The craziness actually started the last weekend in October because my sister's wedding was that weekend. My dad in Texas flew over with his wife and my aunt for the big event. The day before the wedding, my dad and I spent the day at Busch Gardens and had a lot of fun. Aside from riding one of the roller coasters, we were able to see lots of animals and we even took the safari out and fed giraffes! It was quite fun, but we had to cut our day short to drive over to Lakeland for the rehearsal dinner.
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| The bride to be and me! |
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| My niece and my dad (Grampy) carving her pumpkin for Halloween. |
My niece was in the wedding and she took her part very seriously as she had a ring ceremony too with her new step-father. She was still a little freaked out over the whole experience, but after goofing off with me at the reception, she calmed down a little bit.
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| The girls and I. (We just made it before the ceremony started.) |
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| My niece walking her mother down the aisle. |
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| My niece starting to realize the seriousness of her role. |
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| My niece and her ring ceremony with her step-father. |
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| My niece and her mom "cuttin' a rug." |
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| My niece and I at the reception. |
Homecoming was the second week of November, which means we had spirit week in which we dressed in crazy "outfits" each day.
We also had our Homecoming Pep Rally.
As Sophomore Class sponsor, I had to help guide my sophomores as they created their float. We had absolutely no money to build it, so I also had the job of begging all of the parents for items so they would at least have something to show during the "Parade of Floats" at the halftime show of the game. To my overwhelming surprise, the parents really came through. The kids worked after school for many weeks to try and get everything exactly the way they wanted it. (Paint and glitter will mark the library's back room and outside area for many years (?) to come.) Our theme this year was "Once Upon a Candy Shop" and my "babies" decided that they wanted to do "Candyland " for their float. It turned out pretty well in my opinion.
The good news is--we won 1st Place!
After Homecoming Week, we had a week left before the Thanksgiving Holiday (we had a WHOLE WEEK off)!!! I for one am certainly glad we had a week because I am still tired from all of the shenanigans.
Since my niece's Mom went on her honeymoon over the Thanksgiving break, we decided that we were going to take my niece's birthday trip during that time as well. After all, Mommy was on a trip, why couldn't she go? So, we headed over to Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure for a couple of days. We had a blast!
Harry Potter's hangout at Hogwarts and Hogsmeade are exactly as you envision them. (Although, if you plan on visiting, make sure you do not leave until you've done everything you want to do because you will not be able to get back in because the lines are atrocious!)
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| Another entrance to Hogsmeade through Jurassic Park. |
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| Hogsmeade |
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| Station 9 3/4 |
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| The entrance into Hogsmeade. |
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| Hagrid's Cottage |
Now that my sister's wedding is over I finally decided to do something I have wanted to do for a very long time. I decided to get my hair cut and dye the tips pink!!!
The style is similar to Reese Witherspoon's in Sweet Home Alabama
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The color is compliments of Brian at Ulta! He seemed a little nervous at first, but he did a FABULOUS job with my hair and I completely recommend him to anyone!
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| Front "Before" |
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Back "Before"    Side "After" |
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Front "After" |
Tomorrow is the "BIG" day in which everyone sees my "new do." It's going to be quite a busy week with the Poetry Jam on Wednesday, my niece's concert on Thursday, our church's Christmas play on Friday and then the TSO concert
on Saturday! WooHoo! Have a great week!
3 comments:
Ummm ... ha! Small world. The third picture from the top is my husband's cousin. I hope she likes the gaudy rose ring; I thought it looked like something she would like. :)
@April--Small world indeed! :) Which one is your husband's cousin--S or R? R doesn't really wear jewelry, so I REALLY hope it's not her. (Yikes!) If it's S, there's a small chance she will like it, although it doesn't really seem her type. She's more of an elegant and understated jewelry type. I'm the one that wears the crazy stuff. :)
Thanks for stopping by my blog! It's always nice to hear from another blogger in the Tampa Bay area.
S is my husband's cousin, so we've been friends now for 8 years or so. I hope she liked the ring since I gave it to her for Christmas last week ... she said she liked it, and it looked like something she would like (I spend a lot of time trying to pick out the perfect gifts). I do hope there's more than a small chance she likes it, haha.
Anyhow, good to "meet" you!
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