Firm Picnic

Every year our firm and everyone's families head out to this huge beautiful farm in Kingston Springs for a catered BBQ, fishing, kayaking, paddle boating, ride the Gator and to play on the inflatable toys.

(this is a Gator)

It is SO much fun. I didn't take any pictures, but my friend Karen got one of us girls inside the bouncy inflatable toy. I don't know what its actually called, but we got crazy in there.

(left to right: Brooke, Catherine (summer clerk), myself, Angela & Kacie)

We stayed till it was dark and the fireflies came out. And the BBQ ribs, heavenly day they were good! Jason had planned on coming this year, but there ended up being a huge conference in town, so Mortons asked all their staff to come in that night. I was bummed out he didn't get to come with us, but we still had a great time. Hopefully next year he'll be able to come cause I know he would love the kayaking, gator rides and bouncy toys!!

One Day To Go!!

This morning my friend Leslie and I had a bonding moment, when we both discovered how insanely OCD we can be when preparing for a trip. I shared with her my 5 page meal and activity itinerary, 3 page packing list and 4 day to do list before I leave. She asked if once I printed it all out, if she could pet it! LOL! Only cause she understands my obsessiveness with lists did I expose this vulnerable side of me. Jason laughs every time he sees my packing list all checked off next to my luggage the night before we head out of town. And not only do I use that list to pack, including a list of all outfits written out down to the color of my undies, but I also pack the list so that when I leave from vacation I'm sure I haven't forgotten anything. I mean, how many of us have actually left our shampoo & conditioner in a guest shower before?? I hate that! Or grab an outfit and leave a very vital piece at home completely ruining the outfit and thereby having to commit a greater faux pas by having to wear the same outfit twice! So not cool.


But I believe I'm pretty set to go. All I got to do is pack the bags and count down the hours till I'm on that plane!!! Our laundry is washed, the bathrooms cleaned, the snacks bought, the ride to the airport arranged, the boss' taken care of, my beach books picked out, batteries charged, the pedicure done, the legs shaved, the travel packet and driving directions set out....argh! The anticipation is killing me!!!


Oh and this is my new do and sunglasses for the summer :-)

I Smell Books

I started a new blog dedicated only to the books I'm currently reading and the reviews I give them....cause that's how I roll.

http://www.ismellbooks.blogspot.com/

Another lesson in southern living....

So I've learned about yet another very Southern tradition known as the "Wedding Portrait". Or is it more than just a southern thing? Have any of you heard of this? Apparently, the VERY traditional thing to do here is 2-3 months before your actual wedding to have a photo session with your photographer in your wedding gown, just the bride alone and then take those portrait pictures and send them out with your wedding announcements! AND also use that photo in your announcement in the local paper. Just the bride in her dress, no groom in the photo at all. WEIRD. PLUS, that portrait of the bride is displayed at the reception. Now I know of many engagement photos that are used in invitations and displayed at receptions, but nothing this formal of just the bride. It all seems very strange to me. And yes, this type of thing still regularly occurs here in the South, because I learned of all this from my friend Brooke who is attending her friend's "bridal portrait" session on Thursday.

What do you all think of this? Have you heard of it before? Is it just a southern thing?? Can you imagine paying to get your hair and makeup done TWICE!?

I need your thoughts people.

So You Think You Can Dance - Season 4!

So another season of So You Think You Can Dance has begun!! This has to be my absolute favorite show EVER! The choreography is breathtaking and I just love everything about this show.

The best dances of the season so far:

"Beautiful" by Chelsie & Mark, choreographed by Mia Michaels


"A New Day Has Come" by Twitch & Kherington


My favorites for the season are:

Twitch

Chelsie H

Mark

Kherington

Joshua

HUGS All Around!

Yesterday our firm celebrated 20 years of community service through our corporate philanthropy program called HUGS. It stands for Hope Understanding Giving Support. We often do fundraisers for various charities like Race for the Cure, Breast Cancer Awareness, Homeless shelters ect.... I'm glad our firm provides opportunities where we can get involved in our community.

