The Cotton Club

Tonight was our Halloween event at work and these are a few pictures I snapped of the decorations and my flapper costume. Its hard to tell, but the sign is yellow with gold glitter around the outside. A pic of our counter at the office. I can't take credit for the piano keys. It was Nicole's idea and it looks really good.

This was our stage. It looked so great with the instruments and the red curtains. Our microphone is actually our coat hanger at work that we dismantled.
I had an oversize deck of cards that we made a whole bunch of poker hands with and old poker chips that we glued up everywhere. The names going down the filing cabinets are hard to read but it is all jazz musicians/singers from the 20's.

The four flappers and Tiffin was our dude.

Close up of me in my flapper attire. Me pretending to sing into our microphone.

The whole day today was fun. No one really felt like working and we were all wandering around taking pictures of each other. There were some pictures taken today that I really need to get a copy of. The Career Services Dept. did the 50's and the Admissions Dept. did Gilligan's Island. They all looked so great! It was fun handing out candy to all of the kids that come parading through the school, but after doing it there I have no interest in handing it out at home. I think Michael and I are escaping out to his parents tomorrow night and then Saturday we are going to a costume party so I am going to get all decked out in my flapper attire again. I think I might be wearing different shoes though. . . my feet are killing me right now from the shoes I was wearing today.

I gotta go get something done. Hopefully will write more soon.

Lisa

Today is Friday! Today is Friday!

I am so happy that today is Friday! I have been looking forward to the weekend all week long and I am so glad that it is finally here! Michael will get home from work in about two hours and then we are heading down to Branson to see SIX. Michael had mentioned seeing his show back in August while we were down in Branson, but we never made it there. I decided this week that we needed to go asap because their Christmas show starts 11/1/08 and we would rather see their normal show. Michael wasn't really surprised though, as soon as he knew I bought tickets to a show in Branson he knew which one it was. Oh well. It should be fun.

We now have the office at work all decorated as the Cotton Club, which if you do not know was a famous speakeasy/jazz club in Harlem in the 1920's. I will take some pictures next week to post. As a thank you for putting it all together, my boss gave me a walmart gift card which was unexpected and very much appreciated.

I still need to finish up my costume. Yikes! I am running out of time because our "Halloween in the Halls" at work is on the 30th. I am heading back out to Fordland tomorrow to hopefully finish up my costume. I still need to purchase a wig also. I ran by a couple Halloween stores after work today, but neither had this wig that I want. I should have ordered it online a while back. I might check the shipping time and still order it.

Not much else going on. Decided not to do fall engagement pictures after all. I think we'll do that next fall as our first family picture and send out in Christmas cards. Maybe. We might still do professional engagement pictures, but not until after the new year (need to think of some good places to do them around Feb. . .hmmmm??).

I have been playing on the Wii and the Wii Fit quite a bit. My arms are really sore from the Wii sports games. I think I will be happy with the Wii Sports game and the games with the Fit until Christmas, but I might ask for a new game for Christmas. . .maybe something like Dance, Dance, Revolution.

Random fun thing: What's in my purse today? (Total copy from one of my favorite blogs)
1. Pink Clinique cosmetic bag (carries lots of random things, hair ties, tylenol, tissue, comb, etc.)

2. Paper tickets for the SIX show Michael and I are going to tonight

3. Planner (I should use it all the time, but I go through phases, right now is one of them)

4. Real Simple credit card/business card holder

5. Voter ID card with polling place change that I got in the mail today

6. Sunglasses (never leave home without them. . .or at least I try not to)

7. Pentel RSVP pens. . .x3 (these are my favorite pens, I think Beth's also)

8. Softlips. . .x2 (The best chapstick/lipgloss ever!)

9. Alltel Hue phone. . . I want to upgrade but I can't yet

10. Wallet

11. Keys

12. Camera was also in my purse because I usually carry it with me. Never know when a good photo op will be.

. . . and that's all. Plenty though isn't it. I've heard multiple times that I carry too much crap in my purse, but that's me. Apparently I am not happy unless my purse weighs a ton :)

Well, I should get going. Need to get ready for tonight.

