Send me babies and families!

Christmas cards will need to be ordered within the next couple months (believe it or not) and I'm your girl for the PHOTO this year!! I just put together a website/blog for Amanda Ray Photography! Go check it out! You can get to it from "My Blog List" below or just go to http://amandarayphotography.blogspot.com/! I'll be adding to it over time as I learn more about the technical capabilities and of course I'll be adding pictures along the way too, but I think it's off to a great start! Also, become a fan over there too! If you're following here I fully expect you to follow there and give me some support on the web :-)

I need to catch everyone up one what's going on in the life of Amanda Ray, but it'll have to wait for a different day since it's entirely too late. Wait! I can pretty much sum everything up now....sleep, sofa time, Law and Order:SVU, flip to TLC, "ew...who would want a home birth filmed and then broadcast on TV?", flip to HGTV, eat lunch, "ugh, I gotta get out of the house!", Target, World Market, TJ Maxx, wait for Jon to get home, dinner, hang out, REPEAT! Yea, I'm getting a little stir crazy but still wouldn't trade the place I'm in now for anything I used to have (well...money is excluded from that statement). And because of that little evil green monster...anyone who has any type of job lead please send it my way! I'm open to a lot as long as it doesn't require nights or weekends and requires some use of a brain :-)

Ahh...I love the beach!

So, I'm a little delayed in writing this but quite frankly I needed a vacation from our vacation. I'm really not quite sure why because it was nothing but relaxing. No where to be, no reason to skip the afternoon nap, no schedule and just pure beach time! We had a great time! We had been away from the beach for too long. I think I've forever been spoiled by living in Tampa and crave beach time now more than ever! As a matter of fact I used to always say that when we won the lottery I'd choose a mountain cabin over a beach place. I'm not sure if I'm completely convinced that a beach place would be preferable but it's definitely a close competition. Then again, I guess if we win the lottery we could get both!

The beginning of the trip was a little sketchy. I made it to the gate with just enough time to spare to run to the restroom and board the plane when they called me and then it all began. My seat partner comes in while I'm talking to Jon and announces that "she's not too crazy" and that "I'm lucky to have her next to me". Well, I hate to say it but anyone that says they're not crazy usually are the nuttiest people out there. And, she was! I wish I had a video recorder on for the long 2.5 hour flight to really be able to share my pain but instead I'll have to try my best to explain. Actually, I'll just list why she's crazy....1. I know waaaayyyy too much about her (her whole life story, the fact that her uterus was so thin after her 4th kid that it was transparent, the story behind her daughter losing her virginity, I mean...waaayyy too much!) 2. She had premonitions of my life and had strong opinions about them 3. She wouldn't stop talking 4. She started crying at least 3 times and 5. She kept touching me and would not let me look out the window (and went so far as to reach across me and shut the shade). Needless to say the flight was less than desirable AND to top it all off I was so eager to get off the plane that I left my book (with my ID) in the magazine pocket. I thought I was gonna read it but was not really allowed to and just didn't think about it on my way running off the plane. Well, to get home I pretty much need it because I didn't have another form of ID on me.

UUUGH! Nothing like a frustrating way to start a "relaxing" vacation. Well, after realizing I left it on the plane and a couple calls to Airtran trying to track it down I reached Dolores! A freakin' life saver and sooo sweet! She went above and beyond and didn't send me to the automated voicemail at the corporate office that the first lady did. The first lady told me to call a number (which had a wrong extension) and leave a detailed voicemail with the loss prevention department in Atlanta and when they collected stuff from the plane they would ship it to Atlanta and I could retrieve it...if it was there. Well, I'm sorry, that's not helpful! I thought this was my only option so I called and she gave me a bogus extension. So, I called back and that's where Dolores came in! She went down to the gate since the plane was still there, talked to them, called me back to say they found a book but wanted to make sure it was mine. Once the staff brought the book to the office she called me and said "I've got your book AND your driver's license is in it just like you thought!" Well, great! Then...she offered to bring it out to me at the airport so I didn't have to park! What an angel! I need to write Airtran a letter about her and how great she is! Well, at that point we were relieved and knew I could get home now (as if it would be bad to be stuck at the beach), but...cheers to finding the ID! Let the vacation begin! Basically we had great food, great friends, great weather and an awesome vacation! It was a successful Watson-Ray Labor Day!