My new clothes and antiques.......

I found this when we went shopping at an antique shop almost as soon as I walked through the door. This store has lots of neat things, but tends to be rather pricey, for me anyway. I just knew the price was going to be $50, but she was only $10!! I was so excited. She is just so pretty. She is actually a nightlight, but she doesn't work, of course. I just like using having her to sit on my bookshelf.
Aunt Sherry brought these figurines for me when she came. She bought them at a florist shop that happened to have a few antique figurines near the door. They remind me so much of the figurines my Grandma used to collect.
When it was associate shop day this time, I went a little crazy. After all, I got 30% off all the sale prices and I needed some new fall clothes. I love these shoes. These heels are just the right height -- about 1 1/2 inches -- and the way they are made, I can actually walk in them without pain. :) That's an accomplishment for me in a pair of heels.
When my sister saw this picture, she said "Where did you get DIAMONDS!?!" Unfortunately, they're not diamonds. They aren't even sterling silver. The way the metal is cut makes the medallions sparkle and there are almost microscopic rhinestones as well.

You can't see them well in the picture, but I really love this shirt and skirt. And they match my shoes. :)
I love the colors in this top.
And this burgundy is really nice. I like the way the shirt fits. It's not too clingy, but not shapeless either.
I'm on the fence about keeping this shirt. It is my favorite bright pink color, but I don't have any dark brown bottoms to go with it and it is one of those shirts I have to layer with a camisole. So I'll have to think about this one.
Aunt Sherry bought this purse for me. Usually, this name brand hardly ever goes on sale, so it's hard to find a good price, but this one was on clearance for 70% off. I love the colors and pattern.

I also found a great black pencil skirt. It is the perfect length, just below the knees, and the slit in the back is only about one or two inches. That's a rare find in a pencil skirt. Usually, they are up above the knees with a six inch slit.

I like my new clothes, but my favorite finds are the figurines. It is so exciting for me to find special keepsakes to keep forever. :)

Back to normal

Well, vacation is over and it's back to work. I'm pretty tired. It always seems like I need a vacation to recover from vacation, but it is nice to be back in a normal routine. Last Tuesday, when we were out shopping, I got caught in the rain. That almost always means an instant cold for me and, sure enough, I have been fighting a stuffy head and cough ever since. Yesterday was really bad at work. I started out fine, but the last two hours I coughed and COUGHED and COUGHED. I had to run away from the register three times because I was coughing so hard, but thankfully some girls were nice enough to cover for me quickly. Today was much better, but I just felt tired and blah. I bought a lot of neat things on vacation. Some were presents for Aunt Sherry and some I bought myself because it was associate day at work and I got a double discount. I love associate days. :) I'll have to post pictures tomorrow, since I have the day off. Vacation was great. It was nice to see our family and have them here at our house. Life back to normal is good to, though.

More vacationing.........

Well, Aunt Sherry is here and Aunt Bett and Uncle John. I had to work over the weekend, so I was really tired at first, but now I am free to relax as much as I like. :) I'm not sure what we are going to be doing. Today, I think we're going to the mall. It will be nice to see the inside of another department store for a change.

Aunt Sherry has already done quite a bit of movie watching with us, with both Gods and Generals and North and South over the weekend. I've already made a post about how much I love North and South, but I could go on and on about it. As for Gods and Generals, it is a very long movie, and there are a lot of battle scenes that might bore someone who isn't a history enthusiast like me, but the faith of Stonewall Jackson and the sight of the bloodshed and tears will move anyone. It gives the viewer such a good look into the Civil War. They were real people, facing the real, agonizing choices to take sides in a war against their brothers. They were real women and children, alone at home while the men were at war. The soldiers were real men that got shot down by the hundreds in every battle. It's definitely a thought-provoking look at the past.

Tennis!!

Well, we're back!! We had a great time. The first day was overcast and not too hot. The tournament has the large Center Court which seats thousands. You have to sit in your assigned seat to watch a game played on that court. The next biggest court is the Grandstand court which seats several hundred, but you can sit anywhere you want. We got to sit front row through a couple of games there! There are also some smaller courts where you can sit anywhere and several practice courts. We spend the majority of our time at the practice courts. These courts look like tennis courts you would find at the park with just a wire fence around them, but the top professional players in the world warm up on these courts before their matches and you get to stand next to the fence and watch them. When they leave, the nice players sign autographs, take pictures, and talk a little to people, even though they are being all but knocked off their feet by hundreds of fans waving tennis balls and cameras in their face.