Lisa

Wii!!

I am so excited because I bought a Wii and a Wii Fit this morning!

I got the Fit at Best Buy, but they didn't have a Wii. Luckily, I decided to check Target. They had a Wii, but not a Wii Fit, so i was really glad that I had gone ahead and bought the one at Best Buy.


Needless to say, after I got home I did not get anything else accomplished today. I was supposed to work on laundry and I had wanted to work on my scrapbook some because I got pictures developed. That all got replaced with playing on the Wii. I think one of my favorite games that is unlocked so far is the Hula-Hoop, and in WiiSports, I am actually quite good at the boxing of all things. Beth helped me get it all set up so her and I could play on it, and then after Michael got home from drill, him and I played on it some.

Seeing as how it is already 10 pm (which does not seem possible), I guess I will be working on laundry and such tomorrow. I would like to scrapbook, but I think that will have to wait until Michael is at Barbershop Quartet practice on Tuesday night. I have pictures ready for 4 pages that I want to get done.

Lets see. . . what else happened this weekend?? Saturday morning Beth and I went out to Fordland and I had my mom help me some with my Halloween costume, but I did not get anywhere near enough done. It has to be finished before the 30th, so I will be going back out there this weekend to hopefully finish it up. Saturday evening, Beth, Michael, and I went out to Pleasant Hope to hang out with some friends. We only stayed until about 8pm though since Michael had to be at drill around 6:45 this morning.

I should get to bed.
Lisa

P.S. I also organized all of my scrapbook stuff this weekend which makes me happy. I like having stuff organized!

another P. S. I am really jealous of Beth right now. . . she does not have to work tomorrow and she is going to the Dickerson Park Zoo with Laura, Shane, Cole, and Sasha.

I 'heart' Scrapbooking!

I just finished a scrapbook layout. Yeah! I have not done any since July and I am a lot behind. The layout I just finished is from Michael's Welcome Home ceremony after deployment, which was back in May.

Not really too much going on since the last time I was on here. I got the fabric and stuff to make my Halloween costume, so that is kind of exciting. I am going out to Fordland this weekend so if I have questions while sewing my mom is there to answer them. :) We got quite a bit of decorating done today at work. Still have more to do but most of the rest is just finishing touches. Our sign and our stage look great! I am really glad it worked out just like the vision I had in my head. I will take some pictures once we get everything up.

Michael has drill this weekend out at the AVCRAD, which will be his first drill back with his home unit since deploying. We did find out they are slated to go overseas again around January 2010, which is better than Oct 2009 like we though before, but still way too soon. I am hoping that in addition to sewing my costume this weekend I will also get a chance to get some more scrapbooking done. We'll have to see though. As of right now I don't even have any pictures ready to scrapbook.

I am debating whether or not I want to get professional engagement pictures done. It would save us a chunk of money if we did not, but I think I want them. I am also considering just having someone else, like Beth, take some pictures for us also. I think I want pretty fall pictures for our engagement pics, so I need to make a decision and get that scheduled.

Well, I should get off here so I can get to bed.

P.s. I cannot believe Christmas is only a little over 2 months away!

Later, Lisa

Halloween costume

Halloween is coming and I am excited about getting dressed up. I am going to be a flapper. My whole office is dressing up as flappers and we are decorating the office as a jazz club. It should be fun. I don't have the main part of my costume yet, only accessories. I have a boa, fishnets, long pearls, and long cigarette holder, and a little beaded purse. I think I am going to wear a short blonde wig.

It kind of makes me want to have a Halloween party at home, but my house is not big enough. Hopefully next year I can have a Halloween party. Maybe we'll have a new house by then.

Well, its 10 pm and time for me to go to bed.

Lisa

Manic Monday, wish it was Sunday

It is still Sunday, but not for much longer. I need to be heading to bed and then its already Monday. Blehh! Why do the weekends always have to go by so stinkin fast?

