Downtown Gatlinburg

We are having a great time in Gatlinburg! Today we spent some time just hanging out around town and seeing some sites. We took this this tram ride as part of the Ober Gatlinburg attraction. I never realized that there was a ski section here. The ice skating rink was closed for the day due to the rain. Yes, rain. It wasn't heavy rain or anything but steady enough to alter a lot of the attractions.

Although the alpine slide was closed, they had a little simulation sled available for people to see. So of course all the kids had a chance at sitting on the sled.

I haven't been to Gatlinburg in years. When I was in college I belonged to a sorority called Pi Beta Phi. One of the best things was our philantrophy, called Arrowmont, which was based on helping people create different crafts. It was a great pleasure to take my family to the place that I loved going to while in college. I have fond memories of sitting in the settlement school with the girls in my chapter talking, singing, and having fun.

The local elementary school is named after the sorority, Pi Beta Phi Elementary. It was fun remembering going there as a college student and now taking my daughter! I think it would be fun if she were to choose Pi Phi as a legacy and then we go there when she is older!

We visited some of the area resorts and the kids had fun posing for pictures. Here is Brandon with the bear statues.

and then Shelby near the little waterfall........

When we were leaving for the night, we noticed this haunted 'mansion'. It was all lit up and was playing scary music. Very Halloween like. LOL

Spring Break '08

On Saturday, we headed out for our spring break trip. We had a late start and left our house around 2 p.m. It was actually a pretty smooth trip overall. We stopped in GA for dinner at Cracker Barrel. We love to stop there because it allows us all a good leg stretch and pretty decent food. If we travel via RV, we like it b/c you have ample room to park too. :)

We drove about 10 hours, which was a bit longer then planned. We had originially planned to drive 6 hours and stay at a hotel, then finish the drive with another 6 hours. Well, the kids were either sleeping, watching a movie, or drawing and all was quiet so we kept driving. Well, actually hubby kept driving. I was watching Seabiscuit, which is a really good movie.

We ended up about 2 hours away from Gatlinburg when we finally decided to stop and rest. Here was the view from the outside of the hotel. It was a little chilly and sprinkled, but not too bad. We drove into Gatlinburg and found our cabin. Here's one of the views. Isn't it beautiful!

We ventured out into Gatlinburg and walked around the different shops. As a family we have never been to Gatlinburg. I was there in college a couple of times on various road trips. My sorority was instrumental in building and now, maintains, the local Arts & Crafts center called Arrowmont. They were closed but we are planning on visiting later this week. Oh and yes, we drove 12 hours so my daughter can get an icee! LOL

A little something fun..........

I was so excited this afternoon when I popped over at Mer's blog, Life at 7000 feet, and saw she did a little meme and it seemed like fun, especially since I have drawn a blank as to what to write about. LOL

What time did you get up this morning? 6:00.

Diamonds or pearls? Diamonds.

Last movie you saw in the theater? Enchanted.

What is your favorite TV show? Dancing with the Stars........on reruns I love Beverly Hills 90210

What did you eat for Breakfast? nothing :o(

What is your middle name? Diann

What food do you dislike? okra

What is your favorite CD at the moment? I don't have a favorite right now......I'm actually enjoying a medley of tunes from my iPod list

What kind of car do you drive? A mini-van

Favorite sandwich? BLT.....just bacon, lettuce, and tomato on toasted white or wheat bread--no mayo or anything else

What characteristics do you despise? ignorance........it's actually something that I have been battling this week. Someone close to us has claimed ignorance on something and it's turning out to be a bigger deal then I had even thought! UGH

Favorite item of clothing? Jeans shorts, tees, and slides

If you could go anywhere in the world for a vacation, where would you go? Australia or Alaskan cruise

What color is your bathroom? burnt red and tan

Favorite brand of clothing? LL Bean

Where would you retire? Oh how fun! LOL I would love a place in Colorado (overlooking the mountains), one in St. Simon's Island GA (on the beach), and one in Maine (off the coast).

