My Sweet Sister

I was very impressed with the sweetness of my sister Diana. Last week her boyfriend Nick (sorry no picture available) was having a very rough week. They are both in Physician Assistant school and currently in their rotations. Diana is in Ft. Wayne and Nick is currently about 1 hour away in Marion.

Diana knew he needed cheering up. She had done that same rotation down in Marion a few months before. She called up her former preceptor (Nick's current) and told him of the situation. She was able to secure a couple of hours to take Nick out for dinner (not hospital cafeteria food). She looked up restaurants in Marion (not a large town) on the internet before departing.

She then drove down and surprised him. She said he shocked but pleased. I know she is really busy with school and such right now. Therefore I thought the gesture was very kind.

Holidays

As the holiday season is fast approaching, I'll have to admit it comes with much joy and some sadness. This year Mark and I do have the opportunity to spend the week of Thanksgiving up in Illinois. Last year due to Mark's limited vacation time, we didn't get to go back for any major holidays.

This year we are sacrificing Christmas to Thanksgiving. Now Thanksgiving is a pretty big holiday in my family. Both sides get together and enjoy a time of sharing and of course eating. The food is always great even if some what predictable. I'm excited about going back to Illinois even if I know I'll be sad when we have to leave. We are leaving on the last flight out of Bloomington to fly home. I know this is crazy but it was the only way to make the most of the day. I'm trusting God will get us back to Georgia.

Here are some pictures from last year's events that my family sent me in our absence.

My Immediate Family Christmas

Vercler Family Thanksgiving

House Alarms

When I stay with different people in my trips to South Bend, many of them have home security systems. I've recently been a pro at setting these systems off.

The first time I did it, it really wasn't my fault. I thought someone was home, they weren't and I didn't know the code. So of course after I enter 60 seconds later the alarm goes off.

This most recent time...it was my fault. I was talking on the phone when I entered the house. Instead of pushing "off" after the code, I did like I had in the morning and pushed "away." If I had been focused on the task at hand...it probably wouldn't have happened.

Now if you have never experienced the perils of a house alarm going off, I liken it to what I think alarms at the end of the world will sound like. So loud that you can't think straight. I think they protect your house from burglary as the criminals will be scared and deafened by the noise.

I did get them shut off eventually and no police showed up so it wasn't a huge deal. Just a lesson learned.

Tabasco Sauce

I had a very early flight with a fairly long lay-over on my recent trip to South Bend. In an effort to curb my hunger and entertain myself during my layover, I decided to have breakfast at one of the restaurants in the Atlanta airport verses just getting a quick bite to go. I should have got the quick bite to go.

As many of you know, I travel with carry-on luggage only. As I was trying to arrange it around my table, I accidentally bumped over a bottle of Tabasco Sauce. It then promptly broke and splattered all over tile floor. In addition it doused the ankle of a man wearing a very nice light tan suit at the table next to me. Needless to say he wasn't impressed (or very nice). I apologized profusely and the waitress helped him clean it.

They then moved me to another table (probably for my own protection) and to clean up the mess. To top it all off, I had an itch in my eye. I didn't realize I still had the Tabasco Sauce still on my fingers and of course it caused my eye to burn. I did get it rinsed out but it probably looked like I was crying over spilled Tabasco Sauce.

Oh well, such is life.

Surprise from Mark

Earlier this year I had seen this very cool watch on-line. I wanted to get it right away but I thought a little delayed gratification would be good for me, so I decided I'd ask for it at Christmas. The watch is part of a unique collection designed by Mindy. I was so bummed when about a month or so later it was labeled at "sold" on the site.


It turns out my honey decided to surprise me with the watch (hence why it was sold). He went to a lot of work to get it without my knowledge. He had it shipped to his brother's place so that I wouldn't find it in the mail. It is extremely difficult to get things by me here since I work from home. I was thoroughly impressed and happily surprised. He even called my mom at one point to make sure she wouldn't buy me a different one for Christmas like I had requested. I think I have one of the sweetest most romantic men on the planet.


Needless to say I really like the watch. If you are looking for a unique watch, I highly recommend you check out Expressions by Mindy I have had several friends who really like their watches and now I can speak for the quality myself. Mark made an excellent purchase.

Visiting our Representative

On our trip to Washington D.C., we stopped by the offices of our Representative and Senator to get gallery tickets to watch Congress in session. We throughly enjoyed watching the lawmakers and were some what taken aback by the casualness of these decisions.

On a more positive note, visiting our Rep's office was a lot of fun. Mr. Sanford Bishop's receptionist offered us drinks and snacks. She also let us go into his office and told us just to relax. Given how hot of a day it was, it did feel nice. It was a little weird but we got some fun pictures.

Smoke Alarm

On our vacation our smoke alarm was really sensitive. I was making dinner on Sunday evening. Just boiling some mac n' cheese when all of sudden the thing started going off. I wasn't even burning anything!

Well it is one of those electronically wired to the building alarms. This caused a great deal of concern for me as we may end up evacuating the whole building. Well we got it to quit but I was paranoid every time we cooked that we would set it off again.