and then summer began if 'june know what i mean'

summer for everyone! well, as far as the weather is concerned! and by the way, i made a mistake. the trip to mississippi actually happened in june-the first week...uf. that's why one should record their blog posts as soon as they happen!

the weekend before i headed to ms, we took advantage of the beautiful day to try a new donut shop-5-0...crime scene! it was interesting, but not good enough to trump AMI donuts or the farmhouse, or peacheys (which i was thinking about just this morning...but good thing they are away up north for the summer!).

i didn't like the actual donuts more than others i'd been to, but a quick fix if you're in this part of town!

kind of a fun staging area! 

 so we tried them, then went to check out jungle gardens! there were some animals in cages, i felt bad for the reptiles and felt the animals could've had a better ambiance, but the highlight of course was the flamingos! just hanging out, doing their thing. a sign was up, letting us know that they might be aggressive as it was breeding season. i may be the only one that didn't get bitten. they were beautiful, though! just not very hungry; we were thinking that perhaps they come out and actually feed them shrimp in the mornings, and the crappy-feed from visitors was merely a 'treat' but not a really good treat...more like feeding me a piece of seaweed paper when i really want doritos.. it's amazing the things you see and hear when you observe other visitors. again with the little kids...they were jerks. i'm blaming parents on this one, because most kids are not innately cruel to animals, they are just selfish and think they are the center of the universe. parents, please don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys...or jerks.

a bunch of the flamingos milling around

this one lone flamingo took off and got away from all the others (like he was on an energy drink or something), and he ended up in a completely different area of the park-here he is acting like a giraffe!

the same flamingo from the above pic, he moved even further from the trip and toward the kiddie park in the sandbox!

the verdict is out-a little pricey for petting flamingos, but if that's something you're just dying to do, it's as good a place as any to do it. plus they do have picture times with the baby alligators, and parrots. one of the cool things for us was that someone randomly called out to shea, and we were thinking IMG employee, but no, it was one of her close friends from oklahoma middle school(?) who visits family in sarasota annually! good times!

and actually the same night i returned, another kamp friend was flying in with her toddlers! merce stayed with shea, and they flew into tampa, i flew into sarasota. but we did get together the following evening for dinner! saturday we made it out to myakka and again saw some baby gators, but the water was much higher than the previous visit, so they weren't just laying out on the banks (of the hanky-panky where the bullfrogs jump from bank to banky..) anyhoo. we did some muddy hiking with the kiddos, and one of shea's co-workers and her children. good times! we sloshed through some muddy/watery parts of the trail, but knew that it was just a bit further to the end of the loop that led to the parking lot!

sunday was our last hang-out day, so we headed out to AMI and did donuts and a beautiful beach day! there was some boogie-boarding, some treasure hunting...and just instilling the general love of ocean in the babes!

fun floating and looking for waves-of which there really weren't any big 'uns!

the following day i was off to broward for a little training on our spanish product, and it was pretty exciting! a good crowd! and then the following week i drove up to orange county-the orlando area to support our pki/implementation/sales team as one of our sales reps has the unique opportunity to go overseas to begium to teach! while we're excited for him, it's always a chore to get the 'just right candidaes' to meet the needs here in florida!

then about 2 weeks later it would be time to head off to dallas for our summer conference 2018...but just a couple more tidbits before the trip!

great start to a 'booming' week!
julie

apparently "QUEEN OF ALL THINGS AMAZING" doesn't fit on the business card

 free, free, i'm free at last! this song, by dc talk, inspired by dr. martin luther king jr. was playing through my head all afternoon! summer school=OVER! woohoo!!

and i am happy to announce (drum roll please....) 

meet one of the newest Istation trainers!!

so excited to be a part of something i am very familiar with and very good at!

i had my final interview/presentation on wednesday afternoon-i was so prepared...i was expecting several people, but it was a smaller, cozy group. it went fairly well-i used a thinglink platform and allowed them to go through at their own pace and i did my part as a facilitator..it must have gone well, because i got a phone call today extending an offer and asking me to join the team-which i gladly accepted!

then i got a call from the vp of hr, saying how sorry she was that she couldn't join the presentation, she got there on the very tail end, as they were discussing-and they told her she missed the best presentation yet...um, that's fun to hear, because i certainly had a blast! anyhoo, we nailed down some dates and such so that i can go ahead and begin by the end of the month.

