Celebrating Ron's 75th!

I had the privilege of being a part of my Uncle's dad's birthday party. It was a wonderful gathering of friends and family.  Great food, great people and a great memory for my cousin's Grampy!

The older you get the bigger the cake :) 

My cousin Lanie eating...It's a reoccurring theme.
There may even be a book about it. 

Celebrating Friends...It's What I Love to Do

happy birthday to our friend janice!

Three is a Magic Number

Happiness is...celebrating my family!

Happy Birthday baby girl!!!

Aquatica or SeaWorld...Why Not Both?

My two loves at SeaWorld AFTER spending the morning at Aquatica. Yes, that's right! It can be done in less than six hours. Mr. Wonderful and I decided to take our annual passholder privileges to one of the two parks but decided to do something different and go for both. First on the list, Aquatica! We arrived fairly early (never as early as we think we're going to). We played in the water and the baby girl went down the pink and yellow slides. After a few hours, we headed back to the car. In the parking lot, we quickly changed and ate lunch that we had packed in the cooler on our way over to SeaWorld. We got there and immediately went to the Shamu show and then caught a few others. So glad we decided to go for it and enjoyed the parks as a family which is what it's all about. So as much as I like both the parks as separate places to go, I could see how both can be a lot of fun for everyone. My only other thought about the parks is that I wish there was a way to get from one park to the other a little easier rather than getting in a car.

Jen's Writer's Retreat: I want it! Please help me get it!

HELP!!! I just entered a chance to win a spot to The Luscious, Nurturing Get Your Writing Done While Laughing Your Butt Off and Maybe Crying a Little Too Writer’s Retreat and really, really, really want to go.

You can like my submission to win a spot to Jen's World Famous Writer's Retreat on her Savor and Serve the World blog (awesome stuff!!!):

My heart is screaming "Go and Get This For Us!!!" Thank you Jen for this glimmer of hope that I could actually be at a Writer's Retreat not next year, not "later" or "when I can afford it" but possibly in a few months from now! It's hard to describe how I am so ready for this opportunity. The chance to be able to write, laugh, learn, connect, be inspired/ing, cry, do cartwheels and let all the "stuff" that gets in the way every day just go. It would be life changing and huge for those who love me in the world. For years, I've been reading about the Writer's Retreat, imagining what it would be like to be a part of something so special, so re-energizing. Since I can remember, I have journaled my way through the good, the bad and the ugly (I'm talking monster ugly). It's how my heart processes and moves forward. For the longest time, I believed everyone did this and soon enough I discovered that not many people that I know write down their feelings and thoughts because they're afraid. But in Taos and the way I imagine it...There are others, like me, who are searching for their truth and for what they were born to do. By embracing the power of words, the power of writing and supporting one another we (writing to myself mostly) can do some serious good-changing in the world. To savor and to serve, that is my possibility.

Help me, Help YOU! You know I love to write. You know I love to celebrate whatever helps my spirit grow! Well, here's a chance to do all of those things and more!

Celebrating Shari!

Genius and his bride and birthday girl, Shari

Happy Birthday to our friend, Shari!

Happy Easter! Cristos Anesti!

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Originally uploaded by ljohnson9

Enjoyed a beautiful Easter weekend in Jacksonville with family and friends. The baby girl attended her first Greek Easter service and did very well despite the midnight start time and not getting to bed until almost 4 a.m.

Once again, I lost the red egg contest. It's what I specialize in. The good news is that the baby girl appears to be more blessed than I so she did well going up against YiaYia Teala in the final round. I can't remember if it was a tie or if it was her win. Either way, the girl's blessed and she takes home the non-cracked egg on both sides.

Here's to those perfect moments that I'm so thankful for and for the One who makes it all possible for my family and I.

Celebrating FIVE Years Later!

Receiving my FIVE year plaque from my boss at our office social.

A Reason to be in Celebration - PIE FEST 2011!

It's on...PIE FEST baby!

Chix With Stix (My Second All Ladies Golf Group)

Patti B., Laura, Lucy and I at Wekiva Golf Course on a very hot and sunny day.

