Vacation and Other Contemplation

It seems like vacation flew by WAY too fast.... we went to the beach for the week and left on Saturday, May 23. Mom and I drove down early that morning and actually arrived in Myrtle Beach by 10:00 a.m.! Dennis and my stepdad had something they were doing that day so they could not come unti that night. Mom and I got there and shopped at the outlets for awhile, enjoyed lunch at Sea Captain's House overlooking the ocean, then went to the condo and relaxed. That afternoon, we did some more shopping, enjoyed dinner at Abuelo's, our FAVE Mexican restaurant at the beach, and then went back to the condo to unpack and wait for the men to arrive!

Sunday and Monday were spent largely lying out by the pool, soaking up a LITTLE sun (unfortunately I got a little burned so tried not to go out in the sun TOO much more that week) and walking the beach. On Tuesday, we drove up to Calabash, NC and had lunch at our favorite hole in the wall seafood place, the Seafood Hut, then visited Callahan's - a MUST do for a trip to Calabash.. then went to Ocean Isle to visit the Silver Coast Winery.

Wednesday, a bit more shopping, a bit more lounging by the pool/walking on the beach... and then on Thursday, we headed up to Wilmington, NC and Cape Fear/Wrightsville Beach. We drove around Wrightsville Beach and looked at the beach houses, then went to the Cape Fear Riverfront, enjoyed lunch at The George on the Riverwalk, took a trolley tour and then did a boat ride down the river. Wonderful day!

Friday, unfortunately, it was time to pack up and leave to come back home. We arrived back home around 3:00 or a little after on Friday afternoon, and I unpacked and relaxed the rest of the evening. Vacation flew by WAY too fast - it always does! But I look forward to hopefully heading back in late August for several days and then Labor Day weekend as well!

I've been contemplating some of my relationships lately. One thing I've always had a hard time doing is cutting people loose, even when I feel I need to. I don't do this lightly at all. But I've realized recently there are a handful of people that I needed to do this with, so I've taken steps to do so. The older I get, the less I feel like I want to spend my time, effort and energy with negative and difficult people. I'm far from perfect, and I have my faults - and I'm not always right when I'm dealing with others... but there are times when some people are just difficult - and actually mean. I always extend an apology to someone if I feel that I've wronged them or not acted in the best way that I should have.. and I expect the same courtesy from someone else. When someone hurts you - and then doesn't even care - then it's pretty obvious that person is not really a friend.

Unfortunately I've had 3 or 4 people just lately that I have thought were friends - but turns out they really aren't - and I feel the need to remove them - and their negativity - from my life. It's amazing how wonderfully liberating it is once you've made the decision to do that - and have taken the steps to accomplish it. It's like a weight has been lifted from your shoulders! It's a pretty good feeling, actually.

I'm trying to start anew and not let people get to me - when you let others make you feel badly and let them get to you, you are giving them POWER over you. You are letting THEM control YOU. I've vowed to do my best not to do this anymore. Removing negativity is like being cured of a cancer - negativity IS a cancer. And it poisons the atmosphere around you. When people get to the point that that is what they do to you, and they bring out negative feelings in you, it's time to cut them loose!

I've always loved the saying, "Live Well, Laugh Often, Love Much" - and that is what I'm striving to do from this point on! Shake the dust - and move on! When you shed these burdens, you get a renewed strength - and it's indeed very liberating and uplifting! I'm on my way!

Looking ahead to summer - I plan to enjoy myself with friends and family, relax and just have a good old time this summer! Here's to summer!

MAJOR CATCHING UP!!!

I really have some MAJOR catching up to do! I have not posted on this blog for about five months! When I first started my blog, I never thought I'd go that long! Once the holidays got underway, I was super busy, then the first of the year came, and I have been absolutely swamped with my duties as President of Junior Woman's Club since that time! Work got busy for awhile too, so with all that going on, I just let the blogging go for awhile!

