You Have One Chance To Live...

Cruise Pics - FINALLY! The rest are still to come

2009-04-28T10:28:00.007-05:00

This is my cousin Brooke's baby Jackson. This is on my grandma's back porch in North Augusta, SC the weekend before the cruise. He's so adorable!

The Watson Women. Waiting for our table at Old McDonald's Fish Restaurant.

This is waiting in line at the boat to get checked in. Carrie ruined the pic by giving me rabbit ears!

My dad and I with my first and only drink on the cruise. Too many rough rocky nights to be consuming alcohol. But I had to at least have one cute drink with the umbrella!

Me in front of the casino. We spent many long nights here playing black jack and roulette. Very worth it in the end considering it paid for our whole trip!!

This was just too funny not to take a picture of and or post on here. This was before we had even left Miami. Dude Speedos... NOT COOL!

The life boat drill. Women and Children first. Darn right!

Christmas on a cruise ship was definitely something new. It was beautifully decorated, and even snowed at one point in this little area of the ship. Santa came to visit the kids of course too!

The fam outside the ship in Nassau, Bahamas.

A shot of Atlantis from our ship.

Posing in front of a waterfall on Paradise Island/Atlantis before we went to the beach.

Screw the pictures, I'm so far behind, I need to get caught up!

2009-04-28T08:04:00.002-05:00

Okay, so I'm sitting at work reading everyone's blogs, and it makes me want to finally update everyone. I hate that I still don't have pictures, but eventually I'll just have one long blog of just pics so everyone can see what I've been up to. Since my last real blog was in October of last year I'll start out with my 1 year anniversary with Lance. November 5th. I'll never forget that date b/c it was 2 days after Leslie's wedding and 4 days before Brittany's wedding. He got me a James Avery ring, which I loved, but had to take back b/c I have the fatest fingers in the world and it was going to cost more than the ring was worth to actually get it sized to fit my stupid fat hand! That is one thing that this relationship has done to me, I have gained so much weight! I hate it! I've never weighed this much in my life! However, I'm seriously working on it now, and am starting to feel a little better. Our first float trip is in 3 weeks - that means bathing suit - which absolutely frightens me but people will just have to deal with the fatness until I'm finally in shape again.

Let's see... also in November we took Lance's grandparents to the Jenks aquarium, which was a lot better then I thought it was going to be. Nothing like some huge one in some beach tourist town, but for Jenks America, it is a good one. Lots of pics for this one. I went kind of "I'm a professional photographer" crazy!

December was full of family fun the whole month. My dad runs cancer treatment meetings every 3 months, so he was here for a week. It's always lots of casino time when he's in town, which is fine by me b/c it's not my money I'm losing when he's here! We also always get a lot of the house work I just don't know how to do done when he's here too. This time we hung my flat screen TV up in my bedroom. After a fight with the Best Buy managers for selling me the wrong TV hanger thingie and then not letting us return the stupid thing, and a couple of trips to Home Depot for some materials to make the thing work ourselves, we finally got it. It's always interesting to work on things with my dad b/c we are so much alike we tend to clash more then we should. Just in case he ever reads this (which he won't) but in case, DAD I'm always right, so just deal with it. So literally a day after he left, we went and picked up Lance's mom who had come in from Idaho to visit. Lance's brother is in the Navy Reserves, and has gone overseas once before when he was in the Navy, and got called back in again, he left January 1st, so anyway she wanted to come see him before he left. She's great, so it's always nice to see her.
So then for Christmas Lance and I flew to Atlanta to see my family, which then all flew to Miami to go on our first cruise to the Bahamas. (This has lots of pics too) Let me just say that once you go on a cruise, you will be addicted. I had only been back like a month before I planned another one for Lance and I for September to Mexico. I guess that is if the stupid Swine Flu doesn't take over and they let people start going to Mexico again. But anyway the cruise was awesome. It was pretty stormy, and we got stuck in Nassau for 2 days instead of going to the Great Stirrup Cay, but I mean we were in the bahamas so I think we were going to be just fine. Lance and I did so good in the casino on the ship that we paid for our whole trip with our winnings. Just all in all it was a fabulous trip!

