Belated Celebrations and Bahama Elations!

A couple of weekends ago we hosted a belated surprise graduation party for my cousin, Karissa.

The party was fabulous, complete with:

Her mommy's homemade angel food cake, batter hand whipped to "stiff peaks" do to our lack of electric mixer at the house...

Homemade banner by yours truly, some beautiful decorated cupcakes (thanks to my friend Sherry for giving me some tips!) and some delicious punch... among other more substantial food... 

And of course, who could forget, Miss Graduate herself.
{A pic of the attending Womack ladies:
Susan, McKenzie, Karissa, Whitney, Nachelle, Brenda}

The very next weekend, mom and I packed up and headed off for our long awaited trip to Nassau, Bahamas!

No, we're not rich -- far from it.  Mom was able to qualify for the trip through a company she works with called Mannatech.  She worked so hard to get there and after everything she's been through in the past few years, she deserved such a lovely bonus!  I was lucky enough to be invited to tag along... ;)

Coming in for a landing... water like I've never seen before!

The welcome dinner had some incredible performers!

 Atlantis Trivia: The "Bridge Room" (above, right) is a ten room suite rated at $25,000 per night with a minimum 4 night required reservation... and it's booked solid for the next five years.

The walkway leading to one of the many incredible restaurants of Atlantis.

Loving the beach!  Again... the water!!!

Our *ahem* $250.00 meal... glad we weren't picking up that check!

So many incredible sculptures...

And one giant chair... =)

Looking back at the foyer entrance to the Atlantis resort... it's basically insane.

Preparing to go swim with the dolphins!

A sunset view from our balcony.  We were on floor 19 of 20... what luck!  =)

More incredible architecture...

We walked through the marina on our way to...

...ride the ferry!  We took this "taxi" to the main island for a bit more affordable souvenir shopping.

On the boat with our friends Angie and Chalise... poor Chalise was feeling a bit sea sick at the moment.

 Our most touristy moment of the week, right here folks.

Mom found some Bahamian maracas for this soon-to-be music teacher!  =)

A quaint little area (I believe called the Harbor Village?) we walked through between the resort and the marina.

We stood mesmerized on the balcony, watching some "fore-math" of hurricane Tomas brush alongside Nassau.

The view of Dolphin Cay (pronounced "Key") from our room.

In light of "Tomas" we headed down to The Dig to experience some marine life.

And explored some outdoor areas we had yet to experience once the rain cleared...

At the farewell dinner with Mannatech.

Bidding our sorrowful goodbyes to our lovely room and view at Atlantis...

 Does anyone else know that Christopher Columbus landed in the Bahamas?  That's a statue of him we passed on our way to the airport.

Oh beautiful Bahamas, your beautiful sights and exciting new experiences will be missed!

UnDeR CoNsTrUcTiOn

Please excuse our mismatched appearance as I update our site intermittently between classes, homework and lesson planning.  =)

Update:

• Mom and I are back from the Bahamas and yes, it was incredible.  Pictures of the insanely beautiful beach and resort soon to come.
• Upon our return, I was so excited to be picked up from the airport by my handsome hubbers whose plane landed mere hours before my own.
• Saturday we enjoyed a scrumptious fundraising breakfast at Applebee's, served by the lovely ladies of Gamma Alpha Lambda, and then headed off to Boonville to visit Mark's Meema & Papa.  They're doing a thorough clean out and therefore let us roam about and scrounge up any furniture, tools, knick knacks, etc. that we wanted.  Boy do I have some DIY projects awaiting me!  They will probably be a bit slow progressing seeing as life with school/teaching right now is so crazy, but we feel incredibly blessed and excited about the wonderful treasures we brought home!
• Before we headed back to KC, my daddy-in-law saw to it that I took a turn learning to shoot his new .40 cal pistol!  Pictures and video definitely soon to come!  =)  It was so fun!

So there you have it folks... 

Sorry I'm a lame-O-loser and don't post hardly at all anymore!  Life just hasn't permitted the maintenance of my blogging addiction lately.

I miss you all dearly and hope to see you much more often in the near future!

Countdown to the Bahamas...

47 Hours

Yet to accomplish before takeoff:

Complete another week's worth of homework

Renew Mark's plates

Make returns

Pack the pups

Deliver dogs to sitter

Purchase things I need for trip

Pack myself

And if time permits, clean house.

It's going to be a busy 48 hours...

PS...

Current Weather in KC: 38 degrees

Current Weather in Nassau, Bahamas: 84 degrees

...I'm just sayin... =D

Countdown to The Bahamas:

Four Days.

As I'm sure you can tell by my lack of bloggerific activity lately, school has been keeping me quite busy.

I have been working my little hinny off to be ahead of the game in homework, studying and life overall in order to be ready for this trip. 

Can't wait to spend hours reading on the plane, sleeping on the beach, swimming with the dolphins oh - my - goodness!!!

I can't believe it's nearly here!  =D

I am SO excited about the beautiful pictures I will *hopefully* bring back to share with you!