and before i knew it, i had another email (from someone different) asking me what i'd like on my business card! (i asked if i could have it read: QUEEN OF ALL THINGS AMAZING...unless it was already taken, in which case, they could just use my name...he responded that there were an awful lot of QUEEN this or thats out there already).

with all of this happening so quickly, i decided it would be best to go in today to finish up any remaining paperwork that i needed to do at cabell, and turn in my district-issued computer. i then came home and pulled up the old s-54...filled it out and submitted it.

bitter sweet...so 'final'

then i decided that i needed to celebrate me, so i bought some shoes and a pair of pants i needed. while i was in getting shoes, i received a call from the vp of hr again, but i had nothing to write on...besides a band-aid (unopened, of course) and had to jot down all that info in a tiny space...do whatcha gotta do!

so i have just over a week before i go in for my initial orientation/convention, which is being hosted here in dallas at the double tree (my understanding is that they may be getting us all rooms there, as it can be difficult getting in and out for the convention if one is not onsite)...roughing it, i guess. i was thinking about going up to mom and dad's for a bit, so i may drop off the boys and then go back to pick them up the following weekend-because it's the only real summer vacation i'll get this year!

and there you have it, things are changing-we'll see in how many different aspects, but i think it's about to get exciting around here!

julie

17 and a half, but who's counting? and sidenote-i hate working out. just wanted to put that out there.

did i watch the world cup games today? why, as a matter of fact, i did! i don't watch sports on tv like i used to. i had a streak when i was an avid american football watcher (pro, not college), but i have lost interest in that-mostly because of the ridiculous fame and fortune piece, and the ludicrous amount of money they make and the terrible role models that so many of them are.

that said, the fact that so many of my friends are into futbol, i have decided that it is something that i am willing to get back into. it goes with the idea of being knowledgeable about the things your friends and family are interested in so that you can have intelligent discussions or at least know what is being talked about. ;) the only game i'm truly interested in is when HONDURAS plays. call me biased...it's ok, do it! i AM BIASED! and just for the record, if the US goes up against HONDURAS,  guess who i'm cheering for? hint-i'll be yelling in spanish...

now. so...17 and a half days...but who's counting?

yes, self portrait! that's why i am not a police sketch artist...because real suspects are not cartoon caricatures...

 with summer school we have 3 day weekends, so today i took advantage of that and exchanged a pair of pants i purchased the other day...they had a tiny little bitty fray, and it was in a slightly compromising location. i thought about DIY repairing it, but then i thought, "self, c'mon, you just spent money on those, you shouldn't have to do anything to them..." so i talked myself into driving back up to allen to return them-it's such a drive, at least i had good music to listen to! i tip my hat to natalie for doing the drive for so long and to destree who drives from even further every day....God bless them! i couldn't do it (i did for a bit, that's why i moved).

today it was a good thing i am not married, because i went in merely to exchange and walked out spending more than i had planned...quite a bit more. oops...how does that even happen??? i am not a fashionista...i do not LOVE to dress up..in fact, i don't even really LIKE to, but i will and i do when the occasion calls for it; i'm so much more a athletic shorts, tank top and chacos gal-if there were a quiz for most appropriate job, i would be a KANAKUK sports counselor for life...it works with my preferred style! so, it was surprising that i spent that much time even looking and trying things on.

this morning before i went, i watched LONE SURVIVOR. i was expecting it to be pretty vicious, and the title is pretty much a spoiler alert in and of itself, you know that all but one was going to die. it was the ending that got me. i absolutely loved the ending-it was touching. the tribes that have a 2000 year old code of honor to safeguard an individual from his enemies and protect him at all costs. that blew me away.

PASHTUNWALI (the code)... if only more people subscribed to this code on a personal basis-physically, emotionally, spiritually...as a Christian, shouldn't this be a code that resonates with me? i dare to say that it should; at all costs. it's easy to think that i would do that for friends and family, but would i do that for a stranger? (a little self reflection is in order).

so, as i am preparing for travel, i am packing several different bags-some for HONDURAS, some for mom and dad's, certain things that will go with me to nashville...one for the boys, and one for va/md- STOP THE INSANITY!! (only, not really, bring it on!! oh marathon summer! I'LL TAKE YA!) i had some questions for sheryl, so we took care of that last night and this morning-what would we do without facebook and email?? i don't 'chat' on fb much, but questions have been a great excuse to chat! not that i need an excuse- i just don't do it very much-although, i will say it always makes me smile...i guess that's the great thing about communication, it can be a great source of joy.

