Hanging Out With Brian and Andrea

A Week of Firsts

2011-08-28T19:05:00.002-04:00

Well, this week in Virginia we experienced a couple of "firsts". On Tuesday August 23rd I was sitting at my desk. It was nearly two in the afternoon and a lot of my coworkers were at lunch. All of the sudden the floor was shaking like someone was running near my cube. Me and a coworker looked at each other wondering what was going on. Before we evacuated the blinds and the overhead lights started to shake. We decided it was time to evacuate the building. Once we got downstairs we found out that there was an earthquake. You heard right, and earthquake. A 5.9 at that. About a half hour later I was able to contact Brian. He was at home sleeping. He was on the couch and he said that it started to shake, along with the walls.

Then yesterday (8/27) we experienced another first. A hurricane. Irene graced us with her presence yesterday. We were very fortunate, no damage and we didn't lose our power. We spent the whole day streaming Mad Men on the Internet to our television. And today it is beautiful out.

Upcoming to our blog. A promise to write more. In two weeks were are going to be experiencing another first. Our first cruise!

Camping in 2010

2010-08-13T19:24:00.010-04:00

I haven't updated this blog in a while. I have been doing my own and I though that I would report an update on this blog. So welcome if you have never read this one.

Since the government gave me some more unemployment I let Brian buy a new tent. We went camping one night last summer and it was horrible! The tent was a 3 person tent and I felt trapped in the thing. So before I would go camping again I made sure we had an air mattress and a new tent. So here is a picture of the new tent and the campsite we chose.

We built a fire even though it was really hot. Here are some pictures of us eating our smores!

The next morning we had a visit from a squirrel who wouldn't leave us alone. He is doing yoga in this picture.

Adventures by Disney Backstage Magic Day 1

2009-02-18T20:40:00.007-05:00

Hello Friends!

I am going to start scrapbooking my latest adventure and decided to blog about it before I do any pages. So here it goes....

Tuesday December 9, 2008 (Day One, Part One)

I woke up very groggy at 5:00 in the morning. Now mind you before I leave for any trip I have to clean the house and pack. Well, the night before I had a shift at the store. They were nice enough to let me leave around 10:00, but I still had so much to do. But at least the condo was cleaned and when I got home from work there wasn't too much left to do but pack and finish the laundry. I felt bad for the boys, they were all looking at me like they knew we were leaving them for a week. It breaks my heart, but I love to travel and cats don't travel very well. Below is a picture of Lucky, our middle "child", who no one ever sees because he is skiddish around people. He obviously didn't want us to go.

My sister Erin was nice enough to drive us to the airport so we didn't have to pay to park our car. We were even fortunate enough to still be going on this trip since both of us lost our jobs. But it was already paid for and included most meals, all the hotel stays, and the transportation. Once we got to Detroit Metro we got our boarding passes and checked out luggage, then we went through security at wrap speed, which never happens to us. At 7:00 in the morning we were ready to leave, but the flight didn't board until 8:45. So we decided to hit up the National Coney Island for one last taste of Michigan before we headed to sunny California. Don't worry, I didn't eat a coney dog, I had French toast while Brian had a Greek omelet.

(Brian enjoying his breakfast before the flight).

After we boarded the flight I fell asleep. I always do this. I slept for about an hour and by then we were in the sky. I am not going to bore you with what we did on the plane. Because all I really did is read a little and play with the Nintendo DS and Brian did the same. We finally arrived at LAX, thank goodness because I hate long airplane rides. After a brief bathroom break it was time to get the luggage. We went down the escalator to grab our luggage and saw a man holding sign that stated "B. Thomas". Now I knew that Adventures by Disney (ABD) was going to provide transportation, but I am sure there are millions of B. Thomas' in the world. So I asked the guy if B. stood for Brian and it did. This made me mad because I did all of the travel arrangements and talked with all of the ABD reps and they put the sign in his name (sorry I don't have a pic of the sign). We grabbed our luggage and we walked to the towne car that was going to take us to the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel.

