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Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Friends
After family, friendship is one of the most important things to me. I consider myself very lucky to have the friends that I have. As important as friendships are to me, the loss of a friendship is devastating.
When God takes something from your grasp, He's not punishing you, but merely opening your hands to receive something better.
Friday, May 18, 2007
Palm Springs-March 2007
This was a great trip! I had never been to California and I needed to add this state to my list of states in which I have found caches. I have to admit that Palm Springs was great, however, the flights to and from were not so much.
On the way out, I was delayed in Colorado due to the weather. They actually had snow. I left Memphis and the temperature was in the 70s. I was going to Palm Springs, were it was in the 80s. I was wearing clothes for that type of weather, not for walking from the plane, through the snow, to the terminal. Once there, I was told the plane was delayed. They were working on the problem. Once the plane was ready, we loaded on and had to sit and wait again for the plane to be de-iced.
I got into Palm Springs several hours late and was really too tired to do anything that night. My friends had already celebrated their first night there and weren't able to drive to the airport to pick me up. Luckily, there was the hotel shuttle, and my friend, Connie, gave me the information that I needed. It was dark when I arrived, so I didn'
t get to see how beautiful Palm Springs was until the next day. WOW!! What a beautiful place. It looks just like Memphis...NOT! The stay in Palm Springs made me pretty much forget about the bad flying experience. Much of my time was spent by the pool. Actually, MOST of my time was spent by the pool. I WAS able to snag a few caches around the hotel! As my friends always tell me, I'm a geek! I'm sure they mean this as a compliment! :-)
The flight home was much like the the flight out...delays! The first delay was in Palm Springs. A flat tire on the plane which took a couple of hours to fix. That, of course, made me miss my connection in Colorado...so you guessed it...more waiting there. I still managed to get back to Memphis ahead of my friends, who had delays of their own.
Needless to say, when it came time to go to Chicago a couple weeks later, I drove!
On the way out, I was delayed in Colorado due to the weather. They actually had snow. I left Memphis and the temperature was in the 70s. I was going to Palm Springs, were it was in the 80s. I was wearing clothes for that type of weather, not for walking from the plane, through the snow, to the terminal. Once there, I was told the plane was delayed. They were working on the problem. Once the plane was ready, we loaded on and had to sit and wait again for the plane to be de-iced.
I got into Palm Springs several hours late and was really too tired to do anything that night. My friends had already celebrated their first night there and weren't able to drive to the airport to pick me up. Luckily, there was the hotel shuttle, and my friend, Connie, gave me the information that I needed. It was dark when I arrived, so I didn'
t get to see how beautiful Palm Springs was until the next day. WOW!! What a beautiful place. It looks just like Memphis...NOT! The stay in Palm Springs made me pretty much forget about the bad flying experience. Much of my time was spent by the pool. Actually, MOST of my time was spent by the pool. I WAS able to snag a few caches around the hotel! As my friends always tell me, I'm a geek! I'm sure they mean this as a compliment! :-)The flight home was much like the the flight out...delays! The first delay was in Palm Springs. A flat tire on the plane which took a couple of hours to fix. That, of course, made me miss my connection in Colorado...so you guessed it...more waiting there. I still managed to get back to Memphis ahead of my friends, who had delays of their own.
Needless to say, when it came time to go to Chicago a couple weeks later, I drove!
"Friendship is precious, not only in the shade, but in the sunshine of life." Thomas Jefferson
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
1 & 2K...Ain't It Grand?
One of my favorite things about my hobby of Geocaching, is the people that I have met and
cached with along the way. I have cached with Amphimixus, Hoot Owl, Gibbenator, Cgeek, SarahAFS, Magicrock & Goalong, Byrd, JoeGPS, Nashville Joe & Abbys Grammy, Y&D, BDD, Sprout, Spencersb, 3, Hogfanbam and jbgreer, just to name a few.
