For the past 6 weeks, I have had these very sudden and very strong urges to travel pretty much anywhere and everywhere! I cannot pinpoint the exact catalyst of this urge but I have a pretty good suspicion that it has been caused by two events. One being that now all I want to do is go outside due to the gorgeous weather and beautiful blooming flowers. The second reason being that since I'm fixing to get married, I have all of these hopes and dreams of weekend getaways with my soon to be hubby! Either way, the thought of traveling is a constant in my mind.
Over the past few weeks I've come up with a list of places I want to go within the next year. They are as follows:
1. Greenville, SC- I had the opportunity to visit Greenville, SC five years ago when I was doing the whole college-hunt thing. While I was there, I fell head over heels in love with the city. It was as if it came straight out of a movie. Downtown is lined with little shops and boutiques and has an abundance of little restaurants, cafes, and coffee shops that include the black iron wraught tables that sit out front where customers can sit and drink their coffee and eat their delectable goodies. The streets contain black post lamps that illuminate the sidewalks and little shops at night. In the evenings, you can see couples walking hand-in-hand along the sidewalks or families holding a little toddler's hand while pushing a stroller with the other. Its just like a movie scene! Not too far from downtown is a large park! This park is really why I love the city! The park has a swinging bridge and a huuuuuge waterfall that is just absolutely perfect! The park is gorgeous with it's rivers, bridges, and abundance of tulips, daisies, orchids, and a variety of other flowers. The park itself is also perfect for a movie set. As you walk the trails, you will see couple's picnicing together on blankets, families laughing and playing, and of course, you will see men and women throwing frisbees to their beloved dogs! Its just absolutely perfect!
2. Charleston, SC- I absolutely, without a doubt, want to go visit Charleston Waterfront Park at least once in my lifetime! The thought of just sitting on park benches overlooking the water at sunset or sunrise is soooo unbelievably appealing to me. Just the thought relaxes me! I also would love to go visit many of the historic plantation homes that are located in Charleston! I love history and just the thought of walking where so much history took place gives me chills.
3. Washington, DC- As a history buff, you have to understand I can't get enough of Washington! In fact, when I was doing the whole college hunt thing, I considered going to George Washington University just so I could be right in the heart of D.C. Its been a while since I've been to D.C. and its been even longer since Kevin has been, so I'd love to take him to show him all that has changed. I want to go walk the steps to the Lincoln Memorial. I want to walk into the center of the Library of Congress and slowly turn around and see the spines of 33 million books. I want to sit in the presence of the Supreme Court justices and hear them deliberate constitutional issues. I want to walk all 897 steps of the Washington Monument... however, I think I'll take the elevator down. I want to visit the Vietnam Memorial and look up Michael J. Mummel's name again. I want to walk around Arlington National Cemetary and be humbled and become more appreciative of the 300,000 men and women who gave up their lives for MY freedom. I want to visit the Holocaust Museum and see how fortunate I am to not have to live under such oppression. I want to visit Ford's Theater and see where President Lincoln was shot, as I've never had the opportunity to do so. I want to go to the International Spy Museum and play around with all of the equipment that US Spies can use! Its soooo much fun! Of course, I HAVE to visit the National Air and Space Museum seeing as how The Wright Brothers are my relatives. And I guess while we are there, I have to take Kevin to the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium so he can watch his beloved Redskins play. All in all, you can tell, it is by far my favorite place in the whole entire world and the one place I most definitely have to go visit by the end of the year!
4.01.2011
3.25.2011
Teacher Humor
Are you sick of high paid teachers? Teachers’ hefty salaries are driving up taxes, and they only work 9 or 10 months a year! It’s time we put things in perspective and pay them for what they do - baby sit! We can get that for less than minimum wage.
That’s right. Let’s give them $3.00 an hour and only the hours they worked; not any of that silly planning time, or any time they spend before or after school. That would be $19.50 a day (7:45 to 3:00 PM
with 45 min. off for lunch and plan — that equals 6 1/2 hours).
Each parent should pay $19.50 a day for these teachers to baby-sit their children.
Now how many do they teach in day…maybe 30? So that’s $19.50 x 30 = $585.00 a day. However, remember they only work 180 days a year!!! I am not going to pay them for any vacations.