Fast forwarding to May, 2009 - my year as President of JWC is almost over... on Thursday, May 14 I will hand the gavel to my successor. It's been a good year for JWC all in all, and I've enjoyed having the honor and privilege of serving as President. Soon I'll be a Past President, and I'm looking forward to that! Seems hard to believe - seems like I just recently took the gavel and started my year - time sure flies!

I've been blessed greatly in the last few months to have made several awesome new friends... and to have kept busy and have a lot going on in my life! And through Facebook, not only have I connected with new friends, I've reconnected with old ones - and people I have not seen or heard from or talked to in years! Facebook's been so awesome for that sort of thing!

I just came home today from our GFWC-SC annual convention down in Mt. Pleasant.. a great time to see/reconnect with woman's club and Junior woman's Club friends from around the state... always a good time! Tiring long weekend, but a good one! Now I'm off to bed shortly because I'm going for the day tomorrow (Monday) with my mom up to Cherokee, NC to Harrahs' Casino for a little fun! Leaving early in the AM.. then leaving there around 5:30 or 6 to head home.. Fun fun time! Those special times when Mom and I go off on one of our little adventures are priceless!

Dennis kept busy while I was gone this weekend - doing some yard work and planting some new flowers in our flower boxes.. everything is started to look great! And with this warm weather now, I'm about ready to relax on the deck with a Smirnoff Ice! Yum!

Well, off to bed in a few - wanted to FINALLY catch up with my blog - I'll try my best not to let five months lapse again - in fact, I need to start posting every week again or every couple days! And maybe, at some point, I'll find some more pictures to post too! All the ones I have on there right now are getting old!

It's the Holiday Season!!!!!

Wow, it's been super busy again. I had a GREAT birthday week - celebrated three nights in a row... started off on Wed., the 19th @ Capital City Club with friends enjoying cocktails.. then on Thursday night the 20th we met our friends Christy, Michael and Kevin at the Vista - first we enjoyed a yummy dinner at Tsunami with Christy and Michael, then stopped in at Wet Willies mmmmmm..... then walked around Vista Lights for awhile, and ended up hooking up with Kevin... went through a few of the shops and had a very nice evening.. ran into tons of people we knew.

On Friday, my birthday, Mom and I headed up the road to Charlotte for a day of shopping and lunch at Cheesecake Factory, before heading home to meet Dennis and my stepdad for dinner at Olive Garden for my birthday dinner.

On Saturday, we went to our nephew's wedding in Abbeville... drove up that morning, went to the wedding and reception in the afternoon, then left and enjoyed dinner at Yoder's before heading home. Love Yoder's!

Thanksgiving week was a short week.. I had my Palmetto Woman's Club meeting on Monday night, then had a very busy work day on Tuesday, and then had Wed. off - packed my suitcase, and when Dennis got home from work, we loaded the car, and left around 3:00 to head up to the NC mountains with my mom and stepdad. We went up to Cherokee, and got there around 7:00 p.m., checked in, went to dinner at the hotel, then spent about 2 or 3 hours in the casino playing the slots!

on Thanksgiving morning, after breakfast, we spent time in the casino until lunchtime, then headed back to the room to mix bloody marys and hang out... after that, we headed to the hotel's Thanksgiving buffet, and had a wonderful dinner! Then more time in the casino that afternoon/evening before turning in... Friday morning, we got up, had breakfast, and then went to Asheville to the farmer's market and browsed and enjoyed some hot cider and browsed the Christmas shop before heading home.

Saturday wasn't the greatest day, being Carolina fans... it sure didn't go our way! Unfortunately, I could not join my family and our friend Kevin to watch the game so they carried on without me.. I kept checking the score every now and then.. but I had to do some work since I had been gone for 3 days and was a little behind. Saturday night we went out to dinner and and then started our Christmas decorating.

