Tuesday, December 18, 2007

help a hospital in need!

Hey everybody~

My uncle lives in Americus, GA, and he sent the following e-mail to me. Please read this, visit the link, and vote for this hospital. And please vote as often as you can!! Thanks!

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Our local hospital, Sumter Regional, was hit hard and declared a total loss. In the months since the tornado, we have limited medical services available as the hospital recovers. A long-term temporary hospital is now under construction and should open the next couple of months. That is a major step forward, but much remains to be done.

That’s where you can help.

Siemens Medical Solutions is giving away an MRI machine to the US hospital that receives the most online votes in a contest. Sumter Regional is among those contending. Having this machine free would be great help to SRH in getting back up to full function.

You may vote by visiting the web address given below. You are required to watch the SRH video to be able to vote (scroll down until you see it), but it only takes about 2 minutes. You may vote only once per day, but you may return to vote once each day.

I’m sure the other hospitals are deserving, too, but Sumter Regional is vital to the health of our community – both physically and economically. This is a quick and easy way that you may assist SRH and all of Sumter County in recovering from the tornado devastation.

Click Here to view the video & vote.


Monday, December 10, 2007

update w/ pics

I am going to copy Ashley's latest post format & give y'all a quick update & a few pics to represent what's been going with us.

1. Iron Bowl 2007 - friends came & brought their dogs to play. (Or in Brett & Judy's case, the dog they were sitting for the weekend.) Toby & Kirby played with each other ALL night, while Cha-cha sat at a distance & looked at them like they were crazy.

2. We finally got our Christmas tree up.

3. Lindsay, Robin, & I visited the Tacky Christmas House & it was tackier than ever. If you live in the Montgomery area & do not know about this house in Old Cloverdale, PLEASE come see me for directions so you can go visit it! I also managed to get a short video of the musical Christmas trees, complete with Lindsay clapping at the end. :-)

4. The baby shower for Emerson Mills went great!

5. We had the annual Vaughn Park Christmas party, and it was a blast. Unfortunately, all of my pics of the skit were HORRIBLE. So I'll just include a goofy pic of my dad instead. :-)

Enjoy the pics & video...



{sorry, I don't know how to rotate it!}

{bartender :-)}

{mom holding Braden Simpson}


{Ashley opening her bday gift from me}


Tuesday, December 04, 2007

where's my napkin?

Does anyone reading this think that it will be a problem that Toby ate a napkin tonight? It was soaked in vienna sausage juice, so I guess he thought it would taste good. I am interested to see how this comes out. {So to speak :-)}

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

milestone in the goins household...

People who have children post about milestones in their kids' lives: first word, first steps, first tooth, etc. Well, we don't have kids yet, so I will post about a HUGE milestone in my dog's life. Are y'all ready for this?
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TOBY POOPED IN OUR YARD!!!!!

I know, I know. This does not sound like a huge accomplishment. You're probably thinking, "Yeah, so? My dog poops in the yard all the time. Big woop." {Yes, I just said "big woop", and no, it's not 1995.} Well, y'all don't understand the quirkiness that is Toby. We got him from the shelter back in July, and he has not ONCE pooped in the yard. Since we got him, he has only pooped when we walk him. Or in the house, which is obviously not preferred. He knows not to poop in the house, but if we don't have time to walk him when he needs to poop, he goes in the house. (Side note: we don't have a fenced yard, so we have to take him out on a leash.) One time I even stayed with him in the backyard for like 4 hours just to try to get him to poop & got NOTHING. So anyway, back to tonight's event. I finally got him to poop in the yard, and y'all have NO idea how excited I was! I lavishly praised him for a good 5 minutes. We ran around the yard & celebrated. I hope this is the beginning of a lifelong habit of pooping in the yard instead of waiting until the walk down the street. TO TOBY! WHO FINALLY POOPED IN THE YARD!!


Saturday, November 24, 2007

High School Musical 2!

Yesterday I witnessed me niece & nephew's love for High School Musical 2. They are both 6 years old. Check out the enthusiasm!


