Monday, July 14, 2008

Pictures from St. Simons

M & D
The girls at the reception. We had a blast!

The guys w/ the groom.

Billy and David after the wedding.

The guys getting ready to golf before the wedding.

Maddy gets her first manicure.

Rough attempt at family photo.


David's smallest fish of the trip. (Look close - it is resting on the boat.)



Maddy and family playing in the sand. I hate sand and hope my kids hate it too!

Hum . . . When were the guys going to be back?

My father had planned a fishing trip for the guys w/ one of his buddies who lives in South Georgia while we were in St. Simons. The boys headed out about 6:30 am for a 3-4 hour in-shore trip. The girls headed off to the beach to enjoy the sand and then came back for pool time and lunch. As time crept by, no one heard from any of the fisherman. David always has his cell phone on him and always answers it, but each time I called we got no answer. A 6:30 am leave time should have meant we absolutely should have heard something by 11:30, but nothing. We had lunch, and decided it might be time to worry. At 2:30, still nothing. Mom decided to call the surrounding counties to see if my car had been reported in an accident. Nope, no accidents in the past few hours. Now we just had to worry about the massive body of water sitting right to the east of our house! A key point here is that we weren't real sure where they put the boat in the water, what the boat looked like, or exactly where they were going. The worry continued. At 3:15 I called a guide David and I went out with earlier in the week to see at what point we should call the Coast Guard. I mean, we didn't want to be ridiculous, worrying wives, but we were getting a bit concerned. He was a bit stunned that few details about the trip. More on that later. He told us to call the Coast Guard if we hadn't heard by 4:00 to allow time for a search team to go out before dark if needed. (Oh, my, this can't be happening!) We called the Coast Guard and the lady on the other end of the phone was quite polite and took all of our information. She did ask that we go up the road to where we think they left the car to see if it was there. Mom and I get changed for the ride. Just as we were about to head out the door, David called! It turns out as soon as he took his phone out of the storage compartment on the boat, the Coast Guard was calling to inform him that he'd been reported as missing. Nice! Upon returning back to the house, I asked David to let the guide who had advised us know that he was okay, and boy, did he get a talking to about boat safety! So for those who will be boating on vacation, remember these rules:
1. Let others know where you're putting the boat in the water.

2. Let others know where you anticipate going and / or how far you plan to be going out.

3. Let others know the make/model of the boat.

4. Remember - cell phones are great, but there still are places, particularly in the ocean, where you aren't going to get service!


Happy vacationing!

Monday, July 7, 2008

Happy Anniversary!



Yeah! We spent the morning of our anniversary FISHING! I enjoyed reading while watching the sun rise while David fished. It was a wonderful time!

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Saturday, June 28, 2008

UGA goes home


The DAWG nation awoke today to sad news. Our UGA VI passed on to Dawg heaven during the night. UGA has served as our mascot since 1999. Thanks, UGA!


Maggie Goes to Disney World




To kick off my week in Orlando, I went to Disney world with Pattie, also from Memphis, and Ann from Knoxville! I know it is hard to believe, but it was my FIRST visit. We had a great time! Pattie and I assisted Ann in deciding which Disney themed hat to get her niece. Despite getting a bit concerned about the trip not being worth it (see below), the conference turned out to be great and was complete with new ideas and new contacts across the country! While I am very grateful to have an awesome job, I am definitely glad to be back home w/ David, Tahoe, and Millie!

Friday, June 27, 2008

I think this is a total waste of time and $$$

Okay, so blogging on the road hasn't turned out like I'd planned. It is much more challenging to find time to sit at a computer and think after a 12+ hour day than I'd anticipated. I've been in Orlando since Tuesday and can't wait to go home. After rising this morning at 6:00 AM (that's 5:00 am Memphis time) for a run w/ colleagues, I headed off to more "inspiring" education classes and meetings. As I approached our first meeting room, I told my dear friend Ann, who does the same job I do but for the Knoxville region, that I hadn't gotten much out of this conference and I was quite worried that I had wasted my time and my association's $$$. Then, I entered the most amazing educational session entitled: Wild Card Track: Motivational Leadership. As I entered, I thought . . . "Hum . . . it is going to take a whole lot more than this giant cup of coffee to motivate me this morning . . . " We walked into the room, sat down, heard a speaker but didn't see one. That is because he wasn't up on the podium behind the mic as a traditional speaker. He was on the floor in a wheelchair sitting among the crowd. Chad (Hymas) is a quadriplegic who became paralyzed after a giant bale of hay fell on him on his elk farm. I wish I'd had a tape recorder. He was AMAZING. Not only has he overcome the challenges of becoming a quadriplegic, but he has risen to be an amazing leader of mankind and a dear husband and father. I tired to find a good article / video of Chad but couldn't. Here are a couple of links w/ further info about Chad if you're interested:
News article
Chad's website

The seminar was more than worth every penny and every minute I spent away from the office. What an amazing blessing to get to hear Chad!