On Sunday, we finished doing our Christmas decorating and finished the tree and got everything done - yay ! now we can relax and enjoy it for the season...Of course, this week is going to be hectic - my JWC board Christmas get-together is Tuesday night at my house, then we have the JWC club party Wed. night, and then a dinner party at my mom's house Thursday night.. then up to Rock Hill on Friday night for the Madrigal Feast at Winthrop.. busy week! But looking forward to all of it - and then heading to Charleston Saturday for my office party, then on to Myrtle Beach on Sunday for a couple days! 'Tis the season to be busy!

VERY busy week!

Well, I haven't posted for over a week, so I figured it was time again. This past week has been SUPER busy - one of those weeks I met myself coming and going!

Started out Monday night with my Palmetto Woman's Club meeting... my friend Deb joined me for that, and it was great to have her come too! On Tuesday evening, I had orientation with the new JWC provisionals - as President, I attended that - and we had a TERRIFIC evening.. a wonderful dinner was served, thanks to Carolyn - and we had a very nice evening getting to know each other.. of course, 9 out of 10 of my provisionals were there so it was great to spend that evening with several friends.

On Wednesday night, Dennis and I headed up to Capital City Club and enjoyed the evening with cocktails and several friends. Our friends Neel and George came and we hung out with them for awhile - so that was a lot of fun! Thursday night we met our friends Andy and Mary Alice for dinner, then headed to the Koger Center to see the ballet Dracula - that's been my favorite ballet since Columbia City Ballet started performing it in the early '90s.

On Friday night, since it was Halloween, we had planned to have a few friends over for cocktails and to just hang out while we handed out candy.. but we ended up canceling the gathering because a couple friends got sick, and since I started feeling a bit under the weather myself, we just decided to postpone our gathering and just hang out ourselves at home and take it easy.. my mom and stepfather joined us, and we made dinner and had a couple drinks and had a good time handing out candy to neighborhood kids!

On Saturday, we loaded up the car and met our friends Christy and Michael for an afternoon of tailgating and an evening of Gamecock football! We had an absolutely awesome time tailgating at Carolina Field House with Christy and Michael and some others who ended up joining us as well, and then the game was AWESOME - an awesome victory! Our friend Michael wasn't too happy, since he's an avid Vols fan - but he was a good sport about it! He and Dennis made a bet on the game - so now, we can look forward to being treated to dinner by Michael at Bonefish Grill - woo hoo!

Today, Sunday, we went to church, then came home and I got caught up on a little work and Dennis cut the grass and worked out in the yard, probably for one of the last times this season, since the grass is starting to go dormant - finally! All in all, a great week - and a fantastic weekend! Not used to the time change yet, but I'll get there!

SPAGHETTI, FOOTBALL AND PALMETTO PLACE!

It was a super busy weekend... on Friday night, we had a spaghetti dinner fundraiser we were helping with.. in fact, Dennis and my mom cooked all the spaghetti and sauce... spent several hours working on that... and serving spaghetti, then EATING spaghetti.. then going home and crashing! We had thought we'd go out afterward - but were TOO tired! We went home and crashed and got a great night's 'sleep.

On Saturday, we did a little yard work - fortunately the yard work is winding down with fall and the grass starting to slow down and most everything we needed to get done already finished.. but we did a LITTLE and then changed and went to Icy's and joined several friends - Joe and Erin, Andy and Mary Alice, and Tammy, and my mom and stepdad, to watch the Gamecocks on the big screen TVs!

On Sunday, Dennis went to church but I wasn't feeling totally great so I slept in. Sunday was a rather lazy day, and then Sunday evening we went to Travinia's for the annual Palmetto Place pre-golf tournament cocktail party/silent auction... several JWC friends were there - and we had a great time hanging out especially with Neel and George. A great time was had by all!

On Monday I had to go to Charlotte to take care of some work-related business... and then had lunch at my favorite restaurant, Cheesecake Factory.. hit the kitchen store in the mall and then headed home.

Busy few days! Whew... I'm already tired and it's only Tuesday afternoon!

Falling into Fall!!!!

This past week was super busy with several meetings, including our monthly JWC meeting - not to mention work! So it was great to head into the weekend with some terrific plans!