Anyway, in celebration of the 20 years we had a big ol party and had to wear these matching and gigantic white tshirts, so I thought I'd include a couple pictures that had been taken.

Kacie & Brooke totally cheesin it up. We do have guys in our office, but mostly the women showed up. You can see me there in the front on the far right sportin the new short do and Brooke is next to me behind the guy in the suit. Kacie is on the other side of the guy and in front of her is Mary our Office Manager.

Show Me The Money!!

That's what I said to my Office Manager when I met with her for my yearly review this morning. She smiled and told me I was getting a raise - yippeee!!! I asked her if my guys were pleased with my performance and she said very much so.

It comes at the perfect time, cause summer is pretty slow at Mortons and I really don't want my hunny to have to get another job. So hopefully this should give us the boost we've been needing lately. I snuck into an empty board room to call Jason and give him the news. We're both pretty stinkin excited.

Later my attorney Paul came out to ask if I had been told or not and I said yes, that I was very happy and excited. He said he had actually tried pulling for more, awww.... I freakin love my job. During a time when the economy hasn't been doing well and is affecting many people, I feel very blessed and am so grateful that God has continued to take care of us.

Jason's Sleep Adventures

Around 6am Tuesday morning I wake out of a dead sleep to Jason's singing. No actual words were coming out, he was just "ahhing" out some notes, then he'd drop down into a hum. So I shushed him and he responds with "what?" as if he's all hurt I've shushed him. So I tell him, "honey your singing" - so he stops and falls back asleep.

A couple hours later my alarm goes off to get ready for work. I'm getting dressed and start to giggle remembering his sleep-singing from earlier in the morning. He sorta comes to and we had this conversation:

Jason: "whatchya doin?"

me: "sorry honey to wake you. Do you remember singing this morning?"

Jason: "I was on a slave ship."

me: "are you telling me you were black in another life?"

Jason: "that's why I like reggae"

me: "then I will call you Jamal"

Jason: "ok"

Later last night on the way home from Jason's softball game I brought up the singing again. He was like - "what are you talking about?" ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! Not only did he not remember singing, but he was also sleep-talking through our ENTIRE conversation that morning!! I'm telling y'all, he's a trip when he sleeps. You never know what to expect from him. When I recounted the entire conversation to him on the way home, I was afraid he was going to drive the car off the side of the road from laughing so hard. He was wheezing and choking because he was so floored that he said all of that.

Unbelievable.

Daring Bakers

I LOVE to bake. My family and friends all know this about me. I have a teensy-weensy obsession with yummy food. It makes me happy and when eating something especially delicious I tend to wiggle back and forth in my seat. Jason thinks I'm weird for this, but what can I say, its one of my quirks. Even last night I sat there wiggling away as I was enjoying my boiled and buttered artichoke - yum!!

Recently I decided to join up with a group of bloggers called The Daring Bakers. It's basically like a club of more than 1000 members that love to bake. Then at the beginning of each month, a couple of the members come up with a challenge for everyone to do for that month. At the end of the month on a given due date we all post our results of how our challenge turned out. There are even rules we have to follow in order to maintain our membership.

It's actually very cool and I visited a ton of websites to see how their May Challenge of the Opera Cake came out and it was fascinating to see all the different results. So I was hooked. I love to bake anyway, so this sounded like a lot of fun and I'm completely excited about it.

(this photo taken from: A Beautiful Mosaic)

(this photo taken from: Good Eats 'n Sweet Treats)

(this photo taken from: anm8rchick)

(this photo taken from Fud or Something Like It

(this photo taken from: Taste and Tell)

I'm telling you all this because once a month you will see my posted results from the challenge and you might wonder what the heck its all about. Now you know :-)

My first assignment comes in July, so really you won't see anything from me till the end of that month, but I still wanted to fill you all in on my new venture!!!

