Gone Again

I am in Dallas this week for Love Affair Workshop. You may remember that I went last year when it was in Atlanta. I learned so much last year that I decided to come back for more. I love these girls that put the workshop on.

I am also super excited because I am here with one of my BFF's, Amanda. It will be great to spend some time together just having fun.

I still have tons to blog from Boston. I doubt I will have much free time this week, but I am really going to try finish blogging the trip. I added a few more pictures to www.robinperrin.com.

Happy Birthday

Robin turns 30 today, so that means it's time for me to take over the blog again. As most of you know we are in Boston. When Robin and I first started talking about a Birthday trip she stated that she wanted to go to Boston, Chicago, San Diego or Los Angeles to see a baseball game. We actually booked flights to Chicago first. Those were quickly canceled so that we could book flights to Los Angeles. Those flights were quickly canceled so that we could book flights to San Diego. We did a lot of research on hotels and I found us a great place to stay in San Diego. It's a good thing I didn't purchase Padre's tickets, because we ended up in Boston. Robin could not have made a better decision. We have done baseball, whale watching and historical sight seeing --- and oh, yea -- lots of eating.

I know this is Robin's birthday trip, but I am so lucky to be in such a wonderful city with my beautiful wife. She has mentioned several times today that she doesn't feel 30. The truth is she doesn't look 30 either, as she looks better today then she did the day I met her.

We have had a great week together checking out Boston. I will be sad to see the week come to an end as I love traveling places with Robin. Best I can tell we have about 60 more Birthday trips to make and I cannot wait to keep marking cities and ballparks off our list.

Robin, I love you. Have a wonderful birthday.

Boston Day One

I posted about our first day in Boston on the photography blog. www.robinperrin.com It is so much easier to post pictures there. Go over and check out our trip so far. We are having a blast and thinking about not coming back. I will let you know. Tomorrow is the last day of my 20's. I am going to live it up!!!

Boston Has Arrived!

We are finally in Boston. It was an adventure getting here, but here we are.

There was a little of rain when we left San Antonio. Okay there was a lot. The airport lost power three times while we were there. After about an hour delay we got on the plane and the wind was blowing so bad that the plane was swaying. They said take off was going to be interesting. It wasn't too bad.

From San Antonio we had to go to Houston. I mean really? Out of all the cities we had to go to first it was Houston. Yes please take me to the other city in Texas that is flooding. It was actually not raining when we made it to Houston.

After all the delay we finally made it. I am ready to get this birthday vacation going. Tomorrow we are touring the city and going to the Boston Red Sox game. So ready to see the Green Monster!

Prizes and Giveaways

Make sure you check my photography blog. www.robinperrin.com. I am giving stuff away all week over there. You can even win a FREE session. Check it out!

Boston It Is!

After changing our (0r my) mind a million times, we have finally decided on Boston for my birthday. We have our flights, hotel and baseball tickets. There is no turning back now. Now it is your turn to share all your Boston info with me.

We are looking for fabulous food, the must sees of Boston and a day trip outside of the city. Please leave any info you have in the comments or send me an email. I am so excited to go. I went to Boston when I was 8, but don't remember a lot. James has never been. It should be an amazing trip.

By the way, everyone is invited. Book your reservations now and join the 30th Birthday Trip!!!

New Website and Blog

I am finally done designing the NEW website and blog. It is the same address www.robinperrin.com, but it is much improved. I love it and I hope you do as well. Let me know what you think of it.

I am going to try and keep blogging here. Not sure how keeping up with two blogs will work, but we will see. Please go take a look and let me know what you think.

Website

I am working on a new website. If you happen to stop by the website and it is down don't worry. Give me a few days and the new and improved site will be up. I am so excited and can't wait for you to see it!

I Just Can't Decide!

So we have gone back and forth and then back again about my birthday trip. I just can't decide. It is really hard when you are told you can go anywhere within reason for your birthday.

About a month ago we kind of decided on Chicago. We got as far as making flight reservations to Chicago, but that was it. I started leaning towards Boston and James started leaning towards California. We gave up for a few weeks.

Last week I started thinking about the beach. The beach sounded like the best birthday ever. James has been wanting to go to the Dominican Republic for months now. I decided the Dominican was the place for us. Monday night we narrowed down the Dominican resorts to three. I felt like we were getting so close. We started looking really close at the resorts and I started getting worried. I got scared that I was going to get bored. After laying on the beach for two days what was I going to do the next 2. It probably isn't a big deal. I am sure we would have a great time, but I started worrying.