(Me with my Hollywood shades on our arrival)

After a half hour drive we arrive at our destination. We walk into our hotel around 12:20 and were greeted by one of our guides Diana (pronounced Dee-anna). She gave us our room keys and told us to meet the group on the second floor at 4:00 pm to start the adventure. So we went to our room to change clothes, since it was like 70 in LA and I was wearing jeans. Our luggage was already there because a nice bellman already whisked it away for us. I was excited when we entered the room because we got free gifts, and who doesn't love free gifts. We got ABD cooldanas (pieces of fabric you soak in cool water and wrap around your neck, travel fans, some pens, a duffel bad, H2O hydration spray, and some weird block thing that I ended up throwing away once we got home). We looked out the window at the wonderful view of LA and saw the Hollywood sign outside of our window (which I have never seen). We quickly changed and decided to get something to eat since dinner wasn't until 5:00 and we missed lunch. I really wanted to go to the Disney Soda Fountain and I knew it was close by. But I will get back to that part of the story tomorrow....

(a picture of our gifts)

(one of the beds in our double bed room)

(you can faintly see the Hollywood sign out in the distance)

Day One, Part 2 will be published soon, so keep posted!

Going on Vacation

2008-12-05T20:34:00.002-05:00

Brian and I are off on Tuesday to California. It still hasn't hit me and Brian still keeps thinking we are going to Florida. I will have extensive trip reports when I get back. It is going to be a trip of a lifetime!

Does anyone even read this blog?

Michigan Sucks!

2008-11-13T10:24:00.002-05:00

Well it happened to me as well as many others in the Detroit area (including Brian). I lost my job. I guess this means it is a good time to move out of the state. Now I just have to figure out where to go!

We are still going on Disneyland trip in December. After the year I have I think that I deserve it!

Apple Picking

2008-09-21T20:53:00.003-04:00

This year we actually picked apples. Last year we went to Miller's Big Red and just ate junk food and bought some apples that were already picked. This year I was determined to pick my own apples. Brian is feeling well after getting all 4 wisdom teeth out, so I thought we could go and enjoy the fall weather.

I Published!

2008-08-29T22:12:00.002-04:00

In J.D. Power and Associates terms that means my report is done. You see those commericials with the awards. Well I did one for Primary Mortgage Servicer. There probably won't be a commercial for my award because it is about mortgages. Tuesday starts the next one, that I am in charge of, which publishes in October. Now I have some time to focus on working out and I get to go to the grocery store. We haven't shopped in over a week and there is no food in the house and we have been eating out way too much! I hope that everyone has a good Labor Day weekend!

Here we go again...

2008-08-19T21:51:00.002-04:00

I am trying it againg... To lose weight. I recently found out that I am insuline resistent. So now I am on medication that will help me lose weight. I just have to start eating better (those darn cookies). I also need to get my butt moving. Brian and I took tennis lessons over the summer so we have been playing. And we have been on lots of walks. So I am getting active slowly. I will keep everyone posted on my progress.

Long Time, No Blog

2008-06-23T15:46:00.004-04:00

Sorry everyone for not being diligent on the blogging. Since we moved we have been settling in. We still have some things to put away, but I am confident by the time that winter arrives I will have everything in the house and not sitting in the garage.

In April we went to Florida (yes, again) for 11 days. It was so nice down there because Spring didn't hit Michigan yet. It was warm, but the humidity was low. It was good to get away after the big move, and it was right before my first report publish of the year. I did get a bad case of food poisoning, thank goodness it was towards the end of the trip.

Summer is in full swing and Brian and I have been busy! We are in tennis lessons right now. I will let you know how they go. We also got me a new bike, but I have to work up to actually riding it. But we have been taking walks in the neighborhood behind us. So I am getting some exercise.

On the sad news front. On Friday Brian was laid off. They said it is an open door, but we don't know for how long. So basically he is looking for a new job. So say a prayer that he can find something, and something soon.

Our Big Move

2008-03-10T15:03:00.000-04:00

So we officially moved into our new place. We technically moved in on the 2nd, but we are cutting our square footage in half and are still moving things.