Today has been a nice fairly relaxing Sunday. We went to church this morning and then over to see Waylon and Jessica afterwards. It had been awhile since I had seen either of them so it was nice. Jesse and I watched part of the NASCAR race (she's a fan, I am not) and then we watched The Butterfly Effect which came out a while ago but I had never seen it. It is an interesting movie. On the way home from Pleasant Hope I snapped this picture of the sun starting to set. The picture does not even do it justice, it was much prettier in person. After we got back home, we ended up taking a walk and the cool evening breeze felt so nice. I love fall! Well, I guess I should be heading to bed. Have to attempt to be prepared for Monday :)

Later, Lisa

And 'poof'. . there goes another month

So it has been a month since I have posted on here. I am a bad blogger. Well, here are just a couple things that have occupied my time in the last month.

1. Work

2. Wedding planning

3. Weekend trip to Tan-Tar-A for Michaels drill

4. Quay's 40th Birthday party (which was the same weekend at Tan-Tar-A and made for one very busy weekend)

5. Trying to keep my house clean and failing (that's actually what I should be working on right now, hmmm. . . naaaa, just say no to housework!)

My main focus of the wedding planning right now is trying to decide where I want to do the reception at. My first choice was already booked. Stinks! I have a few places I am considering right now, but I am ready to get that locked in. One less thing to stress over :)

Last weekend was the crazy busy weekend. We went to Tan-Tar-A for Michael's last drill weekend with the 35th Engineer Brigade. It was a re-integration and training drill. He will be transferred back to the 1107th AVCRAD in enough time for their October drill. They already have a tentative date to head back overseas, which kindof stinks, but its also kindof good to know so far ahead that it is tentatively scheduled. The date is January 2010, so about another year and 3 months at home. We already said we need to make the most of summer of 2009, since he will be gone the summer after that.

Our hotel room at Tan-Tar-A was nice, but not as nice as the Hilton Promenade at Branson Landing that the Army put us in at his drill in August. We had a corner room with a little deck that had a fairly nice view. The room had two doubles but that was fine. It also had a couch which was nice but I think when we first got there was the only time either of us sat on it.

While we were at Tan-Tar-A (and Osage Beach), we ate at a couple really good restaurants and rented a pontoon boat with Michael's roommate from deployment, Jake, and his girlfriend Laura. It was so, so nice to just be out cruising around on the lake. Makes me want a lakehouse and a boat. . . oh, dare to dream.

On Saturday we drove back to Springfield for Quay's 40th birthday. Quay has been a good friend of Michael's for a long time. We met up with them at Big Whiskey's and then walked next door to the Skinny Improv. We had a great time and loads of laughs. Quay's birthday had all of the Over the Hill stuff including a package of Depends undergarments that he was carrying around like a purse. While we were sitting at the Skinny Improv prior to the show a bunch of the group decided they should wear the Depends (I think that might have been brought on my the alchohol) so Quay started throwing them around the audience. One of the moments that stands out clearly is when the first guy took the stage and was talking to the audience, he stopped mid-sentence and said, "Are you guys wearing diapers?". It was great! We drove back to Tan-Tar-A that night and crashed into bed.

On Sunday the drill stuff was done about 10:30 am so Michael and I went with Jake and Laura to her family's lakehouse about 30 minutes from where we were. Michael and I had brought the SurfBikes, so we played around on those for awhile. I am terrible on them, but Michael does really well. He has had them forever and every summer since we have been together he has talked about getting them out, but this was the first time we actually followed through. As I was pointing out to Michael though (because he didn't believe me that I had never ridden them with him), he was gone all of the summer of 2005, and 2007. I don't have any pics of us on the SurfBikes yet, I have to get them from Jake and Laura.

So last weekend was crazy and this weekend I am just relaxing. We are headed out to my parents later this evening but Michael is still at work right now.

My last post I did mention that we went on a picnic with Beth at Close Memorial Park. Here a a few shots from then that I got from her. She had a nice spread prepared and it was really yum!

I promise to be back in less than a month.

Until then,

Lisa