More of St. Croix

Like I said there are so many pictures of St. Croix I've added more below.

Spencer and I on the ferry in the bay in Christianstead going to K Island. A very small island (more of a big sandbar that fits a hotel and restaurant) in the bay. This is right after the boys got done with their deep sea fishing trip.


Will and I at the restaurant on the K.


The entire family minus Spencer (sad!) at the Cruzan Rum factory. We had a fun time learning how the rum is made. And a lot of fun sampling all the rum after the tour.


Below is the view of Cane Bay from the deck of our house. The little yellow boat you see is Dad and the boys diving "The Wall at Cane Bay." They call it The Wall because not far off the shore the ocean floor drops 13,000 feet - probably right where their boat is now where the water gets darker.


Here are Spencer and Will in first class on the way back home. Dad and Paige somehow got upgraded and gave their seats to the boys. They were cute when I walked by and took their picture. They were amazed they could have whatever they wanted for free - Will had two cups of coffee and three Cokes!

STX U.S.V.I.

There are so many pictures from St. Croix - 413 to be exact - so I will try to post the "most interesting ones." The entire (immediate) James family went at the beginning of July - me, Cole, Dad, Paige, Spencer, Will, Nanny and Sherry. We rented a house pretty much on the beach - it was actually up the hill (a 2 minute walk to the beach) which let us have a wonderful view of Cane Bay, which is located on the north shore of St. Croix. I never slept in past 9 and there was so much to do every day all day. Dad, of course, stayed the busiest of all of us while the rest of us enjoyed having full days and relaxing days. It was certainly a great time - thanks so much Dad and Paige!!

This is a picture of Dad and Nanny at the Off the Wall restaurant and bar that is on the beach down the hill from our house.


Dad and all the boys went deap sea fishing the second day we were there. This is them coming back from their eight hour trip into the bay at Christianstead. It's so beautiful there!


This is our family picture at the Rainbow Cafe - this restaurant/bar was located on the beach in Frederickstead. If we look like we're glistening a little - it's because it was hot. But hey, it's not so bad when you're on the beach in the Caribbean right? Right.


Spencer, Will and me at a stop during our jet ski tour around the island.


Cole and me during our jet ski tour. I love this picture - not because it's the most glamorous - but LOOK AT THAT WATER! The color of the water has nothing to do with the camera. That is how it looked. It was beyond amazing and I'd love to go back. Cole started calling it "his island" and still talks about moving there!

Tim McGraw is Sexy!

Look at him personally throw a concert-goer out when he apparently got overly aggressive with a woman in the audience.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiAAIqFOrZE

Drip, Drip - Do something good for the water supply today

There are currently 400 million people worldwide facing severe water shortages, according to the United Nations. By 2050, that number will be 4 billion. In California for example, Governor Schwarzenegger has declared the first statewide drought in 17 years.

An enormous amount of water is lost through minor drips around the house - some that you might not even know about if your water bill isn't sky-rocketed like mine was earlier this year. A leaky faucet can lose up to 20 gallons of water a day, while a leaky toilet can flush an extra 200 gallons every day.

To test for an unknown leak, put five to ten drops of food coloring in the tank of your toilet. If ten minutes later there's coloring in the bowl (not your tank), you've got a leak that needs fixin'.

Also, if you water your grass or plants, water them in the morning or evening. Don't water them in the middle of the day as this is when the rays from the sun are harsh and will evaporate the water your plants need to survive.

Emergency Among Us

The near-and-dear to our hearts Buffalo Wild Wings in Fayetteville was located on this - list - and was served with a Business Closure Notification on 6/18/08. SAD! And stupid! Pay your freaking taxes. Rumor has it that BWW has been pocketing the 2% revenue from the new Fayetteville Hotel, Motel and Restaurant Tax.

Since they were served, they've been removed from the list. We shall see what happens...

UPDATE: BWW is still open for business at the moment.

Pathetic Souls

The below pin was being sold this past weekend by at the State Republican Convention in Texas. It was being distributed at a booth hosted by the Republicanmarket.

One comment to the link below says it all. "The fact that the GOP convention tolerated this says it all. It's pathetic that these idiots can even claim the "patriotic" label."

http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2008/06/stick-a-pin-in-it.html

Do something good for the environment today

Wash your clothes in cold water - NOT HOT. Even warm water is better than hot. 90% of the energy used for washing clothes is used to heat the water. So, use cold water.

