Checking ease of use with pictures

Seems simple to post photos too...




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Testing 1, 2, 3...

Just downloaded a new app for my iPhone! How cool is that?! I can blog from my phone!
Maybe this will help with my slacking updates ;-)


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Sunset Ave,Panama City,United States

what's happening....

All in all, life is good. :-) Tonight I'm enjoying an evening at home with my Mom and Bob, & Rascal too. ;-) Free time is something I haven't had much of lately. Just after the car accident I obviously had to go car shopping...and only had 3 days of rental coverage to do so. So...here's what I got:


On the 27th of October, I started a new job at Target...then we headed out for our cruise to Mexico on the 31st. Busy, busy...
While we were in New Orleans before heading out to sea...check out the coolest Whole Foods Market that Koleen, Shirley and I found while exploring:



We had a great time on our cruise. I can't believe we made a vacation work with 11 people! It was great. I ate more on the ship in a week than I do in a normal month!



After coming home to the "real world", I haven't really done much other than work and visit the chiropractor several times a week, trying to recover from being turned into a sandwich. Slowly but surely. Went for a stand-up MRI last Tuesday. Maybe that can tell more about what's happening in my spine. If there's any breaking news, I'll keep ya posted.

That's my brief post of current (and not so current) events. :)

Off to bed now... Oh, and look what I just put on eBay...

Rubbernuts!!

Happy Wednesday

I've totally been slacking! Time for a little update! :-D

Over a month ago, I started the interview process with Target. We have a great Target store located in Pier Park, just about 10 miles away from my new house (oh yeah, I need to do a post about the new house too...). Anyhow, last week I went shoe shopping in Pier Park...and this was my view:


So, is that a sign, or what?! ;-) Monday this week, I accepted the position of Guest Services Team Leader. I get to start Tuesday the 27th, and I'm very excited!

Of course, working at Target I need some red and khaki attire...so yesterday on my day off, I decided to head into town (over the bridge! wow!) and check out the sales at Kohls. Traffic was bad, just as it always is around "rush hour" here, and I was stopping behind a line of cars at a red light, when I spied in my rear view mirror an SUV that wasn't slowing down. I put both feet on the brake pedal and closed my eyes. I was in the left lane, so there was no place for me to move to... I would have ended up in oncoming traffic with a head on collision, or in the right lane involving even more people. So, I saw it coming and could do nothing. I hate that feeling. Here's the results:

Going home for a visit :)

I'm super excited about the last week in July! I'm going to head for MI around the 26th-ish & won't have to be back to work until the 2nd of August... Right now the only plan set in stone is the wicked-cool Cedar Point day trip Koleen planned for the 28th! That will be a fantastic birthday present, as I haven't been able to visit Cedar Point for a few years! :)

I hope to get some lake time in too...as well as visiting of friends and family! Wish me luck in fitting everything into one week. ;)

Bikes, and other cool stuff too...

This is where I call home :)

We are forming a biker gang...wanna help us come up with a name and a catch phrase?

Check out my sweet new bike!

...it's Pretty Hot And Tempting, LOL

And...I only crashed my bike once! It was after hanging out at Ms. Newby's...the home of the world famous Hunch Punch.
After my regulars at work found out what happened...this is the present they got me:

Yeah...these are adult-size training wheels, LOL!

Short & Sweet Road Trip :)

On June 30, 2008 I was all packed up and moving back to MI from Baton Rouge. The year I lived there, I spent most of my time finishing up school and working. So, I didn't get a chance to make very many close friends. But, I did have the pleasure of getting to know Johany. Jo worked at the tattoo shop that Mike worked at, and since I was there almost every day playing taxi with our shared car, I got to see Jo. She has a couple wonderful sisters, Georgeanne and Stephanie. I didn't get a chance to meet the rest of her family, but I'm sure I will in the future. Jo is really the only person I've kept in contact with since moving away from Baton Rouge. And now that I live in Panama City Beach, its only a 6 hour drive to go visit her.

So, out of the blue, I found out that Dax Riggs was doing some live sets in the Baton Rouge/NOLA area. I got a hold of Jo and asked if she wanted to go see Dax open for Terry Reid at One Eyed Jacks in the French Quarter on the 26th of April. It was very last minute, but I hopped in the car that morning and headed to the Red Stick. Jo was able to skip outta work a bit early so we could head to New Orleans...

Jo and I in the French Quarter

This is a picture of Dax Riggs and I outside One Eyed Jacks before the show.
Of course, I have a Pabst Blue Ribbon in hand. ;)


One Eyed Jacks is sooo cool!
My random rock star heroes show up there to catch the best live music around the Quarter. :)
Above is a picture of myself with Sean Yseult.
...you may know her as the bass player from White Zombie!


A visit to New Orleans isn't complete without indulging in some beignets from Cafe DuMonde!
...mmmm...


Jo, me and Georgeanne outside Boutin's...one of my favorite restaurants in Baton Rouge.


Jo, me, and Stephanie

After the show Saturday night we got our beignets from Cafe DuMonde and headed back to Baton Rouge. I stayed with Jo and her sisters in their beautiful new place. We got to have some Cracker Barrel for breakfast (as we don't have one here in PCB). And I shopped & stocked up on my favorite things from Whole Foods Market, the Body Shop, and Harry & David that I can't get here. I really miss having Whole Foods 5 miles down the road...and the one in Baton Rouge is HUGE!! :)

After laying by the pool, Jo's sisters and I met Jo for dinner at Boutin's. Boutin's is a cajun restaurant, that actually Koleen and I discovered the first night we were there when I initially moved to Baton Rouge...kind of a nostalgic place for me. :) They have the best blackened alligator in town! So, after killing a salad covered with it, I got two orders of the gator to go back home with me! Then, I said my good-byes, stopped at Starbucks for a venti toffee nut latte and a bag of chocolate covered espresso beans and hit the highway! I didn't make it home until 3am! Got a bit of a late start...because it is hard for me to leave once I get there. I'll miss my friends, but hopefully get to see them soon. I'm trying to convince them to come visit the beach!