and i just finished a workout. i did not want to work out. i hate it.  but i made myself do it. every time i have to force myself and talk myself into it...there is never..nevah, evah, EVAH a time that i think, "wow! i can't wait to work out!" (it's JUST. SO. MUCH. WORK!) but i do it-not because i love it (we just went over this) i do it only because i know that it...wait..i don't really know why i do it... but i suppose just knowing that i should do it makes me feel better about doing it.only not really. i just wrote that to try to convince myself, i think.

i'd much rather be bruno, who regardless of where we are doesn't mind looking a little lazy...oh to be more like my dog!

wouldn't it be great to be in public and just lay down wherever you wanted to-don't mind me, just resting. i'll move again when i;m good and ready, and not until!

alrighty then..i'm going to go ahead and spend the rest of the evening pretending to be bruno, only with a good book!
jules

summer is always too short!

well. finally a little summer vacation. it went by all too quickly!

as soon as summer science discovery camp was over, i had to stick around town for a special introductory meeting for STAND for children-educator network. we had a great turnout for summertime! as a matter of fact, i did speak, but that wasn't the most exciting part (although i felt like i nailed it) the best part-as always was the spread:

you really cannot beat brie with fruit-one of my all-time favs

 of course before the big event, i took the boys for a walk--i love it that i can get on that back trail and walk them without the leash, and that they are pretty good about staying this close.

 the next morning was an early morning because i did not have everything packed in the car as i had planned it out in my head; and we wanted to get an early start! so we were able to get out of dallas around 6:30ish, which got me up to Oklahoma around 9 something. when we got there, for a brief layover (stopped to get bmayes), the boys got out of the car and bruno thought it would be a brilliant idea to roll around in the grass-still full of dew...hmmm.  so when we got around to leave, i'm sure bmayes was relieved to be driving her own car, because as i got into mine, it was 'wet dog'--if o'reilley auto parts sells that as an air freshener, i'll pass!

we left my car and the dogs at my parents house and then went on to branson-kind of a second home!
i probably should have paid more attention to the ratings before i booked the cheap hotel off hotels.com...it was pretty shabby. kinda dark-like vampire dark movie. and the bathtub...i wanted to go to the store for some cleaning supplies. we decided we weren't going to be spending much time there anyway. and bmayes thought the hotel next to us was featured in hotel impossible. i was like..."oh, the one with howie mandell?" because all bald men are howie mandell to me. and she said, "no...i guess he kinda looks like howie...he is bald." so...it's actually anthony melchiorri. and i did look up the episode and the pics..and then i google-mapped it satellite view and as a matter of fact, it WAS one and the same!!

bmayes, we probably should have gone and bothered one of the cleaning folk to just 'get a glimpse' of the newly renovated rooms!

anyhoo...we did get krispy kreme, and were not disappointed (totally worth it to go in and get the hot fresh doughnut as well!)

don't ask, i just liked the display!

 we were under the impression that silver dollar city was closed on monday because apparently they didn't update the schedule on google from their winter schedule...we decided to stop by anyway just in case, and guess what! it was open! thankfully bmayes had worked at kamp and we were able to get in at a discounted rate!

the girl in front of us definitely tried this and looked a little silly

 best ride in the park...powder keg! we definitely went on this one twice.

 we also went on the outlaw run (once), fire in the hole (once-nostalgic-i went when i was really young, and it was definitely more exciting then [plus there weren't sarcastic, annoying teens back then]), wildfire (twice- short line) and thunderation. i was a little nervous every time i had to leave my purse and phone in a cubby...in fact more worried about that than roller coaster mishaps (even after the disaster at six flags about a week prior)

 one of the random things we got to do was just lollygag (who even came up with that word?) around at dicks 5 and dime, which is a little dime store with a little bit of EVERYTHING! i think the little train that goes around the store is somewhat endearing.

 then we made our way over to trish's to drop off a wedding gift for her son, only no one was there! so we left it on the porch. then we went out to kamp to see who was there. on the way down the main drag, we stopped and chatted with diane at the ropes course and were fortunate to be joined by dj who was driving by on some sort of mission.