LET’S SEE…. That’s $585 X 180= $105,300 per year. (Hold on! My calculator needs new batteries).
What about those special education teachers and the ones with Master’s degrees? Well, we could pay them minimum wage ($7.75), and just to be fair, round it off to $8.00 an hour. That would be $8 X 6 1/2 hours X 30 children
X 180 days = $280,800 per year.
Wait a minute — there’s something wrong here! There sure is!
The average teacher’s salary (nation wide) is $50,000. $50,000/180 days = $277.77/per day/30 students=$9.25/6.5 hours = $1.42 per hour per student–a very inexpensive baby-sitter and they even EDUCATE your
kids!)
WHAT A DEAL!!!!
That’s right. Let’s give them $3.00 an hour and only the hours they worked; not any of that silly planning time, or any time they spend before or after school. That would be $19.50 a day (7:45 to 3:00 PM
with 45 min. off for lunch and plan — that equals 6 1/2 hours).
Each parent should pay $19.50 a day for these teachers to baby-sit their children.
Now how many do they teach in day…maybe 30? So that’s $19.50 x 30 = $585.00 a day. However, remember they only work 180 days a year!!! I am not going to pay them for any vacations.
LET’S SEE…. That’s $585 X 180= $105,300 per year. (Hold on! My calculator needs new batteries).
What about those special education teachers and the ones with Master’s degrees? Well, we could pay them minimum wage ($7.75), and just to be fair, round it off to $8.00 an hour. That would be $8 X 6 1/2 hours X 30 children
X 180 days = $280,800 per year.
Wait a minute — there’s something wrong here! There sure is!
The average teacher’s salary (nation wide) is $50,000. $50,000/180 days = $277.77/per day/30 students=$9.25/6.5 hours = $1.42 per hour per student–a very inexpensive baby-sitter and they even EDUCATE your
kids!)
WHAT A DEAL!!!!
2.20.2011
Our Honeymoon Spot!
When Kevin and I were first planning our wedding, we decided to go to Disney World for our honeymoon. I hadn't been since I was 8 years old and Kevin hadn't been since he was 3. Needless to say, alot has changed since then so we thought it would be fun to go. If we went to Disney, everything would be right there at our disposal. We could stay, eat, and have lots to do right where we were without ever having to get in a car and drive somewhere.
However, as we began planning our trip to Disney, we up and changed our mind and decided to go to Tennessee. We came across some amazing cabins that we felt were AWESOME! So we finally booked one and I've included pics of our cabin so you can see it! It's absolutely amazing. We have our own private pool... INSIDE of our cabin!
Check it out...
The cabin!
Our own private indoor pool!
The pool and lounging area!
Master Bedroom!
The master bathroom! We have a fireplace in there!
2nd bedroom!
2nd Bathroom
Overhead view of the living room!
Living room!
Dining Room!
Another view of the Dining Room!
Kitchen & Bar!
Pool table & Arcade!
Private hot tub!
Our Patio!
The Porch! I looove rocking chairs!
However, as we began planning our trip to Disney, we up and changed our mind and decided to go to Tennessee. We came across some amazing cabins that we felt were AWESOME! So we finally booked one and I've included pics of our cabin so you can see it! It's absolutely amazing. We have our own private pool... INSIDE of our cabin!
Check it out...
The cabin!
Our own private indoor pool!
The pool and lounging area!
Master Bedroom!
The master bathroom! We have a fireplace in there!
2nd bedroom!
2nd Bathroom
Overhead view of the living room!
Living room!
Dining Room!
Another view of the Dining Room!
Kitchen & Bar!
Pool table & Arcade!
Private hot tub!
Our Patio!
The Porch! I looove rocking chairs!
1.13.2011
So Unbelievably Proud!
As all those close to me know, my closest friends and I have entitled ourselves the "Quad Pod". Olivia gave us that name a few years ago and what do you know? It stuck! The Quad Pod consists of three of my very best friends that I have had since first grade! We all attended Community Baptist together and no matter where life has taken us, we have always stayed in touch and retained our amazing friendship. Over the years we have had the opportunity to share so much with each other and now, I'm so excited to get to spend time watching my best friend make all her dreams come true.