Friday night Dennis and I headed to the State Fair, where we loaded up on our annual quota of greasy, junky fair food! Then we walked through the exhibits and the animals, played a couple games, and enjoyed the nice fall evening and the sights and sounds of the fair!

On Saturday morning, after packing the dogs up to the kennel for the weekend, we headed up the interstate to Greenville. We arrived at the mall in Greenville shortly before 11 a.m., and had an early lunch and walked around for about an hour... then our friend Alan met Dennis at the mall and they headed off to the golf course for the afternoon, and I continued to shop then met Stephanie (Alan's wife) at the mall. We sat and sipped a drink in the food court and talked and talked.... then continued our shopping and later met Alan and Dennis at Don Pablo's for dinner.

After dinner, we rented movies and headed back to their house for the evening, where we spent the night - and slept in the Sleep Number bed in their comfy guest room! (Now I want one of those things!) We had a terrific time sipping champagne and watching movies. (I love Failure to Launch - cute movie!)

Sunday we slept in a bit, got up and enjoyed the pot of coffee Stephanie made, then we headed out to an early lunch about 11:00 at Rafferty's in Greenville, then headed to the Peace Center for the 2:00 matinee of A Chorus Line.. we met up with our other friends Michael and Christy for the show. Following the show, we said goodbye to Alan and Stephanie and got on the road toward home, meeting up with Christy and Michael in Chapin (they live there) for dinner at Bomb Island Grill before continuing the rest of the way home. We caught some of the Arizona-Dallas NFL game on the TV while eating dinner and had a great time catching up with Christy and Michael (and making some preliminary plans to head to the TN-USC game together in November)

All in all, a fabulous weekend with friends - just what we both needed and what the doctor ordered after a busy, somewhat stressful week!

Fun Fall Weekend!!

We had a great weekend this weekend.. started off Friday night by heading up to Capital City Club for dinner - we enjoyed the first Friday seafood buffet - and enjoyed clam chowder, chilled shrimp, smoked salmon, scallops, crab legs, etc. YUM! On Saturday, we got up early and headed up to Hendersonville to go apple picking. We packed a picnic lunch and arrived at Stepp Farms in Hendersonville around lunchtime, shortly afternoon... We spread out our picnic in the picnic area and enjoyed lunch, and then went browsing the gift shop, had some cold apple cider, got our apples, then took a wagon ride through the orchards.

After we left Stepp Farms, we headed a couple miles or so down the road and went to Granddad's, another orchard and farm. We browsed their gift shop, walked through the pumpkin patch, visited the small petting zoo, sampled their cider, and bought some pumpkin bread. Then we left and headed up the road a bit further, into Asheville. We went to the Asheville Farmer's Market and spent some time there, browsing one end of the Farmer's Market to the other, sampling cheeses and other things.

We ended up buying some tomatoes and other produce, some cold apple cider to take home, some Amish butter and cheese, and got a cup of hot cider this time to enjoy while walking around. Then we headed across the street to look at the pottery and flowers and visit the Christmas shop.

Finally, we left the Asheville Farmer's Market and headed toward home, stopping en route for dinner at the Blue Ocean Seafood Restaurant, which is just off the interstate near Clinton. We've passed it a hundred times or more and always talked about going in but never did. It was delicious! A new place for us to go when we are up that way.

On Sunday, we just did the usual things - church, a couple loads of laundry and a little yard work for a couple hours. Then Dennis headed off to play tennis and I did some work for my office. Then Sunday evening we headed out to dinner with a friend. We bought our discount fair tickets to go to the fair next weekend - yay! Other than the Greek Festival that is one of my favorite things to go to each fall, so I can eat my way around! I an almost taste the vinegar fries and elephant ears now! MMMMM!

I've got several different groups of pictures to post on here whenever Dennis sends them to me - we still have pictures from a couple other things to post - and we took some pictures in the orchards this weekend too so hopefully I can post them all soon!