Meet "Mrs."

Kyra had to do a school project where she created a character from a Barbara Parks book. Barbara Parks writes the Junie B. Jones series. "Mrs." is Junie's teacher, whom she likes very much. Kyra had a lot of fun creating "Mrs."!

O's game 4/17/08

Kyra went to her first O's game on Thursday April 17. It was a perfect evening for a ballgame! On my way home from work that day, I was listening to the country station, and the DJ's were talking about Kenny Chesney being at the ballpark. What luck- Kyra's first game and she got to see one of our favorite singers throw out the first pitch!

Just some misc pics from the past week or so. Kyra had a "spa" bath, complete with a conditioning treatment for her hair and a mask. The dogs are still tearing the house up- Kegger specifically. We are thinking about getting hardwood in the LR too- that's the last room in the whole house that has wall to wall carpet. As soon as Kelly steam cleans it, one of the dogs (Molly or Kegger) pees on it within hours. I give up.

My new job is great- the commute to Baltimore is 30 mintues, 40 w/traffic, but I'm going against it, so it's usually not bad at all. I haven't worked in the Columbia office yet, but have at least seen it- right across the street from HCC, and right around the corner from David's Natural Market- one of my fave places. I ran into Produce Galore the other day for lunch- I don't think I've been in there in 10+ years. When Meme was alive, I'd go to her house every week and bring her dinner- I'd always get stuff from Produce Galore. Walking in there on Tuesday brought back a lot of memories!!

Job change

This is the last time I am making a job change- at least for several years (hopefully!).

My last day at Maxim will be February 1st. I will be off the week of February 4th, and start with Capital City Nurses on February 11th.

This is the company that my Mom worked for when she and Dad got divorced. Her lifelong friend, Sue Rodgers, owns it, and Sue’s son Brian is now running a lot of the operations. I’ll be a manager that will work in the Baltimore office (in White Marsh), 3 days a week and in the Columbia office (by Princeton Sports) 2 days a week. They do private duty nursing and have contracts with the VA in Baltimore and the Office on Aging.

It was a very hard decision to leave Maxim, but I think that CCN will be a better fit for me in the long run. Eventually I should be able to be in the Columbia office 2 ½ or 3 days a week, and will be a Regional Manager as we hire coordinators in both the WM and Columbia offices. They will open more offices as well, and I may be able to help train new employees and get the new offices up and running.

I’m very excited for my new venture. This is a company where the “big bosses” know me. My direct supervisor (another Maureen – I’m taking that as a very good sign!) knows Mom, and I know I will feel comfortable there. I think it’s a great opportunity, and will offer the flexibility that I know I’ll need as Kyra gets older and enters (gasp!) middle school, etc.

Crusin!!

My friend Tina turns 40 (tomorrow!!), so a bunch of us headed out for the ultimate Girls Night Out! We all boarded the Sovereign of the Seas on Jan 11 and headed for Nassau! We docked Saturday the 11th in Nassau and went to the Strawmarket. I got some deals....nothing for me, just for Kelly and Kyra.

On the Sunday, we went to CocoCay, an island owned by Royal Caribbean. It was so beautiful. We ate, had a water balloon fight, sunned ourselves, searched for shells and ate some more.

We docked in FL on Monday the 14th, and all headed to the Orlando airport for HOME!!!!

All of us on Beth and Karen's balcony- what a great room with outside space!
From the left: Christine McGrath (son Justin went to the Young School w/Kyra), Beth Slomine (daughter Rachel also from TYS), Karen (Beth's college roommate- HIL-AR-IOUS!!), Tina Sommers- the birthday girl and Kyra's best friend Maddie's Mom, Sonya- Tina's best friend, and ME :)


The GIRLS on our first night out- we played "Name That Tune"- LOTS of fun. The champange, WOOWOO shooters and vodka drinks finally caught up with Christine and me at dinner. We crashed around 10:30!



View as we pulled into Nassau, Bahamas, on Sat. Jan 12.


Tina and I on the "formal" night- Saturday, after SEVERAL vodka drinks and more WOOWOO shooters and Lemon Drop shots. That was a fun night!!


View from the island CocoCay- the ship was beautiful!!

Nutcracker 2007

Kyra's dance school- Phoenix Rising Dance- put on the Nutcracker on Dec. 21 & 22. It was a WONDERFUL show! Kyra and her friend Maddie were at the studio every Saturday since Labor Day and worked very hard for THREE fantastic performances!