Over the weekend we rented a U-Haul and made a trip to the storage unit that we are renting and a trip to the condo. Thank goodness for Brian's parents. They have been helping us the last two weekend. Hopefully this weekend we can remove the rest of the items out of the first house. Plus I still have boxes and boxes of things to put away in the new place.

On a happy note we are vacationing in Florida again. So April 11th-21st I will be in Orlando, I just can't get enough of Disney!

I will be sure to post picts of the new place once I take some!

Happy New Year! Belated

2008-01-29T20:10:00.000-05:00

Hi All!

I hope that everyone had a great holiday! December went by quickly. It helps when you spend a week in Disney World. It was a great time. We got to see Sheri and all of the Christmas lights all over the parks. This year we went down with Brian's parents. That was an adventure. But the weather was nice the entire time and we had fun!

On another note, Brian and I found a new place to live. We will be moving at the end of February. We will be renting a cute condo in Rochester Hills. Once we move in I will be sure to post some pics of the place. I am sure the boys will find it smaller than the last house, but they will live.

Update

2007-10-15T19:51:00.001-04:00

Well, I haven't been on for a while.

Right now I am publishing the last report for our department this month. I can't wait for all of the work to be done.

Brian and I celebrated our 2 year anniversary on October 8th. The weekend before we went to dinner and to the symphony to see the pops orchestra do a tribute to Hitchcock films. Then on our actual anniversary we went to a Red Wings game. I am NOT a hockey fan. But it was interesting to people watch.

Oh, I almost forgot. There is a possibility that I broke my foot. Right now I am in a temporary cast and won't know more for a week. It looks like a hairline fracture and they won't know for a while. I hate crutches! At least I can take it off to shower! But they don't want me putting any pressure on it. The funny thing is there isn't much swelling and no bruising. But it hurts like hell to put pressure on it. We can blame me being clumsy and falling on my cats bowl, while twisting my foot. I will keep everyone posted.

I decided when this is over with, I am losing weight and getting into shape! I will keep you posted on that as well.

Is it December Yet?

2007-08-28T16:21:00.000-04:00

For those that don't know, I am a Disney freak. This year we are going back in December, again, for the holidays. This is the third year in a row that we are going. But it can't get here fast enough. We are leaving December 8th and coming back the 15th. We are also going with Brian's mom, dad, and sister. So it will be a little more hectic this time around. But I can't wait to see Sheri!

It's Thursday

2007-08-16T21:41:00.000-04:00

Boy this week has flown by. For those who don't know, I sell Pure Romance on the side (www.andreathomas.pureromance.com). Well, last weekend I was in Cinci for the annual training and it was amazing. There were some amazing speakers, one of which was the evolution of dance guy. You know who he is, but if you don't here is the link www.evolutionofdance.com. There was another speaker who talks about breakthroughs. I got to have a breakthrough of my own, I got to break a board with my bare hand. I think the more rewarding aspect was getting to hold the boards and helping other women with their breakthroughs. There were other speakers and events for us. It was a great time. Vegas is in April and I can't wait to go to the convention.

Day 2

2007-08-07T08:50:00.000-04:00

Well, the day after my 30th birthday (yes, I said 30th), I decided that it is time to lose some weight. My goal, 30 pounds by the end of the year. The kicker is that I am doing it on my own, no Weight Watchers meetings this time. I am hoping that I stick with it. I will keep everyone posted about my progress.

2007-08-05T21:24:00.000-04:00

Happy Birthday Andrea!

Today is Andrea's Birthday. How old is she? Well I'm still not quite sure about that one! We kicked off the day with a wonderful brunch at Kruse and Muer restaurant in Lake Orion. They have really good food. It was a nice time with Andrea's family. Other than that it was a slow day spent relaxing. The weather was cold and dreary.

Last night we saw the release of The Bourne Ultimatum. This is the 3rd movie in the series and is actually way better than the second in the series (Bourne Supremecy).

www.thebourneultimatum.com

Welcome

2007-08-03T10:58:00.001-04:00

Hello Everyone,

Brian and I are getting more technologically advanced. We finally have a blog! So come back when we have some pictures and more stories to post.

Andrea