Archive | April, 2010

Vancouver Vacation: Day #3

30 Apr

Today was an absolutely AMAZING day! I was so excited about my whale watching tour. It was supposed to be yesterday but got canceled due to the rough seas. So I was worried this trip was not going to happen. Not only did I get to go but I got to see Sea Lions, Harbor Seals, Bald Eagles, and Killer Whales too. It was just indescribable.  Below are some pictures and movies of my wonderful 7 hours at sea.

After my whale watching trip I headed on back to the hotel to get ready for my night out with Eric. We headed on up sky tram to the top of the mountain where a lot of the Olympic events were held. It was so nice to finally get to explore the city with Eric again and have company to talk to when I saw cool things.

Later that night we went to dinner with Jonny and Amelie again at very yummy crepe restaurant and to give our goodbyes. We had such a wonderful time there and I am so blessed to have a husband that travels and lets me come along. It is sometimes lonely exploring the cities by myself but you can’t beat a practically free vacation!

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Vancouver Vacation: Day #1

27 Apr

This week was so much fun. One of the perks of Eric’s jobs for me is the trips I get to tag along on. Eric flew up there on Saturday and I headed up later that Tuesday after work. My flight put me there at midnight so I did not get to get out and about until the next day. Wednesday Eric took the morning off of work and walked around the city with me. Vancouver is a very cool city. It reminded me a lot of New York but on a smaller scale. We started out our day by heading on down to Canada Place which was the Olympic Headquarters this past year. It was really cool getting to see where all the olympic action just happened.

After checking out Canada Place we walked on over to the historic Gastown District for lunch.

Once we finished up for lunch Eric had to go back to work so I hopped on a trolly tour bus to check out other parts of the city. I love doing all the touristy things and I think that the hop on/hop off busses are one of the most informative and safest ways to get to see a city especially when you are a girl by yourself. I took the bus for everything I did over the next couple of days and it was perfect because one of the stops was our hotel so I did not have to walk far to get on.

The trolley took us through Stanley Park which was home of one of the oldest trees still around. They actually just spent I millions of dollars to preserve this tree that has been on the cover of National Geographic magazine several times. Stanley Park was awesome and also home to several other cool sites and views.

After Stanley Park I headed back to the hotel to meet up with Eric and get ready for dinner with Jonny and his girlfriend Amelie. After diner we walked on over to Vancouver Film School to see where they spend all their time and also get to take a look at some of the cool projects they are working on. It was a very cool place and I am so excited that Jonny is getting to have that experience. After checking out the school we walked down by the docs and on over to their apartments. It was so cool to see the amazing views from the floor to ceiling windows.

My first day in Vancouver was a blast. It was great getting to see such a wonderful city and Jonny!

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Vancouver Vacation: Day #2

26 Apr

The next day in Vancouver Eric had to head to work early so I caught a tour bus and headed on out to the Capilano Suspension Bridge which is about 20 minutes outside Vancouver. It is the area of the woods where many movies are filmed. One I am sure you are all familiar of is the Twilight series. It was so beautiful out there and absolutely breathtaking views from the many suspension bridges and canopy tour.

After checking out the forest I took the seabus back to the mainland where I hopped on the trolley and went back out to Prospect Point at Stanley Park for lunch. It was a beautiful day with amazing views. I was just sad no one was there to share this experience with me.

After my late lunch I headed on back to the hotel and met up with Eric for dinner. After dinner I crashed from my long day and Jonny came over to hang out with Eric to watch movies.

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A Large Yard Sale = Lots of Goodies

24 Apr

This morning Kendall and I met my mom up at The Summit for the Jr. League’s Annual Yard Sell. This was my first time to go but went because one of my friends told me that you could get a lot of cute work clothes for a good price and as you can see below she was not kidding. I was so excited about all of my steals I had to blog about it. Below is a list of everything I got.