Most memorable birthday? I don't really remember many, LOL. If I had to guess I'd say my 21st.

Favorite sport to watch? football, especially the Florida Gators

When is your birthday? August 8

Are you a morning or a night person? A night person.........I get more stuff done when everyone is asleep.

What is your shoe size? 8

What did you want to be when you were little? Engineer.....LOL

What are you today? Wife and mom.

What is your favorite candy? sugar babies.........but I can't eat them anymore. :o(

Your favorite flower? magnolia

What is a day on the calendar you are looking forward to? this Friday when we leave for Gatlinburg

What are you listening to right now? Beverly Hills 90210 on SoapNet

What was the last thing you ate? pizza rolls

Do you wish on stars? yes, but I've only seen one

If you were a crayon, what color would you be? petal pink

What is your pet peeve? hmmm so many, but one would be people who have blaring music in their cars. Like do they NOT hear their own songs! Ugh!

Last person you spoke to on the phone? Hubby

Favorite soft drink? Sprite

Favorite restaurant? Outback and Red Lobster

Hair Color? Brown (and badly in need of some fresh highlights)

Favorite day of the year? the first day of summer vacation (so I can sleep in........LOL)

What was your favorite toy as a child? my Barbie jet

Summer or winter? Summer if I had to choose from those two, but my favorite is fall (football fall!)

Hugs or kisses? I like both, especially from my kids

Chocolate or vanilla? depends

When was the last time you cried? watching Oprah today with the woman who had hoarded so much that it was unbelievable.

What is under your bed? A few pictures that I don't want to hang up but don't want to get rid of.

Who is the friend you’ve had the longest? Cheryl and Elise

What did you do last night? Took my daughter to ballet class and then watched Dancing with the Stars

Favorite smell? fresh laundry

What are you afraid of? snakes, bridges, heights, spiders

How many keys on your key ring? 2

Favorite day of the week? the weekend.........LOL

How many states have you lived in? Two-California (first 6 months of my life) and Florida

Do you make friends easily? Yes, I think so

How many words did spell check have to correct? none

Anyone else want to join in on the fun? Please let me know, I'd love to see what you wrote.

Have a great Wednesday!

TGIF and Happy Easter

Woo Hoo! Tomorrow is a day off of school and it feels like an extra holiday day for me! I actually get to sleep in some and not rush around in the morning getting three kids ready for school! Yoo Hoo!

We have just finished our spring break plans too. We have decided to go up to Gatlinburg for the week. It was a toss, honestly, between Gatlinburg and the beach. But with the weather on the 'cool side' we knew the water would be chilly and so we are heading north! I'm pretty excited about it and so are the kids. The only thing I am dreading is the drive. A friend of mine told me that she got some awesome last minute rates to fly so I'll be checking out airlines daily till we leave. I sure would love to fly up and save the long drive. LOL

Is anyone else just as shocked that Easter weekend is upon us? I can't believe it at all. The kids came home from school today with the cutest Easter baskets from their teachers. We are heading over to my parents for Easter brunch on Sunday. Our church holds two different Easter services.....one Saturday night and one Sunday super early. So we are going to the Saturday night service. It should be another great musical event. They do a fabulous job and it's so enlightening!

Have a wonderful Easter weekend~

Meme for the day

I was visiting over at Musings of a Housewife and saw her meme for the day. I've got some stuff going on and thought I'd do this as my mind is at a loss of what else to post. :o)

What I was doing 10 years ago: Wow, it's hard to believe but hubby and I had a two year old and a newborn baby boy! We lived in a cute little cottage house. I taught 6th grade Language Arts and Reading and hubby was in outside sales as a pharmaceutical rep.