then we made our way down to chat with trish and had the rare opportunity of catching her at her kamp home with no one else there but Darla muffin (her yorkie); it was so great to sit down and spend some time with her. i know she was busy and had a lot on her mind as they were preparing to go to her son's wedding! (wow, it seems like just yesterday when he was in elementary school reading the lion the witch and the wardrobe!) how time flies when you're growing up!

we then headed up to the dining hall, and didn't eat (there is a reason). we got to see shayla (trish's daughter) and i got to see a former kamper from Egypt-taline! that was a throwback!! how fun!

we went back up the hill and stopped at diane and hank's house to see the work they'd done, and diane gave us the grand tour with emmy-it is grand! i wish they had even more time that they could spend up there!! it is such a beautiful home!

there comes a moment when hunger wins out over everything else, and we had to leave to go to the blueberry farm, because let's be real...you don't stop out in this area without stopping at persimon's!

this is why we couldn't have lunch....cumulobluebus...ah.

 we also hit up mr. gilberti's-best pizza in the area! and we also made sure to get danna's barbecue- i had never had bbq beef nachos before, and i was a little skeptical, but i'm glad i had them! yummers!

bmayes had to get back to ok, so she dropped me back at mom and dad's, and i may have taken a nap. the boys were pretty excited that i was home! and i hear that they make a lot more noise when i'm around than when i'm gone. i chalk it up to the protective factor.

 

so peaceful!

 they quickly found resting spots beside me in the office.

just...wherever.

my dad decided he needed a shop to work in. when he first mentioned building a shop, i thought about the shops I've seen in dallas behind houses-more of a little storage area. so when i saw this little house, i thought, "whoa! i should have him and Rodney build me a house." i don't need anything fancy...just a house.

today he was on the roof outside working on the tyvek, and i will admit, i was a little worried that he was not on a harness or scaffolding or something.

 

 i did stop into the local pet store and make a purchase. i got clippers for the dogs. i got the expensive set. i figure if i pay a lot, i will make sure that i use it. it was a little exciting and a little scary at the same time. little dogs are harder to shave than big dogs. they have such little parts! and of course the model on the instruction manual was an ugly giant poodle. (a little easier than a 5 lb yorkie...).

mom said she saw them scratching and thought they might've gotten fleas from the cat, or the yard. well, i figured i would scare the crap out of those little buggers and they probably felt like those mice in the secret of nimh. anyhoo, today i made the homemade version of flea and tick stuff and gave them a spray and a comb...i haven't seen anything, and i don't think they've been scratching, so...knock on wood!

the lady at the shop was pretty excited about this tool, and she since there was no one else in the store, she showed me all of the tips and tricks about trimming the dogs!

 

we were doing fine until he started wiggling...he may have a little bare spot on his chest that slightly resembles a heart if you cross your eyes and squint...

i am excited about getting home on wednesday, because i should have two important things coming in the mail! woo hoo!

julie

you don't know a thing about me! i wish i could be a pirate..instead i have to settle for super hero.

so today was not my best day ever.

when i got to school, i stopped in and my principal was kind enough to let me know that i did not make it into the masters program i was hoping to get into. i am thankful that she was very up front with me. now i can move on and make plans for the next three years that will not include said program. i am not real keen on going into 'any ol' masters program.' i still think this is one of the top programs available in our area, even if they weren't astute enough to recognize that i would have been a solid candidate, and whatever they perceived as lacking, i would easily be able to overcome and conquer!

so, that said, it was a rough morning. i definitely had tears this morning, in part because i really wanted to do this thing, and in part because it hurt-- i don't deal with rejection well. i think i went through the phases of grief today...apart from denial. then i got a little angry, and the song playing in my head was : you don't know a THING about me... and by the end of the day i was into a different mindset-forget about it, i'm going to wicked on friday, and i don't have time for this, so...

defying gravity...

so anyhoo...i will be working summer school, and preparing for next year. i will probably spend more time up in missouri this year than last year. regardless, whatever the next phase is, i'm going at it 110%!! i'm fired up-i just need something more to be fired up about..i finished grading my end of year DRA, and when i left school, i wanted to just drive and play pink's SO WHAT! that's kinda' how i feel right now.

chaco said he wanted me to become a pirate.

i think he just likes to say aaarrggh!

anyhoo, i am slightly sad to say i will not be joining pirate school, i just don't think it would a wise investment.

ok, life. bring it on!

julie