2009:
This year hasn't been too exciting yet. Lance lost his job on Jan 2nd, but being in the gutter business found a job very quickly at an old place he worked, so thank God for that. On Jan 26th we went to the AC/DC concert at the BOK Center, which was absolutely amazing. I wasn't even a huge fan of the band, but it was definitely the best concert I have ever gone to. We had floor seats, and it was just one huge party. I really just can't tell you how fun it was, it was just great!! This is another one I have lots of pictures for. Besides that I've just been going to the gym a lot, and reading as many books as I can. I've also been trying to get a new car, but fell in to some really bad luck when I found out that Jim Glover had sold me a lemon almost 2 years ago, and now I'm stuck with a car that no one will give me enough money for trade-in. We are actually in a little battle with them to make them take the car back. There is a lemon law in Oklahoma that says it has to be fully disclosed to the customer before a lemon is sold to them. And of course they took advantage of a young girl trying to buy a cool sports car that she knew nothing about, and didn't fully disclose it to me, so hopefully it will end in my favor. On another note, I have started selling CUTCO knives again just as a side job. So if you know of anyone that needs good knives just let me know. They make great gifts too! That's the salesman in me! ha ha. That's it for '09 so far. But it's warm now, so I'll be up to no good for most of the summer and I'll keep everyone posted. Now that we are all going to be close we need to plan to do something together some weekend!!!! Be looking for the pics, now maybe I'll remember to get them since I finally posted the blog.

Man Now I'm REALLY REALLY Behind!!

2009-03-04T09:56:00.002-06:00

So in November I promised to be updating everyone and now it is March and I still haven't!! So this time I'm serious, I made me a list of topics I want to cover, now I just have to go home and gather up some pictures! So expect a new blog from me tomorrow, it'll give me something to do at work in this time of crisis when you work at a oil & gas company and well low gas prices for me may be good on the "money in my pocket" issue, but it means that we are soooo slow and our stock is doing terrible. I'm glad I'm not one of the people that have worked here for 25 years that was expecting to retire in a few more, b/c ummm they are SCREWED!

One topic I wanted to discuss was (and I realize this may be VERY hard to do) but that's why I'm asking now. We should plan a cruise together. I have a new found love for them, and would love it even more if we could all go - boys too, and the kiddos, even the parents if they want to come! - on one together. Maybe next fall? Or even the next. Just so we can make sure to get off work, save money, get a date set, etc. We have to do it!!! please please please. I will plan it all! We just have to pick when and where! Let me know what you all think!

Wow - I'm really behind

2008-11-20T08:49:00.002-06:00

Give me a few days to gather my thoughts and some pictures. I know I'm behind on my blogging! I promise I'll catch everyone up.

Leslie - I am so sorry you are in pain. I love you so much and miss you greatly. I will be in Florida for Christmas, but only in Miami to leave and return from my cruise to the Bahamas. YEA! But maybe somehow someway I can see you. If not at least we can both know that I was as close to you as I could be for the Holiday!

Pam - Girl, we need to hang out! It's crazy how busy our lives can be sometimes. But we (the girls who are here) definitely need to have our Christmas party or at least just a get together of some sort. We can call Leslie and she can be there in spirit and then when she does make it to town we can do it again. Christmas in July sounds great to me!

Heather - You better come if we do have a Christmas catch up session. I miss you! I love watching you be a mom and watching Aston grow up even if it is over a blog. You're great at it! Can't wait to see you!

Kristin - How's the wedding plans coming. Let me know if I can help, I'm pretty darn good at throwing a wedding in a week's notice LOL ask Brit! I look up to you a lot for doing what you have for Luke and his family. You're amazing!

I love all you girls!!!

