Wow....I thought I'd be better at this

Ok, so I'm a terrible blogger. I don't necessarily think it's my blogs that are bad, because I read over them and laugh and think, man, this is good stuff, it's just that I'm terrible at updating it regularly. I'm going to go with it's quality not quantity. Now that you all think I'm the most arrogant blogger on the planet, I'll move on.

I had a great summer! I took a trip to the beach with the family, which was my neice, Hannah's first experience with sand and the ocean. We had a great trip, but Hannah enjoyed her time in the pool much more than the beach :) . It's hard to believe she'll be a year old in only 2 weeks. I'll never forget the first time I laid eyes on her.

*Random side note: as I'm sitting here in the Books a Million in Fultondale, AL it never ceases to amaze me the things that people will wear. This lady is browsing the video game section with a shaved head and a braided rat tail down her back. I mean...I want to say, "Ma'am, the 80's ended 20 years ago...and is that really the look we want to go back to? " Come on. *

Anyway, back to my summer. I worked really hard this summer, even took a full load of classes, so by the time September hit, I was ready for another vacation. Gina, Cindy, Rebecca and I set sail from Mobile, Alabama on September 6th on the Carnival Elation "The Fun Ship" and headed out first to Cozumel, Mexico. The first night on the boat I won a karaoke contest and got to the opportunity to sing R.E.S.P.E.C.T. as Aretha Franklin in the Carnival Legend's finale show on the ship the last night of the cruise, in full costume (and wig) for about 1500 people. It. Was. Fantastic!!!!!! Definitely typical Karen Bankston type stuff.

Cozumel was great! We shopped in the markets, ate authentic Mexican food & hung out at the beach all day. It was GORGEOUS!!! I've never seen water so clear in all my life. Rebecca decided that since "you only live once" she would go snorkeling, which proved to not be the best decision since no one on the boat she went on spoke English and she'd just had guacamole. I, however, chose to spend my time getting a deep tissue massage on the beach, which was a GREAT decision!

Our next stop was Calica, which was just a rock quarry, so we took an excursion to Playa Del Carmen for more shopping and a private beach. It was a GREAT day! Playa Del Carmen was beautiful! I bought a beautiful bowl for my coffee table and some Christmas ornaments. Once we got to the private beach, we quickly found that apparently it's appropriate to go topless. Needless to say, the Fantastic four did not partake. I did, however, go ahead and have another massage, while on the beach. I'd gotten a little burnt the day before so I didn't want to spend too much time in the sun, and the 2nd massage was a great idea.

The best part of our trip, was meeting a very sweet couple, Brook & Chuck at breakfast on Tuesday. The are children's minister's from Missouri and we had the best time hanging out with them and getting to know them. They had a couple that was sitting at their dinner table from Arkansas, who are youth ministers. He looks just like Vince Vaughn, so that's exactly what we called him!!! It's was nice to be able to go on a trip like that and run into other believers that you have stuff in common with!

It's was a sad day to have to get off the boat and come on home, but we got home safely and watched the Alabama vs Penn State game with some great friends. Summer's officially over and it's time for my favorite season: Football Season!!!!!! ROLL TIDE!!!!!

On A Sad Note....
Around the end of July I bought a new car, a beautiful black 2011 Toyota Camry. It's definitely the nicest car I've ever owned with it's gorgeous stone colored leather interior. My coworkers like to pretend I'm their chauffeur, letting me drive everyone to lunch in my fancy new car. It's amazing that I've actually kept it clean for the past month and 3 weeks. It's been washed several times, so it's already got one up on the Cavalier. I even named it...never done that before, but I went with Ebony. On my way home Thursday night, I saw a car stopped in the middle of the road, waiting to turn into a subdivision. I swerved to miss it and ran off the road hitting a telephone. I should find out next week if it's totaled but thankfully, I wasn't hurt, other than a few bruises and a broken heart.

While I can't promise I'll do any better with my updates, I'll definitely try. I look forward to hearing from you all so comment away.