And since I'm working to have all of the next TWO weeks worth of homework done before I leave on Sunday, I should actually have time to post those lovely pics when I get back!  =)

Disclaimer:

Since MacGyver and I are still getting to know one another, my pictures may not be edited in such a lovely manner as I usually attempt to achieve.  Any pointers would be greatly appreciated!  Otherwise, please bear with me while I figure life out with my new friend!  =)

Four days folks... four days.

Saturday Morning Musings...

The GAL Rush retreat was last night.

First of all, almost forgot how much I love that rush event more than any of the others.  I love having all night to get to know my sisters better.  =)  Also, I feel old.  I cannot pull of 4:00am like I used to when I was a young chickie.  lol

Second, I've had this tension headache for five days now.  I know it's stemming from my neck -- it's a pretty obvious feeling -- and I've tried stretching it out, but I'm beginning to think that short of paying a masseuse, this thing is in it for the long haul.  I'm becoming desperate... I just might be willing to pay a large sum of money for someone to magically make this headache disappear.

Finally, I realized when I woke up a few minutes ago (remember, I was up till 4:00am) that in two weeks from today I will be boarding an international flight, destination: Bahamas.  Super can't wait.  It's going to be a wonderful week and after looking forward to it for what, 10 months now, I can't believe it's just around the corner!

Reading material for the week is still heavily debated.

I'm caught between reading the Twilight Saga again (always a fav) in preparation for the next movie (I've read all four books before each movie release so far, kind of my favorite rereading I've ever done), the option of branching out and looking for a new novel that I've never read (something light hearted... it's beach reading, folks).

What to read, what to read... oh my goodness I can't wait, it's going to be sooo lovely.

The Wedding was Wonderful...

Everything was beautiful.

The ceremony was wonderful, the atmosphere, the food, the music...

The company and time spent together... just wonderful.

My most favorite part, of course, was when my husband arrived on scene...

It had definitely been way too long since I'd seen those baby blues.  =)

I'll post more soon, but as of right now I'm caught up in the throws of having skipped out on over half a week's classes in order to be at this beautiful cross country affair.

So much reading to get done... so, so, so much reading...

I'll see you soon lovelies... and I'll bring pictures and videos!

Cali Bound!

On Thursday, August 26th this lovely couple will be exchanging vows, rings and kisses and enter into the beautiful covenant of marriage...

...and I am blessed with the privilege of witnessing it all from a front row seat.  =)

I'm so very excited to see them...

and admittedly a little more excited to be meeting my hubbers for a weekend rendezvous on the west coast.  =)

This also means I'll not see you lovely folks until I return.

But I promise to return with lovely California pictures and share them with all of you lovelies!

Ciao!

Back to School, Back to School!

Yes readers, tomorrow I will {re}start the last year of my undergrad degree in music education!!!

The story is that I was four weeks into this last year in the fall of 2009 when Hubs and I got the "fo sho" that we were Texas bound.  Thus, I withdrew from classes and followed my sweet hubster south for a Texas adventure!  Now, almost exactly one year later I am back, ready to roll and waaay ready to graduate!!!

Some think they have senioritis their fourth year of school... try a five year degree with a one year break in the middle!  Sure can make a girl feel like she's behind the curve, but I know that my little sabbatical was the best thing for us in the long run.  =)

So, tomorrow looks like this for me:

1) Pick up sticks/walnuts/trash in the lawn

2) Mow the lawn

3) Walk the puppies

4) Visit the gym

5) Shower / Get ready

6) Unpack my few remaining boxes {hopefully}

7) Class

8) Dinner with some girlfriends

9) First GAL meeting of the semester!

Oh... and the reason for the mowing + walking + gym visit combo = we had a worship team pool party & BBQ tonight and I ate way too much food.  

No, I'm not that insecure.

Normally, I would not worry about this.  However, I have this tiny little bridesmaid dress that I'm attempting to fit into this Thursday and so far I'm just barely squeezing by... literally.

I blow all my air out to be able to zip this sucker... lol

Thus... I'm hoping to shed some major calories tomorrow... and the few days following before the BIG day... 

So my Monday is a little full friends... wish me luck!  =)

Seven Day Forecast

A predictive summary of the week ahead of me:

{I wish that were my chandelier and those were my arched windows and doors}

All followed by the long trek from the Texas panhandle back to our KC home... in a U-haul truck.

I've never been a good packer.

Last time we made this move {in reverse} I had the wonderful help of one husband, one father, two mothers, one sister and several friends.

This time the packing is mostly up to me since family is in KC and the hubs will be at work all day every day; except for this weekend during which he has graciously offered all of his mad skills and muscles to my assistance.  =)

You see, with most things in life, I am a go-getter.  I make my list and get it done.

For some reason, packing is a totally different ball game for me.

I am:

Slow

+

Indecisive

+

Scatterbrained

=

A Bad Packer

I hope we get a lot done this weekend because the likelihood of me getting much accomplished without my hub's help... yikes.

Well, I'd get it done... but it would be a gruelingly slow, indecisive, scatterbrained process.

Did I mention that I'm a bad packer?