it's been a while!

16/365: help! my big brother is attacking me with kisses :)

17/365: jewelry. i've been meaning to post a pic of this for a while, but i never had it up until now...my bestest friend, jami, made this earring holder for me for christmas...it's an old, chunky frame, spray-painted with gold, and it has gold mesh in the middle (where you hang the earrings)...isn't it awesome!!! i love it...thanks james!! (and there hanging next to it is the greatest hat eva...thanks alli!)

wow, where do i begin?? it's been a long couple days since i last posted...it's been long mainly because we stay at home all day long, cause i just don't know where to go! we do go and venture outside every once in a while...but would you believe that 2 days this week, it was just too hot to be out for very long...i started sweating!! the weather here is friggin' crazy...it's been in the high 70's, low 80's for a couple days, and then today we awoke to 50 degree temps. which, believe me...i would have taken 50 degrees any day in january in kansas, but here...it's just plain cold. people showed up to church with their winter coats on...crazy folk. and, to top everything off, last night we were under severe weather watches all night...tornado watches too...yup, tornadoes...i guess i can't escape those. but, we were wondering what you do if there is a tornado, cause there are no basements!! yikes! anyways, friday night we decided to go to the "mall of millenia"...supposedly this luxurious, upper scale mall here in orlando...we needed to get out, and that sounded interesting! but first, i needed to pick up some pictures that i had printed at ritz photo...well, we plugged the addy into our GPS and headed towards ritz...if you've ever drove in orlando, you know that there are tolls EVERYWHERE...you can't get on a freeway without paying a toll...so, when we got to the exit, we accidentally took the wrong turn, and ended up getting back onto the freeway...heading the wrong direction...and heading towards yet another toll. well we didn't want to pay the toll AGAIN, so we decided to go through the side that said "south-no toll"...we thought we were being so smart, and we would head through that, and then get off at the first exit, and turn back around and find ritz...only, the next exit wasn't for 6 MILES...yup, 6 friggin' miles! so, we drove the very looooong 6 miles, and got off at the very first exit, and guess what we had to do...PAY A FREAKING TOLL! and to get back on the freeway...pay another freaking toll!! can you believe that? we thought we were being so smart by going through that exit, but instead, it took us an extra 12 miles, and an extra $2!! what a rip! then, once we got to the address, we couldn't find it...we drove around this one parking lot for like 30 minutes or so...so, we decided to stop and eat there, rather than driving to the mall to eat...and after that, we headed back in search for ritz...finally finding it...only to be told that my order was not there, and if it was something i ordered online, that it would be across the street at the ritz pix in the mall. (not the mall we were planning on going too, but hey). so, 2 hours after heading out of our house, we ended up at a mall...but not the mall we were trying to get too...it was quite an eventful/stressful trip...i still love you keith :)
saturday morning, i made a trip to the local grocery store and spent way too much money...the super wal-mart is opening down the street sometime this month, so we have to go to the store, and spend way too much money on things that we can get for a lot cheaper at wally world. oh, i can't wait for it to open!
last night, i stayed up late and scrap booked! oh, it felt so good to be creative yet again...bummer for you all though, cause i'm submitting these pages to a contest, so i can't show them until after it's over! :( but, i do love these pages...i'm super proud of them!
we went to "summit" church this morning...this church is HUGE! they have 3 services, and have bought out an old movie theatre...they use every theatre for different things...it's really quite interesting, the way they have renovated it...anyways, i'm a church snob, and it's very hard for me to be impressed, cause i have high expectations, but i was somewhat pleased with this one. they had an awesome kids program, and that means a lot...we're going to try something closer to home next week (this one was about 30 minutes away)...but, we live out in the boonies, so a lot of stuff is that far away! there are some churches just right down the street, so we'll start checking those out. i met a lady at church today...and it turns out she just lives right down the street from us, and her husband works at CRU as well! so, we exchanged info, and she's going to be in contact with me about some play groups and stuff like that...i need some connection, so this is great!
well, it seems like a lot longer, but we have officially been here for a week now. i already miss my family and friends so much that it hurts! it's hard for me to hear about what's going on back "home"...i so want to be there, and hanging out. it's just such a weird feeling...to know you're not a part of that anymore. it doesn't seem real quite yet...i still think that i'm in kansas...just on a vacation right now. and then it hits me...this is where i am. for good. at least for now. i miss you all...who's coming to visit first???? the guest room is cleaned and ready to go for visitors!
well, i leave you with a picture of my craft space! i got the desk top and legs from IKEA...the top was only $29.99 and the legs were $5 each. the shelves are $14.99 from IKEA...the tall, skinny shelf was clearanced there for $40...and it matches perfectly! and then i just have a modge podge of other stuff i was using before...but i love the space...it's so much brighter compared to my 'craft dungeon' that i previously had...i love having that huge window right there! this is the other side of our bedroom...so, it's nice to be able to work right there, and have keith or the kids there too-unless of course you catch them opening your paint bottles and painting your new table. yup, caedmon you're officially a stinker (like you weren't before).

well, have a great night...thanks for stopping by...keep updating your blogs...i love to read what's going on in your lives :) love you all!