Over the last year and a half, me and the other two quad pod members have gotten to watch, as well as cheer, Kristy on as she has pursued her future career in modeling. We have cheered her on as she has competed for the past two years in the Miss North Carolina Pageant and we got to see her place 4th out of all the girls! We have even seen her compete against 800 girls and come out in the top 25! But none of that compares to what we got to see this week! I could not be more happy than I am for my best friend right now because this past Sunday, my best friend left for Los Angeles! She had the amazing opportunity to go there to model for a company! I'm just so excited for her and am so happy that she is able to experience all that she ever dreamed of in life!
Over the last year and a half, me and the other two quad pod members have gotten to watch, as well as cheer, Kristy on as she has pursued her future career in modeling. We have cheered her on as she has competed for the past two years in the Miss North Carolina Pageant and we got to see her place 4th out of all the girls! We have even seen her compete against 800 girls and come out in the top 25! But none of that compares to what we got to see this week! I could not be more happy than I am for my best friend right now because this past Sunday, my best friend left for Los Angeles! She had the amazing opportunity to go there to model for a company! I'm just so excited for her and am so happy that she is able to experience all that she ever dreamed of in life!
12.10.2010
Our Perfect, Lazy Day
It seems like for the past month I have been absolutely swamped with things to do. With the holidays here, the school year ending, working on wedding plans, beginning my second job again, and a variety of other responsibilities, it seems that my fiance has been put aside. Now don't get me wrong, I see Kevin everyday. Throughout the day, we text and see what each other is doing and at the end of the day we always have dinner together but other than that, we don't have much time for anything else. It's as if for the past 4 weeks, we've just gone through the motions of the day. We start our days, send a few texts back and forth but really don't carry on much conversation, Kev works out at the gym while I work or do homework, we eat dinner together, and then its bed time. When the weekend comes, it's no different. We have a fifty things to do and a hundred places to go. So when the week winds down and I look back, I see that though I've been with Kevin, we haven't really spent much time together. But yesterday, we made up for that!
Since I'm out of school now and I didn't have to work and Kevin was off, we spent the day doing nothing but being lazy and it was AMAZING! We woke up and spent some time with our little guy! Sadly, he gets put on the back burner too :( After we played with him for a while, we curled up together on the couch and watched some tv... & of course, Rimy had to cuddle with us too! He's a spoiled fella! Around 12 we started getting hungry so we decided to go out to lunch. After lunch we came back home, cuddled up on the couch, and watched "Knight and Day". By that point, it was 4 o'clock and we had to stop being lazy so we got up and went to the gym. Then last night we went to see my nephew's school Christmas play and had dinner at Fursty's with my sister, brother-in-law, and nephew after. By the time we got home, it was time to call it a night and prepare for a new day.
So when I woke up this morning, I had a revelation. Yesterday was the best day I've had in a very long time. Not because I didn't have the opportunities but because I gave up those opportunities for those lazy days so I could accomplish a million and one things that I'd taken on that really didn't matter and that could wait. Because in the grand scheme of things, what is most important is those you love. So I've decided that I'm not waiting another month for another perfect,lazy day with my loves. I'm going to slow down and take some time for my two fellas so that we can have a lazy day every chance we can get (:
Since I'm out of school now and I didn't have to work and Kevin was off, we spent the day doing nothing but being lazy and it was AMAZING! We woke up and spent some time with our little guy! Sadly, he gets put on the back burner too :( After we played with him for a while, we curled up together on the couch and watched some tv... & of course, Rimy had to cuddle with us too! He's a spoiled fella! Around 12 we started getting hungry so we decided to go out to lunch. After lunch we came back home, cuddled up on the couch, and watched "Knight and Day". By that point, it was 4 o'clock and we had to stop being lazy so we got up and went to the gym. Then last night we went to see my nephew's school Christmas play and had dinner at Fursty's with my sister, brother-in-law, and nephew after. By the time we got home, it was time to call it a night and prepare for a new day.
So when I woke up this morning, I had a revelation. Yesterday was the best day I've had in a very long time. Not because I didn't have the opportunities but because I gave up those opportunities for those lazy days so I could accomplish a million and one things that I'd taken on that really didn't matter and that could wait. Because in the grand scheme of things, what is most important is those you love. So I've decided that I'm not waiting another month for another perfect,lazy day with my loves. I'm going to slow down and take some time for my two fellas so that we can have a lazy day every chance we can get (:
