Nicole’s Blog

Saturday went to both C-woods in one day to celebrate mothers day with our mommas.

Happy Mothers day Mom and Sandy.  We love you both very much!

We celebrated on Saturday because our anniversary fell on Mothers Day this year.  Six years ago today Ray and I were married on the day before Mothers Day (who plans their wedding on a holiday weekend anyway..ha.. oh wait we did!)

Both our mommas were very understanding and for the 3rd time since we have been married gave up their day with us to give us time to celebrate together.

Typically Ray and I go out of town on our anniversary however since he leaves next week for his Yellowstone adventure we decided to stay here this weekend. 

One of my favorite things to do on vacation is crawl out of bed, throw on some clothes and go eat a big breakfast …so this morning that is exactly what we did.  We rolled up at IHOP around 10:30.  And no I didn’t eat all of this.. I made it about 1/2 way through before I was too stuffed to continue, but it sure was fun trying and yes that is strawberry stuffed french toast.. yum!  However true to form Mr. Austin ate every last bite of his and my sausage too! 

After stuffing ourselves, we worked it off by walking 9 holes of golf.   Ray and I both love to golf (although as with anything he is so much better at it than I am), it was a gorgeous day and neither one of us have dragged our clubs out of storage in about 2 years so we decided to go. 

And after 6 years of marriage, he will still do sweet things for me like carry my bag.. even if it was just for one hole! 

 I decided to take a little break and soak up some sunshine!

After golfing, and after showers of course we had a delicious dinner at Chop House and went for a stroll on the green belt. 

Ray saw some rare bird there a few weeks ago.  So we stood below the birds nest for about 15 minutes waiting to see if I could catch a glimpse of it too.  Of course since I wanted to see it the darn bird never stood up out of the nest.  However it was funny to watch people try to figure out what we were looking at.  One group of ladies even stopped and asked us what we were waiting on..ha!  

On the way home we stopped to get some ice cream.. which was a great ending to a great day.  I’m not sure if it was just because today was the first day without rain in a while or because it was mothers day, but every other person in town had the same idea we did and there were lines out the door for ice cream.  Marble Slab even had their mascot "slabby" outside the store greating people as they came in.  We decided not to wait and went to TCBY where it was also craziness and lines.  Apparently they were running some type of special because the girl who rang us up ask if we were there for mothers day while at the same time nodded her head to tell us that we were.  We both smiled and said sure we are and got our ice creams 1/2 off! 

It’s hard to believe six years have passed since that sunny, crazy, hectic day (see May 10,07 post).  With each year we have faced challenges, hardships, blessings and surprises and we have made it through them all by enjoying the good times and working through the bad.  Thanks for loving me because of my shortcomings not in spite of them.  Happy Anniversary Mr. Austin.

Pics from mothers day & anniversary are posted.

Mrs. Austin

What a busy, crazy weekend we’ve had.  Thankfully everything has turned out ok, but we had quite a scare in my family this weekend. 

Saturday morning while Michelle was showering  her face starting tingling and feeling numb.  She thought it was odd, but continued getting ready.  A few minutes later she came into the living room to tell Tim something, but couldn’t seem to get the words out.  She tried for a few mintues, but it kept sounding garbled.  Then her arm and her leg went numb and that’s when they took her to the ER. 

She endured a ct scan, spinal tap and a barrage of other tests Saturday.  She was transported by ambulance that  afternoon to JCMC stroke unit.  No worries though I talked to her during her ride and she was texting and making friends with the little guy riding in the back of the ambulance with her.  She even managed to get him to take a pic of himself so she could send to her friends.  She tried to take it a few times and he finally said "do you just want me to snap it".. ha!  They did an MRI on her yesterday.  They were looking to make sure she hadn’t had a stroke, internal bleeding or anything else that might have caused her body to act that way and fortunately she passed all with flying colors.  It appears this was a complex migraine which is odd because she has never had one of these before.  However it may start happening more often now.  She is on some meds to help her symptoms when it happens.

