Oh what a night...

I tell you what, a night like last night makes you count your blessings BIG TIME!  In case you don't watch the news, there were major storms in the southeast yesterday and over night with over 200 deaths confirmed so far.  I feel so lucky that the storms missed us but my heart breaks for those that lost their family members or homes in the devastating storms.  The picture above is from Tuscaloosa, AL.  I heard that the tornado that hit there was over a mile wide. 

So last night was Zumba.  I know this sounds crazy, but our local library has free Zumba on Monday nights.  This week, the library was closed for a furlough day so we rescheduled it for last night.  We do the Wii version but it is so fun!  There are about 8 of us that usually are there but last night there were just 4 of us.  Since you are meeting up with other people, it keeps you more accountable.  You can't just quit in the middle.  I think I'm going today to buy the game for my Wii.  It's that fun!

In other news, we've got an exciting weekend ahead of us.  Tomorrow afternoon we are heading to the North Georgia mountains for a quick getaway with our wonderful neighbors.  I'm taking a 1/2 day off of work tomorrow and heading out around 4ish.  It's just for one night but it should be fun!  We're taking my dad's new 4-wheeler and I am so looking forward to riding it.

I need to ask for prayers.  My husband had a second interview last week for a fabulous job about 10 minutes from our house.  He is supposed to find out by tomorrow if he got it or not so please say a little prayer that it will be the right fit for him.

That's all for now!  :)

Old friends

Last night, I had dinner with two of my oldest friends.  No, I'm not calling them old - I've just been friends with them so long that I don't remember a time when I wasn't friends with them.

Dana and I grew up across the street from each other. She is married and has an adorable 2 year old son.  They still live across the street from my parents but we don't see each other nearly as often as we should.  We worked together for over 6 years and it was so nice having someone in the office who knew me so well.  I miss that - but not that job.  Dana's been through a lot in her life - her mom died very unexpectedly when Dana was in 6th grade and that made a huge impact on her life - as you can imagine.  She's quirky, but I love her.

Heather and I took tap and ballet together when we were 3-4 years old and have been friends ever since.  She moved to Boston for college, then moved home for a little while before moving back to the Boston area.  She got married two years ago and has a precious 9 month old daughter.  She had taken the train from Boston to Atlanta for her grandmother's 90th birthday.  I was at her wedding two years ago, her baby shower last year, and then dinner last night - all of which took place in the spring.  Heather is a free spirit and I love that about her.

Sometimes, it's nice to just be around people who "get" you.

I'm still here

Is this thing on?  

Hi!  It's me - Bonnie.  I didn't fall off of the face of the earth - I've just been incredibly busy.  It seems like I never have a moment to myself anymore.  I'm not complaining - but my social life is out of control.  For example, Monday night I had Zumba, last night I had dinner with some neighbors, tonight I've got a meeting at church and then dinner after, and tomorrow night I've got choir practice at church.  Even on nights that I don't have plans, I try to go to the gym.  I've got to start making myself a priority.  Here is my inspiration:

That's me - about 45 lbs. ago.

Here is me now:

I know it's hard to tell from this angle, but I've lost 5 pants sizes so far.  And if I don't get back in the gym, I'm going to end up looking like that first pic again.

In other news, my husband lost his job back in November.  He's had a few interviews but it's a tough job market out there.  He had an interview yesterday that seemed to go really well - AND it's only about 6 miles from our house.  Please say a little prayer that this is the job for him. I don't want him to just find a job - I want him the find THE job.  He is so tired of working somewhere for a year or two and then having to change jobs. It would be nice for him to find something that he'll be at 10 years from now.

My work is going well.  Friday is our annual awards ceremony.  This year it's at the Georgia Aquarium.  That should be fun.  People are already complaining about it - UGH!  I'm just excited that I haven't been involved in the planning this year.  For the past four years, I've had to put the whole event on.  For about 350 people.  It's a beast.  It will be so nice to just be a participant this time. 

I'm going to try to post at least twice a week.  Will someone please hold me to it?

Have a great one blog buddies! (yes, I stole that from Ross Matthews)

UGH!

Today was our annual homeowner's association meeting. My husband, Michael, is president of our HOA - lucky me! LOL! Actually, it really isn't so bad and he really enjoys it.



Anyhow, to "officially" have a meeting, you have to have a quorum - for our neighborhood, that means 43 homeowners much be present. We didn't get it this time - but can you blame people? Today was BEAUTIFUL! Mid 70's, not a cloud in the sky. The board decided to go ahead and have the meeting - the only thing they needed the quorum for is the installation of officers, which they decided to do via a mailing/online vote.

Back to the UGH. We have this neighbor, some folks call him Al, others call him Zack. I call him Mr. Miserable. I've never met anyone so unhappy in my whole entire life. Everything that was said, he had a negative comment for. "Why do so many yards have weeds?" "What are YOU going to do about it?" "Does anyone do anything about how bad things look around here?" Yet he won't volunteer to help with anything. One of my neighbors is convinced that he has killed his wife and she is in her freezer, as no one ever sees her out. Another neighbor sees him walking and swerves trying to hit him - to put him out of his misery. Had he not been at the meeting, we would have been don in 45 minutes. As it was, it was over an hour and a half - wasting this beautiful day. UGH! How do people get so miserable? He wants to move - his house has been for sale for 3 years - that's as long as we've lived here. I so wish someone would buy his hour and put him out of OUR misery!

One can wish, right?

This is my first post

Hi! I'm Bonnie. I'm 36 years old, married, and live in Flowery Branch, GA. My husband Michael and I have been married almost 7 years. No babies for us - just a sweet dauschund named Sophie and two birds- Ringo and Bailey. I work in multi-family property management. If I have to work, it's the ideal job for me. Maybe one day I'll win the lottery and be able to quit work. Wouldn't that be nice. In my spare time (what exactly is that?) I like to oil paint and sing.

Speaking of singing, I just joined the Gwinnett Symphony Chorus last night. So fun! I really missed singing in a group, and this is the perfect outlet for me. One rehearsal a week - I can do that! Not to mention, a really good friend of mine from college is the director.

I know this is a boring post. I promise to do better in the future.