Well, I am back. Mexico was beautiful. I did everything on my to-do list. Relaxed, got a great tan (not burnt and no peeling – can’t beat that), took LOTS of walks on the beach (among other walks through the resort, downtown, xel-ha – never walked so much in my life), saw a castle (although not the one we had originally planned), did some exploring (floating down a long tropical river through mangroves & with tropical fish swimming by and swam under ground in a mayan cave), took over 300 photos (every one of them colorful) and definitely appreciated all of the tropical beauty of Playa Del Carmen. I think my favorite thing that we did was taking naps at night by the ocean and poolside. We’d go down around 10:00 when everything was quiet and would find a little spot where noone even knew we were there and dozed off to sounds of the ocean and breezes blowing through the thatch roof tiki huts. I posted a few of my favorite photos in the photo-a-day calendar. Looking forward to doing a little scrapbook of the trip since it’ll be something of a stretch for me to scrap something other than my adorable nieces and nephews.

I also have a couple prayer requests for anyone who may be reading this. I have 2 sisters pregnant again, Manda due in January and Kimberly who will be having her baby a bit early probably the first week in March. Because of the baby’s blood type and something in Kimberly’s blood type that is attacking it they have had to do amnio’s twice so far and will likely be doing one every two weeks to check her levels from now until the baby is born. The last amnio apparently showed the levels a bit higher than they typically see at this point in the pregnancy so they’ll be monitoring it more closely and if need be they may have to do a blood transfusion in-utero. We have some of the best doctors and hospitals in the country here in our area so she’s under the best care possible and she’s such a trooper when it comes to all the needles and tests (I’d be a basket case) but obviously it’s a very stressful situation on top of them preparing to close on a new house and move before the baby comes. Also, little Eva is going in for a UGI (?) test next Tuesday to check on why she seems to throw up pretty much everything she eats. Poor thing doesn’t keep anything down and they want to make sure it isn’t anything more serious than just reflux. Anyway, any extra prayers for my family would really be appreciated.

Well, I’m exhausted. Struggling with a cold that fortunately took a break while I was in Mexico but met me at the door when I returned. :(

Nothin’ much new to blog about other than that I get to pick up my laptop tonight. It’s finally back. Actually it arrived yesterday but my best friend Jill and I do stuff together every Wednesday and she’s going in Friday to have her baby girl so we couldn’t miss out on our last dinner so to speak before she’s a mom of FOUR. :) I’m hoping to hang out with her at the hospital Saturday night and get some great pics of Jordyn while her hubby goes home to get some rest since they’ll likely be up overnight Friday with her in labor. SO, tonight I will pick up the laptop and hope that everything’s there as it should be. Sounds like it’s likely they were able to save the hard drive so I should be all set. :)

Not much else to report. Babysat Corbin and Ainsley today so there’s sure to be photos to post later tonight. :)

Isn’t she perfect?! I think every girl knows what it’s like to think ‘I wish I had Angelina Jolie’s lips…or Britney Spears hips…or Deborah Messings hair’. You know what I mean, we all wish we could change something about our appearance. To me, Chely Wright would be the perfect package. If I could just switch I’d take the whole nine yards. The brown eyes (always wished mine were brown), the perfectly straight, perfectly white teeth, the cute nose, the gorgeous long hair (and surprise surprise, she’s got a perfect body too), and she can sing. To me she looks flawlessly gorgeous yet sweet and approachable. Pretty tough to pull off that combination.

I’m sure she has things about herself that she’d change if she could. I don’t think there’s a person on the planet who doesn’t. I guess it’s human nature. I think it keeps us humble. To me the biggest turn-off is a person who thinks they’re all that and a bag of chips. Confidence is one thing but you know the feeling of being in a room with someone who thinks they look better than everyone else there, or are smarter than everyone else, or funnier…drives me crazy. I think it was Jenn last night who said we’re our own worst critics. So true. I think it’s because we are the ones who catch that glimpse in the mirror first thing in the morning when our hair is a disaster and there’s no make-up to cover those imperfections we all have (or at least most of us). At that moment the only ones who can find beauty are those that can see past the mess to the stuff that’s really important.

I’ve seen this little list on so many blogs that I follow and this morning I discovered that Lisa had been tagged and in turn tagged me. I’ve been avoiding her blog because she told me there’s a ‘Dreamer’ spoiler post on it and I want to take the neats to see it sometime this weekend but I had to check in and I averted my eyes from the post about the movie. :) So here’s my answers:

2 names you go by
Shawn and Shawny
2 parts of your heritage
Dutch and Christian (is that a heritage?)
2 things that scare you
snakes and big spiders
2 of your everyday essentials
laptop and breakfast
2 things you are wearing right now
monkey pajamas (it’s not even 7 am) and sweatshirt (it’s cold)
2 of your favorite band or musicians(at the moment)
Nickelback and Michael Buble
2 favorite songs(at the moment)
Breath of Heaven (Amy Grant) and O Holy Night (Celine Dion) – it’s Christmas time :)
2 things you want in a relationship
*honesty and respect
2 truths
*I need to read my bible more and my priorities are not where they should be
2 physical things that appeal to you(in the opposite sex)
Eyes and hands
2 things you want really badly
a mini cooper and a great looking desk to scrap at more comfortably (& productively)
2 places you want to go on vacation
Greece and Croatia
2 things you want to do to before you die
Travel to Europe and open a digital scrapbooking cafe
2 ways that you are sterotypically a dude/chick
won’t leave the house without my hair done & mascara on and I’m sensitive/emotional
2 things you are thinking about
whether to get in the shower or go back to bed and my dear friend Shari who sadly will be attending a funeral on this Thanksgiving weekend.
2 stores you shop at
Target and the Limited
2 people i would like to see take this quiz
Dawn and Lauren

*Lisa’s answers were too ‘right on’ to change them.

Who IS this guy!? I vaguely remember having a crush on him when I was probably like 10 but WHAT was he on?! For the life of me I can’t remember. Started looking on his website after stumbling across his song for my video of the day but I thought maybe it’d be more fun to see if anyone out there in blog world knows (out of the handful of you that follow my blog that is). LOL I’m not an ER fan but I’m gathering from his website that he’s had a role on that but I’m thinking MUCH longer ago. Charles in Charge comes to mind but I don’t think that’s right. I’m sure if Tammy reads this she’ll be rolling her eyes. I’m the person at every movie that can’t stop trying to figure out what tv show or movie each of the actors were in. Drives me crazy! I have a terrible memory really. Usually remember just enough to make me nuts trying to figure it out. So please help me – what tv show was this guy on 20 years ago?! :)