Now we have moved on from the Dominican and are back to one of our original choices--California. We are now set on going to the LA area. I got us plane tickets, but now we need a place to stay. We want to stay on the beach somewhere outside of LA. We are thinking somewhere around Laguna Beach. So the question is, do you have any suggestions?

The Duck March

We stayed at The Peabody in Memphis and in Little Rock, both were very nice. The Little Rock Peabody is not very popular. The Memphis Peabody is a different story. You couldn't have payed me to watch the ducks coming or going there. Way too many people for my comfort.

Little Rock is a different story. The first morning we were there we slept in. I was looking at the hotel information book and noticed that the ducks were set to arrive at the fountain in 15 minutes. I told James to hightail it. We were going to see the ducks. We made it down stairs in time and I got a prime spot. James went to get coffee and didn't make it back. I told him to hurry, but he didn't listen to me. The ducks "coming to work" was very entertaining. I was happy we had seen it, but didn't care if I ever saw it again.

As luck would have it, it was time for the ducks to go home when we were returning from the library. This time I had my camera with me and I was ready. They say your life isn't complete till you have seen a duck march, so here you go. Enjoy!

Go Home Ducks from robin perrin on Vimeo.

I'm in Love...

His name is Hugo and he works for Sears. After waiting 13 days for my dryer to be fixed, Hugo showed up at my house yesterday. He was very nice, but best of all he fixed my dryer. I now have a new heating element and temperature controls. I feel like I have a new dryer! It took me 45 minutes to dry towels yesterday when it use to take me 2 HOURS.

The other great news was the repairs cost $411.83, but with my warranty it was all FREE. I don't hate Sears like I did last week. Hugo made it alright. I have one more load to do and then I will be all caught up. Praise the Lord!

Little Rock - Memphis

We took a quick trip to Little Rock and Memphis for the 4th. James had depositions in Little Rock on the Friday before the 4th. We decided to make a trip out of it.

We looked for a location close to Little Rock where we could see a Major League Baseball game. The closest was Dallas for a Rangers game and the next was St. Louis for a Cardinals game. We have been both places so decided against those two. I suggested Memphis. Memphis worked out. It was only a two hour drive and Memphis has a Triple A baseball team.

As we were getting ready to leave San Antonio James got a call that his depositions had been canceled. We decided to go ahead and go on our trip.

While we were in Little Rock we visited the Clinton Presidential Library. Neither James or I had ever been to a Presidential Library. The grounds of the library are beautiful.

The library was amazing! We spent three hours looking around and enjoying everything. The library is three floors so there is tons of stuff. On the first floor there is one of the Presidential cars that Clinton used.

The second floor was all about the history of Clinton's Presidency. It started with a replica of the oval office. I totally felt like I was on the set of "West Wing." It was really cool.

The second floor also had a timeline of Clinton's presidency, notebooks full of his daily schedules and all his accomplishments during his presidency. There were also tons of personal notes from celebrities and other politicians. Most were hard to read because of terrible hand writing. President Clinton's handwriting is not very good. There were notes from Bill Cosby, Whoopi, Sheryl Crow and many more. It all was so interesting. We spent most of our time on the second floor.

The third floor was the "People Magazine" of the Presidency. It was all about the social aspect of the Presidency. My favorite part of the third floor was Christmas at the White House. They have a theme for the Christmas tree every year. Love it! They also had this table set like it would be for a State Dinner. I am not fancy so I was amazed at the table. The amount of glasses and silverware on the table was outrageous.

After the Library we decided to hit up the mall in Little Rock. The lady at the hotel told us the mall wasn't that great, but we were out of options. I totally disagree with the lady at the hotel. The Little Rock mall ROCKED! We have a hard time finding James clothes. The Dillard's was huge and had a great selection. He got six new dress shirts. We had been looking for him some new basketball shoes, but finding a 15 is like finding a needle in a hay stack. The Champs had about 15 pairs of size 15 shoes to choose from. That might have been the highlight of the trip. I was so excited.

After a fun time in Little Rock we headed to Memphis Saturday. We had a nice easy drive to Memphis. We stayed at the Peabody in Memphis. When we got there it was a mad house. It was time for the ducks to leave the fountain and there were tons of people trying to see the ducks leave. We checked in and headed to the Redbirds game. The Redbirds are a triple A team for the Cardinals. We saw a great game. The Redbirds were down 3 in the ninth and the last batter up hit a home run with two men on to win the game. It was awesome! After the game there were fireworks which were really good.

