We've been framed!!

For my birthday last September, Joe got me 2 Disney Mickey prints we saw while we were at Disney World earlier in the year.

We finally got around to taking them for framing a few weeks ago, and just got them back! I'm so pleased with the results:


I never would have picked metal frames or these color combinations - I suck at coordinating things. But the frame lady was very patient and tried alot of combinations before suggesting we look at some metal frames.

Goofy Dog!

This is one of my favorite pictures from our trip to Walt Disney World last May. As we were walking across a bridge in Animal Kingdom, one of the character boats came by, and Pluto posed for me :)

We also got to see an early glimpse of the new Mt. Everest ride, which I think just opened. It was amazing to see something like this under construction!


I can't wait to go back! But Joe says not until 2007. Unless we win the PowerBall......

Goats!

Ever since I first discovered baby goats on the farm at Joe's parents, I've wanted one. When we win the Power Ball and move to Florida, we'll have lots of baby goats, in addition to the horses, bunny, dogs and cats that I want.


A few months ago, we went to Wildlife World Zoo in Litchfield Park, AZ. All the animals and exhibits were really cool, but my favorite was the petting zoo area!

Here, I got to get up close and personal with some of my newest baby goat friends:


I wanted to sneak one out of the park, but was told there was only room in the car for me or the goat, and I was afraid I would be the one left behind......

Jeff Gets Crafty!

Here's a "tease" picture to entice you to read all the way to the end! It's called "I Made These":


While I was off work for the last 2 weeks of December, I had a chance to check out Martha Stewart's new show. I decided after watching a few episodes, that I must have some crafting capabilities somewhere hiding inside me.

She seemed to spend ALOT of time talking about how to fold the perfect t-shirt. I never really thought about it, but gosh darn it, after watching her do it (and do it, and do it, and make every guest do it....), I decided to give it a shot. Something about putting a finger here, folding here, wrapping this, yada yada....

Long story short, it was much more complicated than she made it look on TV. Joe's still laughing at me. Luckily, we use hangers for all our t-shirts...crisis averted.

So with that behind me......I was intrigued by this idea she had of converting Christmas cards into little boxes. Now that seemed useful, and much more up my alley! Make a few markings, a cut here and there, a few folds, some glue, and PRESTO! A Beautiful Box!

So I grabbed all the Christmas cards we got and went to town. The good news is we had lots of cards...the operative word being "had". This was a little tricky at first, and we did have a few sacrifices (sorry Mom, we loved your card though! Really!). But I'm pleased to report that I eventually got the hang of it, and created THIS!!:


What I thought was cool was when you opened it, and see the message inside:


I ended up making 4 boxes in all. *flex*

Martha, if you happen to see this, I hope I made you proud, and want to let you know that I am available for booking on your show. Maybe you can teach me that whole t-shirt folding thing once and for all....

Reflecting...

The palm trees and scattered clouds reflected nicely in the pool this morning. Unfortunately, the water temperature is still waaaaay to cold to actually swim. A few more months and we'll be good to go!

Horsies!

One of these years, we're going to get horses. Of course, we need to get a farm first, but when we do....horsies are the first order of business!

Until then, I'll have to be satisfied with the occassional spotting of someone else on a horse.

A few weeks ago, we took Joe's Mom to Tucson, and we came across some very cool horse statues. This first one was located in Old Town Tucson:


Yes, a horse statue that looks like a cactus! This would look great in our back yard.

This next pair of statues was located in the Tucson Botanical Gardens:


I started to climb up on one of them, but got some pretty evil glares and decided to just take a picture instead.

Welcome!

With the sun shining and the temperature in the upper-70's, today was a good day to put out one of my Christmas presents:


- a Mickey Welcome sign!

I love Disney World in Orlando, and after I win the PowerBall, we are moving to Florida. Until then, I will have to be satisfied with going every couple of years.

For vacation this year, we're planning an East Coast Tour - Pittsburgh, to see my family, then off to Washington, DC for a few days, and then up to New York City for a week or so.

If anyone has any suggestions on what to see or do in either DC or New York City, feel free to post. We're also trying to figure out where to stay.

In DC, we'll probably stay outside DC, like Alexandria or Springfield, VA. We'd like to be close to a Metro station, since we don't plan on renting a car. I also have an extremely nice cousin who has offered to put us up and/or loan us a car, so we have that option too!

As for New York City, I've been there a few times when I lived in New Jersey, but I have no idea where to stay. I'm afraid to look at prices, but I know it will cost quite a bit :)

San Francisco

Last year, we got to travel alot to San Francisco for my work. We'd never been there before, but once we experienced it, we were hooked!

Whenever possible, we'd tack on an extra day or 2 to have some fun. Once, we rented bikes and rode across the big bridge from San Francisco to Sausalito. It sounded like a good idea, but once we got to the bridge, it was really cold, foggy and rainy, and we were not ready for that! And it's a lot further across than it looks!

But we had fun, and when we got to Sausalito, it was gorgeous. I loved how this low-hanging cloud engulfed the higher elevation:


We had to take a ferry back from Sausalito to San Francisco to return the bikes, and while we were waiting for the ferry to come from the other side, we noticed this guy with his dog getting set up on a bench:


When the ferry arrived and the people started getting off, he'd go into this routine with the dog, and get a good crowd gathered.

When he was done, he'd ask for donations. He seemed to do pretty well. Haha.

Put On A Happy Face Day!

Ok, so I made my best attempt to put on a happy face this morning and pretend Work = Fun! That lasted until I got to the car. I'll try again next week, maybe.....

Woe is me....

After the first day back at work, I came home with a major headache and was exhausted! "Grumpy" would be an understatement. I'm sure the headache was all psychological, but that powerball needs to happen realllly fast.....

On the bright side, only 346 days to my 2006 Christmas/Year-end 2 weeks off!! Woo!

The End Has Come...

The end of my 2-week vacation from work, that is....booo!

Going back to work tomorrow will be really tough. I like being home :) Oh well, I had a fantastic time, thanks to Joe, and ate a little bit of everything (and ALOT of some things!).

My only resolution for New Years now is to win the PowerBall in 2006....

The picture is of the sunset from Walt Disney World's Caribbean Beach Resort, where we stayed in May of 2005. That had to be one of the highlights of the year :)

Happy New Year!

Best wishes for 2006!

I had a wonderful 2005, spending it with the one person I love
more than anyone or anything in the world :)