So after giving all of us a good scare she is doing good.  Ray and I made our way to JC yesterday to see her and she was ready to go.  Apparently a nurse that morning told her she might be able to go home by lunch.  So the whole Austin clan was hungry and ready to head for Olive Garden… especially sister!  However her attending doctor came by before we got there and told her that he would not release her until he heard from the radiologist reading her MRI even though they had already been told it was fine.  She was antsy and asked the nurse if she could go ahead and put her clothes on.. the answer.. a definate NO!  Apparently putting your clothes on is a big deal when they don’t want you to leave.  I’m not sure if they thought she was going to bust out of there or what, but they would only allow her to wear pjs or the hospital gown!  Finally around 1, Shell gave up her Olive Garden plans and Ray, Tim, Gleason and myself went to get everyone something to eat.  This was the first time (we are talking 9 years here) that Gleason had ever let me drive him anywhere and i’m guessing it will be the last..ha!   He claims I almost killed him when I turned into Zaxby’s and was succesfully able to dodge two cars that almost hit me!  Tim praised my defensive driving, Gleason hollered like a girl and Ray just sat there shaking his head (he claims he is used to my terrible driving)!  It was in Zaxby’s that I discovered something I have never considered.. chickens can fly!!!! 

Seriously I never knew that and of course my father-in-law quite enjoyed that conversation.  I’m telling you I’ve only ever seen some seriously strutting walking chickens but have NEVER EVER seen one take flight.  Gleason says that’s because most of the time people clip their wings to keep them from "flying the coop".. huh.. that kinda makes sense.

Anyway back to the sister story.  She was finally released around two yesterday afternoon.  This was after all 6 of us were pilled up in her room for hours sitting on every available perch.  Of course at one point Ray got bored and raised her bed as high as it would go which was about 7 ft in the air! 

Finally she got the all clear to put her clothes on and an orderly arrived with a wheel chair big enough for two!  Shell told me to hop in and he pushed both of us out of there.  It wasn’t until we cleared the elevators that we asked if this would get him in trouble.. he said "i dont know i’ve never done it before.. but i hope not" ha! 

So thanks for your prayers this weekend for my family.  Sister we love you and are so thankful that you are ok.

I hope your weekend was less exciting than mine. 

Ok on to happy birthdays:

Happy beleated to miss Sheryl Lou who’s bday was last Wed.  I love you my little creative, bead making, cross stitching, buffy watching friend.  We need to celebrate soon.

Happy belated to Wendelina who’s bday was Saturday.  Much love to my 80’s rocking, fleetwood mac loving, shoe trading, poofy haired partner in crime.  Our Charlies Angels trio just wouldn’t be complete without you!  

And last but not least, HAPPY 30TH BIRTHDAY TODAY to Luke.  My SATC watching, crazy eyes mcee who is my meantarded brother from another mother and loves me because of and in spite of all my flaws and quirks. Welcome to the old folks club Luka!

Happy Monday,

the sister formerly known as worried!

Tonight I was reminded of a funny story from a long time ago and it made me want to share it with all of you.

It’s a stream of conscious kinda thing so follow along with me here.  One Wednesday night a month is BUNCO with my girlies (its a dice game.. look it up if you dont know what i’m talking about… it’s actually lot of fun).  It’s basically an excuse for the 12 of us to get together..eat, laugh and have a really ridiculous time.  Tonight at BUNCO I was eating cheetos and for some reason I started thinking about the old cheeto commercials.  You know the ones where Chester Cheeta would say…aye yae yae at the end?  However I couldn’t quite remember the punch line that came before the aye yae yae.  So I just kept saying aye yae yae in my Chester Cheeta voice until it finally came to me.  Wendy had no clue what I was doing and thought I was about to have a seizure. 

Chester Cheeta use to say "it ain’t easy being chessy aye yae yae" and yes I can do that noise so well you would think you were chillin with the cheeta himself!  I was so proud that I finally remember it that I posted that phrase as my status on facebook. 

Now this where the story from the past comes into play.  When I was 16 my cousin Kent took me to see Hootie and the Blowfish in concert.  We were both huge Hootie fans at the time and jammed out to the cd’s the entire drive up to Roanoke all the while eating cheetos!  Of course in my excitement I was flipping through to my fav songs on the cd.  However it didn’t take too long before Kent noticed the tiny cheesy fingerprints I had left all over the buttons of his stereo.. in his NEW JEEP!  Yes that’s right.. chester cheeta and her blowfish left my own brand of paw prints all up on his stereo.  And guess what… THEY WOULDN’T WIPE OFF!  Literally those cheesy fingerprints are still riding around somewhere in a tan jeep wrangler.  So if your ever need my finger prints look up the new owner!