My Peeps

(Angela, Me, Melissa, Brooke & Kacie)

I happen to love where I work. Maybe not necessarily what I do particularly, but I take pride in doing my job well. I love having a 9-5 job where when the day is through, I leave it all behind me and enjoy my evenings and weekends. I LOVE that my boss' NEVER call my cell phone nor do they desire to even have my cell phone number. I love that I have a great working and sincere relationship with all three of my attorneys. They may drive me a little batty sometimes, or even a lot of times, but they are respectful, genuine, honest and appreciative - and I'm so grateful that God has placed me here. In addition to the great guys I work for, I also have some awesome co-workers. I've developed numerous friends from work that I hang out with on a regular basis and we really have a great time together.

(Myself & Angela)

This last Monday evening a group of us got together for dinner at Cabana to wish Melissa well as she and her fiance Scott move to North Carolina. We sat outside in the perfect 80 degree evening weather sipping drinks, enjoying some delish food and having some great conversation.

(David & Scott)

(Melissa & Kacie)

Even while we were there, Jay Demarcus from Rascal Flatts walked in with his wife and sat behind us for dinner. Only in Nashville.

(Me, Angela, Melissa & Kacie)

Simply The Best

Jason had the night off from work yesterday, so I had asked if we could plan on having a quiet night at home. In order to recharge my batteries, I have to have down-time and the last week has been draining me with a lot of running around.

So I get home from work and to my surprise there's a lemon cake and a card sitting on the dining room table. I was wondering what we were celebrating, but was excited all the same! Jason looks at me and says, "Happy 30th Birthday!" Huh? He explains since he was never able to bake me a cake cause I was so sick over my birthday, that he owed me a cake. How cute is that??!!! Lemon cake is my favorite, and believe me I know that I've been blessed to have married a man that can bake!! The card was really thick too, so I ask if he wanted me to wait and he said, no to open it right then.

Inside the card, there was a printout description of the Columbine Bed & Breakfast in Louisville, Kentucky. Sweet! The weekend of my birthday Jason had asked for work off to surprise me with a weekend away, but because I was sick we were unable to go. So he had rescheduled another weekend away for us! The description of the room and bath sound wonderful - sleigh bed, garden view, marble fireplace, claw foot tub - I cant' wait!

As I turned to the next page, there were printouts of tickets from Ticketmaster. I wasn't quite sure what I was looking at, so I went to the next page and saw this:

Whoohooo!!!! 28th row to see Kenny Chesney, Keith Urban, Gary Allan & LeeAnn Rimes!!!!!!!! This will be the most freakin awesome concert ever!!! The concert is being held at the Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis on September 13th, which means we're going to stay at the B&B through the weekend and make the drive up to the concert on Saturday. I was so excited that I started jumping up and down screaming!! A weekend away with my man at a beautiful b&b, an awesome concert that will be sure to last for hours...it really doesn't get better than this!!

I love you sweetie and am so grateful for you, you really are simply the best ;-)

Oh I totally dig this

I checked out the link on Rachel's site to goodreads.com and now I'm in love.

To be able to list all the books out that I've read, want to read, am currently reading and even create my own lists is an oh-so beautiful thing. I used to keep a list in my Outlook at work, but this is SO much better. Plus I can read others reviews, descriptions and see the book covers.

You can check out my to-read list by clicking here. Then I added the widget on the right side of my blog with my summer reading list. It even automatically updates when I update my page in goodreads.com. Did I mention yet that I'm in love with this thing???!!!

I SO recommend this site. Love it, love it, love it. I'm sure this old news to many of you who've already heard of this site, but where have I been??!!

If you become a member yourself add me as your friend by looking up my name - Kimberly Keith!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Today my mom turns 39 ;-)

Love you Mom! Wish I was home to celebrate with you!!

