20 + Years Later!

Denise and I at Blenheim Palace.

Freezing cold with the London Eye in the background

Eating, one of our favorite things to do!

It all started on the first day of school when I was in 4th grade. I walked to my classroom and there was Denise and her mother, waiting for school to begin. This was Denise's first day of school at Walt Disney Elementary. We became the best of friends. We've been friends ever since. One day we were walking home from school and, for some reason, we had our fingers pricked. I don't know if we poked them ourselves or if we did some type of project with blood at school. I clearly remember the day and place. We stopped in front of the fence that lead to Pebble Place and we pressed our bloody fingers up to each other and became "blood sisters". Denise moved to South Africa after 6th grade. Then she moved to Germany. She came back to visit two summers when we were in high school. Then I went to Germany to see her after high school. We kept in touch with letters and when technology stepped up a few notches, we kept in touch via email. She still lives in Germany with her husband and two beautiful daughters.

When I learned I was going to London, I shot Denise an email. I said I'd be in London and if she happen to be in the area, let me know. Next thing I know, her plane ticket is bought, hotel is booked and I would be seeing my friend Denise!

I wondered what it would be like when I met up with my friend again. Heck, I'd had 5 kids and lived a conservative lifestyle. What if she was all wild and totally different? Only time would tell.

To sum things up, I had THE BEST time with Denise!!! We stayed up late talking, we hit London like a hurricane, and we LAUGHED. We laughed and laughed and laughed. It seemed like we had only been apart for a year, not 20 years. Time went by too fast, I wanted to spend more time together. When I said good bye I kept my composure, but when she was gone, I got a bit teary. We didn't have our kids with us, we didn't have any responsibilities, this was our time to have fun. I loved it! I hope I can see my blood sister again soon. It can't be another 20 years.

I Told You So!

I remember when Gilmore Girls ended. Something was missing. I loved that show. It was simple, not raunchy, just a great story. A few shows have replaced my love for Gilmore Girls. One of those was Glee. Made my day to watch that show until it decided to turn into a trashy-slut-of-a- show. SERIOUSLY, I was so disappointed. I even tried to watch just the singing parts of the show but it just didn't cut it. It was one sad day when I changed the recording option of my DVR. No more Glee, good bye. One show, this one show, has me excited.... Parenthood. It is fabulous. I keep telling my friends to watch it. Particularly my friend Celeste. We use to watch Gilmore Girls and call each other the next day to give our opinion of the episode. Now, I sit and watch Parenthood and think that I would love to discuss the story lines with my friends but no one seems to care. Come on peeps, this is a GREAT SHOW!!!! It really is. Start with the first season and catch up. Celeste, how many times do I have to remind you about this show? There will be a day when someone comes up to me and says, "Alison, you were right about Parenthood." What will my response be? "Duh, I told you so!"

Tah Dah!

Back by popular demand! All three fans asked me why I haven't posted. Thanks, I appreciate the validation. Several reasons why I haven't blogged:

1. My kids have taken over my computer.
2. My kids have taken over my camera and I don't want to sort through and delete all the pictures they took.
3. I didn't want to have to plug my camera into my computer.
4. I'm too busy eating chocolate.
5. I find that Words With Friends gives me a quicker fix than comments I might receive on my blog. ( my user name on wwf is sweetuth)

I had a F.A.B.U.L.O.U.S time in London and France !!! Can't wait to post my pics and experiences. This first picture, as odd as it is, really made my day. When you go to London, you certainly want to hit a pub to eat fish and chips. That is, if you enjoy fish. I only enjoy the chips! Anyway, we went to a fine dining restaurant in London and my mom ordered fish and chips. When the ENTIRE fish was placed in front of her, I couldn't help but laugh! I blurted, "This is not Long John Silvers". Our friends from Ireland thought it looked "lovely". I thought it was hilarious. I didn't dare try the fish but I tried the chips. They were yummy!

Looks like the pictures have been downloaded, and my phone pics being downloaded right now. Let the blogging begin!

I'm Off !!!