My last 2 days

2008-10-14T13:07:00.004-05:00

Yesterday started out like it was going to be a good day. I went to work, I was more awake then usual, and I knew I had a long lunch b/c I was headed to the doctor to finally fix the bumps on my head. Let me begin by explaining my bumps. I noticed the first one a REALLY LONG time ago, went to the doctor, who explained to me "oh it's just a clogged oil gland, nothing to worry about unless it's just bothering you or getting bigger, and you can come in and we can suck it out in no time at all." Well all this time has passed and I had noticed 2 more come up, all of which kept getting bigger and bigger. And even though everyone tells me that they can't see them, I could, and there was always that having to explain to the next person that cuts your hair that I have bumps, they don't hurt, they're nothing every time. So I get to the doctor yesterday to find out that oh NO NO NO it's not that simple, there was no hair shaving thank God or I would not have gone through with it, but there was numbing, cutting, pulling, etc etc all of which I could feel b/c the numbing medicine sucked! Needless to say I left there w/ the worst headache EVER! and now I have 4 stitches in my head. Yea for cysts!

Today has been much better. My head doesn't hurt at all, and the doc had done an excellent job of not pulling out too much hair, so today you can't even tell the stitches are there. Also my company (Apache Corporation) is getting really into wellness and keeping their employees healthy. We had a wellness fair today with free massages, games, free trials at gyms, healthy food, water, drawings, etc. Very fun, esp the massage part. I also got my flu shot so I can be cold free this winter (hopefully). But anyway back to the wellness part. We have profiles set up online w/ all our "health" stuff, blood work, whether we smoke, our goals, stress levels, etc and if we improve by sometime next year they are rewarding us "financially". It'll probably be around $100 which in my book is enough to help on some credit card debt LOL. I'm excited about it. I've been more motivated lately, joined a gym and whatnot and so I'm glad they are doing this for us. It's nice to work for a company that has billions of dollars!!!

I carved that pumpkin on the header...

2008-10-09T09:37:00.001-05:00

Can you tell what it is. Because I thought I did a really good job and everyone was like, "what is it?"

I gave blood today...

2008-10-06T15:27:00.003-05:00

We had a blood drive today in the building that I work in, so I decided to sign up a few weeks ago. I've never given blood before, I have tried a few times, but they never let me b/c of either when I got my nose pierced in Florida on Spring Break or I had gotten a tattoo. So anyway it's finally been over a year since my last tattoo, I have the universal blood type O-, which is fabulous if you are everyone else, not so fabulous if you are me since I can give to everyone and only receive O- back if ever I needed a lot of blood for some reason (which I won't, knock on wood). I walked over to the place, they ask you all these questions like "have you ever slept with a man, who has slept with a man?" which I think is most funny b/c they really do have to ask that b/c there are people out there that will answer yes, they pricked my finger to check the iron in my blood, asked more questions about HIV/Aids then humanly possibly (you would think do you have HIV or Aids would be sufficient but it's not) and then I was on my way. I never got nervous one time, I'm grateful I grew out of the being scared of needles thing. However, that needle they use is WAY bigger then I had pictured. It was only uncomfortable for the second they pushed it in though, so all in all it was no big deal at all. I will probably be getting calls all the time now from the red cross wanting my blood, and I think I might just become Little Miss Blood Donor. Good excuse to eat some cookies and drink an orange juice when you're done, ha ha! Go Donate people! It's really not bad at all and you could save someone's life!

And Here is the Outside Renovations

2008-10-02T19:18:00.002-05:00

I pretty much did all of this on my own. Something I'm very proud of. Lance did help clean up and lay all the mulch and lava rock though which was nice. This is my flowerbed.

This is the fountain I created!

Here is the birdbath and fire pit area.

These steps lead down to a little sitting area.

Well that's it for now...

Some Condo Pics - FINALLY

2008-10-02T19:07:00.003-05:00

Clearly this is the kitchen...
Since I couldn't afford stainless steel appliances I went with black.

I also painted all the cabinets black and used chrome as my accent on the handles, hinges, paper towel rack, etc etc.

I picked the single bowl sink which was definitely the way to go.

I opened up a few cabinets as decorative and they have lights in the bottom of them that look really good when the lights are off.

