Trina's Wedding weekend!

My best friend from allll the way back to 7th grade, got married this weekend. Trina and Tim's wedding was awesome. We were a little chilly during the ceremony, but once we hit the reception it was all good. Had a great home cooked meal(or so it tasted) and then prepared to dance the night away. Dresses were awesome and trina and all involved looked fabulous. Here is a picture of the blanket I made for Trina and Tim:





here is a picture of Trina and I:


And here is a picture of the girls:
Katie, Sharon, Trina, Sara and Emily


And here is a photo of my mom, grandma and I!!!

Oh How Things Have Evolved.

Well, My Honey is doing great in training and is almost graduated from his second phase and ready to start the actual work(not that hours of PT and endless studying isn't work). I have been busy with my work and am so glad that summer has arrived in Maine. Winter is very brutal up here and the short days are killer.

I have started gardening and here is some evidence!
There are many more pots that are growing but I don't have that much patience to show them all.

Here is Jeremy and I at his graduation... Aren't we just fantastic together?? I sure think so! I can't wait for him to get back to Maine... still have some time left down south, but he will be here before I know it :)





I will spend time down there this summer and some in Maine. I have a good schedule now for summer, so i will be really enjoying the travel and the time with Jeremy. Woo Hoo!!

Big Changes

So life has changed quickly around Owls Head. Jeremy left for training at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) on Super Bowl Sunday. I miss him like crazy. I miss the little things: cuddling, chatting, cooking, cleaning, running errands, etc. Never thought in my life I would want to be with someone so much. I went down to visit him over Valentine's Weekend and it was so hard to leave. Only 8 more days until I get to see him again.

He is doing so well down there. He is doing well in his classroom work and is liking what he is learning. He is working hard in PT and getting stronger every day. He feels like he is on the biggest loser with 2 Jillian's there kicking his ass. He is be even more smokin' hot then he was before! is that possible!?!?!? :)

I am one tough cookie, but am missing him so much. i keep myself busy with long days at work(like I have a choice), visiting him every other weekend and filling the other weekends with trips to see friends and family.

I have had numerous offers from friends in the Boston area for a place to stay so that I can maximize my time with Jeremy when I do get to go to him. that really makes my life easier. What great people I have surrounding me!! I couldn't get anymore lucky!!

Keep working hard, Jeremy!! I will see you soon. I miss you so terribly!! :) I love you!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

So i started a post last week with all of our christmas pictures, but I am gonna flake out and just share the facebook link:

Holidays 2009

We had a fantastic holiday season, capped with a visit from my mom, a nice low key new year's of games, rum and a quick nap before midnight(for me). We are starting our new year off right with a great vacation to the Caribbean... San Juan, St. Croix and Vieques is on the ticket!! I can't wait and we are going to have a fabulous time, I know it!

I am so lucky and blessed with my life right now. I have a wonderful man who I am sooo blessed to have be a part of my life... and 2010 is starting off right. I can't wait to see where our adventures take us... it's gonna be an exciting and dynamic year, that's for sure!!!

Trip to MN...

Here are a few pictures from Jeremy and I's trip to MN. We had a blast. We traveled Non-rev and the flights were great! We even got business class on Air Tran on the trip home. So cool! We were totally exhausted from all the running around and lack of sleep, but it was a great trip.

Poor Jeremy. He had to meet so many people and that was just my mom's half of the family. He met: Dad, Pat(brother), Pete(brother), Sara(sister), Mom, Grandparents(3 sets), 4 aunts and uncles, 4 cousins, and 2 second cousins... whew!!!

Jeremy, I and Mom's dog, Lily in front of my Mom's tree

Mom, Jeremy and I


Awesome light display. The helicopter's blades spin!!!


We landed in Boston, having missed the first snowfall!!


Back in RKD with snow everywhere!!!

Meet the boyfriend weekend!!

We are currently in MN, meeting the family. Jeremy has met about half of the family and the rest today. He will have met most of my mothers family by tonight... He is a good sport, and charming everyone in path!!! Pictures to come!!

Maine it is!!!!

Well, I have arrived in Maine. Actually, I'm in Phoenix at the moment, but my car and stuff is in Rockland, ME. Here is a link of the journey from my last night in San Juan to my arrival in Maine... Long road trip, ugh, but it's over now.

SJU to RKD

And here are some pictures from my first couple days in Rockland.

Rockland Days

I also have a place to live... I will be sharing a home with a very nice lady named Betsy. She has a cat and a dog and a very homey little place for me to put my head. I think it will work out well.

Trip to PHX

So I went to PHX for a few days to see my friends. I needed a little recharging while I am struggling with some things in my life. The first few pictures are from my visit with Daren and Jeanne and their 3 gorgeous kids; Sydnee, Dillen and Ethen. I have known this family for 7 years and watched these dolls grow up. Daren and Jeanne are 2 of the best friends of have...

