Country first....

After being less than enthusiastic about the choices for president in the primaries (I supported Huckabee, of course, but never really thought he had a great chance for the top slot) I am THRILLED AND ELECTRIFIED in a way that I haven't been for YEARS by the choice of Sarah Palin for the VP slot. Why, you may ask?? Well, let me tell you...

1. She's good people. First off, she's a born-again Christian. The single most important thing in my book.

2. She's a proven reformer. She DID take on the establishment in AK--and she made some compromises along the way. As all in leadership MUST do. Of course she kept the $ that the feds gave her for that bridge!!! But as her interests changed from limited local (Wasilla mayor) to statewide (Governor) her position changed to reflect her constiuent interests. You have to respect that--it's only fair. And seriously, they only spent $30k for a lobbyist for Wasilla. I would bet you a bunch of $$ that is WAAAAY below average for municipalities.

3. She does have executive experience. She's the ONLY one who has it. Go be mayor of a small town...not to mention Governor of a state...then come tell me she's not experienced "to be a heartbeat away" from the presidency. Uhhh....YES SHE IS. She's the only one who is! Executive power is a TOTALLY different beast than legisilative. Period.

4. Who cares if her daughter is pregnant?? I mean--really?? So is like 35% of the rest of the American teenage population. Her family is not immune to the problems that crop up from living in a fallen world. What matters is that she is encouraging good decisions and supporting her daughter as she begins the difficult task of being a teenage mother. Good for her.

5. A woman VP? Oh yeah. And what I love best--she's a real woman. Mom. PTA. Feminine. The whole bit. Work away--even w/ an infant. You can do it!!

6. Troopergate? Please. When you are the Governor, you can fire your commisioners. Period. The commissioner has said she didn't ask for her ex-bro-in-law to be fired. Good enough for me. Besides, based on the Trooper in question (drunk driving arrests both ON and off duty, tasering his 10 year old step-son-at the request of the 1o year old to prove he was not a 'mama's boy', death threats against his father-in-law) should have been fired. But in fact, is still a trooper. Troopergate?? Come on.

7. Banning books?? Didn't happen. Ask the librarian. She has said over and over that then Mayor Palin asked a "what if" question. So why the drama??

8. She is exciting. She's not entrenched. She's new on the scene. Love it. Love it. Love it.

So here you have it...my official endorsement for 2008--McCain/PALIN!!!

Par-tay!!!

Our "welcome to our home" par-tay was Saturday nite and it was a big success!! We had about 32 people come, including 8 kiddos. We actually had lots of room for lots more folks, even!! Space was totally not a problem. The only problem was the heat...it was BLAZING hot on Saturday. We have those old, radiator style air conditioners, which kind of struggle anyway...but REALLY struggle on hot days. Add 30+ people and a 400degree oven for cooking. It was hot. But not too, too bad. I had work peeps, church peeps, Tres Dias peeps, all kinds of peeps crashing together. So fun. The place is about 80% finished. Big things we HAVE to get: living room rug, shelves, bike rack. Things I would LIKE to get: another chair for the Living Room, shelves for my room. A couple more pics for the walls. Overall--huge success. Lots of fun. Good times.

HIGH-larious...

On the side of the interstate in Alabama b/w Montgomery and Birmingham. In case you can't read it, it says: GO TO CHURCH or the DEVIL will get you!!!

Gotta love it!!!

Beachy-keen....

So...I'm finally digging out from the cloud of depression that has covered me ever since my return from the beach. Now that it has been exactly one week...I'm feeling better and am ready to talk about it rather than cry! :)

Immediately upon arrival, we had a suprise b-day party for Amy complete w/ presents and homemade cupcakes! Fun!!

The view from our balcony.

Straight from the b-day party to the beach!

Each nite we were each responsible for choosing the meal and location and activities. Friday nite was Shauna's nite. After a couple of wrong turns and one rejected locale, we ended w/ a big winner--the Crab Trap for possibly our best meal of the entire trip! Good pick, Shauna-belle!

On Saturday nite--my nite--we went to the Black Pearl for dinner....

A sunset walk to the pier....

Lots of pics...

Amy and Shauna trying to get a pic of them jumping at the same time....to no avail, so they gave up and did the "charlie's angels" instead...

We ultimately ended up Saturday nite at "Howl at the Moon" for the dueling pianos. So fun. We heard "Gin and Juice", but no "Jack and Diane." Sorry, Shauna!!

Our beach. The weather was PERFECT for every minute we were there...but the water got progressively cleaner and bluer the longer we were there (probably from the storms around us). It was absolutely gorgeous every single minute.

Our famous toe pic--we love our pedis! Check out that awesome, white sand!!!

Sunday nite, Amy cooked an AMAZING dinner. We had this awesome Arkansas Caviar dip and special avacodo salads w/ chicken and tuna. It was sooo good.

We had so much fun and as always, it was hard to go. But it's always good to get together. And always bittersweet to go home. Can't wait for the next time!!!

STAY AWAY HURRICANE!!!

I'm kind of freaking out. I'm JUST starting to get excited about my trip to Florida tomorrow, and here are MORE hurricanes coming!! Amy is wigging out, too--which isn't helping--but I can read that the projections are NOWHERE NEAR US!!! Praising the Lord in ADVANCE for giving us awesome weather!!! (amy--it's gonna be FINE, DO YOU HEAR ME???!?!?) :)

Latest and greatest on mi casa:

Into the living area from the hallway--those tubs are no longer there--and there is now a table by the door.

The new couch. Changes--new tv stand not shown. That table the tv is on is now by the door. The shelf the radio is on is now stained and in my "sitting area" in my room.

Dining room. The plant is now up on a white, square pedastal table.

The new fun stuff over the sink. Love it!

Loving the new place! I bet it's gonna be really awesome when I can walk places from there and metro to work!!