First Dates

Today is the 32nd anniversary of my parent’s first date. Wow… That’s a lot of anniversaries! That made me think about my own marriage and when it all began! Craig and I will be having the third anniversary of our first date this May. It’s amazing how quickly time flies! It’s no 32 years, but it’s the beginning of something wonderful. I remember May 12th, 2006. Seattle, WA. I had spent the week on a floating resort with my family, enjoying the Alaskan scenery. After awesome days spent with my family, I spent the night watching Craig do his Assistant Cruise Director thing. Uncle Geoff, cousin-in-law Drew, and I would usually be chatting about the day’s events, and I would still be trying to catch Craig’s eye. When I did he would come over and talk with us, and I did my flirtatious thing. Everyone else would go to bed and Craig and I would talk for hours into the morning. We agreed to spend time together in Seattle after the ship docked. Our first date! We walked along the pier together, had lunch, and then sat at the pier and talked about what would happen next. He said he would call; I was hopeful but didn’t really think it would happen. We said goodbye and as he got into the cab I held back my tears. (He later admitted to me he cried as well.) The next week I was home sick from work and a knock on the door woke me up. I opened up the door to a beautiful bouquet of flowers and smiled because Craig remembered that Sunflowers are my favorite. The rest is history! I am very blessed and I love my husband very much. So congratulations Mama and Daddy on 32 years of happiness! Thank you for your example! We are blessed!

I begin this “rambling” blog about nothing in particular…

I am laughing because my temperamental cat, Capriccio is hissing at my dog. It is quite funny. I am sitting at one end of the sofa, my cat at the other. There is ample space between us so I invited the dog to join the couch party. Star jumps up and curls into a little ball… well, as little as she can make it. Capriccio is still in the sleeping dog’s face hissing. Obviously it has no effect. Ha… Well, I think it’s hilarious.

Hmm… what else is going on in the world of Naomi? I’m going to take my father’s idea and post my Facebook “25 random things about me”. Maybe some of you will learn more about me… maybe not, but enjoy!

1) I have a fetish for fountain sodas
2) I met my husband in Alaska
3) From when I was born up to getting a drivers license, I probably didn't miss more than 5 Sundays for church
4) I feel the need to get everyone to open up Pier1 credit cards
5) Sledding makes me feel like a kid again, even though I just recently tried it
6) Every time I enter any building I make a "worst case scenario" plan for escape.
7) If it's dark when I get home I call my dad to talk to until I get in the house.
8) If Craig is playing a game with me, I lose 99% of the time.
9) Sometimes I watch Hannah Montana
10) my favorite shows are all re-runs... Friends, Everybody Loves Raymond, Frasier...
11) I love buying clothes, even though they stay in my closet forever
12) My husband and I go on a cruise every year
13) The quarter pushing machine is my favorite casino game
14) every time I see a star on a house, I yell "STAR ON THE HOUSE!"... yeah, weird.
15) sometimes I still think there's monsters living under my bed
16) I love buying movies... even if I've never seen them
17) I call my cat "boo", even though her name is Capriccio
18) My family is the best there is! (INCLUDING the in-laws!)
19) My brother is one of my best friends and i miss him! (He's in Italy)
20) Evidentially I talk in my sleep, usually about work or Chinese food
21) I'm obsessed with the TV show Alias
22) I was strongly involved with the music program in high school. (Symphony orchestra, chamber orchestra, Chamber choir, and Ambassadors)
21) I talk to strangers and buy them drinks on airplanes (it makes the flight go by faster!)
22) I love my job
23) cleaning, to me, is finding an empty drawer and putting everything in it
24) the oldest "Wii age" I've been is 80
25) I miss my friends, family, and church family in Florida!!!!

I hope that provides a little more incite to my happy place up here in Connecticut! I will try to blog a bit more. I’m still trying to get into the habit.