Also, hang up as many clothes as you can to dry and try to only do loads of laundry when you have full loads.

Aaron and Keyna's Wedding Weekend!

This weekend we all traveled down to Ft. Smith for Aaron and Keyna's wedding. There was a pretty big gang of us and we all stayed at the Holiday Inn and hung out at some Ft. Smith "hot spots" (ha!). We had a really good weekend - it's always fun to have lots of friends together having a good time.

Below is a picture of part of the group with the bride and groom. About seven more are MIA from this picture.


Here is a picture of Kate, Elise and me right before the ceremony.

What's this about?

John McCain and his first wife's rocky story. Is this drama that the media is creating or was McCain a cheating womanizer?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1024927/The-wife-John-McCain-callously-left-behind.html

Discuss.

The Busiest Weekend Ever!

This weekend was one of the busiest but it was a lot of fun. Friday Mikey and I drove down to Little Rock and Spencer, Will and I went to eat at the Rumba Room downtown in the River Market. Below is a picture of Will and me - Spencer didn't want his picture taken. But that's okay, I haven't posted a picture of Will yet since he's always out of town! :-)


Saturday morning Mom, Morie, Joseph and I went to the airport and picked up my grandmother from Brasil - Vovo. That's Portuguese for grandmother. Below is a picture of Vovo and Morie with our Czech beer we were tasting. Both Mom and Morie and Dad and Paige are getting exchange students from the Czech Republic this fall. How exciting! Just what I need - more teenage boys in the house when I go home. Just kidding!


After I spent time with my family in Little Rock, I drove back to Fayetteville Saturday evening for Elise's birthday celebration - and ENGAGEMENT! Ricky proposed to her that afternoon and we double celebrated that night. Congratulations you two! Below is a picture of the two of us at Lulu's for her birthday dinner. It was very good - I loved the patio! One of the best in Fayetteville for sure. Patios are very important.


Then, Sunday morning Kate Jones and I drove back to Little Rock. After I spent more time with my grandmother, I drove down to Hot Springs to meet Cole and his family for his niece Bella's first birthday party! She was so cute and had a great time. Below is a picture of Bella and Cole. She's really loving her Uncle Cole and he adores her. They were really cute. The party was a lot of fun and the cake was so yummy - it was Dora-themed. After we rested, Cole and I drove back to Fayetteville that night. A lot of driving but I had a lot of fun this past weekend.

Keith and Carrie at Razorback Stadium!

Thursday night Amanda and I went to Keith Urban and Carrie Underwood's concert at Razorback Stadium. It was a free show for the Wal-mart Shareholders Event. It was so much fun! I love Carrie so much, but I have to say Keith was a huge surprise hit. And so cute! He came out into the audience a lot and even traded his guitar for one fan's hat! Lots o' fun!

The Chicken Dance

I'm sure by now you've heard that McDonald's has come out with the new Southern Style Chicken Biscuit and Sandwich to compete with Chik-fil-A's chicken biscuit and sandwich. Well, maybe you haven't. Well, I have - maybe because on the day McDonald's launched these two new products they gave them away for free with a purchase of a large drink and it seemed like every male in my office went. See below:

http://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/stories/2008/05/12/daily33.html

But, the question is: How do McDonald's two new items measure up to Chik-fil-A's famous (and wonderfully mouth-watering) chicken? I've heard many say they're not sure if they could tell a difference between the two if they didn't know any better. Well, I'm not so sure.

I've yet to try to the Chicken Sandwich (and I bet that won't happen until after our trip to St. Croix) but the Chicken Biscuit didn't measure up. Cole didn't care for the biscuit; I thought the chicken was gross. It was a grayish color! Chik-fil-A definitely won that battle.

What do you think?

Can't decide? Maybe the nutritional information will help:
McDonald's Southern Style Chicken Biscuit:
Calories: 410
Fat: 20
Fiber: 2
Weight Watcher Points: 9

McDonald's Southern Style Chicken Sandwich:
Calories: 400
Fat: 17
Fiber: 1
Weight Watcher Points: 9

Chik-fil-A Chicken Biscuit:
Calories: 420
Fat: 19
Fiber: 2
Weight Watcher Points: 9

Chik-fil-A (Breaded) Chicken Sandwich:
Calories: 410
Fat: 16
Fiber: 2
Weight Watcher Points: 10

Do something good for the environment today

Unplug!