Monday, November 12, 2007

Tennessee!

Baron & I went to Athens, Tennessee, this weekend to visit his sister, brother-in-law, and their two adorable daughters. We got there Friday night, and on Saturday we went on a hike with some of the families from the church where Tim preaches. It was a great time! I really enjoyed spending time admiring God's creation. Here are some pics from the hike!




(P.S. I've done two posts today, so if you haven't read the first one, please scroll down!)

Wednesday, November 07, 2007

ladies' retreat 2007

Here are some pics from the VP ladies' retreat last weekend. If you are a lady & you didn't go, you should really try to go next year! It was a lot of fun. Anyway, here are the pics...


Locks of Love

Ok, so I chopped my hair off! I cut off about a foot, and 10 inches of that was donated to Locks of Love, an organization that accepts donated hair to make wigs for children who suffer from cancer. If you are able, please consider growing your hair out & donating it to Locks of Love! (There are also other organizations that do the same type of service.)

Here are the before & after pictures...

(ok so I am a LITTLE goofy sometimes)

(and maybe a LITTLE cheesy sometimes too)


Monday, October 29, 2007

halloweenie!

Here are some pics from our Halloween shindigs this weekend. Enjoy!

{Ok, ok...this one's not really us :-)}

Saturday, October 20, 2007

the office

Ok, I know I've been posting a lot of videos lately, but I honestly just don't have much to blog about. So, I am relying heavily on YouTube for material. Anyway, here is a clip from one of my favorite tv shows. Enjoy!

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

emotional ellen

There are so many comments I can make about this video, but I will just let it speak for itself. As a disclaimer, however, I would like to say that I do love Ellen & her show. She's hilarious & very entertaining. Obviously I don't agree with her lifestyle, but she is still funny. Having said that, I can't help but laugh at her a little when watching this!

Thursday, October 11, 2007

????

Please tell me what you think of this commercial. I can't decide if I'm supposed to be amused or creeped out??? It is definitely interesting.


Friday, October 05, 2007

frogs, beware.

The other day, I decided that I would start getting up early each morning to walk Toby. This decision is two-fold: 1) Toby has a lot of pent-up energy, and we have to keep him in a crate while we're at work so he needs more exercise [side note: we tried penning him in the kitchen with baby gates, and the Mighty Dog jumped over the baby gate & pooped/peed all over the guest room while we were gone. Oh well - we tried.] 2) I need more exercise, and I am always too tired to do it when I get home from work. So, this morning I set out at about 5:50 to walk Toby. Since most of you have not spent much time with Toby, I should explain that he is a very curious dog. He is very interested in everything that is going on around him. So whenever we go for a walk, if there is ANYTHING in his line of sight, he has to check it out. A piece of trash, that fried chicken leg that was weirdly placed in our street for like a week, and yes, frogs. He is really funny when he encounters a frog, because he doesn't realize that it can jump. Usually, the frog is sitting there, Toby walks up & sniffs it, the frog jumps, and Toby is startled and yet continues to investigate. With most obstacles, I encourage Toby to keep walking because his little "investigations" could potentially add about 45 minutes to our walk if I don't pull him along. However, when he wants to sniff a frog, I let him, because it is really funny to see him so surprised that this little thing just jumped in response to his sniffing. Well, this morning on our way out to walk, there was a frog on our driveway. So, he walked up to the frog & sniffed it. I think this particular frog was trying to outsmart Toby, because he just sat there. I guess he thought he was playing dead. Anyway, so Toby sniffed the frog again, and the frog just sat there in bewilderment. So, Toby hiked his leg & peed on the frog. That's right, my dog peed on a frog. I guess he was marking his territory just in case any other dogs came along to claim the frog?? Who knows.

Wednesday, October 03, 2007

what a man, what a man, what a mighty good man...