So, December is pretty much in full swing! Holidays in retail can take a toll on some. But, I've overlooked all the nasty customers. Well, maybe not the one who yelled at me when I accidentally asked her how her day was twice within a ten-minute period. Yeah, that and among other things terrible things, made me want to spit my gum in her hair. But I took a deep breath, and asked myself what Jesus would do. My mind told me that Jesus would do the same, except he would have made the gum never ever come out and she’d have to shave her head bald to match her hideous behavior. But, reality sank in and I smiled. When she was done checking out and walking away from the register I told her to have a happy day. Twice.

Many of you know how much I love my job. My coworkers and I support each other and we can turn bad situations into good ones. We handled this one by talking about her after she left and making each other laugh. We will be talking about Ms. Bubblegum hair for quite sometime until a better one comes along. Perhaps tomorrow? Maybe it’s my sense of humor. Maybe it’s the amount of sales I make. Maybe it’s the relationship I can build with each and every customer, good or bad. Maybe it’s the way my co-workers and I work so easily as a team and genuinely enjoy each others company. (Most of the time!) Maybe the reason is because I do love my job so much and it’s really done wonders for my adjustment in Yankee Land. Maybe someone deserved it more than me. But I’m smiling right now and I can’t stop. Why? Because I am employee of the quarter!! So, I guess it was a good idea not to spit my gum at that lady!

Nomie loves Christmas!!!

Nomie is excited that Chritmas is coming!

She LOVES presents.

Yay Nomie!!!!

Sorry ya’ll- it’s been quite a while since I’ve posted a blog… almost three months! Wow… but have these been a great three months!! Starting out, I turned 24. (Not so great, but I really can’t help it.) Shortly after that Craig and I spent a wonderful vacation together on a cruise to Bermuda! It was excellent! And on a side note, we won over $200 in the casino. I’m not one to promote gambling, but we had a method on the “quarter sliding machine” that we won every time. Some might compare it to “counting cards”, but no way! It was great and we had such a fun time that whole trip! The beaches were beautiful. The bus ride to the beach made me pray that God would give me another chance to see me family again… crazy Bermuda drivers. I found out that Shuffleboard is awesome, and I’m not so awesome at it. I discovered that the “Chocoholic’s buffet” was way overrated. And I discovered that Craig, Daddy, and Grandma’s cooking is soooooo much better then Royal Caribbean’s. That whole week with my husband was relaxing, adventurous, and fun! But the feeling I had when I walked in my front door after a week away from my home was amazing. My cat, Capriccio, went straight back into her normal routine of being my little shadow. Star, the dog is still showing her continuous affection and gratitude that we are no longer away for more than five hours at a time. Life is good. I thank God for that everyday! I promise to blog more- I’m trying to get back into the habit of it all! Blessings, and have a great week!!

playing with my camera!

I am very excited to say that for my birthday my wonderful Mama and Daddy got me a new digital camera! (A pink one, of coarse!) I got spent this weekend taking pictures, trying to capture art around me. (With inspiration from my father.)
The yellow flower painting was the first one that I did after moving up to Connecticut. The pink tulip was done a couple of years ago. If you look at the pets (which is hard to miss) you will see my dog, Star enjoying a meal of bark, the the other of her probably thinking "why isn't Mommy putting the camera down ever?" The picture of the cat, Capriccio really speaks for itself! But those are my pets and my delight when Craig is at work. Like I used to tell my family when I was growing up "All I want to do is stay home and play with the pets!" So, this blog isn't really going to be a writing one- it's about me showing off some of my paintings, and my pets! The things that give me joy besides my husband! :-) Enjoy!

a new year

Hello everyone! Seeing that this "blog thing" seems to be the latest internet trend (especially in my family) I thought that I would give it a shot! I've always enjoyed writing, so it seems that this is a good idea to get back into the swing of things!

I decided to start my blog today because it is my birthday! I am twenty four years old and have recently relocated to Connecticut with my husband, Craig. Even though I am relatively young, I still feel relatively old-er... I just know that 24 might be an even better year than when I was 22! There's so many new things that can happen! I certainly do miss my family, friends, and my church family back in Tampa. So by keeping this blog, I hope to connect with some of ya'll outside of the MySpace, FaceBook world!

So until I write again, blessing to everyone and have a great weekend!

~Nomie