Ok flash back to facebook now.  Tonight when I left "nicole says it ain’t easy being cheesy aye yae yae" as my facebook status Kacy (my cousin Kent’s wife) left me a comment that said "yeah well Kent says it aint easy getting cheeto stains off your stereo either".  Now you guys might not think that is funny, but I laughed out loud HARD at that one… not just a slight chuckle..i gave a full force belly laugh on that one for about 2 minutes.  Such a funny story.   I guess it’s good that my family loves me even if I am a huge goof and stained his stereo with my cheesy fingers.  I do love me some cheetos though!

Ok so there.  I have officially blogged twice this week.  Your welcome Sheryl..ha!  She told me tonight at BUNCO that my once a month blogging just wasn’t going to cut it! 

Hope you had a happy hump day!

cheesy poof

As usual, Easter was a whirlwind of food, family and lots of fun.  Three houses in 3 days always keeps us in a rush and we feel like we don’t really get to spend a whole lot of time with anyone!

Here are some pics from our weekend.

Friday night was fun at the Fleming household!

Here’s two of my favorite cowboys/men of the wilderness.. yes check out my grizzly bear hubby.  It appears he’s growing some facial hair in preparation for his upcoming yellowstone adventure.

Poppie and I spent most of Saturday watching a marathon of 3rd Rock from the Sun episodes (I forgot just how funny that show actually was) while I "experimented’ with his hair.  He had quite the interesting do when i was done!

Saturday night and early Sunday we spent with the Austin crew and of course our adorable nephew Koen! 

Here’s Uncle Ray channeling Koens mood.  You don’t mess with the Austin-Powers boys!

Koen was such a trooper this morning.  He was up bright and early for sunrise service and didn’t cry at all!  The entire fam was there so of course Koen did lots of lap surfing and he clapped and smiled his way through most of the service!

 After stuffing ourselves with a wonderful breakfast at church this morning we were off to the other cwood to hang with mom, Eddie, Dougie, Ambra, my step-sister Trista and her husband.  And you guessed it we had more yummalicous vittles from my mommy. 

We all know I’m a BIG kid at heart and STILL LOVE to color and hide eggs.  We actually hid Koen’s plastic ones for Shell and Tim to find when they got home Saturday night!  While shopping with my dad on Friday he asked if I wanted to get some coloring to do eggs with him.  I declined.. I figured until I have some kids of my own I probably should stop coloring eggs for my own benefit…I mean I am 30 now!  But it did make me a little sad.  Last year was the first time I haven’t colored eggs and it’s a hard tradition to break.  However.. da da daaaaaaaaaaamm.. Mommasone to the rescue.  When I got to her house today.. guess what.. yuppers.. SHE colored eggs FOR ME!  Am I spoiled you may ask.. nope.. just LOVED!  Thanks momma!  Although I will say we didn’t hide them.. so there.. I have grown up slightly!

Since I was a kid I have bought her a corsage to wear on Easter.  However the ones they had today didn’t look so great so I broke tradition slightly and bought her some beautiful purple tulips. 

Here’s her "favorite" son-in-law posing with her as if he bought her the flowers.

 New pics are posted in the Easter folder.  I hope your Easter was a blessed and joyful as ours was. 

 He is not here: for he is risen as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.

~Matthew 28.7

 bunny

On September 11 a group of the Chamber kiddos decided to give blood.  It was our way to commerate that tragic day and give something back.  As much as I HATE needles I was going to do it.  However once I got there they wouldn’t let me because I had been to Mexico in the past year.  They said I would be eligable to give in October.  However October came and went and I have been meaning to go ever since. 

This was the first time I have ever voluntarily gave blood and WOW was I scared.  Luckily Lara and some other Chamber peeps went with me.  Of course as with anywhere this crew travels we were laughing, cutting up and making a scene.  I’m not sure if they loved us or not, but we certainly had them entertained!   I have a hunch they found us fun because when I got back to the office I had a message from one of the staff calling to make sure I was ok!  How nice was that!  It took me 30 minutes (apparently I have tiny veins and low blood pressure) to give.  Which is really slow.  They even made me chug a bottle of water trying to speed up the process!  Finally after a LONG 30 minutes i was done! 