We didn't really do much on the 4th. We had a wonderful brunch and then hung out in our hotel room most of the afternoon. We did go down to Beale street and eat down there, but it was crazy. We didn't stay long and then we headed back to the hotel. We didn't even see fireworks on the 4th. The fireworks didn't look like they were going to be any good so we stayed in the room. We ended up being able to see the fireworks from our room and they weren't that great. We made a good decision.

Overall we had a great trip and we marked two cities off our list.

So Much For Customer Service

I have a little problem actually a big problem. On Friday, July 16 my dryer broke. It runs, but doesn't blow hot air. Somewhat of a problem.

My dryer is a Kenmore that is nine years old. Grandma and Grandpa bought us the washer and dryer as a wedding present. It is probably the greatest wedding present we got.

I called Sears just to see what a new heating element would cost. I am a trained dryer diagnostician and that is what i decided it needed. Sears informed me that we still had a extended warranty on the dryer. That was a really nice surprise, but I would have to call back on Saturday to schedule an appointment.

James called to make the appointment. They said they could send someone out on Wednesday. Wednesday didn't work for us. We had already planned the Schlitterbahn trip and that was the only day James was planning to take off. James said that wouldn't work so the next available time was August 2. WOW!!! Are you serious? Fine we will take Wednesday. The lady tells us someone will be out to look at our dryer on Wednesday, July 28.

At this point I am freaking out. That is a week and a half till someone will be out here. Of course the lady on the phone was not very concerned and said we could call back on Monday. We called back on Monday and nothing. No one at Sears cares that we haven't had a dryer for a week and a half.

I am so frustrated with Sears right now! So much for customer service or dry clothes.

Back to Life, Back to Reality

Doneece is gone and now I am very sad.

We had a fabulous time while she was here. I made her watch Devin play basketball last weekend. Monday we worked out and laid by the pool. It was very lovely! Tuesday we spent the day shopping with Devin. We all got lots of good stuff. I got two new pairs of shoes because I need another pair of shoes like I need a hole in my head. I still love them even if I didn't need them.

Doneece also got these shoes. Same size and everything. We looked really cute walking out of the store with the same shoes on. We changed out of them after a little while. They need to be broken in before a lot of walking occurs.

I love my new Nike's. They are super light and cute. I feel like I should be running at a high rate of speed when I have them on, but I don't.

I also got some new workout clothes that are new, but boring because I actually have to go workout to wear them. I also got a new pair of sunglasses that are gorgeous. Gold and fabulous, but I forgot to take a picture so just imagine them.

Wednesday we took the entire family to Schlitterbahn. James took the day off so James, Doneece, Devin, Moses and I spent the day at the water park. Moses is Devin's best friend and we have become one big happy family.

Doneece learned the goodness of having a younger "sibling." She pestered Devin like there was no tomorrow and Moses just laughed at Devin. Devin even called my Mom to complain that Doneece was picking on him. It was good times.

James had so much fun with us that he took off the rest of the week. It was wonderful. Thursday we spent the day relaxing. We all slept late and headed to the pool. We didn't spend much time at the pool because of thunderstorms. We decided the movies was a good place to hang out. We saw "Knight and Day" and it was really good. After the movie we had a wonderful dinner at Pappadeaux. So yummy!

Friday my Doneece went home. I was so sad to see her go home. If you know of a dance job in San Antonio or the Austin area please let me know. James and I had a wonderful late breakfast at the best breakfast place in S.A. After breakfast we got a couples massage, but separate. The last thing I want to do during a massage is listen to James snore. Not what I call relaxing. Of course we finished off the week with one of Devin's basketball games.

It was a fabulous week with my favorite sister. I also really enjoyed spending some time with my sweet husband. I wish ever week included my sister and my husband only working two days.

Be Our Guest

My favorite sister ever is here visiting me this week. I love her being here and wish she would just move here. Since we only have a week together I am going to take another blog break. I want to spend lots of time with her before she goes home.

We have lots of shopping and pool time planned while she is here. I will be back soon with an update.

Easton W'ray

We left Houston and headed to Corpus. We had a new "nephew" to meet. Damon and Jennifer had Easton on July 25. Easton is actually James' cousin, but Aunt Robin sounds so much better than Cousin Robin.

Easton is so handsome. He looks just like Damon and has a full head of hair. His hair is so cute and stylish already. Easton was rocking the mohawk when he was born. I love the mohawk!!!

We had a really quick weekend in Corpus. It was spent holding Easton as much as possible. I really didn't get enough of Easton. Jen called me after we had been home for a few days to see about a picture for Easton's announcement. I told her I didn't get a good one and would have to go back down to Corpus to take some more pictures.

It was the perfect excuse to get me to Corpus to hold sweet Easton. I spent lots of time cuddling and a little time taking more pictures of Easton. It worked out perfect!

