Free to a good home....

I am very grateful for the life I have. I have a wonderful husband, a great family, the best in-laws you could ask for, a great job, good health, etc. However, there is one thing that keeps my life in constant craziness, makes me wonder what I did to deserve him, and makes me want to pull all of my hair out... TYRONE CAWOOD!!!! This dog makes me so nuts sometimes that I think I am going to have to get mental help! UGH!!! So the story begins.... The girls were here last weekend and Whitney and I went to PB to find adorable cushions for my new outdoor wicker sectional. We spent two hours there b/c I couldn't make up my mind if I wanted to go with blue tones, red tones, or even orange tones. So, we get the cushions home, have drinks out on the new porch and enjoy a great evening with friends. I decide to cover the new cushions with towels just IN CASE Tyrone decides the new furniture looks more comfortable than his dog bed. I get up on Saturday and he hadn't touched the couch. WOW! Maybe the damn dog is growing up. Saturday night I go to bed and forget to cover the couch. Oh well, he didn't touch it the night before, it will be fine. NOPE! I wake up and he has RUN, slept, and rolled in mud all over my cushions. I about died. There was 50 pounds of black dog hair all over my new furniture!!! Luckily the girls were there and they helped me pull every cover off and I washed them. I broke not one but two zippers while doing so b/c the covers were so tight. So Jennie gives me a great idea to get a tarp or a cover and just leave the whole set covered until I use it the next time. I immediately got on PB's website and ordered a $125.00 dollar cover for the darn couch. UGH! So, TODAY I put all the cushions on the couch, put the cover on the couch and tell Tyrone to not even think about it. Drew and I go out for breakfast, grocery shopping, Lowes.. the usual fun Sunday things. As I am bringing in groceries I hear Drew screaming. I thought the dog had drowned or something. Nope, he just decided to pull the cover off.. I have no idea how.. and ran, slept, rolled in mud all over my cushions AGAIN!!! Are you kidding me???? I lost it right then! So I am offering my lovely, sweet, well behaved Tryone free to a good home. :)

Pros to owning Tryone-

1. He listens and does not misbehave

2. He will eat your outdoor cushions (did this last year), dog beds (gone through 10), pool toys, pool towels, and furniture

3. He will color your indoor furniture a pretty shade of yellow. So far he is experienced with couches, chairs, and even a bed!

4. He will eat your sunscreen

5. He will goose you if you come close to him

6. He will leave you wonderful surprises of you know what in your garage. His fun is leaving them in places that you cannot see and you have to smell your way to finding them.

7. He will drown you in the pool b/c he thinks it is funny to jump on people and dogs while they swim

8. He gives great kisses

TYRONE... AKA Idiot Dog!!!

BEFORE
AFTER
COVER- going back in the box to PB. Now I have ordered large cushion holding bags.

I do love my dog, but right now I want to kill him!!! :)

My visit with Shannon... Annapolis, MD

I was in MD and VA this week for work, so I took a side trip to Annapolis to go visit Shannon. You don't realize how much you miss someone until you spend time with them and see what you are missing. I miss her SOOOO much! We had a great time for the few hours we were together. She took me to see her house, the Bay Bridge, and then to downtown Annapolis. It was beautiful and such a neat place to visit. I love you Shannon and cannot wait to see you again in August!

downtown Annapolis The Capitol
Bay Bridge
having a beer
The love I came home to tonight... I even got Drew a NAVY shirt that Shannon helped me pick out and this is what I got. Okay, so the truth is he was trying to watch the NBA draft and I was messing with him. Love me some Drew... :)

Girls Weekend

Next month I will be 32 and I am still able to say that I still keep in touch with my group of girlfriends from high school! How lucky am I!!! This weekend we had a girls weekend at my house. We had a blast catching up, hanging by the pool, and going out downtown. The girls came from NC, GA, TN and Tulsa, OK to visit this weekend. Love ya girls... thanks again for coming to SC!

Saturday night after dinner at Soby's. Ashley Vonderahe, Betsy Couch, Jennie Councill, me, Robin Meyer Houpe, Laura Piers, Whitney Miller. Our friend Shannon Harig-Blaine was unable to come from MD. We missed you Shay-dog!

high school graduation. Ashley, me, Betsy, Shannon and Whitney

college days. from left: Shannon, Robin, Jamie, Jennie, me, Whitney. Betsy and Laura in front. Aren't we the prettiest gals you have ever seen! Love my hair cut!

Friday night we sat out on the new porch and caught up. Drew was sweet to stick around and grilled out for us.
a toast to G-friends!

downtown leaving the wine bar

I love this pic so I had to put it on here too. We have also been a part of each others weddings. Shannon, Betsy, Whit, Ashley, me, Jennie, Laura, Robin.

Happy Father's Day!

So this is a little late. Drew and I spent Father's Day with Nick on Sunday. Helen made an amazing lunch as always. The boys were so over me taking pics. Here is one of my favorites. Happy Father's Day to our DADS and to my Papa. We love you all so much and appreciate all that you do.

The Cawood clan- Matt, Madison, Nick, Drew, and Mike

my 2 dads

My sweet Papa. He turns 90 on Christmas Day 2008!

Madison and Bless come to G-Vegas!

As you could read from my previous post we had Madison and Bless (13 years old) here last weekend. We had a blast with the girls. They were so much fun! We did all kinds of stuff while they were here... the zoo, Carowinds in Charlotte, Downtown Alive, Franky's Fun Park, the lake, etc. Drew and I were so worn out by the time Sunday came around. Enjoy the pics.

Maddie and Bless come for a visit..

day swimming....
Night swimming. Look in the right corner... Tyrone came out the first night they were here and jumped right in with them. I love the girls expressions. I wish I had my camera turned long ways. ugh!
Tyrone barking b/c he wants the girls to get out and jump in with him. I kid you not. They jump in, he jumps in. They get out, he gets out.

