Most everyone knows that we had some –ahem – problems coaxing Carissa into dresses. But, she put on her little white dress this weekend without a hitch, walked right down that aisle to her momma, and promptly asked for the Thomas train that was promised to her if she did it successfully.
Carissa actually had several little bribes throughout the weekend – a Cars set if she performed her rehearsal dinner duties, a James engine if she put the dress on, a Gordon if she took pictures, the aforementioned Thomas was for walking down the aisle, and a Cranky for walking back up the aisle to the narthex.
Yes, we are creating a monster…. But she did what she was supposed to do, so I will count this as a parenting success story in my book.
Everyone ate, drank, and danced at the reception; my speech/toast went over well; and there was only one fire to be put out. Literally.
All in all, it was a great engagement and wedding. We had fun getting to know our friends and their friends better, participating in all the parties, and just sharing this special time with two of our favorite people.
But…. I am really glad it is over, and I can start getting back to my normal life! My TIVO is full and needs some loving before it forgets what shows I like.
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Carissa and I were playing with an alphabet puzzle this afternoon. As she put the letters back into the correct slot, I would ask her to identify the letter and name something that started with that letter.
“A is for Ant.”
“B is for Ball.”
“C is for Carissa.”
“D is for Dominos.”
I’ve never been prouder.
All we need to do now is determine if she prefers "straight dominoes" from her Wilkerson gene-pool or "42" from her Cherry side. Or maybe she will just master both.
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I celebrated my 25th birthday again on Friday! This year was pretty special since it fell on 08.08.08. Did you happen to notice that China even had a huge celebration complete with dancers, drummers, singers, and fireworks?
I love my birthday. More so than any of the holidays even because it is MY day and MY day only. I get to pick what I want for dinner, what kind of cake I want, and all the presents are for me. Yes, I am self-centered and completely unproductive on my birthday.
Travis was being very secretive about what he had planned for me this year. He would only say that we were going somewhere out of town for the weekend.
What did he do? He had coordinated with my mom and Pat for a weekend in Louisiana! We arrived at the L'Auberge du Lac resort at 8pm, headed to the 8th floor, and were surprised with cupcakes (yellow cake with chocolate icing) in a figure-8 pattern and 8 balloons! We also had wine, flowers, Shiner beers, and a basket of munchies.
The cupcakes spelled out ‘Happy Birthday Jond’ – Carissa had already eaten the A!
Carissa and Pa had been down at the pool all afternoon so they were gathered up, and the present opening commenced. My parents gave me a card with 8 bills in it, Pat had 8 boxes wrapped up in pretty purple and blue paper that included 8 dollars in each plus some extra gifts from her and Odie, and Travis and Carissa had 8 presents for me too!
Notice any theme??
Carissa was very excited when I opened up my Godiva chocolate. She insisted that we break into it right away and have a sample taste! She also showed off to everyone the Yankee candle she picked out all by herself for me. I also got my Breaking Dawn book, a travel Panasonic water-pic, lotions, and money for the slots from Travis.
After the presents, my parents, Pat, and Carissa loaded up and headed over to Delta Downs where they had a room. Travis and I headed down to enjoy the seafood buffet. They had every kind of seafood you could want – four kinds of crab legs, boiled shrimp, fried everything, fresh oysters, multiple varieties of gumbo, stir-frys, all kinds of grilled fish, along with the regular buffet items like an Asian station, a carving station, a salad bar, and a dessert bar. It was delicious! I especially enjoyed the grilled swordfish, the shrimp and okra gumbo, and the boiled shrimp had a great spicy taste. Travis ate his weight in king crab legs.
The next morning, I had a massage scheduled at the salon. Let me tell you – it was probably the BEST massage I have ever had. The spa was gorgeous, the masseur was perfect, the relaxation lounge was tranquil, and the steam shower was steaming! The little touches that they did like having your bathrode in a warmer when your massage was complete made it really over the top. It was so wonderful to be pampered like royalty!
After my massage and steam shower, I went back up to the room and picked out Travis, Carissa, and my dad down at the pool from our pool-view floor-to-ceiling window. I headed down that way and was greeted with a huge smile and eskimo kiss from my daughter.
The pool area at L'Auberge really reminds me a lot of the Vegas resorts. Three different pool areas plus a lazy river. It was incredible. The pool we were at had a sun deck in the pool that was up to about Carissa’s knees. She splashed and crawled all over that and had a great time.
We had to check out by noon, so we packed up and headed over to Delta Downs. We ate some lunch at the café with Pat, and then Travis, Carissa, and I went upstairs for a cat-nap.
After our nap, Pat and Carissa explored the hotel (the highlight being the five lizards out by the pool), and Travis and I hit the casino. Travis found a machine that let him play for several hours which also happened to be right next to the projection TV that was showing pre-season football and practically within arms reach of the free beer booth. Yeah – he was in hog-heaven! If only he would have actually walked away with some winnings, it would have really been perfection!
Later that night, we found my parents who had been playing the ‘Red-Hot’ machines for several hours. My mom is funny in a casino – she loves to talk to her machines, squeals at nothing, and does happy dances and waves her hands around when she hits for anything. She even talks to her neighbors’ machines, I assume to give them some good ju-ju too.
We got up the next morning and were ready to head on home. Travis took us on a lovely tour of the back-roads of Orange, TX looking for a Denny’s or IHOP. We ended up settling on a Waffle House and had a delicious breakfast.
All in all, I had a great birthday! A great big THANKS to everyone that helped put it together, especially to Pat who cashed in some of her freebies on the hotel rooms! It was totally awesome. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful family that spoils me so much!
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Woot Woot Woot! Hurricane Party tomorrow at Casa de Cherry in celebration of Edouard's arrival.
From our Risk department: To allow employees living in the damage-prone areas time to prepare their homes and families, the Reliant Houston-area office locations will be releasing employees at 3:00 pm CST today. Employees should communicate with their immediate supervisor or manager to ensure proper coverage of critical operations.
In addition, all Houston-area offices will be closed for business on Tuesday, August 5 to allow employees to care for their families and property.
Good luck, live long and prosper, peace out, and all that other good stuff.
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Woohoo – Our excursion selection documents came in the mail for our anniversary cruise in October!
The ports of call for this trip are Aruba, Colombia, Panama Canal, Costa Rica, and Jamaica. We have two full pages of adventures to choose from!
We have our pick of anything from horseback riding on a Aruba beach, to touring the Cartagena fortress, to an aerial tram or rail car along the Panama Canal, to rainforest river tubing or a jungle river eco-adventure in Limon, to a dolphin and stingray encounter in Ocho Rios.
One excursion that is particularly catching my eye though is the ‘Ocean Kayak to Dunn’s River Falls’ in Ocho Rios. It should bring back some fond memories for Travis and me. We took a Pacific Ocean kayak ride while we were in Puerto Vallarta on our honeymoon almost five years ago.
Well, I guess to be honest, I should have said "
Travis does the paddling.
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