And then this is the best pic I could get to show the cultured granite counter tops, also the way to go considering they are cheaper, and now I guess the real stuff is radio active or something like that, and also the tile floor (which I grouted myself, I'm very proud).

My Weekend

2008-09-29T09:08:00.003-05:00

Nothing too exciting this weekend. Sat around Friday night feeling like it was Thursday and that we had to go to work the next day. Always love to wake up the next day and realize we don't! Then Saturday we went fishing and then back to the fair. Fishing is always fun, esp when you are the one catching all the fish. I think Lance caught a few more then me, but overall we killed the other couple we were fishing w/ 12 fish to 1.

This time at the fair we were kidless, so we enjoyed a few drinks and tried to walk around the buildings the best we could. Part of our time there we were trying to save my friend from having a asthma attack. We stopped by the ESMA display in the QT building thinking they would be the best people to talk to, but they only gave us terrible directions to the drug shop, which they told us was on the other side of the fair, but wasn't. So by the time we walked all the way over there, Broc could not walk any farther. I saved the day by asking the 8 cops just standing around to actually do something and call the EMSA golf cart over to us. He got himself a breathing treatment and we were on our way. It's so scary watching someone try to breathe when they can't. But anyway we really didn't get any building looking done at all again, so I think Lance and I might go back one more time. Even w/ the fair not being anything like it used to be when Bells was still there, we like it anyway. You will most likely find us at the knife ring toss game, where between the 2 of us we won like 10 knives that we won't do anything with ha ha! Oh yeah, we saw the coolest monkey ever in his little OSU robe. We both gave him a quarter and I got to hold him, he jumped up on my shoulder while his owner took a picture. So cute!

Agememnon "Aggie" Watson

2008-09-26T08:29:00.003-05:00

Here are the pics of Aggie I said I would post:

The Follow-up Fair Experience

2008-09-26T08:00:00.002-05:00

Here's the shortened version of last night w/ pics below: parked WAY too far away, but it was free, so no complaints, $1.00 entry was nice, price for everything else not worth it, free petting zoo was awesome, best part of the night, a corn dog and fried cheese on a stick, WAY too many fat.. no obese people there, can someone please explain to me how so many people in this world can have their gut hang to their knees, I don't understand why people w/ this problem always seem to walk around in tight stretch pants either, I know you know what I'm talking about, the least they could do is buy a shirt to cover the thing, yuck!, and even more pregnant girls emphasis on the word "girls", oh I ran into Sher and Andre, and oh my stinkin' gosh Natalie (that's probably not spelled right) is not a baby anymore, I guess I didn't realize how long it had been since I'd seen her, she's so big and cute, I should have taken a picture! I tried to talk Sher into Blogging but you know how that conversation went, or didn't. so anyway it was a nice night, i was exhausted by the time we got home though, we'll probably go back one more time to walk around the buildings and I must buy my annual Pineapple Whip! Yum!

The Fair Starts Tonight!

2008-09-25T13:46:00.004-05:00

So as a kid you look forward to the fair, then it gets old for awhile, and now I don't know if it's a quarter-life crisis or what, but I'm actually looking forward to the fair this year. Tonight's the night to go if you can b/c once again, the prices of EVERYTHING have gone up. It's ridiculous. It's $8.00 for an adult to get in plus $10.00 for parking. $18.00 just to get in to one of the most expensive events (rides, food, food, did I mention food)of the year. Well tonight it's only $1.00 admission if you have the "Ford coupon" and having a motorcycle, I'm sure we can slip in somewhere unseen/free. We are going with a some friends of ours who have a 2 year old. He's finally old enough to experience the fair. I can't wait to see how he does on the rides. But anyway, that's my night tonight! No gym for me! Call in all the fried greasy foods you can find! Below is a pic of our friend's kiddo. His name is Kaleb. SO CUTE!

Idaho Slideshows

2008-09-18T14:15:00.002-05:00

The First Update...