Unplugging certain electronics and small appliances around your house can definitely help to cut down on the amount of energy used. I know some things like refrigerators and washing machines cannot be unplugged but other little things can be.

When not in use unplug phone chargers, laptop chargers, small appliances like coffee makers, toasters, some or all lamps, etc. Keeping these plugged in while not in use only wastes energy. They're small electronics that are easy to plug in and UNPLUG.

Try to make this part of your leaving-the-house regimen!

Sex and the City! Opening weekend!

The Sex and the City movie opened this weekend to an impressive $56 million! I believe this is the most ever for an R rated movie!

I won't say anything about the movie because I know some have not seen it yet but it's wonderful. Please see it. I saw it both Friday and Saturday night and cannot wait to see it gain!

Cheers!

Wow

I really do mean this with all the respect in the world. But, is this person not embarrassed by now?

Finding small amusements :-)

Tonight was just a regular night during the week. But, after a looo-oooong day at work I guess I came home and found everything that I love and things that make me laugh.

This past weekend we went to Branson and Cole purchased this ceramic frog that he's put next to the sink in his bathroom - next to his palm tree toothbrush holder ;-). He got this toothbrush holder a few weeks ago and I mentioned how it was "interesting"... He asked me if we lived together if this holder would be in our bathroom or the guest bathroom - tough decision. Would I want our guests to see it or would I rather look at it every morning? :-)

Tonight I made us yummy blackened chicken with kabobs of tomatoes, onions, mushrooms and sweet potatoes (random) with rice. I had to take a picture. This is one of my favorites - I think because it's easy and it's yuumy.

Cole finishing off the black eyed-peas. Probably thankful I didn't make lima beans AGAIN!

Below is a picture of the pups chillin' in the 300. They feel like pimps in this car. Did I mention we have Dad and Paige's 300 for a little while because Cole and I had a (pretty bad) accident in my car. Please everyone take the time to buckle your seat belt and make sure everyone else in your car buckle theirs. And if they refuse, forget about their lives (obviously, I'm NOT serious) think about how hard it would be to go through life knowing you were responsible for someone else's life ending.

American Gladiators!

"I don't really like to talk about it; I like to be about it. So let's go."

No, I didn't watch it when the original show was on but yes, now I do. But it's Cole's fault! Who saw Crush on American Gladiators Monday night? Wow. Still undefeated.

Do something good for the world today

Visit http://www.freerice.com/ and not only expand your vocabulary but for every question you get correct Free Rice donates 20 grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Program.

The rice you donate is distributed by the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) and makes a huge difference to the person who receives it. WFP is the world’s largest food assistance agency, working with over 3,000 other organizations in over 75 countries. According to the United Nations, about 25,000 people die each day from hunger or hunger-related causes, most of them children. To a mother or father watching a loved child die in their arms from hunger, the rice you donate is more precious than anything in the world.

Please visit the WFP website to learn more at http://www.wfp.org/.

Here for the Beer!

Dad and his team - Here for the Beer - participated in the Memphis in May BBQ contest for the fourth time year and WON 3rd PLACE - again! Cole, Joe, Kim and I all went to Memphis to cheer on his team and also met Sarah P there. For those of you who don't know Sarah P, she was my roommate throughout college and is from West Memphis and her dad competes in BBQ Fest as well.

We had such a good time! We got there on Friday and hung out all evening and Saturday as well. Dad and his team submitted their ribs entry early Saturday afternoon. After that you wait for the judges's golf cart to come by - they only stop at the top three tents. As the golf cart was approaching our tent Dad refused to look and finally I started yelling at him "Dad, it's you. It's really you!" After the judges leave we had about 20 minutes to get our tent ready for the judges return to sample the ribs. We ended up winning 3rd place overall and tying for 2nd in the blind tasting. This is the second year Dad's team has won - in 2005 they won 3rd place overall and 1st in the blind tasting.

Below is a picture of Dad, Paige and I with our BBQ Fest neighbor at the Friday night party.

Cole, Kim, Joe, Sarah and I at Silky's on Beale Street Friday night.

