Weekend stories

This past weekend was a busy one. I took the day off Friday b/c my parents were going to come for a visit. My dad had out patient had hand surgery on Friday and they were going to drive to Hattiesburg after the surgery and stay until Monday. He had to go back to the doctor on Monday so instead of driving to Selma which is close to a 3 hour drive, they would come visit Owen and me. Another part of this story is my Grandmother has been in the hospital for a week now. She has an infection in her lymph nodes and they do not know what caused the infection. Back to my dad...his surgery went well but was more tired that he thought he would be, so they stayed the night in Mobile. Which was good b/c my mom was able to be to visit her mom and help my Aunt Kathy out for at least a day. All of this meant, I had a day off to clean the house and relax a little.

Saturday was jam packed full of fun. I was asked to judge the Miss USM pageant. Directing the pageant was one of my "other duties assigned" when I worked at Southern and was the one aspect of leaving USM that I was going to miss. One of the judges backed out at the last minute so they asked me. I was more than willing to step in and judge. This was my first Miss Mississippi preliminary that I have judged and hopefully not the last. Saturday morning was the interviews which ended at lunch. Then at 2 pm Owen and I went over to his parents for his nephew's birthday party. Owen's brother and family were in town and his mom invited their cousins and their children for an afternoon of play time. Around 3 pm my parents came into town and joined the birthday celebration. I had to leave at 4 pm to get ready for the pageant. When I left at 5:00, my parents and Owen went back to the Muntons for hamburgers and hotdogs. It was a fun day and I am so glad that our families are able to spend time with each other and get along as well as they do.

We had a lazy Sunday morning with ESPN news, coffee and cinnamon rolls. Mid morning we went to church and out to eat for lunch. That is a Sunday ritual Owen and I have started and enjoy so much. I enjoy going out to Sunday lunch more than a weekend night date. After lunch mom went and got me flowers to plant on our back patio. She is the sole responsible person who is helping our back patio look bright and happy. Let's hope I don't kill the flowers. I am not good at remembering to water plants. That afternoon we met with the Muntons for a movie. We watched Grand Toreno (SP?) with Clint Eastwood. It was a very good movie. It was violent at times, had bad language, but the plot was great. It was very emotional and I had bad dreams about it last night. Actually I am still thinking about it, the movie was better than I thought it would be. After the movie we went to Outback. My parents have not been to Outback in 10 years, and we thought it was time for that streak to be over. Unfortunately b/c Owen and I were with them, this meant we had bad service. I don't know what it is about us, but wait staffs really don't like to help us out very much. The food was good, but again, the service was not the greatest.

That about sums up the weekend. My parents left this morning so Dad could have the doctor check out his stitches and make sure it is healing properly. It was so good to see them. Hope you all had a nice weekend.

Happy Valentines Day

Happy Valentines Day to you all...even though I am 2 days behind...I hope that you all had a nice day on Saturday.

Owen worked until 1 pm on Saturday so we were able to spend the afternoon together. That was a treat in itself. We were going to stay home and Owen was going to cook his famous Chicken Parmesan for dinner. After we ate lunch on Saturday we decided to be spontaneous and drive to the coast. We went home and got Ralphie and headed out for an adventure. We made a stop at a car dealership and test drove cars all afternoon. Owen has been wanting a new car and I think he might just get one...if the dealer can find the right one. Who knows, maybe I will get an upgrade as well.

We got back to Hattiesburg a little late for a big home made meal so we had pizza in. Just one sign of many that we are now married! We did light a candle so we could have a romantic pizza night for Valentines Day.

It was a unique Valentines Day, but a fun one because Owen and I were able to hang out and not worry about work for an afternoon.

Again, hope you all had a nice weekend!

Training Update

It has been a while since I updated you all on my training with Amanda. I got measured on Tuesday so we could see my progress. I actually did not think I had made any progress b/c I don't feel or look thinner, but to my surprise, I have actually lost an inch everywhere. So that is positive. I have not picked up cardio which I need to in order really see results. I feel so much stronger though and I think that is important. Owen and I are talking about getting an elliptical machine which I think will help me out a lot. I really don't enjoy going to the gym and think exercising at home would fit into my schedule better. Owen likes to ride his bike when he gets home from work (even though this has not been happening since he gets home at 8 pm now) which would motivate me to use the elliptical machine. We have been talking about this for a couple of weeks and we have gone to look at them twice. They are more expensive than we think they should be, so that is why we haven't gotten one yet. Maybe we will take plunge and buy one soon.

Hair Cut

I got my hair cut yesterday, which is always a good day. I really like the person I go to but I have such a hard time describing what I want her to do. I am on a short hair kick right now b/c I think it is easier to fix and I think my hair does better when it is short. When I left the salon, I loved it and knew I could fix it like she did. Then came this morning and I had no such luck. I am trying to go for the hair cut I had in graduate school and am not having any luck. I tried to look through old pictures so I could show her what I want, but I can't seem to find one that I think will work. Maybe I just want to look like an early 20 something instead of an almost 30 year old. Anyways...this is the 2nd attempt to get the style I want...maybe by the 3rd hair cut we will have it.

Blog worthy??? I think so

I am sure you have started to realize that Owen and I talk about our dog quite a bit...so I think a trip to the vet is a blog worthy entry. It is especially blog worthy b/c I had to go on this trip by myself.

My precious puppy dog has been itching uncontrollably lately. I thought it was his dry skin from the winter, but Friday we noticed he ears were inflamed and he had scratched himself raw in some places. Our poor little pup was in serious pain. So we made a vet visit and learned that Ralphie has some allergies. The vet thinks it could just be something in the air, let's hope so. Right now he is on antibiotic, a steroid and has to get his ears cleaned once a day. Ralphie does not mind the medicine, but he can't stand for us to mess with his ears. He makes that very clear to us.


This is the pose that Ralphie has been in for a while now b/c he can't quit scratching...

I had to go on this vet visit by myself. I am not the Alpha parent in Ralphie's life. That is Owen. I am definitely the Beta parent or maybe even the Omega...meaning Ralphie sometimes walks over me. I am getting better though. I say this to paint a picture of an Erin and Ralphie trip in public. I get so nervous when Ralphie is around other people. I know people aren't always dog people (even people at the vet) so I understand how people would not want an 80 pound dog to sniff or maybe jump on them. However, because Ralphie did not feel well...he was somewhat controllable. That is until we had to check out and the ladies behind the desk take their time with getting your bill ready. I had Ralphie on a tight leash (a choke collar actually) and Ralphie is so dramatic that he starts coughing very loudly and gasping for air like I am being mean to him (he does this on his walks as well when he does not get his way about the direction he thinks we need to go).Well that just set in more embarrassment for me. Two hours later I was ready to go home.

This was Friday and today he is scratching less, so I am glad the medicine is working :)



Ralphie at the Vet...


Ralphie not being cooperative with me taking a picture of him in the waiting room


This is a sweet picture of him on Saturday