One of my favorite people to cache with is Prontopup(Joe). Prontopup and I have the same philosophy when it comes to hiding and finding caches. We like for our hides to be interesting and we like to find everything. Most importantly, we love to have fun! For those of you who have ever cached with us you know what I'm talking about!
We figured out that we were both close to major milestones. He was getting close to his 1K and I was approaching my 2K. We decided at that point to hit those milestones at the same time. It took a lot of coordination, planning, and patience to do it. Joe had to practice the patience part. He also had to prod me along, as I hit a wall and couldn't motivate myself to go out caching. I
was doing lots of traveling, but very little caching. As I finally caught up, we had to decide on the cache that we would do. We both wanted to do a 5/5 for the milestone. As we talked it over, however, we changed our minds. We decided that we wanted our milestones to be at a friend's cache. Our friends have always been important to us. Joe always says "Our friends are the family that we choose." We chose to do one of Bruce's(Abiectio) caches in West Memphis, AR for our milestones. The cache is called Greyhound. We had so much fun going after this cache. We had to travel through waves and waves of "poisonous I.V.s" to get to the cache. The moment that we had the cache in our hands, we both got this big, cheesy grin on our faces. We had done it...together!
Thanks Prontopup, Abiectio, Cgeek, and others that I have cached with to get me to 2K. I have enjoyed every minute of my time with you and I can't wait for the times to come!
cached with along the way. I have cached with Amphimixus, Hoot Owl, Gibbenator, Cgeek, SarahAFS, Magicrock & Goalong, Byrd, JoeGPS, Nashville Joe & Abbys Grammy, Y&D, BDD, Sprout, Spencersb, 3, Hogfanbam and jbgreer, just to name a few.One of my favorite people to cache with is Prontopup(Joe). Prontopup and I have the same philosophy when it comes to hiding and finding caches. We like for our hides to be interesting and we like to find everything. Most importantly, we love to have fun! For those of you who have ever cached with us you know what I'm talking about!
We figured out that we were both close to major milestones. He was getting close to his 1K and I was approaching my 2K. We decided at that point to hit those milestones at the same time. It took a lot of coordination, planning, and patience to do it. Joe had to practice the patience part. He also had to prod me along, as I hit a wall and couldn't motivate myself to go out caching. I
was doing lots of traveling, but very little caching. As I finally caught up, we had to decide on the cache that we would do. We both wanted to do a 5/5 for the milestone. As we talked it over, however, we changed our minds. We decided that we wanted our milestones to be at a friend's cache. Our friends have always been important to us. Joe always says "Our friends are the family that we choose." We chose to do one of Bruce's(Abiectio) caches in West Memphis, AR for our milestones. The cache is called Greyhound. We had so much fun going after this cache. We had to travel through waves and waves of "poisonous I.V.s" to get to the cache. The moment that we had the cache in our hands, we both got this big, cheesy grin on our faces. We had done it...together!Thanks Prontopup, Abiectio, Cgeek, and others that I have cached with to get me to 2K. I have enjoyed every minute of my time with you and I can't wait for the times to come!
"A friend is someone who dances with you in the sunlight, And walks with you in the shadows." --Unknown
Friday, May 11, 2007
Chicago Road Trip-May 2007
Well, my first blog was about my family and my second post appears to include my family as well. My sister, Christine, flew into Chicago from AZ for a very short visit with the family. My parents always like to have all of the kids in at the same time, so I took off after school on Friday and headed north for a quick road trip. I stopped for gas, a restroom break and, of course, a cache. I made it home in time to see my mom before she headed off to work. I love my mom. That BTW, has got to be one of the best feelings in the world...seeing your mom for the first time after several months of being away.
It was great getting to see Christine! She is the twin of my sister Kate, and while they looked alike as little kids, they look very different now. Christine has dreds, which absolutely drives my mom nuts. Mom kept trying to drag Christine to the beauty shop to have them cut out, but Christine would not have it.
I was able to make it to Will's (my nephew) baseball game with my dad. Unfortunately, his game never happened due to the other team not showing. I was able to play catch with Will and some of his friends, though. Playing catch with 7 year olds can be quite exhausting. I had to chase after the ball quite a bit...their arms are still developing!