Dad and I on Saturday waiting for the golf cart to come by!

Dad and his teammates in front of their "Here for the Beer" banner.

Uncle Mike flew into LR on Friday night and on Saturday he drove Nanny and her friend Patsy to Memphis to see Dad's team. Below is a picture of them leaving the tent on their chariot - or a golf cart.

The Original Blogging Family!

I haven't seen my cousins in a couple months - but we made up for lost time. I baby-sat all three BY MYSELF and we had a good time. But, as I was running around the house and eyeing the kitchen (that's where the food is!) I realized why some moms do loose hella-weight when they have kids! They a) do run all around the house after them AND b) there is no time for you to eat! You have to take care of them first! But still we had a lot of fun!

Below is a picture of the three of them on our walk - note Kate's leotard. Too cute! Abby and I counted caterpillars the whole time and Alex was an angel.

"At commencement you wear your square-shaped mortarboards. My hope is that from time to time you will let your minds be bold, and wear sombreros."

Congratulations to Cole! He graduated from the University of Arkansas on May 10th, 2008. (I'm a little late posting the blog because I had to get pictures from his family.) His degree is a Bachelor of Art in Journalism with an emphasis in Advertising and Public Relations. He's very interested in Public Relations and is pursuing a job in the Ad Agency world. But, if you catch wind that the Lakers (or Kobe or Bret Favre or Jay Cutler) are needing a PR person - let him know! :-)

It was such a fun weekend - and it was also Mother's Day weekend so we had almost our entire families up here. Cole's family came - complete with him Mom, Diddy, Dad, Grandpa, Nan, Trey, Jen, Bella and Uncle Gary. And, my mom made a visit as well. We had a very good time hosting them and having them here in Fayetteville with us.

Below is a picture of Cole and his Mom and Diddy.

Jen and Cole outside of Bud Walton.

Cole with Trey and Bella - who was on her best behavior!

Cole with his Nan and Uncle Gary.

Cole with Mom and me.

"Knockers Up!"

This is what my Nanny told me when I told her to smile for the picture! But we had a good time! I went to Little Rock this weekend and of course, we went to Nanny's house on Sunday and she cooked us the best lunch. We had lots of fun. And while we were there Dad, Spencer and Braxton (our cousin who lives in Oil Trough) picked up the BBQ Fest platform (he stores it at Nanny's) since BBQ Fest is in two weeks. See, Nanny is wearing her "HERE FOR THE BEER" shirt.

Below is a picture of Spencer and me at Nanny's. Will couldn't be her this weekend (SAD!) because he was at kayak school at the Mulberry River. He was learning to do "rolls" I think. I'm not sure, I'll have to ask him about it.

And Friday night Dad, Paige and I went to Grumpy's and had a good ole time. Below are a few funny pictures of us.

That time of year again - Wedding Time!

Yay! It's wedding time again. Saturday night we went to Stacey and Jarrod's wedding. The ceremony was held in Prairie Grove and the reception was in the Garden Room at the Ozark Smokehouse on Dickson Street in Fayetteville. It was a really nice evening and we had lots of fun, especially since Cole and I were actually out together. This doesn't happen all that often as he works a lot on the weekend and when he doesn't we like to have date nights. Lots of his friends were in town for the weekend and we met Kim and Joe out later, so of course we had a blast!

Above is a picture of Cole and me outside of the Garden Room during the reception.

Take Me Out To The Ball Game!

April 10th was the opening of the 2008 inaugural season of professional baseball here in NWA! Say hello to the Naturals! CJRW does a little advertising for them and we purchased season tickets. I was lucky enough to get to go on opening night. That same day we also got to go to the Naturals luncheon before the game. Lots of yummy food (well, ballpark food) and lots of cute ball players! We look forward to many fun times eating hot dogs and drinking some brew at Arvest Field!

And on a totally unrelated note, below are a few pictures of my boys lounging around with me - that's what we do best.

Forget Showers, April Brings Friends Together!

April has been a social month! I know I'm a little late on posting this (and I don't have great pictures) but we've had a couple birthday celebrations this month as well as an engagement. This, in turn, has resulted in a couple nights out with friends. Happy Birthday to Amanda and Ricky and congratulations to Erin and Manny!

Below are a couple of pictures from our fun nights out this month - and the summer has just begun!