Too cute!

This little girl is just too cute. Seriously, those lips, those eyes...she is just too much!

I'm Alive!

Yes, I am still alive. After my last mini-vacation of the summer, I am back and ready to get back into the swing of things. I have finally made it through the final Harry Potter book (which I LOVED!) and am getting ready to start school again on Tuesday.

I had a wonderful time up north and will post pictures soon! It was a beautiful cabin right on the lake and we had really nice weather until the morning I left (I was okay with that...it made leaving a little easier since it was pouring!)

Tonight I went out to dinner with a friend and we ended up spending 2 1/2 hours at the table just talking and catching up. It was so nice to just relax and talk about anything (even if it was stupid!) Then we both ended up having to go to the grocery store so we did that too! After over 3+ hours, we both parted ways to come home. I have 3 classes this fall and she is in all 3 which will make it bearable!!!

So...what did I miss while I was gone from the blogging world?

Family time

Well, I got to spend some quality time with my parents this weekend. The picnic on Friday was a big success. Although some people didn't show up that had said they would, it was a beautiful day and fun was had by all! We definitely had plenty of food!!!! Then it was off to my parent's house for what I hoped was going to be a weekend of laying around in the pool. Well...mother nature had other plans. It was pretty chilly and rainy the whole time. Oh well. Instead we sat around inside the house. Went to lunch. Had a nice dinner. Watched a movie. It was nice to not do much.

This week starts another shortened week. This Thursday I am having a Tastefully Simple party with my mom at her house. Then Friday we are going to see the new Matt Damon movie and then Saturday I am heading up to see my friend and her family at a cabin. I took Monday off too so that I can get home on Monday some time and have another mini vacation :) I am beginning to enjoy those. And since September 4th starts my final semester of grad school, I am going to relax as much as possible before the final semester begins!

Oh and speaking of family....aren't these two cute?

Back.

This is what I felt like on vacation (ahhh I'm FREE!)

So I am back from vacation. I got back on Monday but life has since been hectic again and I am just now getting a chance to get back to writing and saying HI to everyone! It was a very hot and humid vacation, but that meant time by the pool and lots of AC. I had a wonderful time and felt completely rested when I returned on Monday.

Then....I went back to work. I hate going back to work after vacation because there is just way too much to attempt to catch up on. Needless to says I've been putting in long days. Tomorrow is our staff picnic. I was somehow put in charge of planning it and everything to go along with it. I'm crossing my fingers that it will all go smoothly! Then I am spending the weekend with my parents and hoping it's warm enough to use the pool.

How is everyone else doing?

My life...as a social worker

There are days that my profession is very difficult. As I look at going on vacation on Wednesday, there is a lot of work that needs to be done. I need to get my apartment looking decent so that I don't come home to a mess!!! I also need to pack and I need to be all caught up on work before Tuesday night. So it's going to be a busy couple days before leaving bright and early Wednesday morning. I won't have access to the internet but I will try to post a TT before I leave for your enjoyment :) There should be LOTS of pictures when I get back. My TT will have clues of where I am going and we'll see if you can figure it out.

Happy Monday!

Thursday Thirteen!

Thirteen Words I love:

1. Discombobulated

2. Ginourmous

3. Harry

4. Potter :)

5. Vacation

6. Home

7. Graduation

8. Babble

9. Plethora

10. Quam

11. Serendipity

12. Convolute

13. Liquor (haha!)

What's your favorite word? (Thanks to goofy girl for the banner!)

A bridge collapses and life stands still....

6 killed in Minneapolis bridge collapse
By PATRICK CONDON,
Associated Press Writer

MINNEAPOLIS - An interstate bridge suddenly broke into huge sections and collapsed into the Mississippi River during bumper-to-bumper traffic Wednesday, killing at least six people and sending vehicles, tons of concrete and twisted metal crashing into the water.
The Interstate 35W bridge, a major link between Minneapolis and St. Paul, was in the midst of being repaired when it collapsed.
"There were two lanes of traffic, bumper to bumper, at the point of the collapse. Those cars did go into the river," Minneapolis Police Lt. Amelia Huffman. "At this point there is nothing to suggest that this was anything other than a structural collapse."
Jamie Winegar of Houston said she was sitting in traffic when all of a sudden she started hearing "boom, boom, boom and we were just dropping, dropping, dropping, dropping."
The car she was riding in landed on top of a smaller car but did not fall into the water. She said her nephew yelled, "'It's an earthquake!' and then we realized the bridge was collapsing."
Mayor R.T. Rybak said at least six people were killed. There were no immediate reports on the total number of injured, but Dr. Joseph Clinton, emergency medical chief at Hennepin County Medical Center, said the hospital treated 28 injured people — including six who were in critical condition.
Other hospitals also were treating the injured. Clinton said at least one of the victims had drowned.
The arched bridge, which was built in 1967, rises about 64 feet above the river. An estimated 50 vehicles plunged into the water and onto the land below, the Star-Tribune reported.
A burning truck and a school bus clung to one slanted slab. The bus had just crossed the bridge before it crumpled into pieces, and broadcast reports indicated the children on the bus exited out the back door.
Christine Swift's 10-year-old daughter, Kaleigh, was on the bus, returning from a field trip to Bunker Hills in suburban Blaine. She said her daughter called her about 6:10 p.m.
"She was screaming, 'The bridge collapsed,'" Swift said.
She said a police officer told her all the kids got off the bus safely.
Dozens of vehicles were scattered and stacked on top of each other amid the rubble. Some people were stranded on parts of the bridge that aren't completely in the water.
Melissa Hughes, 32, of Minneapolis said she was driving home across the bridge when she went down when the western edge in the collapse.
"You know that free fall feeling? I felt that twice," said Hughes, who was not injured.
A pickup ended up on top of her car, partially crushing the top and back end.
"I had no idea there was a vehicle on my car," she said. "It's really very surreal."
Many motorist could have been headed to the Minnesota Twins game scheduled not far from the bridge, but the game was postponed, team president Dave St. Peter said.
Ramon Houge told the St. Paul Pioneer Press that he was on his way home from work on the bridge when he heard a rumbling noise, saw the ground collapse and cars go down.
Traffic was bumper to bumper and hundreds of people would have been involved, he said. He said cars backed up as best they could and he parked in a construction zone and was finally able to turn around and drive off the bridge. "It didn't seem like it was real," he said.
Local television stations captured video of injured people being carried up the riverbank. There was no official word on injuries, but dozens of rescue vehicles were there. Divers were also in the water.
Workers have been repairing the 40-year-old bridge's surface as part of improvements along that stretch of the interstate, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported on its Web site.
Homeland Security Department spokesman Russ Knocke also said the collapse did not appear to be terrorism-related.