What I'm Loving Wednesday

Despite being down about a few issues this week, there are quite a few things that I am loving and am thankful about. I am teaming up with Jamie at Little Daisy May to share my list.

1. I am thankful that my plane landed safely, and that I got to see Sophie. She has been fine without us the past two years, but this year she was not. It broke my heart to hear her on the phone every night. I am especially thankful my SIL Vicky and friend Melanie took such good care of her...love you both! To channel one of my favorite literary characters, "As God as my witness, I will never leave my baby girl again!!"

2. This is my second time in France, and both times I drooled over the Longchamp store and their bags. I got a few on my first trip, and I had to add to my collection. I LOVE my new le pliage bag!! This line of bags from Longchamp offers the perfect versatile bag, especially for traveling.




3. What trip to Paris would be complete without a trip to Laduree? I am still loving the wonderful macaroons I had there. If I had been in Paris at the end of my trip instead of the beginning, this is what I would have brought all of my friends. The rumor is that they are building one in New York City...gasp!!

 

4. and finally...a biggie for the week....

I am loving a new book series that has me totally obsessed. It is The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins. I had been hearing a lot of buzz about the series, especially since they just cast the first movie. I downloaded it on my Kindle before I left, and I have been reading it nonstop. They are fabulous! This is not even my genre (young adult, fantasy, dystopia), but I highly recommend them to anyone. I have actually started slowing my reading down because I know that I will mourn the books when they are finished. Does that ever happen to anyone else?



**As a final request, please say a few prayers for me this week...I definitely could use all I can get....

Misadventures with Kelley in France and Spain (Part I)

Well, I'm back from a two week hiatus, and boy has a lot happened in that time period. Since I strongly do not believe in announcing vacations on the Internet, I could not write about the other major event that I have been planning along with graduation and the party. Every year we take a trip to Europe, and this year was no exception. We left the Thursday after graduation, so needless to say, it was a very busy week. I plan on uploading pictures soon, but I will give a brief run down in this post.

Our destination this year was France and Spain. Unfortunately, an uninvited guest decided to tag along this year. "Who?" you ask...well, it was someone we all know, yet NEVER want to get too close to. It was our good friend Murphy (as in Murphy's Law)...


Sigh...it was a great trip, and I loved being with my family, but there were several instances of Murphy's Law getting in the way. Let me explain:

1. Our plane was supposed to leave from RDU at 6:50 pm on July 16th. We were supposed to fly to Washington/Dulles and then fly to Paris at 9:50 pm. In my heart I knew that this was not enough time, but I figured that all would go well. Well, that was my FIRST mistake...our flight was cancelled due to bad weather and we missed our connector...ugghh...as a result, we had to get a hotel, fly to Dulles the next morning, and sit at the airport all day waiting for a flight to France....

2. I was excited to find out that our flight to France would be on an Air France Airbus 380..one of the largest planes in the world! It's a double decker plane that holds over 540 people. All afternoon I watched as they loaded and unloaded this monster aircraft. I though for sure that it would be an amazing experience....Unfortunately, I was wrong. Yes, the plane was huge, but the seats were crammed tight and it was one of the most uncomfortable flights I have ever taken.



This is how I felt on the flight...cramped and miserable...




3. Our flight to France was set to leave at 5:00 pm on Saturday afternoon. Anyone who flies internationally to Europe knows that this is too early in the evening. The reason most flights are late at night is so that people can sleep (if you want to call what you do on a plane sleep!) and wake up in a zombie state refreshed at your destination. By flying earlier, it is harder to fall asleep because most people are nit in bed at that time, and that is exactly what happened to me. I was wide awake and spent the entire time watching in-flight movies (which, by the way, weren't half bad!). When we arrived in France, it was 12:30 am US time (just the time I would be hitting the sack at home), but 6:30 am French time (just in time to start the day..sigh). Needless to say, we were exhausted by the end of the day.

4. Thankfully we arrived to Paris safe and sound...When we left North Carolina it was 95 degrees...when we landed in Paris, it was 55 degrees and raining...somehow I missed this on the Weather Channel (who would imagine anywhere to be this cold at the end of June!) and had only packed summer clothes....brrrr.....

More to follow tomorrow....and yes, all did turn out well despite our unwelcome guest!

Graduation details and (a few) party pics...

Well, as most of you know, this past weekend was Stephanie's graduation. I have already posted a few pics but have not gone in to too much detail. Saturday was a VERY busy day. Steph got up early and headed off to a hair appointment while I multi-tasked around the house. I had to get ready, prepare party food, and make sure that everything was in order as far as the actual graduation event was concerned. Most of the big stuff was taken care of the day before, but I couldn't help rehashing the details in my brain all day long. About three o'clock we headed off to Campbell where the ceremony was to be held. To make a long story short, everything (well almost everything--no use worrying about a few glitches now) turned out beautifully, and my daughter is now a high school graduate. I am so proud of her. Not to brag or anything (oh, what the heck--I'm going to do it anyway!), she graduated 5th in her class with over a 4.3 GPA! She worked so hard, and we could not have asked for a better child.

A few more pictures from the evening....

Stephanie and Jessica...friends since elementary school.

Stephanie, Jessica, and Taylor...

Sophie waited patiently (or sort of thanks to the iPhone)...

 The other Steph! Stephanie Creech was the perfect picture of calmness and serenity (despite the previous week!)....

Flowers for her sister!

The Class of 2011!

 Proud Mama!

 Steph and Thomas....

With Beth...

and Jordan....

 Tom...

Apparently Thomas's dad Mike wants to take a step back in time! lol

 Steph and Brittany....

Mr. Loewen, family friend and math teacher extraordinaire...

The next day we celebrated with a cook-out for family and friends.  Kiki came over an did a fantastic job decorating while Donnie and Melanie cooked a pig. Unfortunately, I was so engrossed in the party that the only pictures I took were of the cake. Dixie and Haley from Southern Cake Girls made a spectacular creation that was as good as it looked.

It turned out to be a wonderful weekend. We are truly blessed....

Scenes from the ceremony....