5 Things on my To Do List today:
1. Go to the sportsman show
2. Laundry
3. Return some shirts at JCPenney's
4. Go to TJ Maxx
5. Set up hubby's new Blackberry Curve


Snacks I Enjoy: goldfish, Wolfgang Chocolate peanut clusters, Dove Chocolate, and toasted cinnamon chestnuts

Things I would do if I were a Billionaire: Pay off the house, Pay off any bills that we have, set up the kids' for the future, and travel. Then when traveling I'd love to do some work with this gardening project that I heard about on the Racheal Ray show.

3 of my Bad Habits: procrastinating, doing too much at one time, and twirling my hair

5 places I have lived: California and Florida..........sorry that's it.

5 Jobs I have had: Cashier at Publix, Event planner, teacher, marketing/pr director, and outside sales in educational products.

Well, off to the sportsman show now. I'd love to see what your meme looks like. Let me know if you join in!

Bathrooms, Laundry, & Lasagna

Ok, strange title, I know! So can you guess what all of these have in common?? Give up? These are the three 'topics' of my day.............I spent the day cleaning bathrooms, washing & folding laundry, and making three pans of lasagna (and brownies)! First I have to share that I have tried some new laundry items and I think I am in LOVE! he he I got this laundry detergent and fabric softener from a friend of mine and just tried it today for the first time. I ran out of my usual and decided to try this stuff. When I took out the first load of laundry from the washer I couldn't believe what a fresh scent I smelled. Then when the same load came out of the dryer, wow! Both are from Shaklee, so if you know a rep, contact them! If not, let me know and I'll hook you up with my friend!

So while doing laundry, I spent the afternoon making three pans of lasagna with brownies! Yummo! I was making one pan for a friend of mine who had surgery yesterday and I am making her family a meal. I made a second pan for our family for dinner and found that I had enough for a third pan! So I am freezing one for next week. I am not a cook by any stretch of the imagination, but I do try. Hubby laughs because I love to watch Racheal Ray (remember my cookware!) . Last week I bought the garbage bowl! Ok, not that I really needed that but boy do I love it! It really is easier to make one trip to the garbage then 15 or 20! I know any bowl would do, but I really enjoy seeing the orange bowl on my counter! LOL

After the laundry and lasagna, I cleaned both bathrooms! This is usually one of the chores for the boys but I like to do the deep clean because they just don't seem to do it. ROFL Speaking of bathrooms, check out this one that I found online. It's in my 'album of ideas'! Thanks again Jessica for that great idea!

So now I'm sitting here checking blogs and writing this blog. Afterwards, I am going to watch Beverly Hills 90210 on reruns! I love this show! In fact, we named our boys after two characters on this show! I wasn't that into the girl names so we went with one from a favorite movie!

Oh and finally last night we decided to 'throw caution to the wind' and change our family movie night! I saw that our movie rental place had 'The Bee' movie available and I have wanted to see it for months. This has to be the cutest, funniest movie out right now! Hubby and I were laughing so hard. The majority of the movie was good clean humor. There was a sub-text of how the bee colony works but nothing was 'out there' -- if that makes sense. Overall, a very cute movie! I'd give it 5 popcorns!

Hope everyone has a fabulous week!

What's your favorite soap?

I don't know why I have been thinking about soap lately but I have been! I guess the main reason is that there are a couple that I have found that I just LOVE!

One is from Shaklee, and it's called the Get Clean soap. It's a fresh smelling soap. Perfect for any area that you would like soap.

Another is called Koala Pals and is in my kids' bathroom. I love this soap because it is foam based. So it seems that we don't waste a lot when the kids wash their hands constantly. I can't complain that they wash all the time, so it's nice that this is concentrated and they don't use a lot in order to keep clean.

I really like this one from Method! Try Ginger Yuzu or Sea Minerals. These smell wonderful and light. Plus the bottle is pretty cool!

And finally from the Savannah Bee company (you can find at Bath & Body Works too!), is the Blackberry soap that is made of honey! It's a refreshing scent of pure blackberries. The cool thing is that there is a matching lotion that makes this a perfect set for the kitchen or bathroom counters!

I'd love to learn about some more soaps. What do you use??