From PHX visit February 2009

Here is a picture of Dillen, I and Ethen reading a bedtime story.

From PHX visit February 2009

Dillen, Daren, Sydnee, Katie, Jeanne, Ethen, one big happy family

From PHX visit February 2009

Sydnee, Katie, Ethen and Dillen taking a silly picture!

From Pics of me by Kris Commerford

A picture that Kris took of me near her house. ]

From Pics of me by Kris Commerford

Here's more of me!

From Pics of me by Kris Commerford

Me at the horsetrack... it was my first time and it was super fun!!!

Adventures in taking a taxi home...

So tonight I am heading home after a challenging day of flying in the rain... it really wasn't too bad, but it's been raining down here for 3 days straight and I'm ready to see some sun!!!! But anyway back to my story.

I grab a cab on the way home and it's only about a 5 minute ride and it's raining pretty hard. We are just coming down the ramp to leave the airport and the engine shuts off. Hmmmm.... weird. Well, the cabbie mutters something in spanish, that will not be repeated here in english(yea, i know the bad words!!! ha ha ha). He apologizes and makes a phone call. I simply smile and say it's ok. I know it sucks when your car breaks down, especially bad if its the vehicle by which you make a living, I can only imagine what he was feeling. So I wait for a few minutes while he makes some calls. Then he jumps out and flags down another taxi to take me home. I thank him and wish him "Bueno Suerte" (sorry if it's spelled wrong) But it means "good luck". The 2nd cabbie dropped me off at home and I ran to my apartment in the rain... sorry its not much more exciting, but I wanted to share that with you all...

And it's still raining! Here's to sunny skies tomorrow!

Happy 2009!!!

Hello everyone and welcome to 2009! I got to ring in the new year with my mom. Yes, for those who know me, you know that my mom came down to Puerto Rico on Christmas Day and stayed until New Years day. It was her longest and best vacation ever, according to her. She slept in, walked on the beach every day, lost some weight(yes, on vacation), got to see El Morro and got to travel outside of the country(not just Canada). Now she has the travel bug and wants to keep expanding her travels. She has traveled all over the US and is ready to tackle the big bad world. Here are a few pics from her trip:


Mom and I on the beach on New Year's


Fireworks from the Old San Juan Hotel at Midnight


Mom and I at El Morro


Mom and I in the El Morro gift shop balcony

We had a great time and she is already planning on coming back again in a month or so. Not so bad when your daughter works for the airline and you fly for almost nothing(even if it is standby!) My mom rocks and I miss her already!!

But the good news is that my sister will be here at the end of the month for a week and we will have a rockin' time too. I will hopefully post before then, but i will definitely update after that too!!

Merry Christmas!!!

Wow! Has it been a month since I posted!?!?!? YIKES!! I have all these pictures and stories and I keep thinking, "I gotta blog"... and I forget or too long goes by and I don't think it's important anymore... but I guess we'll see. I will try harder to blog about my stuff. But

Merry Christmas
from Puerto Rico!!

It's a little hard to tell its Christmas down here... just some Christmas lights around and people saying happy holidays... or Feliz Navidad! 2 of the roommates are working and the other is off, so we might hit the beach... the beach on Christmas... that I like.

But there is a small(very very small) part of me that misses a snowy Christmas. As much I don't like the cold, snow on Christmas is a very magical thing.

On another note, my mom is trying to travel standby to see me... and it's proving to be challenging. We knew it was going to be, but not this much. So send out some happy travel thoughts for my mom in Minneapolis... it'd be good to see her. Merry Christmas everyone!!

See the fam...

So, I'll post pictures as soon as i get them on my computer, but I'm home in MN for a few days visiting the family. It was 87 on Sunday in Puerto Rico, and it was 26 and snowing when i arrived in MSP yesterday... can you say DAMN!!!! Yea, i was freezing. All I have for a jacket is a hoodie and that doesn't do much to cut the winter frigidness.

I have seen my sister, who picked me up. We always have such a good time together and we are the best confidante's... telling each other things that no one else in this world knows... and we don't judge! We have our differences, but the disagreement never lasts more then a few minutes. It was so good to get some alone time with her and really get some stuff out in the open.

Then I saw my brother, Pat(the one that was in Australia), and my mom. Mom and I went up to my grandparents and had some dinner and then to Missy's(sister's old roommate) to see her son Jackson and give him his birthday present!! He is so cute... wait until you see my video!! He's so darn cute!!

Today, I'm gonna have some lunch with my grandparents(again) and see my dad and brothers. Tomorrow is my sister and hopefully some cousins!! I wish i had about 10 days to really visit everyone!! I'll post some pics soon... :)

Welcome to da islands, mon!!