We made the best of it. So glad I have a few ladies who don't mind getting out there with their clubs and laughing along the way. This golf thing with the right people is so much fun!

Baseball with the Fam

With less than 24 hours notice, my Mr. Wonderful and baby girl were on our way to Tropicana Field to experience our first Tampa Bay Rays baseball game. As a family, we've visited Turner Field with BeFrie and her fam a few years ago when they opened it up to the public but we hadn't ventured out to an actual game together. We ended up with some fantabulous seats...Not necessarily for watching the game but for hanging out with the opposing team and socializing with some really fun people. So, wait, I take that back. The seats were awesome for experiencing our first game together. And, considering Baby Girl does prefer to be free to run around vs. sitting in one place for a few hours, I'd say it was the best way for all parties involved to enjoy the entire game. We did it all. We cheered the home team on, ate popcorn, admired how nice the field was and wondered if the top of it opened up. Overall, we had a great time and definitely want to go back very soon. Go Rays!

More pics from RAYS game

Another Soccer Season Complete!

VooDoo - March 2011

Happy Birthday Soluna! (2nd Annual Lunch at Hillstone's/Houston's)

delicious lunch on the patio with mr. wonderful, matt, birthday girl and me

Baby Girl's Art

C'est magnifique!

A Wicked WICKED Night

Pre-Wicked Celiberations
Intermission

We HEART Wicked!

Meeting up with the boys at Ember

Birthday girl and her hubs

Matt happy to be downtown at Baby Grands

Baby Girl's Day with Horses (Thanks Super Mom!)

My First Purse Strings Event benefiting Credability

Jilene, me (first year committee member of Purse Strings) and Michelle

Kristi and Kena
Mandy and Soluna prom posing
Jackie (Purse Strings Queen and 80's music lover) and I

Cousin Shell is all Married!

All grown up and married,

Mrs. Michelle Whitfield-Bye

Justin Bieber in 3D...Oh yes I did with the Three

Me: "Thinking about taking the girls to the Justin Bieber Movie?"

S: "Ok. Well that would be great."

Me: "Yea, it should be fun!"

S: " Uh huh."

Road Trip to Hollywood (Florida)!

The Hollywood portion of our trip was not originally planned. Of course, based on my prior post the reason we were down there was to hold that sweet little baby girl Estella for as long as her sleeping schedule would allow. Because Mr. Wonderful and I used to frequent the Hollywood area back in the dating days, we called our friends who lived, worked and recently sold their house there to say we were thinking of them. As it turns out, they were in Hollywood at the Hard Rock. Yup...The HARD ROCK. To make a short story short...We ended up visiting our friends poolside and got to see why we could never actually hotel at a Hard Rock with the kids while we walked through the lobby/casino of cigarette smoke. Got over it (sort of) once we saw the pool. The visit was short but extra sweet. Baby girl had her first Strawberry Daquiri (virgin, to clarify for you judgers). We swam and laughed all the way until she fell asleep in a pool chair. What a great way to kick off our 3 hour drive back home. The trip was a pleasant surprise to us. It felt like vacation which I have to admit, I haven't been able to really, really take in what seems like forever. So here's to Hollywood and surprise vacations!

Welcome Baby E!!!

New parents of beautiful baby girl Estella!

My baby girl loved, scratch that...LOVED!!!! holding her.

My baby girl with their baby girl.

Sweet!

So glad I had this moment with you Estella!

How old are you? How old are you?

Yes, this is me. All 35. Smiling and well-loved.

partyin' it up at the landis'... again

the cool kids on my soccer team striking a pose

victor and the girls

ash and i - brunettes of voodoo

the landis' aka party central couple

Cousin Shelly's Getting Married...But not before we have a fun night out!

bride-to-be, shelly, and me

party shoe people!

cousin e and shelly

me and cousin e ... just like old times.

All Aboard the Party Train

Thanks J. for such a fun party!

Loved the choo choo!

Another Soccer Season Complete.

VooDoo right after a great playoff game.

We almost won but as always, we had lots and lots of fun this season.

explore.dream.discover.

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."~Mark Twain