2008-09-18T09:05:00.010-05:00

Okay, I guess I will start with my relationship status since that is usually the thing people are most interested in. Leslie's wedding away in Florida ended up being the thing I needed to get Lance to finally commit. While I was gone, he realized how much he truely liked me, and how stupid he was being for not just settling down. So November 5th is our official starting date... Since then it's been a roller coaster, we've had sooo much fun together, he actually pays rent and helps with the bills (something I am definitely not used to, with loser ex Steven - trust me that's the only time you'll hear that name ever on here), he loves me so much and I return the feelings with all my heart, etc etc I could go on and on. If I were to make a list of vivid moments I remember like Leslie did on one of her Thursday 13's, the day he first said I love you to me would be one of those for me. It was perfect! I'm finally happy and feel good about a relationship for once in my life! I attached a few pics of the two of us below:

Oh he got me a ring for Christmas last year and I love it so I posted a pic of it too:

Okay so now I'll move on to my summer. My new love, which really isn't new at all is floating the river. We went 3 times this summer! And could go back one more time even with the weather already changing. You would think with all my pictures on myspace of the grilling at my house, float trips, bar scene, etc, that I would be quite the alcoholic these days... so just to clear any confusion up, I couldn't tell you the last time I was drunk. I'm pretty much past those days of my life. I like a beer or two every once in awhile, don't get me wrong, but as far as AA goes, you guys have nothing to worry about! :) Besides partying it up all summer, Lance and I have slowly been remodeling the condo, more specifically the kitchen and the outside so far. I posted pics of some of the good times this summer, and the house pics will come a little later (I haven't taken any pics yet of the finished products!).

The most exciting thing about this summer though was definitely my vacation to Idaho. Lance and I took a week and half and drove up there to visit his mom and family. Oh my gosh it was soooo beautiful my pictures don't even do it justice. I never thought I would say this, but I would move there today if I could! The winters would be something to get used to, but the summers are perfect. On the way, we drove through Yellowstone National Park, which was seriously the coolest thing ever. God was definitely with us, He showed himself in little ways, but it was perfect! We saw every animal you could. One of the coolest stories we have is when we saw the bear. Lance had seriously been wanting to see a bear ALL day, and he let me know every few minutes that he hoped we saw one, this is not an exaggeration either, I really mean every few minutes. We were getting pretty bummed out about it though b/c we were 5 miles from the exit gate and still hadn't seen one. We stopped in a town called Mammoth Hot Springs and did the little tour they have, which is really just walking up a wood plank path up the side of a mountain, but it turned out to be way more worth it then we thought. We had gotten all the way to the top, turned around and started the long trec down, and there he was. Luckily we were on some stair at the time with some railing b/c he was literally 10 feet away. I could have easily thrown a rock and hit him. He was still pretty young, and once he looked up and saw us he was more scared then anything and sped up the mountain out of sight. It was probably one of the coolest things I can say I've seen. For length purposes I just posted a pic of the bear, however, I have lots and lots of beautiful pics of our trip posted on myspace if you want to check them out.

I think that pretty much sums up what I've been doing since Leslie's wedding since that's the last time I saw most of you. I'll be posting the house pics soon, and 1 or 2 of Aggie. He turns 5 this year! He's so my little kid. He's so adorable! My parents get here tonight, which is so exciting, b/c even though my dad comes to town every 3 months for meetings, my mom hasn't been back since they moved to Georgia. They actually are getting to stay for a week and visit this time instead of flying down for day and leaving. I have officially not been working while I'm at work for quite some time now working on this, so off I go. Hope you enjoyed it! I think I might actually like this "blog" thing!

My First Blog

2008-09-17T12:51:00.003-05:00

I finally did it! It wasn't near as hard as I thought it was going to be. And I already have so many things I want to put on here, however, I think it best to go day by day. I might add one blog after this one to kinda catch everyone up on what I've been up to, and then it's up to you whether you want to read any further. Wish me luck on actually remembering to do this people! My life is very interesting and I know you are looking forward to it (ha)! I'm at work so I had to make this one short, but look forward to the update blog. It could end up being a long one... Miss you girls! and Love You always!!