And I was oh so proud.  It felt nice to do something good for someone else even if it hurt me a little to do it.  I can’t promise I will go back, but I’m not closing my mind to it.  As long as I have Lara belle there to hold my hand I might try it again.  And yes she said I about broke her fingers when they stuck me! 

So even if it terrifies you (and believe me I was petrified) everyone should try it once… because you could save a life!

And truthfully the idea of it is much worse that the actual pain. 

 I have been out of town with work a lot lately so my office has been empty and I work with a bunch of pranksters.  Friday was my first day in the office this week.  I was sitting at my desk Friday morning talking to a coworker when she looked up and said "did you know there is a rotten banana hanging from your ceiling tile?" 

I looked up and indeed hoovering above my desk was the real life nanerpuss!  HA!  How funny is that?!  I have no idea who put it there or how long it would have taken me to discover it’s presence, but that my friends is FUNNY! 

Oh how I love the silly people in my life.  You kids are too much!

Speaking of kids.. here is my BIG one.  Ray Ray is taking his trip of a lifetime in a few months.  He, Tim and Blair will be backpacking across yellowstone and he couldn’t be more excited.  This is something he has always wanted to do and is a photographers dream.  However to do such a trip you need lots of supplies.  So over the past few weeks a variety of camping tools, equimpment, boots, clothes and other items have shown up on my door. 

This though is already one of his favs and trust me he will need it.  Weather in Yellowstone can be hot during the day, but dip down into the 20’s and 30’s at night.  Hopefully this sleeping bag will keep my boo snug as a bug on those cold yellowstone nights.. and darn it if he won’t be cute as a button doing it too!

The funny thing is this bag can accommodate all 6.1 feet of him, but compresses into this teeny tiny little sack perfect for a backpack.  Ah its the little things in life right. 

Hope you kiddos are doing good!

the blood donor!

I just got back from Nashville and what a fun trip it was.  Of course Nashvegas is my second home and I always have a great time when I go, but this trip by far ranks as one of my favs. 

Last night while walking to dinner with some collegues, I noticed John playing as we passed Tootsies.  Well we all know what a huge John Stone fan I am so I just had to come back.  He usually doesn’t play on Wednesday nights and doesnt go on usually before 10 p.m. and here it was like 7:30 and he was on stage.  So after dinner I walked back up to see the show, but he had just finished his set.  He had picked up an early shift because someone had cancelled.  So for the first time he actually had some time to hang out and chat with me instead of between songs or late night after a show.

Ok let me preface the rest of this by explaining that this is CRS- week in Nashville which stands for Country Radio Seminar.  CRS week basically brings radio execs, artists and employees from all across the country to town.  While we were still at Tootsies the guitar player from Lynard Skynard got up on stage.  Toby Keith was playing two places down from us.  The stars were definately out in Nashville last night boys and girls!  John asked if i wanted to go do something fun so we headed out to the Renaissance where a CRS after party was in full swing!

There I met Darius Rucker of Hootie and the Blowfish who has a country album out.  I also met Trent Tomlinson, Trent Willmon and saw Lady Antebellum!  What could be better than hanging out with John while cruising around a fun event with all these country music performers!  It was such a fun night!

Needless to say this trip will definately go down as one of my favorite memories from all my nights in Nashville!

country girl

Hey kiddos!  Here’s your slacker blogger friend.

Things have been pretty busy in my neck of the woods.  But I wanted to take a moment to ask you to send up a few prayers for me.

My mom is having some tests done tomorrow.  She is ok, but I’m never comfortable when it comes to someone that I love especially when its my MOMMA!  She has to have an ultrasound, colonoscopy and endoscopy tomorrow.  She has been sick on and off the past few months and i’m hoping that these tests will bring us the answers as to why.  So send a few prayers up for her that all goes ok.  The only good thing about it she got to spend the night with me tonight.  Nurse Nicola will take care of the mommasone!

Also on another note my mother in law has to have a procedure done in the morning as well.  Again nothing too serious, but when it comes to my friends and family I always worry.

