waters. WOAH MAMA, all of a sudden the boat takes off at 40 mph with the wind wipping through our hair, laughing at one another with spit flying out of our mouths and our stomach's hurting from laghing so hard and not being able to breathe!

It was the best ride of my life! We went through canals, open waters under bridges and saw some wild pigs and even 3 alligators!

Our hour and a half ride was a perfect length, we were able to see and experience everything that Daryll had to offer! Here are some pictures of our adventure!

In Florida....again

Well folks, I'm in Florida...again! This time i'm with my Mom, Dad and sister down in Naples, FL. We'be been here since Friday and could not ask for better weather. It's been 84 and 82 the last couple days and 3 hours in the sun each day is definately enough. My sister thinks that since she has a base tan from the tanning salon that she doesn't need suntan lotion, but she's definately feeling the effects today. She's the color of a lobster and has to reapply the aloe lotion every half hour or so! Usually that's me in the lobster situation, but i'm doing pretty well. Sure i'm burned a little but i've learned my lesson and try and let the burn tan up before really putting myself out there!

Yesterday, Saturday, March 4th we hung out at the pool for 3 hours then headed down to Tin City, kind of a local shopping plaza that's geared towards tourists. Then we headed to Joe's Crab Shack for dinner...always a FL favorite, although I believe that I did go to one in Pittsburgh last time i was there!

Today, Sunday, we did our daily sun bathing then about 3 o'clock headed out for Ft. Myers Beach. We spent about 3 and a half hours there, getting an early dinner and watching the sun set. Katie took a nap in the car while dad and i walked the beach took pictures and basked in the awesomeness of the Lord.

Tomorrow, Monday, we're only going to stay in the sun for 2 hours, then head south to the Everglades where we're looking to take a airboat ride through the waters of the Everglades and hopefully see some alligators and stuff. I'll catch you up in the next couple days.

Here are some pics from this evenings adventures.