I also got to participate in the Walk For MS with Adrian's family. My brother-in-law, Billy, has MS and the entire family walked. My niece, Alexis(who is 7), wanted to walk two miles for her dad. Billy gave out after about a mile and everyone wanted to walk back to the car, except for Alexis. She was bound and determined to walk the whole way. I told Adrian that I would walk with her, so off we went. We followed all the people. The cool thing was that a lot of the people were walking with their dogs. Needless to say, Alexis got tired not too much later. I could hear the band playing and told her that we were near the finish line. As we approached, and we saw all the people, I got a sick feeling. Every single person had a dog. We had gotten mixed up in the adopt-a-pet walk that was going on in the same area. I asked someone where Centennial Park was and they told me that it was about a 30 minute walk from where we were. Alexis was not happy. We did manage to complete the walk and the family "oohed and ahhed" over Alexis walking so far. It was neat to see a little girl get so full of pride. She sure does love her daddy.
We all went out to eat Greek on Saturday night. The cool part was that my mom and dad actually socialized with each other. They have been divorced for a while and usually try to avoid each other. They didn't do that on this trip.
On Sunday, Adrian had everyone over for lunch. My niece and nephews begged and pleaded with me to take them caching. I told them that I would if it was OK with their parents. It was and off we went. We had a great time caching. When I cache with the kids, we take a lot of detours. We do a lot of playing at the cache sites and this trip was no exception. Each kid got to "find a treasure" with a little manipulation from Aunt Lisa.
Upon arriving back at Adrian's house, the kids wanted to go to Dairy Queen. That brought opposition from Adrian until she asked who was taking them and the kids replied "Aunt Lisa!"
Adrian's response then became "Oh, OK." Thanks, Ade!
I left on Monday and I was able to pick up a few more caches on my way back to Memphis thus turning an 8 hour trip into a 12 hour trip.
It was great getting to see Christine! She is the twin of my sister Kate, and while they looked alike as little kids, they look very different now. Christine has dreds, which absolutely drives my mom nuts. Mom kept trying to drag Christine to the beauty shop to have them cut out, but Christine would not have it.
I was able to make it to Will's (my nephew) baseball game with my dad. Unfortunately, his game never happened due to the other team not showing. I was able to play catch with Will and some of his friends, though. Playing catch with 7 year olds can be quite exhausting. I had to chase after the ball quite a bit...their arms are still developing!
I also got to participate in the Walk For MS with Adrian's family. My brother-in-law, Billy, has MS and the entire family walked. My niece, Alexis(who is 7), wanted to walk two miles for her dad. Billy gave out after about a mile and everyone wanted to walk back to the car, except for Alexis. She was bound and determined to walk the whole way. I told Adrian that I would walk with her, so off we went. We followed all the people. The cool thing was that a lot of the people were walking with their dogs. Needless to say, Alexis got tired not too much later. I could hear the band playing and told her that we were near the finish line. As we approached, and we saw all the people, I got a sick feeling. Every single person had a dog. We had gotten mixed up in the adopt-a-pet walk that was going on in the same area. I asked someone where Centennial Park was and they told me that it was about a 30 minute walk from where we were. Alexis was not happy. We did manage to complete the walk and the family "oohed and ahhed" over Alexis walking so far. It was neat to see a little girl get so full of pride. She sure does love her daddy.
We all went out to eat Greek on Saturday night. The cool part was that my mom and dad actually socialized with each other. They have been divorced for a while and usually try to avoid each other. They didn't do that on this trip.
On Sunday, Adrian had everyone over for lunch. My niece and nephews begged and pleaded with me to take them caching. I told them that I would if it was OK with their parents. It was and off we went. We had a great time caching. When I cache with the kids, we take a lot of detours. We do a lot of playing at the cache sites and this trip was no exception. Each kid got to "find a treasure" with a little manipulation from Aunt Lisa.