I stole this from Jamey...well, except that hers was about Kenny & mine is about Baron. :-)

1. Who is your man? John Baron Goins
2. How long have you been together? 6 years
3. How long did you date? 2 years + 1 year engaged
4. How old is your man? 36 next month
5. Who eats more? Most definitely Baron.
6. Who said "I love you" first? I'm not sure.
7. Who is taller? Hmmm...I don't know. I will have to measure when we get home. ;-)
8. Who sings better? Baron. And he can rap, too!
9. Who is smarter? We're probably about the same.
10. Whose temper is worse? Baron's, I guess? Neither of us really has a bad temper. His shows whenever Bama is not playing well.
11. Who does the laundry? Both of us.
12. Who takes out the garbage? Both of us.
13. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Baron
14. Who pays the bills? Baron
15. Who is better with the computer? Me
16. Who mows the lawn? Baron
17. Who cooks dinner? Define "cooks". I usually prepare dinner, but sometimes he does. I wouldn't call it "cooking" though. :-)
18. Who drives when you are together? Baron
19. Who pays when you go out? Baron
20. Who is more stubborn? Definitely me.
21. Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? Obviously him, since I am never wrong.
22. Whose parents do you see the most? I guess mine. My parents & his mom live in town, and his dad lives in Ohio so we don't see him much.
23. Who kissed who first? I don't remember, but he probably kissed me first.
24. Who asked who out? He asked me out...to a football game, of course. :-)
25. Who proposed? Baron
26. Who is more sensitive? Hmmm...that depends. Probably me, but he can get pretty sensitive (shhh...don't tell)
27. Who has more friends? Not sure. I probably have more friends on MySpace. :-)
28. Who has more siblings? Me
29. Who wears the pants in the family? Toby. ;-) Just kidding...I guess Baron. Although he always consults me first. We are both afraid to make decisions without asking each other first. We're kinda sissies.

Everyone who is reading this is hereby tagged!!

Monday, October 01, 2007

the routine

I don't have anything to post about, but in fear of losing all 3 of my readers, I wanted to post something. So here is one of my (many) favorite Friends moments. Enjoy!

Friday, September 21, 2007

small business idea

I have an idea for anyone who wants to start a small business in the Montgomery area. We need a collegiate sporting goods store. Just because we live in Alabama doesn't mean we are Auburn or Alabama fans. Granted, the majority of Alabama residents do root for one or the other, but there are other college teams represented in this state. The reason I bring this up is because I am a Georgia fan, and it is so difficult to find Georgia paraphernalia in this town! I know, I know - I can shop online. Here is my problem: I have purchased a total of 3 Georgia shirts online. One is a plain t-shirt that runs a little big, so I don't wear it very often because I look like I'm in my PJs or something. One is a really super cute brown & pink shirt, which shrunk "up", meaning it was too short for my waistline. I gave that one away. The third is a 3/4 sleeve shirt that says "I [heart] the bulldogs." Super cute. I put on this shirt this morning so I could support the dawgs at work today, and who wants to guess how short this shirt was when I put it on? It stopped ABOVE my belly button! What in the world? It was like the '80s midriff shirt fully revived. This is why I now hesitate to buy UGA shirts online - because I do not have a single success story from my past online t-shirt purchases.

So, in conclusion, if you are thinking of a small business to start up, please consider a store that sells not only AU/UA gear, but stuff pertaining to all college teams! Please!! I don't even mind if the majority of the stuff is AU/UA, considering that we are, in fact, in Alabama. But we "outsiders" need a place to shop!

P.S. I tried to find a funny pic to represent my '80s midriff look from this morning, but all of the "midriff" pics are scandalous. Oh well.

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

God bless America, land that I love.

In case you didn't realize what today is, it's September 11th. I know everyone has their own story about where they were when they found out that the tower was attacked, and we all had so many emotions that day, etc, etc. I will refrain from writing a super emotional post about all of that, because you can probably get that from anyone. Instead, I wanted to share with you some pictures from when I visited New York City in 1996. We went to the top of the World Trade Center, and I got several pics while up there. They are pretty poor quality, but I am so glad I have them. They help me remember that I visited a place that is now gone & will never be there again. They help me remember that thousands of people lost their lives only 5 years after I visited there. Hopefully they will help you remember the emotions you experienced that day. However, instead of being sad about what happened, let's celebrate the freedom we enjoy in America, and focus instead on what we can do to make this country even better.