28 Days And Counting!!!!

I'm so unbelievably excited for our upcoming Oregon Beach trip!!

And I thought I'd post some pictures of the Hudson Beach House where we'll be staying just 5 minutes south of Lincoln City and not far from Depoe Bay in Oregon.

First - here's a shot of the map. The red dot is where the house is located. (*Family, you can email me and I'll send you the address if you want it)

Here's what the house looks like on the side facing the ocean:

Here's a couple pics of the living area, which is the upstairs of the house with all the windows:

Here's what the kitchen & dining area look like:

They only had one picture of the one of the three bedroom upstairs and one of the three baths.

Here's the description they give of the house:

Hudson's Beach House is located just 5 minutes south of Lincoln City. Situated in a quiet neighborhood this home will soon become your favorite vacation spot! The main living area is located on the second floor, providing wonderful ocean and surf views from the spacious living room, dining room and kitchen. Warm yourself by the fire while watching whales spout or playing family games. Each of the three bedrooms has a glass patio door to backyard decks - the perfect spot to enjoy morning coffee and warm yourself in the sun. The master bedroom has a king bed, large walk in closet, a very large bathroom with a shower stall and a separate, deep jacuzzi tub to relax and unwind in. Second and third bedroom have Queen and Double beds, respectively. Hall bath has a tub/shower combination. Kitchen is fully equipped for all your vacation cooking needs. The lower level has a large room with two twin beds and a new sleeper sofa, laundry room and 1/2 bath. Roll-a-way bed in master closet suitable for a small person. Nearby beach access just a block away.

Hopefully these next four weeks will fly by! I can't wait to see everyone, I miss you all so much!!

A Veggin Weekend

This weekend was wonderful. It was everything I needed it to be after such a long week. Jason and I caught up on some much needed sleep and time together. He got home early Friday from a slow night at work and we watched Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. He hadn't seen it before and we wanted to watch it before seeing Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

Saturday we enjoyed some sweet tea and warm sunshine as we sat on our front porch playing Mancala, before he had to head into work that evening.

Sunday, Joe Beam preached a great message on the book of Ruth at church and afterward Jason and I walked around Loews for garden ideas and then Cool Springs Mall for a little lunch and shopping. That evening we met up with our friends Chad & Tabby, and Jeff Hooper and his son Cade and headed to the Watertown Drive In to see a double-feature: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and Ironman. We had such a great time and really enjoyed both movies quite a lot!

Monday we both had the day off, so we decided to use some gift cards we'd been saving and headed out once again to see yet one more movie, Prince Caspian and then have dinner at TGIFridays. A lot of people actually had the same idea we did, because it stormed pretty hard most of the day. We ended the 3 day weekend, hanging out at Barnes & Nobles sipping hot coffee and browsing landscaping magazines. When we got home, it was still fairly early so we curled up on the couch to read for a bit before heading to bed. We put no expectations on the weekend and just played everything by ear, and it was so relaxing for the both of us. (I know can you imagine, me with no expectations...)

Tonight Jason has a softball game, but the forecast is for more storms, so we're not really sure if its going to happen or not. Either way, we get yet one more evening together which I'm very much looking forward to.

Oh and we bought our tickets to Oregon for our family trip! Yea!! Now its actually starting to sink in that we're going and I'm starting to get really excited. 31 days to go and I'm already wanting to write out my packing list. I asked Jason last night, "what do you want to bring on our trip?" and he started laughing at me. This of course coming from the man that packs literally an hour before we're supposed to head to the airport. Don't worry honey, I'll be sure to pack "Huckleberry Finn" for ya!

oh AND! to clear up the mystery here....the anonymous person who felt compelled to correct both mine and my sister's spelling errors in a rare comment, was actually my scrabble-addict of a husband. He's one of my "ghost readers" who stays quite current on the blog, but never actually comments....till now. Thanks my love. ;-)

No Way!