It was a great little trip...makes me want to buy a place in the French Quarter though. If you've never been...it is a city with an energy that you can't get anywhere else. Its magnetizing! :)

too long....

I'm so fired! It has been way too long since I last blogged.

Just a quick update, and I'll fill in the details later:
I love Florida! The weather is great...I bought a bike (and only crashed it once so far)! I got a job bartending part time at a local Veteran's club...it's awesome! and I can ride my bike to work. I'm meeting all kinds of great people from all over. :) I'm researching getting my real estate license to sell part time...as I don't feel like I want to use my HR degree right now. I'm also looking into taking some classes at the community college in web design, since I don't have my own personal teacher after moving out of Koleen and Mike's house. :)

That's the short version...I'll update this soon!!

Cheers,
Nickie

The Charleston!

This site is just too much fun! :)

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Valentine's Day, LOL

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My new car!!

After weeks of searching, I found the car I wanted. My goal was to spend as little as possible and get the most bang for my buck. Not unreasonable, right? Well, I ended up finding a great car at Lasco Ford, in Fenton, MI...which is about 70 miles northeast of Jackson. Thank you Angie for chauffeuring me around BFE to find a car! I hate buying cars, but Jamin Blitchock made it painless, somewhat. :) No really, he was straight forward and to the point, no bullshit with this guy. And not too bad to look at, which is a bonus for me, LOL.

Anyway, I'm getting off track here...

So, I get my "new" car home last Wednesday. I ended up with a 2000 Ford Taurus, with only 89,000 miles. It was perfect, very clean, well taken care of...it reminded me of my Grandma's old car, seriously. I was so excited to find a nice car and to have wheels again! And this is going to be the perfect car to drive to Florida, very comfy!

Friday morning, I'm walking down the stairs at Koleen's house...just brushed my teeth and ready to start my day. Mike and Koleen were looking out the window with a strange look on their faces. "You might want to look at your car...its smashed." I was told. I immediately thought they were just messing with me, because what better way to freak me out than to tell me my new car was crushed outside? I wish they were kidding...

To my surprise, this is what I saw out the window:



So, Happy Friday, right?! It kind of was though. Where my car was parked, the person that hit it had to have pulled in and out of Koleen and Tim's shared driveway, since I was parked perpendicular to the driveway. Unfortunately the guy that hit it just left and didn't knock on the door...because he ended up getting a ticket for a hit and run, bummer!

Thankfully I have good insurance that covers a rental car. So, I've been driving around a 2009 Dodge Caliber with satellite radio...not too shabby! :) And the guys at Tripp's, along with the insurance adjustor have been very helpful. Payment was issued today to get the car repaired, so hopefully I'll have it back soon!

Building, Learning, Coughing

I've been reading the latest page turner, "PHP and MySQL Web Development"...hold your enthusiasm. :) Ok, so it may not be as fun to read as the Twilight series, but there's some good stuff in there...I'm sure. Really, I've only just started the book, and it reminds me of reading a foreign language that is slightly similar to English. I'm picking up about every 3rd word and trying to make sense of it.

But last night, after downloading several helpful tools on my laptop, I began creating a website! Its still on my laptop (localhost) and not online yet. I'll let you know when I get it online, trust me! But I'm so excited to start a project like this!! Especially after not really grasping what I was reading!

If you don't know, Koleen's husband Mike does web development with Commerce Guys. And he's helping get familiar with Drupal. I feel so lucky to know a couple of "geeks" to help me along this journey. Koleen's ex-brother-in-law Rob has also been more than helpful, encouraging me via facebook. And, though I've decided to skip this March's DrupalCon in D.C. due to circumstances beyond my control...I hope to go to the next one. :)

That's about it for now...except the coughing part. Hopefully that goes away soon! Gotta love Michigan winters! :) I'll let y'all know when I get this web development thing figured out & have something to show you!

Cheers,
Nickie

blah biddy blah, blah, blah...

I know there are things going on that I should blog about...but they aren't coming to me right now.  So, maybe I'll just babble a bit. :)  

The holidays were fun.  It was nice to spend some QT with the fam and loved ones! :)  Got to spend Christmas morning at the O'Connor house, then to my sister Becci's, then off to my dad's...ending with a viewing of The Spirit.  (Save your money and rent the DVD if you haven't seen it on the big screen yet.)  I rang in the New Year at Ron and Chloe's house...playing Canasta and Catch Phrase.  Good times! 

Still figuring out what I want to be when I grow up.  Maybe I'll just avoid growing up all together...there, problem solved.  ha ha!  

Being a basement dweller is fun... especially when the household is passing around the flu!  Ahhh, the adventures with children are endless.  :)  It is fun to spend several days in pajamas...kind of a bonding time, if you will.  But I had it easy...I don't envy Koleen with a vomiting baby you try to aim towards the sink...especially when he passes the sickness on to her!  

So, the start of a New Year.  What will this one bring?  I'm hoping it will bring me an apartment in Ann Arbor...along with multiple income streams!  Yay, that sounds like a plan!   Then...a winter condo in Florida.  Is it ever too early to be a "snow bird".  :)

So, cheers to 2009!  And blah, blah, blah. :)

Twitter

Okay, so I joined Twitter today...but I'm still wondering what it is all about.  How do I link my Twitter stuff to my Facebook and my Blog?  

Help a technologically challenged friend, would ya? :)