5 Dresses

13 Shirts

2 Pairs of Pants

4 Jackets

2 Pea-coats

1 Set of Queen Sheets

2 Baskets

6 Christmas Place Card Holders

3 Metal Buckets

All for a grand total of $82.00. 3 of the shirts were brand new with price tags still on them. If I added up the cost of those three alone my price tag would have been over the amount I spent! The best thing was that everything fit perfectly except one dress. Since all the clothes were name brand pieces from places such as Banana Republic, Gap, etc I knew my exact size and was able to buy the perfect fit. Kendall was able to rack up on a good bit too. It was all thanks to our Mom who go there early and bought our tickets to get in the door. Thanks so much! I am so excited about my new wardrobe thanks to you.

That afternoon I went with my mom and dad to the Bass Pro shop to look for binoculars for Vancouver. I ended up not buying any (Did you know some cost up to $2,500!!!) but still had a great time looking around and checking out the store for the first time. I really loved how tall and open it felt. You really did feel like you were shopping in the woods. Hopefully I will run into a bear like this one next week!

Later that weekend Kendall and I headed on down to the lake with Gan-Gan, Paw-Paw, Mom, Dad, and Digby. It was a bit chilly but still fun to get out on the boat for the first time this year. Eric has already headed out to Vancouver for work. I can’t wait to join him later this week. Canada here I come…with new outfits and a tan!

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I Have To Brag..Just a Bit!

24 Apr

So I had to brag on Eric just a little bit today. This month was the first time ever his website broke ONE MILLION HITS in one month. You see when he first took over the website just over two years ago the site was only doing 100,000 – 200,000 hits per month. It is crazy that he has grown the site to be as big as he has with no additional advertising budget from his company.

 

However it did cost Eric a lot of time. And I mean A LOT of time. These past two years he has worked his pretty little tail off working all day and pulling all nighters to make this happen. Not to mention his 30+ trips per year that kept him away for about 3 months total last year alone.

 

Even though he does play video games for a living I have come to learn that it is real work! And his job requires a lot of time and effort to do all the writing, editing, marketing, managing a staff of writers, news posting, and networking with all the PR firms at all hours.

 

I am very proud of how dedicated he is in working so hard to provide for our family. I also know that his success comes from Jesus so I need to give a little shout to him too while I am at it.

 

Thanks so much Eric for all you do… I pray for many more months of continued success!

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Happy Birthday

23 Apr

JIllian had her very special birthday this year…21 on the 21st! To celebrate we all headed on over to Gary and Susan’s house Friday night for her party. It was extra special because Gary’s brothers , Mom, and John happened to be in town for the race and Susan’s mom and dad were passing through on their way to the beach. So we had a very packed house that made the party extra fun.

 

Jillian is such a beautiful women both inside and out and I am so proud to have her as a sister in law. I am very grateful she is in my life and can’t wait to see what all life has in store for her in her upcoming years.

 

Happy Birthday Jillian! I pray this year is your best yet…

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Wonderful Weather…Wonderful Friends

18 Apr

It is that wonderful time of year again… Spring! I love this time of year and so excited I get to get back out on my front porch. One of the main reasons we bought our house was for the big front porch. So to celebrate this wonderful weather I picked up spring flowers to plant and enjoy from our swing. Jessica helped me pick out the pretty flowers for our hanging basket and I have to say that I very much like the way they turned out. I also planted some more flowers in our front flower bed too. Friday night Eric spruced up the yard by edging, mowing, etc and with the help of Gary fertilizing over the past couple of weeks I am loving the way the yard is looking. I am very grateful for these men keeping my grass pretty and green!

 

On Saturday our neighborhood hosted Spring on the Hill for the James Hill residents. Everyone brought a dessert to share and we had the best of time hanging out with our neighbors and meeting the new residents on the block. Since Kendall did not have a car she was with us that day and headed on out to the park with us. It was glad she got to meet some of my new girlfriends. After hanging out at the park for a couple of hours we ended up taking her home then went to dinner with a couple down the street.  I am very blessed to have such sweet neighbors that I can see developing a life long friendship with. I thank God every day for allowing me to live in our home with these great christian women just down the road that challenge me to not only get up every morning to work out but to be a better person too. I finally have the little “Gilmore Girls” town that I dreamed of!