Thank you to everyone that attended!

The next recital will be "Matilda" on May 10th and 11th.



Kyra and Maddie preparing for the performance.


Kyra had 3 parts- this was the Snowflake part.


This was from Act I, Scene 1; "The Party". Kyra was Clara's Young Cousin.


The snow was so beautiful.... the kids LOVED it!


Kyra was also a BonBon Kiss- she came out in the box- she did a great job on her dance!

Kegger

Look at that sweet face. You'd never know that he's been eating all the cushions on the couch, dumpster dives in all the trash cans, and eats beer bread off the kitchen counter. The Christmas tree is going to be VERY interesting this year!

NYC - Nov 7 & 8

Mom, John and I went to NYC to see a free dress rehearsal of the Rockettes Christmas show. We used some of Kelly's Hilton points to stay for free at a Doubletree in Times Square- the location couldn't have been better! We did a tour of the city, went to Macy's, the M&M store & Century 21 to shop and had some great meals at Havana Central and the Pig 'n Whistle. Good times!

Top of the Empire State Building; Radio City show


Ode to Aunt Kelly Coleman


View of our hotel; view from our suite


We saw the NAKED COWBOY on the way to the train station!

Halloween

Kyra was a ballet dancer, and Nate was a golfer- toooo cute!!

I am SOOOOOOOOOOO happy today!! Trader Joe's opened in Columbia today!!! I've been waiting SO long for this day.... every time I visited Dad, off we'd go to TJ's (much against his will most of the time).... but now I can go WHENEVER I WANT- how cool is that!!!!!!!!

WOOHOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! All we need now are the small shopping carts to make Kyra happy too!

FL work trip

I was in Jacksonville and Pensacola last week for work. On Tuesday, after my visit to the Naval Air Station, one of the other employees of the Arora Group, my new friend Beth, took me down to St. Augustine. It was so much fun- sunny day, great stores, great company. I found a martini place right next to a B&B, so that will be a weekend destination for Kelly and I in the near future!

On Wednesday, I had the 350+ drive on the I-10 from Jacksonville to Pensacola. It wasn't as bad as I thought- I found a Joann's and a scrapbook store in Tallahassee, so that made it more worth the trip.

The weather was fine until Thursday. I woke to horrible downpours- I thought I was going to get into an accident on the way to the Naval Hospital in Pensacola. The TV was on where I was, and they kept showing this twister that had hit- I didn't realize it hit so close to where I was!

Here are some pictures of the tornado damage I took on the way to lunch:


I was GLAD to get home Friday!!

Brownie Troop 159- USO Field Trip

Through the USO, Kyra's Brownie Troop had a field trip to BWI. The girls gave boxes of Girl Scout cookies to soldiers leaving the US. I wasn't able to make it, but Kelly took LOTS of pictures. I hope the girls got a sense of what these brave men and women do for us.

Kyra and Justine running to give out more cookies:


One soldier wanted a picture with all the of the girls:


My favorite picture of all:

Girls trip to ATLANTA!

Christine and I took off Friday night, met Maureen in baggage claim and hooked up with Angie. We hit the town, shopped, talked, and reunited. What we didn't do was sleep, but what the heck- we had fun!!

Getting ready to go out.....

At the Lotus Lounge....

Nothing like the Waffle House at 3 a.m.!

Soccer Assoc. of Columbia- Fall 2007

Here are some pics from Kyra's soccer game yesterday. She decided at the last minute she wanted to go to soccer and not dance. This is one Nutcracker rehearsal missed- there won't be any more missed rehearsals- the show is Dec 21 & 22 and they only practice on Saturdays for it. It's going to be such a great show!


A common sight- Kyra & Maddie hugging on the field!

Maryland Renaissance Festival 9/22/07

For the second year in a row, we went to the Renn Fest with Todd (sans the girlfriend this year though). This was a Saturday with no Nutcracker rehearsal and no soccer game, so we hit the Renn Fest! I didn't want to go on a Sunday (turned out to be a good idea), so this was the perfect day. We had a great time :)


Kyra's new 'do (she cut her hair at school after she was twirling it and it got knotted. Hopefully it will grow out soon)




Kyra made her way to the top of Jacob's Ladder, not once but twice!








She got a free token each time she made it to the top- one for a free game, another for a soda.



Kyra and Uncle Todd