Tomorrow I am taking off to London! I'll be there for 8 days and Paris for 2 days. Thanks Mom for taking me! Seriously, I should be packing, organizing, and planning, yet I am sitting here updating my blog. I have no idea what to bring, what to wear, what to pack. Is this one of those events where I stay up all night packing in a panic? One of the highlights of my trip will be seeing my friend, Denise. We've known each other since 4th grade. She lives in Germany and I will be meeting us in London. I can hardly wait!

Here are some questions I have asked myself...what should I wear on the plane? How will my kids be when I'm gone? How do I not look American? What will I do without Words With Friends? Should I buy myself an iPad with my Christmas $$? I certainly have my priorities straight!

Jesus Wore Sandals After Labor Day

That's a quote I read on the sign of a local church. Though my entry has no correlation with the title, I still thought I'd share it.

I thought I'd share my recent weight loss competition I did with some friends from work. I have done many biggest loser competitions but there was something about this one that really had me motivated. I needed to lose at least 10 pounds I had gained over the winter and I just wanted to WIN. My strategy was staying within 1200 calories, sometimes more sometimes less. I also have a Body Bugg which helped me figure out how much I needed to exercise. I lost about a pound every week for 10 weeks. I wasn't sure how everyone else was doing until week 10 when my friend lost 5 pounds at her weigh in. I was NERVOUS!! I was ready to go extreme and I did! I worked my butt off for two weeks, especially the last week. The day before the weigh in I didn't eat anything or drink anything. I also took a water pill and a laxative. I thought I was going to go mentally crazy by the end of the day. My Facebook status mentioned that "anorexia is overrated." How someone can starve themselves I do not know. Anyway, I woke up Saturday morning at 7 AM ready to weigh in. I was supposed to I weigh at 8. What was I going to do for the hour? I couldn't just lay in bed, I was going crazy. Needless to say, I was at her doorstep 8 AM sharp with my Diet Coke in hand. I got on the scale and as soon as I got off, I drank that puppy like nobody's business! I lost 7 pounds in two weeks, 17 pounds total! To top it off, I won the competition which was $350! Wow, I was happy!!!! The money is going towards my trip to London and France. On a side note, I just wanted to mention that the laxative didn't really WORK until MONDAY. And the water pill, never worked, I peed like twice that day. I also got on the scale the very next day and I gained 5 lbs back! Ha, it's all good! Overall, I am really glad I did this. It helped me realize how much better I feel when I take care of my health. Though there were some hard days, I stuck with it and it was worth it!

My Random Thought about Summer

1. Buying passes to Lagoon was a very good decision on my part.

2. Max said that next summer he'd rather have a pass to Cherry Hill instead of Lagoon because people at Cherry Hill don't say the "f" word.

3. Note to self: Michael needs to do something next summer that keeps him BUSY.

4. One of my favorite things about summer was going swimming with my kids. I witnessed pure happiness when I watched Maggie swim. We call her Maggie Fishy Princess.

5. Despite days of fighting and yelling, I really liked this summer.

6. Having kids keeps me young.

7. My friend Misty wrote a blog about pet peeves. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that one of my biggest pet peeves is seeing an engagement picture with the couple kissing. I think it's pointless. I don't get to see the couples happy faces and I just don't think it's cute. I still can't decide why someone would chose to put those pictures up. (I'm kind of sounding old, aren't I?)

8. Claire is kind of obsessed with my daily routines in the bathroom. She constantly asks if I am going to take a "shawya" or if I need to go to the "basroom".

9. I still consider myself beyond addicted to Words With Friends on my iPhone, sweetuth, if you are up to a good game!

This Is Only A Test

I'm writing this from my iPhone. Thought I'd see if I could really do it.

I don't consider myself attached to many "things" in my life. I value people more than things. But when the entire screen of my MacBook cracked on my BIRTHDAY, I started to cry. I don't have any high expectations of how my birthday should
be but I realized that I had an expectation of how it should NOT be! It should not cost me
$400!!! Now I'm using my iPhone for everything. I'm even attempting
the blog thing.

On a more positive note, I took all five kids to Target AND Toys R Us today. It was the best time killer and no one asked for anything!!!! See, that's a post birthday present!