Enjoy the pics!


Group pic at the top of the WTC - I'm on the bottom right (I really hope you're reading, Dinah!!):

Dinah Pigg, Todd Gilliland, and Melissa (McGuire) Logue at the top of the WTC:

I took this picture looking down out of a window of the tower:

Melissa with the other tower beside her:

View of NYC from the top of the WTC:

The twin towers from what is now Ground Zero:

Tuesday, September 04, 2007

anniversary trip

Baron took me to Callaway Gardens this past weekend. I'd never been before, so I was excited about the trip. And to add to the excitement, it was the Sky High Hot Air Balloon Festival. I have always wanted to ride in a hot air balloon! And I was already imagining the awesome pics I could bring back with me. :-)

So we got there Saturday afternoon & checked into our hotel. The room wasn't fancy by any means; it was a typical hotel room. Well...until I walked into the bathroom. Those of you who know Baron know that he is a tall man. So when I saw that the ceiling in the bathroom was only about a foot & a half above my head, I couldn't wait to see Baron step in. It was definitely a sight. (I did snag a couple of pics.)

The hot air balloon launch was set for 6:00. At about 5:00, they were making announcements that they would soon decide if the balloons would launch or not, due to the high winds. First of all, I was disappointed that there was a chance of the launch being cancelled. Secondly, I couldn't figure out why they were making a decision an hour before the scheduled launch. Oh well. Anyway, it was cancelled, so we were disappointed but looked forward to Sunday's launch.

So our package for the weekend included free breakfast Sunday & Monday mornings. Breakfast ended at 10:30, so Sunday morning, we both woke up a little before 9:00. We got down to the restaurant at 10:00 & stood at the hostess stand waiting for someone to seat us. Finally someone walked around the corner & asked if she could help us. We told her there were two of us (duh) and she looked at us confusingly. "Ok, breakfast is over at 10:30." To which Baron replied, "Yes, and it's 10:00." The lady insisted to us that it was 11:00. Uh, no, sorry. Baron pulled out his cell phone & showed her that it was only 10:00. She said his phone is wrong, it's 11:00, and we missed breakfast. Ok, I realize Callaway Gardens is in Georgia, which is on Eastern time, but when we got here, we checked our cell phones against the clock in the room & they matched. So we thought we WERE on Eastern time. Wait a minute...so we have been an hour behind the WHOLE time we've been here?! Wow, are we idiots. So of course I told Baron we needed to talk to a manager because it wasn't our fault we missed breakfast, and he asked me to complain because apparently between the two of us I'm the complainer, and I got them to switch our breakfast passes for brunch passes. Problem solved.

All in all, it was a great weekend. We didn't get to see any hot air balloons because of the wind, we were an hour behind for the first 19 hours of our trip, and there was nothing to do after 6:00 in the evening, but it was very relaxing and I enjoyed it a lot. Thanks to Baron for planning a great weekend!

Here are some pics from the trip...

Friday, August 31, 2007

"yowch!"

Rick & Bubba played this on the show this morning, and I almost think it's funnier to listen than to watch. I love the fake concern that the anchors show at the end. :-)

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

my best friend.

I would love to write a long, detailed post about everything that my husband means to me, but I don't have the words. He is my encourager, my protector, my support, my lover, my strength...my best friend. The list goes on & on, but my point is that I love my husband more than I could have ever imagined, and I love him more & more every single day. Thank you, God, for blessing me with such an amazing man to have & to hold until death do us part.


Happy Anniversary, Baron! I love you!!

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

can't take it with you! or can you?

One of my co-workers took these pictures in a cemetery in north Alabama. I find these very interesting for a few reasons. 1) They are so detailed that they look like paintings. 2) People have such diverse interests. 3) Even in death, people are STILL trying to take their stuff with them.



And my personal favorite (yes, that is a man riding a motorcycle into Heaven):