I hope all of you are doing good out there in the blogosphere.. actually i’m doubting anyone out there besides my momma probably even reads this anymore since I have become a complete and total slacker!  I guess when you go hard at it for 3 years you get burned out.  Maybe one of these days my life will calm down a little and I will revert back to my focus on the blog.  For now though you may have to settle for weekly snippets!

the concerned daughter

I was buzzing through the commercials tonight while watching Idol and caught a glimpse of this.  It looked so strange I had to rewind and I’m glad I did because this is hilarious!

Check out this commercial for Denny’s.  There are also all kinds of funny spoofs of it on YouTube.  It’s so crazy it’s funny.  My favorite part is when its eye pops off and I love the name… nanerpuss.  Now that’s ingenious & cheap marketing.  Denny’s I give you two thumbs up for this one!

Nanerpuss Commercial click here to view.

Naner

Yesterday  on the way home from Nashville I encountered the funniest convience store clerk.  He made my experience actually fun.  We stopped at a Pilot outside of Knoxville.  Pilot stations are really great gas stations.. almost as good as Sheetz.. if they only had made to order food they would tie! 

Anyway I was attempting to get a milkshake from the machine and it said "see attendant".  So I walked over to one of the many clerks and said "the milkshake machine isn’t working and it’s saying I should see you!"  He looked at me very serious and said.. "WHAATTT.. oh no we gotta get on this right away".  He then picked up the speaker and announced "Emily please go to the milkshake station.. we have a machine down and a customer in dire need of a milkshake.  We can’t deny her this simple pleasure.. get on it STAT!"  I burst out laughing as he smiled back at me and said "we are on it maam.. you’ll have you shake within minutes!"

He then came over to make sure that Emily was taking care of my milky needs.  It was hilarious.  After a quick cleaning of the machine I was in business and it was yummy!  Made from real ice cream not the powder stuff.  As I was checking out he was ringing up this young boy.  He looked at the kid and said "did you find all the refreshments you needed there little guy?  Would you like to add a hubcap or maybe a screw driver to your order?"  He was absolutely hilarious and it made my stop there worthwhile!

Now that’s enjoying your job and making it fun for others.. oh how I love the simple things in life.

Speaking of simplicity.  I came home tonight after the storm to find our power was out.  Ray and I were hungry and decided to do it up pioneer style.  We lit a ton of candles and Ray fired up the grill.  I REALLY wanted mac and cheese so we put a pot of water on the grill and waited for it to boil.  I must tell you it takes a lot longer than you think to boil water this way, but after some time it finally worked.  We had mac and cheese, grilled chicken and baked beans.. all courtesy of grill master Ray Ray’s griling wizardry.  I also fired up the ole fondu pot, cut up some fresh strawberries and made choc covered strawberries for desert.  It was o so yummy and Ray and I enjoyed our impromtu candle lit dinner.  The power came back on right as Ray turned off the grill to bring in the food.  Of course immediately our candle lit haven was transformed to gadgets coming back on and lights blaring that we had unconsciously flipped on muliple times out of habit.  However Ray walked over, flipped them back off and I enjoyed a fabulous dinner with my fabulous hubby. 

Our power was probably out for a little over two hours and it was really nice to hang out in the silence without all the everyday distractions that fill our evenings.  However powers back on now and I have reconnected with the rest of the world and thought I would share these two simple occurances with you.

Hope you find a power outage or a happy convenience store clerk to remind you of the simple pleasures that are out there to make you smile!  Happy hump day peeps

candlelina

Yes it is two blogs in one day!  Friday night was our Annual Dinner and I have to say this year was by far my favorite entertainment. 

The FabFour a Beatles cover band performed and were a huge hit with the crowd.  While our Annual Dinner is an amazing event each year and everyone throughly enjoys it you typically don’t see dancing at the event.  Well this year the area in front of the stage was so crowded with people dancing to songs of the Beatles you couldnt even squeeze in there.  At one point there was even a congo line!  We had a record attendance with over 1400 people in attendance this year! 

Here are a few pics from the night.  Of course Ray and Tim shot the event again this year and he will post the rest soon on www.dragonflydigital.org.

Me and my super handsome Dragonfly guy!  Step away ladies he’s mine!

 Charlies Angels and the FabFour!

Me & my hair bump.  Ray and Tim weren’t crazy about my retro hair style of the night, but I did get a lot of compliments from others on it.  Oh well it never hurts to try something different every once in a while so just Let It Be baby!

Check out a few more under Annual Dinner.

Little Beatle