Upon arriving back at Adrian's house, the kids wanted to go to Dairy Queen. That brought opposition from Adrian until she asked who was taking them and the kids replied "Aunt Lisa!"
Adrian's response then became "Oh, OK." Thanks, Ade!
I left on Monday and I was able to pick up a few more caches on my way back to Memphis thus turning an 8 hour trip into a 12 hour trip.
The happiest moments of my life have been the few which I have passed at home in the bosom of my family. Thomas Jefferson
Saturday, April 28, 2007
My First Post-My Family
Hi Guys!
This is my first post and I will try to muddle through it. I decided to talk about the thing that means the most to me (besides God), which is my family!
I have to say, I have to be one of the luckiest people in the world because I have such a great family. Luck does have a lot to do with that, in that, I am adopted and it could have turned out very differently for me. My mom and dad are the best! They are two very good people who have raised me with good morals. They
taught me how to be a strong, yet caring, individual. They say that the job of a parent is to give their children roots and to also give their children wings. My parents have been very successful at this. I have four sisters and no brothers. I always wanted a brother, and I have brothers now in the form of brothers-in-laws(2).
My sister Denise is the next in line after me (I'm the oldest). She inspires me daily. She was very overweight as a child and dropped the weight during her teens and twenties. She is beautiful, inside and out! She is the mother of my oldest nephew, Mikey (10). Denise and Mike(my brother-in -law) have always helped me to stay close to Mikey despite the miles between us(most of my family lives in the Chicago area).
Adrian is the next in line. She and Billy(my other brother-in-law) are the parents of "miracle
babies". Will and Alexis are twins that were born extremely prematurely. Will was 2 pounds 6 ounces and Alexis was 1 pound 14 ounces. They are now 7 and doing just fine. Adrian and Billy are great parents.
Christina is a twin with my other sister, Kate. Chris lives in AZ. She is filled with so much peace. I'm sad because I don't get to see her nearly enough!
Kate still lives in the Chicago area. She hates to have people talk about her so hopefully she will never see this post. She is a flight attendant for United Airlines.
One last thing to note...my friend Joe always tells me that our friends are our family that we choose. If this is indeed true, which I believe it is, then my family is larger than this and I am even luckier, because I have some wonderful friends!
This is my first post and I will try to muddle through it. I decided to talk about the thing that means the most to me (besides God), which is my family!
I have to say, I have to be one of the luckiest people in the world because I have such a great family. Luck does have a lot to do with that, in that, I am adopted and it could have turned out very differently for me. My mom and dad are the best! They are two very good people who have raised me with good morals. They
taught me how to be a strong, yet caring, individual. They say that the job of a parent is to give their children roots and to also give their children wings. My parents have been very successful at this. I have four sisters and no brothers. I always wanted a brother, and I have brothers now in the form of brothers-in-laws(2).
My sister Denise is the next in line after me (I'm the oldest). She inspires me daily. She was very overweight as a child and dropped the weight during her teens and twenties. She is beautiful, inside and out! She is the mother of my oldest nephew, Mikey (10). Denise and Mike(my brother-in -law) have always helped me to stay close to Mikey despite the miles between us(most of my family lives in the Chicago area).Adrian is the next in line. She and Billy(my other brother-in-law) are the parents of "miracle
babies". Will and Alexis are twins that were born extremely prematurely. Will was 2 pounds 6 ounces and Alexis was 1 pound 14 ounces. They are now 7 and doing just fine. Adrian and Billy are great parents.Christina is a twin with my other sister, Kate. Chris lives in AZ. She is filled with so much peace. I'm sad because I don't get to see her nearly enough!
Kate still lives in the Chicago area. She hates to have people talk about her so hopefully she will never see this post. She is a flight attendant for United Airlines.
One last thing to note...my friend Joe always tells me that our friends are our family that we choose. If this is indeed true, which I believe it is, then my family is larger than this and I am even luckier, because I have some wonderful friends!
"The family is one of nature's masterpieces."
George Santayana
George Santayana
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