I picked up Maddie and Bless on my way home from Atlanta on Wednesday. We are spending a long weekend with them here in Greenville. We have had a blast so far and have done tons of things but the best times in my opinion have been watching the girls swim in the pool. They haven't gotten much alone time b/c they have 2 friends that enjoy swimming with them. The dogs are in LOVE with the girls. They are like two 4 year old brothers that won't leave their big sisters alone. It is priceless. I will post the abundance of pics later this weekend. I had to get this up right away for Helen and Leisa to see. We are having so much fun. Next summer they have to stay with us a full week.

Great Story...

Today I was flying Delta from Nashville to Atlanta. I am one of those that likes to board early, put up all my junk, and then people watch. So one by one I noticed about 25 servicemen and women board the plane. After the pilot made his routine announcements he said, "I want to give a warm welcome to our service people on board, thanks for what you do." I thought to myself that was nice and wondered if they were coming or going. Unfortunately I was not sitting by one to ask. When the plane landed they flight attendant made an announcement for everyone to stay seated and let the service people get off first. She said "they work hard for us and I am sure they would appreciate to deplane first." I fly almost every week and you get the "if you are not about to miss your connection then stay seated and let others leave first" or you have the idiots that run to the front pushing every one down so they can get off first. It drives me nuts! I have NEVER been on a flight where people actually listen to the flight attendant and stay seated. So the ding went off and not a sole got up. The service folks didn't even know if it was okay to get up :) One man stood up and the rest followed. Right as they stood up the entire plan started clapping.. loudly. Then one by one the men and women walked off. As one walked by we would clap. But still, no one stood up until the very last service person was off the plane. It gave me chills like never before. It was truly amazing to be on that plane today.

Please remember my brother-in-law Norm as you read this. Norm, thanks for what you do! We love you! We are sooo ready for you to come home!

2 weddings in one day...

It was 100 degrees in SC on Saturday! What a better way to spend it than outdoors at 2 weddings! It was HOT but so was ours so we didn't have room to complain :) Our friends David and Lealani and Ryan and Sara both got married on Saturday. One at 10:30am and one at 6pm. It was neat b/c both of the receptions we are their parents house.

Lealani getting ready to walk down the aisle

Mr. and Mrs. David Watt

Drew and David. Look at Drew's pants... so cute!

The cake. Lealoni and I both had brown and pink weddings.

Wedding number 2

Mr. and Mrs. Ryan Katula The chub-sters
The second wedding reception was held here! I don't think I have ever seen a house and land this beautiful. Cawood sandwich! Can we say BOOBS!
The cake was on the dock. So pretty!
Ryan and Sara arriving at the reception.

Boston!

The husband and I unpacked our bags from the beach, spent one night in our bed (2 for Drew) and headed to Boston! I had to work on Tuesday and Drew came and met me on Wednesday! We had a blast despite the horrible freezing weather! We spent one night in the North End eating yummy Italian food and the other at a Red Sox game with my clients. Fenway is so amazing! They opened a new bar under neath the stadium called the Bleacher Bar. It was so perfect b/c after the Sox game we got to watch the Celtics inside Fenway. Drew was like a kid in a candy store. He is a HUGE Sox and Celtics fan. We truly lucked out being there for the finals. While I worked Drew spent time at Harvard with his friend Will. Will just moved from Clemson to Boston ( he is the assistant Basketball coach there) so Drew had a blast hanging with him. Enjoy our crazy pics.


I continue to wonder why the scale keeps increasing... could it be all the BEER we have been consuming for the last 2 weeks. UGH! I now have a headache b/c I am doing the no carb diet to loose the poundage FAST!


If you roll over the slide show it will tell you what pics are what...

CONGRATULATIONS CAROLINE AND DEBO!!!

Congrats Jeff and Caroline on your engagement!!! We are so happy for you both and cannot wait to share in this exciting time. It was so cool to be in town during all the excitement!!! I cannot wait to get all my stuff out and help you plan a SC wedding. I have the names of all the vendors in town :) We love you and are so happy for you both!

Wild Dunes Vacation

Drew and I just got back from our vacation in Wild Dunes. We had such a great time- we relaxed on the beach, rode bikes, went to our favorite restaurants and tried out some new ones, went to see Sister Hazel (memories of college days) at the Windjammer, visited Charleston several times, etc. etc. We also got to visit with Jeff and Caroline a few times... they got engaged when we were there!!! My parentals came to see us at the end of the week for two nights so it was great to visit with them as well. As always, there is always some craziness that goes on with our vacations. This time- BEACH EROSION issues. This was our first time back since the wedding and WOW the beach is getting bad. They are now working on a beach revitalization project until July. There are houses about to fall in the water so this is a very good thing. We got lucky and had bulldozers working right out our window 24 hours a day. miserable!!! They thankfully moved us to a 3 bedroom house so it ended up being a great deal :)

Beach Issues...

Here are some CRAZY pics of the beach erosion issues. I thought these were worthy of their own post! It was amazing to see. They are bringing in sand 2 miles off shore through large tubes to save the beach. Crazy to see and VERY sad at the same time... Despite these pictures we really did have a nice vacation. This is only one area of the beach... our second place was very nice with no distruction.

The tubes bringing in sand

My chair. The dozer about took me out. It is not often you are laying out and a dozer drives by through the ocean :) Drew was playing golf while I damn near died!
View from our porch before they moved us to the house. Luckily at the house there were no erosion issues.. it was further down the beach.
18th hole at the Links golf course. It was there during our wedding tournament. Now it is gone!!!
Mom and Drew laughing at the old sign "keep off the dunes". There are NO dunes now!
A bridge that use to be attached to a house.