CNN posted this article about a West Virginia woman that had suffered two heart attacks and had no pulse or brain activity for more than 17 hours! Then after the family says their goodbyes, and the tubes were all removed, she WOKE UP AND STARTED TALKING!

Click here to read this crazy story!

Somehow surviving...

This week has been a long and hard week for me.

Saturday - I got threatened by a car full of redneck girls on my way into a grocery store. For some reason because they were parked in front of the entrance, which is where I was headed, they thought I was looking at them, so they proceeded to call me out cussing and screaming. I seriously thought I was going to get my butt whooped that night.

Sunday - Actually a pretty nice and relaxing day. Jason and I enjoyed lunch with our friends after church and just lounged around and talked for hours. It was very relaxing. Then he was off that night as well, so we chilled at the house.

Monday - I found out that I was getting my wisdom tooth out on Tuesday rather than Thursday, so I was rather nervous all of Monday thinking about it. Thankfully the season premier of the Bachelorette and Dancing with the Stars kept me distracted that night.

Tuesday - The wisdom tooth finally came out. It's been something I've been putting off probably close to 8 years. What could have taken 20 minutes turned into over an hour appointment cause the dentist kept waiting for the splotchiness around my neck to go away (now we all know that doesn't happen). Of course I was nervous, he was going to shoot me with needles and yank out my tooth! He had an odd sense of humor, and thought that making light of my nervousness was somehow going to help the situation when in all reality it made it worse. Don't make fun of someone when their freaked out, it only freaks them out more! He was very gentle though and by the time he actually pulled the tooth it went really quick. And I didn't feel a thing, though the noise was horrendous! For some crazy reason I thought because I was awake through the whole thing, I could recover quick and go into work that afternoon...yeah not so much. The amount of blood and drool - holy crap. I'll spare you the details, but it was so gross. And after taking care of my sister Kris through her recovery a couple years ago, you'd think I would have known what to expect. Denial my friends, lots and lots of denial.

Wednesday - REALLY BAD DAY. And not at all because of my tooth (or lack thereof I should say). I really have had no bruising or swelling at all. But I had made a really bad decision to take my pain pill at work on a completely empty stomach, something I REALLY don't recommend. So I spent a good 3 1/2 hours in the bathroom stall at my office dizzy, trying to keep from blacking out and dry heaving. This is a major deal for me, cause I haven't puked since I was 10. No joke. It was a nightmare and I just wanted to get out of there. When I felt strong enough to leave, Jason came and picked me up from work and I hightailed it home, to which I fell asleep for the rest of the afternoon.

Thursday - Better day. I went into work and took it really easy. Still pretty nervous though since Wednesday was so awful and I didn't want to get stuck in that situation again. But I stayed busy the whole day and was mainly just tired. I went off all pain medication, which is fine, cause though my jaw is a bit sore, its bearable.

Friday - I'm doing so-so today. I'm a bit dizzy again and am trying to drink lots of water and I had some toast for breakfast. I don't know what the deal is, but I want to start feeling better soon! I'm looking forward to the 3 day weekend, lots of resting and time with Jason. I think it will be just what I need to get back on my feet.

SO far turning 30 has not proven to be so great, what with getting over 2 virus', blood work, a wisdom tooth being pulled and getting sick at work. God is seriously testing me and as long as he gives me the strength and grace to get through it, I know I'll be ok. But I'M REALLY ready for this season to be over with.

It's Not Brain Surgery

Me: Honey, did you get my text?

Jason: About your dentist appointment for your wisdom tooth being moved?

Me: Yea. I swore they said it was going to be on Thursday, but apparently they scheduled it for tomorrow, Tuesday. (*big sigh*)

(long pause)

Jason: Are you ok?

Me: (*moan*) yes. I guess its not as bad as brain surgery.

Jason: (*giggle*) See, just think about that and it won't seem so bad.

Me: But it might as well be.

My dad sent me this email and it was definately a trip to watch!