We have lots of players that we like a lot, but our favorite player is Marat Safin. We already have his autograph :), so Gabrielle was so hoping she could get a picture with him. Let me tell you, the crowd around the practice court was the worst I had ever seen it. It didn't help that he, and the number 2 & 3 players in the world were all practicing on courts side by side. I have to estimate that at least five hundred people were crowding around the fences. We crowded around him (with everyone else) and tried to get a picture, but it was impossible.
The next day, we tried again, and again the crowd was impossible. I never realized I was so short until all those people kept jumping in front of me and shoving me out of the way. So, Gabrielle was disappointed, but we went up to center court to watch number 1 player in the world, Roger Federer, play a match. The game was really interesting. First one was winning, then the other, so we were paying attention to the game. The seats were empty beside us. A woman came and sat in the seat beside me and I overheard her say to her friend, "I just saw Safin at the practice court." Gabrielle and I grabbed our camera and ran to the practice court. Because he wasn't scheduled to practice, there was hardly anyone around him compared to before, and, when he left, he took a picture with each of us!! :) That day, the second day, was sooo hot. For the first time, our seats at center court were in a shaded area, but even that didn't help much. I sunburned a little on my nose, but nothing too bad. I bought several of my favorite lemonades and some rainbow sherbet to cool me off!
This is the US Open Road Trip bus with all the top player's pictures on them.


We had a great time, saw lots of the tennis players and got a few autographs. Hopefully, we'll be able to go back next year!

Tennis Tomorrow!!

We're off to our annual tennis tournament tomorrow for two full days of watching the professionals compete. We'll get to see Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Andy Roddick, Marat Safin, and so many more! We're so excited. Last year we got lots of autographs, so hopefully we can do the same this year. I have to make sure my camera is charged and ready to go for LOTS of pictures. And I have to figure out what I want to wear. :)

New Haircut!

I got a hair cut today! I didn't cut a lot off because I'm trying to grow the length out some, but I had my layers trimmed and changed my bangs. Even though I liked the hairstyle when I cut off so much length in November, I just don't like to wear my hair short (which for me means above my shoulders). But, my hair is SO much healthier since I cut it off. I haven't had hardly any split ends and is much softer, whereas before I couldn't keep the split ends trimmed and it felt really dry. Now, hopefully, I'll be able to manage styling my new layers and bangs.

One More Week Until Vacation.........

Vacation is almost here! It starts next Saturday. I can't believe August is practically here already. We are going to go to the tennis tournament again on Monday and Tuesday of that week. It will be nice, especially since this may be the last year we'll live close enough to go to it. Then, I have to work Wednesday and Thursday. :( But, that Friday, we are going to pick up my Aunt Sherry (it's a nine hour drive to her house, so we're going to meet her halfway) and she is going to stay with us for a week. Well, my dad's sister called him last week. She and her husband are going to be vacationing just a few hours from us, so they are going swing by and visit us for two or three days the same week Aunt Sherry is here. Whew! It's going to be a pretty busy vacation. And, because I didn't think my job would let me have two straight weeks off -- well, they would have, but we aren't sure when we're going back to our home state to visit, so I want to save my full week off for then -- I left hours available for me to work a couple of evenings that week. I'm going to need a vacation to recover from vacation. It will be lots of fun, though

We have lived here for nine years now, and Aunt Sherry has come up every year to stay with us. That always means two things for sure -- eating out and shopping. :) We try to find interesting places to visit, too. For a couple of years, we've gone to the aquarium and last year we went to the Creation Museum, so now, we're trying to come up with a new idea. Unless it cools down considerably, the zoo is out of the question, as well as anything else that requires a lot of walking outdoors. We also watch a lot of girly movies. She didn't get to see Cranford when it came on PBS, so if I can find it at the library, that will definitely be on the list. Also, North and South. We tried to watch that last year, but someone checked it out from the library and did not turn it back in the entire week she was here. I would like to watch Bleak House, but it is soooo long that it's not really practical for the time frame we would have to squeeze it in.

So, I'm looking forward to next week. And the only day I have off before then to get my room cleaned up is Wednesday. I don't know if that's doable or not. :)