Hello everyone! Life in the islands is hot and humid, but it's better then snow and ice. I have been working like a fiend and its hot and sweaty. Yes, it's a bit graphic, but true... 89 and humid... I like 110 and dry(aka... Arizona! ha ha) So hear are some pictures from the first week... don't worry, there will be more!

St Croix of the USVI, where I used to live

This is me with St. Croix in the background, flying mechanics to fix a plane

Christiansted Harbour on the north shore of St. Croix

El Yunque, the rainforest on Puerto Rico

Here is a waterspout forming NE of Puerto Rico They look cool, but can be dangerous to fly into. Luckily, they are easy to see and avoid!!

Link to all of my Australia trip photo's here:

Here is a link to all my photo's on Photobucket.com... hope you enjoy!! I'm going to sticky this to the top for a while... so scroll down for each new day's posts of my trip. Thanks!

Australia Trip Photo's

Australia: Last Day, June 1st

Today was my last day in Sydney and Australia. I got up early and started the walk up to the Opera house. It was about a 40 minute walk. What a great way to start my day.
Beautiful! I got up to the Opera House and took my tour. It was so surreal to be there... I was in awe the whole time. There are 4 stages. I saw the one where Andrea Bochelli and Luciano Pavarotti performed. I saw the tiny one where awesocomedians perform. I saw the opera hall... ahme... they have copy rights on the inside of the theater's, so we could only take pics of the outer areas. Here is a slide show of that:

Here are some other photos from that day... my last on in the Land of Oz....





My last view of Syney Harbour








My ride home

Australia: May 31st

So I left Lismore today and headed for a day in Sydney.
i got into the airport and then headed to find my hostel. I took the train up into the city and started walking. It is called Nomad's Maze, for good reason... the halls are so messed up... you gotta keep track of where you are, or you might get lost! Pat said he got lost when he stayed there. It is really crazy.

I got in mid morning and dropped my stuff off at the room. One roommate was sleeping and the other was gone. So I grabbed my stuff and headed off to walk the city. I stopped at the desk and asked for a map and the best way to get around. i was about 2 miles from Circular Quay and there was tons to see in between, so I walked. It was amazing.

There will be lots of pictures today and tomorrow... Might just put a link to flickr or photobucket... I went camera crazy.




First I went to the Sydney Tower. I do believe it is the tallest building in Sydney. I paid the money to go up, which was kind of spendy, but well worth it. The views were absolutely amazing. I was so in awe of being there... it was so surreal. I didn't really have a great view of the opera house, but had a great view of the harbour and the bridge... so awesome.

Then I worked my way up Pitt Street toward the Circular Quay, which is the major harbour. I had grabbed a bunch of flyers before I left the Hostel. I knew I wanted to do a harbour tour, the opera house, maybe climb the pylon and go up the tower. So I had the Tower done - Check! So there was a harbour tour in 35 minutes, so I hustled up to the harbour. I went to Captain Cook's Harbour tour and bought a ticket... then I got a picture with Captain cook himself... So I wandered over to where to boat launches and got onboard. I took a few pics as we left the harbour and sure enough, the battery died on my camera! ARGH!!!! Talk about shitty timing. I was so irritated. I had planned on doing the Opera House also that day, but didn't want to go without my camera. So i sat back and enjoyed the rest of the tour. I decided to walk to the Opera House and see when the first tour was in the morning. My flight wasn't until 145p, so I had a little time. I bought a ticket for the 9 am Sunday tour. So I started back toward the hostel. I just took my time and stopped and looked at stuff when I wanted to. I found an awesome sushi place that has sushi on a conveyor belt that winds around the restaurant. Each plate is a different color and there is a key to what each one costs in front of you. So when something goes by that you want, you just grab it and eat it. of course my camera was dead, so I didn't get a picture. But it was super cool. Then I wandered back to the room. It was still early in the day, relatively. I sat in my room for about an hour and read a book and drank a beer. I met my one roommate Amy, who is from Toronto and has been traveling since January.

Then I met the other roommate, Emma. She is a doctor of Chinese medicine and an acupuncturist. She was in Sydney for a conference on using acupuncture as a way to treat drug addicts. So I picked her brain. I find it so intriguing. So we spent the entire night hanging out, chatting and bs-ing. Then I got up my courage and asked her if she would do some acupuncture on me, so I could try it... I've always found it interesting, but never had the courage to do it. So she looked at my tongue and took my pulses... yes, plural. We have 27 different pulses, taken at different points on your arms depending on what part of your body is in need of help. She told me all about chi and how the body works and what kind of things chinese medicine and acupuncture can help. She said my spleen is struggling. The spleen is in the master behind blood production in the body and the distribution of the blood to the muscles. When it struggles, it makes it hard for the body to process food for the nutrients you get. That is due to stress and instability. Hello! You all know what I do for work!! That makes a lot of sense. She also told me that I look healthy overall, but she would say that I exercise a lot, eat pretty good and see no results on the scale!!!! She also said that I probably eat a lot of cold items: apples, carrots, cucumbers, and salads... yep, yep, yep and YEP!! She had no way of knowing that. NO WAY!! She started telling me so many things about my health... even my doctor at home isn't that good. Crazy. So she had me lay down and put in 6 needles. One in my left leg in the front(where the spleen line is), one near the big toe on the top of each foot(kinda tinglely, but not painful), one on each hand between the thumb and pointer finger... now that one was crazy. When she put it in and found it's proper place, it felt like electricity flowing through my pointer finger into my arm... never any pain, just odd feelings. Same feeling on the right side. Then she put one right between my eyebrows! That is the 'third eye' and is for calming and relaxation.