El Caminito del Rey (The King's pathway) is a walkway, now fallen into disrepair, pinned along the steep walls of a narrow gorge in El Chorro, near Álora in Málaga , Spain .. The walkway has gone many years without maintenance, and is in a highly deteriorated and dangerous state. It is only one meter in width, a! nd ; ;over a 700-meter fall, and over time it has also lost its handrail. Some parts of the walkway have completely collapsed and have been replaced by a beam and a metallic wire on the wall. Many people have lost their lives on the walkway in recent years. After four people died in two accidents in 1999 and 2000, the local government closed the entrances. However, adventurous tourists still find their way on to the walkway.

Book Update

With the beautiful weather outside in the upper 70's and low 80's, I'm beginning to crave good summer books to read. Some friends of mine started a book club, of which we haven't been doing so well at completing our first assignment - Pride & Prejudice. I get so easily distracted by the other books on my shelf that have I've been longing to read instead.

I've always enjoyed reading. Sometimes just the idea of picking up a new novel with a hot cup of coffee and curling up on the couch is more enjoyable than maybe the book itself. My love of books comes from my parents. My dad has always enjoyed reading - though he doesn't always have the time to read a whole lot. As way back as I can remember, Dad would sit me on his bed, pull out the Childrens Treasury of Literature, open it to the next story, lift it to his face and take a big sniff from the inside of the book, and then read to me while rubbing his knee in a circular pattern. I would be lying if I didn't say that I've often caught myself doing this very same ritual when starting a new book. I love the smell of the pages in a new book, there's something so comforting about it. As a little girl, my mom would take us to the library and we would literally fill up a box of books that we wanted to check out. Going to the library was like taking me to a candy store. I picked out as many as we could fit in that box and then once we checked them all out, we would head to the beach with books and blankets in hand and read in the sun watching the ferries go by. Those memories are some of my fondest.

I often think of those times every time I start a new book. I'm grateful to my parents for encouraging this passion of mine. I've learned so much about life and who I am just through reading.

So on with the books I've recently read:

The Pilots Wife by Anita Shreve

It was so good!! I absolutely loved it and had a hard time putting it down. It's an easy read and I really recommend it. I look forward to trying some of Anita Shreve's other books.

P.S. I Love You by Cecelia Ahern

Yes this is the same book the movie was made from starring Hilary Swank. I actually have still not seen the movie yet, but the book was really good, though a bit too long. I'm going to rent the movie soon to see if its anything like the book.

Currently Reading:

Simply Christian by N.T. Wright

I've been working on this book for-e-ver. It is anything but simple. But I experience this horrible guilt when I can't finish a book. I think in my whole life I've only not finished maybe 5 books. I honestly equate it as a sin of some kind - I can thank my dad for that, along with coloring the pages of my coloring book in order and never jumping ahead. I try to read a chapter a week, and go really slowly with no other distractions in the background. Its one of those books you find yourself re-reading paragraphs 2-3 times before moving on.

As It Is In Heaven by Niall Williams

I picked this one up at a little bookstore down the street from where I was serving Jury Duty back in Seattle a few years back (I believe the King County Courthouse had me on speed-dial). Anyway, it was kind of a grab & go situation and I'm finally getting around to reading it. It's very poetic in its writing style, but a bit weird too. Just when I'm about to get bored with it, then something will happen that keeps me going out of sheer curiosity. Not really one I'd recommend, but there are some beautiful lines every now and then.

Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen

A classic I know, but I never find those very easy to read. It helps I've seen the movie, cause I can track with the author a bit better. Honestly I find the writing style a bit random and get easily confused which character is talking to who. I am glad it was chosen for our girls bookclub, cause at least I can say I've read Jane Austen. Now if I can just finish it.

My list of summer reads is ever growing, so I need to finish these up asap so I can get started on those!! I can't wait till our family trip to the Oregon coast over the 4th! I'm for sure packing some books for the flights, drives and beach!!