Now before this post gets too sappy let me show you one of the drawbacks of living in a new neighborhood.

This thing….

It is huge, loud, obnoxious, and drives VERY slow. It took it about 30 minutes to drive past our house and get up the hill! I know equipment like this is part of the deal when you move into a construction zone but come on…do you really have to do this at 6:00 am on Sunday morning! The neighborhood is set to be finished building by the end of June so hopefully there will not be many more early mornings disturbed by the sound of this clanking machine!

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Too Much Fun With Cash!

17 Apr

On Saturday morning Kendall called and asked if we could go with her to show her car to some people who were interested in buying it. This was exciting because Kendall’s car had been for sale for weeks and she really wanted to get rid of it before her odometer hit the big 100,000. Tim had to work that Saturday so he could not go to help out. Not that Kendall needs any help with negotiations or anything…Don’t worry she does not mess around or let them get one extra penny from her. But she just needed a man around just in case it was some creep.

 

We ended up meeting the guys at Target and after test driving they decided to buy which was really exciting for Kendall but lets just say that this situation was kind of sketchy. One of the guys asked Kendall to hop in the back of his pimped out Esclade to count the cash. After Kendall climbed on in the back Eric was quick to follow her just in case they took off with both the cash and Kendall in the back. After money was counted and titles were signed we headed back to our house where Kendall and Eric got really funny. I had to blog about this because they were cracking me up with all of the things they were doing with the very large stack on one hundred dollar bills. They made money pyramids, covered Digby with money, and counted the stacks numerous times. I guess not just every day you have that many bills lying around…well at least we don’t around our house. :) I took a couple of pictures but really wish I had taken a movie of their silliness the pictures just don’t do it justice. The entire rest of the weekend we were concerned that the bills might be fake but but luckily when Kendall went to the bank on Monday all checked out. Now she is just waiting to find the perfect car to buy… Until then the cash is save and sound in the bank and Kendall is riding high class in the big green car or minivan.

Susan’s Birthday Dinner

15 Apr

There are way too many birthday’s in April, today we celebrated yet another one at Moe’s Southwest restaurant – in honor of my Mom, who’s age I will keep secret for now. Moe’s is a pretty insane place by itself but when you throw our entire family (minus Nichole who was under the weather) into the mix it turns into a chaotic sight. Even so we had a blast just hanging out and laughing at the kids (MaeMae and Bella mainly, but Taylor got some funnies in there as well), and just getting everyone together under one roof. We are all so lucky to have my mother as part of our family because without her I doubt we would see each-other nearly as often as we do and the Bush family name may very well be split across the country. She was always there through thick and thin holding the family together and making sure we didn’t waste any money on unneeded junk; Happy Birthday Mom, maybe next year we can take you on that promised cruise!

-Eric

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Happy Birthday Lauren!

14 Apr

Today was Lauren’s 26th birthday, luckily I have it in my iCal calendar on my phone as I’m not very good with dates; even so it’s hard not to know when it’s my wife’s birthday because she talks about it up to 2 weeks in advance, usually starting around April 1st. It’s ok though because it balances out, I care very little about my own birthday and make literally zero deal over it. Today was a work day so for most of the day it was fairly normal, I got Lauren a card and flowers (her real present was this past weekend – the David Gray concert in Atlanta). After she got off work and picked Dana up we headed over to her parent’s house for dinner (chicken dumplings and cake) and then to Church, which was packed full and a lot of fun. On the way home I gave Lauren a birthday cake via an iPhone app that plays a special song and lets her “blow” out the candles, virtually. I am very happy to have such a wonderful wife that puts up with all my crap each day yet still finds a way to love me; and I’m blessed to celebrate her birthday, even if it takes nearly 20 days total to move on to the next holiday; Happy Birthday Lauren!

- Eric

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