I'm Home

Well, I arrived in Michigan sometime around 11 PM last night after a couple of flights. I stayed up a few hours hanging out with my parents at brother Ryan. I surfed a while on my Dad's new wireless network he had setup, a nice change from the good old dial-up PeoplePC service I can afford. Today I woke up around a lot later than I normally do on Wednesday, and it was a beautiful thing. Then my Mom had the day off, Ryan was around, so we decided to go to South Bend to take of some last minute shopping for Christmas. We went to the Harley-Davidson dealer there to pick up something for Dad. Then it was on to a few stores and the mall.

After that on the way home, we got a call from my cousin Tanya, she was asking Ryan about a drum set for her son Isaiah and was on her way to Woodwind & Brasswind to pick one up. We met her there as she was deciding between two different sets. For being just shy of three, the kid can really keep a beat, apparently everything in his hands becomes a percussion instrument, and he was jamming a way at all the floor sets while we were there. Strolling through the store brings back a lot of good memories growing up. I remember Dad use to take us like every other Saturday to browse. Ryan bought his drums there, my bass guitar and saxaphone. Just for kicks I decided to stroll through the bass room. Something really nice caught my eye while I was in there, they had a G&L ASAT Bass in silver metal flake, it's absolutely beautiful. Sure it's a little flashy, but what girl wouldn't like a bass like that, with the sound of a G&L! So anyway, I think I have a new savings goal, who knows how long it will take to save for this, it retail's at around $1,850 but I could pick it up for around $1,000. Oh well, just another thing to add to my current savings goal list! I really would like to play more often before I purchase another axe, I am not really interested in playing at all professionally (that's probably not going to happen), but just more often for the sheer fun of it! So that's whats been rolling around in my head today.
Anybody want to start a band, or need a bass player???

Other than that it's just been so nice to get away from work! I watched The Day After Tomorrow as well as In Good Company. Two movies I've been watning to see for a little while, the first one only because of Jake Gyllenhall (I hope that's the right spelling), what a cute face. Oh and I've always like the movies Dennis Quaid has been in too, and he was in both of these as well! Right now it's just me up watching the movies and my dog curled up by the fire, it couldn't have been a better day!

Tomorrow night should be a blast as well, I will be meeting up with a group of friends with whom I grew up! We are heading to Hacienda to have dinner together and maybe end up at my parents house to hang out afterward. It will be so nice to see everyone again! Okay, well my battery is draining as I type so I will sign off for now. It's just great to be back home! Have a good evening!

It's been a while since my last real update. Things have been busy, between small group and The Crave, the fun just never stops! I had a nice time starting off the Holiday Season with Thanksgiving in Ocala, Ingrid and Jay, the coolest aunt and uncle were there visiting my uncle Jay's parents and they invited me to join in their family's Thanksgiving, and the crazy shopping the morning after. Friday we left the house at 4:30 AM to make it to Circuit City at 5 to find a gift for my cousin, which I am sure he will enjoy (I can't tell ya what it is, he might read this... so you'll just have to be patient too and wait for Santa!)

The week after Thanksgiving my parents made their way down to the Sunshine State to visit me, we had a great time. I like when they visit! It's nice to have someone cook, or go out to eat more often than I normally would for a few days! More than the variety of meals I receive, it's nice to be able to spend time with them, I am very close with them and that's probably the hardest part of living 1,000 or so miles from Michigan!

The weekend after was Southeastern's graduation, and Mindi a good friend that I graduated with was in town. We had the opportunity to go to dinner and catch up on what's going on. It was nice to see her, and remember our two years at Southeastern and the stupid inside jokes, it made for quite a few laughs! The next day we went to graduation, after that I went to lunch with another friend that had graduated who is more like family than anything!

This last week was a busy week at work, with all of the different monthly tax items due on the 20th, those were prepared and mailed on Friday, new projects starting, and the billing lady out for a day, the week went fast.

In other news, being forced to listen to Country music at work has finally payed off somewhat. I qualified in 97 Country's Take 2 Contest to win a Ford Ranger 4X4, so Saturday I went out to Bartow Ford. The truck they were giving away was kinda cute, even for a girly girl like me, it was yellow too! I didn't win the truck, but they did give a $50 check to everyone who qualified, that's worth listening to the same song 5 times during and eight hour period I guess, oh and I did get a Harry's Seafood gift certificate too, that's always good.

I spent yesterday evening taking care of some laundry so I can pack to go home for Christmas! I will leave Tampa in a little less than 48 hours, I am excited to be able to spend Christmas in Michigan again! Although last year I had the privilege of holding Christmas in my home, it's just not the same without a White Christmas, and a big family dinner with more than just your immediate family and Tante (Aunt) Eva's Frankfurter Kranz (a delicious cake unlike any other, I must get the recipe this year!)

While I am home I'd like to be able to hang out with a few friends, so I sent out an email last Thursday with a proposal on how to accomplish this. Looks like we'll all meet this Thursday for dinner, and then come back to my parents house afterward to hang out a little more, maybe watch a movie or have my cousin Tanya's little guy, Isaiah, entertain us!

That's about it for now, a little more packing, a little tidying up around the house, day and a half of work, a flight, and I'll be home for Christmas!