I laid there for about 15 minutes and breathed... she spoke the whole time very quietly. She said that since my spleen was deficient, I might get some sensations and to ask if any concerned me. Well after about 3-4 minutes, my legs started twitching. She said that happens, because when you start treating the spleen, it increases blood flow where needed and will cause some slight twitching... i thought it felt amazing. Then she took them out. She had explained all about chi and the ying and yang of the balance of the body. I had known about some of that, but she really helped me understand it. I was ying deficient... typical for women. I am going to look into finding one around here... I think it will be well worth it. It was an amazing experience... I slept like a baby!!

Australia: May 30th

We all started rolling out of bed at about 10 am the next morning. We were all a bit tired but no worse for the wear really. Pat didn't get up til about 1 pm, so I hung out with Abby, Alex, Jackson, Arlo and Romiero. We made brekky(breakfast) and sat around. Pat had a bunch of errands and stuff to get done before he left for Cairns on Saturday and I also was leaving for Sydney on Saturday. I went down, checked my email, and generally just putzed around. We went and got some KFC for dinner and I bought some treats to bring back. I brought back 3 packs of Tim Tams(unbelievable cookies) and some Mi Goreng(like Raman noodles but better). We watched a few movies and some South Park.

I also started on the packing... I had lots of souveniers: 2 masks(one for pat and one for me), lots of postcards, shot glasses, a lighter for a friend, etc. So add that to all my other crap and I was packing tight. We didn't go to bed until like 1 or 2 am, of course. Pat and I are both night owls.

Australia: May 29th

Today we left Surfer's Paradise. We went to Byron bay, which is very cool. Wish we would have had one more day to play around... except it was still raining. Stupid rain. We drove down to Byron and went up to the light house... gives a beautiful view of Byron Bay. Plus it is the head of the trail that takes you to the Easternmost point of Australia... I have been to the Eastern most point of the USA, down on St. Croix, so now I have 2 countries taken care of!!! Sweet!!! I will finally start adding some pictures now that I have access to the computer and can really start to add a ton...

Here is a slideshow of the Lighthouse and Eastern Point:

We wandered around Byron for just a few minutes, cuz we had to get the rental car back.So w e stopped and got the most amazing Kebab ever... it had Lamb and Tziki(greek yogurt, mint, cucumber and garlic) sauce. Oh so yummy... I should open a Kebab shop here... I think it would be a hit. They are pretty healthy, I think, but they are super yummy. We bought a few souveniers and headed back to Lismore. Jackson picked us up at the rental car place and went back to the college.

Well, Thursday night is the big party night on campus, just like every college in America too. So the Unibar(University sponsored bar, which my college didn't have), has a huge dance floor with bands and huge area to sit and talk under a big cover(which was good cuz it was raining still). Well, we started pregaming(drinking before going to the bar so it's not as expensive) at 7 pm... I don't start drinking that early, I haven't since college!!! But I did as it was my only night to really REALLY do it up with my brother. We started by playing Jenga... which I didn't know you could make into a drinking game, but leave it to college students!! You write different things on the Jenga blocks(give 2, take 2, boys drink, girls drink, skull or slam your drink, etc) Then we wandered around campus and popped in on a bunch of Pat's friends. Some(about 20) were playing flip cup(just another drinking game).

Then we went to the Unibar about 10p. I hung out with Abby and Alex mostly, but wandered around a lot and chatted with bunches of people. Abby is from UMass - Amherst and Alex is her friend out visiting. They are both super cool. There were 3 good bands, lots of people to talk to, beers to drink and lots of conversation. I really had a great time. The hill that goes up to the dorms is a bitch... ridiculous really. Unlike any hills I have climbed before except for hills in AZ that I climbed... A picture doesn't do any justice to the evil this hill is.

So at the end of the night, 2 of Pats other friends had gotten a cab and wanted to split... so we split from the Unibar and took the cab home... about 10 bucks between the 4 of us. Not bad at all. We made some snacks, watched some South Park and went to sleep. Oh, what a great day!! So much fun.