Anniversary 2010

I am so far behind, but I am determined to catch up. Instead of skipping over everything that has been going on around the nest I am just going catch up.

We had a low key anniversary this year. James had five depositions in three days in Houston. Our anniversary fell in the middle of all that. Needless to say he was a little busy trying to prepare experts. I went with him to Houston so we could see a little of each other.

The night before our anniversary we had dinner with Kathleen and Philip. We had a wonderful time with them. Philip and James kept us entertained with work stories. I think both of them could write a book about some of their clients. We ate at Ouisie's Table. Kathleen and Philip had their rehearsel dinner at Ouisie's and now it is one of our favorites. Every time James and I are in Houston we try to eat there. Everything is wonderful from start to finish!

Evidently James sent me flowers for our anniversary. After a little shopping, I returned to our hotel room where there were flowers waiting. The card was addressed to James with no note on the inside. For a moment I thought James had found a girlfriend that was sending him flowers. I was wrong. They were for me, just a little mix up with the card.

For dinner we celebrated at Capitol Grill. It was of course delicious as always. We love the crab mac and cheese there, but my favorite is the coconut cream pie. It makes everything perfect. Basically, we like to eat good meals around here...good meals that we don't have to cook.

It was a low key anniversary with some great meals. I can't believe it has been nine years!

Emily Blair

I know I have been the worse blogger ever! I seriously don't know where the time goes. I always think I will blog, but then the day gets away from me. I have plenty to blog, I guess just not enough time. I promise to be better!

Today I went to meet sweet Emily Blair. Our good friends, Natalie and Chris, had their third child on July 2. They have two sweet boys already and decided not to find out what they were having this time around. I think Emily Blair pleasantly surprised everyone.

Emily is perfect and just the sweetest little thing. Her brothers think so too! She was great while I was there and let me hold her for a long time and then let me get some pictures. I am in love with these pictures.

Her cuteness makes me want one! Congratulations Natalie and Chris, she is precious!!!

Gary and Jenna Married!

A couple of weeks I shoot Gary and Jenna's wedding with Amanda. We had a great time and Gary and Jenna are such a cute couple. They were very relaxed and ready to enjoy their wedding day. Congratulations Gary and Jenna!

Nine Years

Today James and I celebrate our 9th anniversary. I can't believe it was been nine years. The day I married James I knew it was forever, but I didn't understand how my love would grow for him. I love him so much more today than nine years ago.

Our eighth year of marriage provided some hurdles. Being sick most of November, December and January only made us stronger. James stepped up to the plate and took care of so many things while I was sick. He was my rock and came through so many times.

I could have never started a business without him. He is my business manager, my attorney and financial manager. Basically, he is everything for the business. He encourages me when I am struggling and is my best cheerleader. He is patient and calms me down when I need it most. I admire the amount of patience he has and hopefully it will start rubbing off on me soon.

Without James I have no idea where I would be in life. I doubt I would have a college degree. I am sure mom agrees with me. James deserves to have his name on my diploma as well. I would not have my own business and if I did it would not be successful. James is an amazing husband and my best friend.

James, thank you for everything you do for me and us. You are the best ever! Happy ninth anniversary.

Victor and Lara

I love these two! While I was in D.C. Vic, Lara and I snuck away for about an hour for a little mini-session. The are they live in is beautiful. I love all the huge trees and everything was so green. It all worked out perfect!

Suggestions Please

As you may recall I am turning 30 in September. I can hardly believe it, but it is happening. In order to celebrate the BIG 3-0 I have decided a trip is in order. I just can't decide where we should go. I am hoping you can help me out. Of course this will be a baseball based trip with other sight seeing involved.

Trip 1 - California

Start in San Diego. Spend a few days seeing the sights and see a Padres game. Drive to L.A. and see a Dodgers game and Angels game. James has been to San Diego before, but not L.A. I have never been to either place.

Trip 2 - Chicago

See a Cubs, White Sox and Brewers game. The Brewers and Cubs play in Milwaukee on my birthday. We have been to Chicago many times, but it has always been for work and we have never really enjoyed the city fully. We have seen a few sights, but not all the city has to offer. Did I mention the Cubs are my favorite team?

Trip 3 - Boston

Spend the majority of time in Boston and see a Red Sox game. Ride the train to New York for a Mets and Yankees game. We went to old Yankee stadium, but not the new Yankee stadium. I went to Boston when I was eight, but James has never been.

Those are the options. What is your vote? Everyone is invited on the trip, the more the merrier!

Back From D.C.

I made it back from D.C. and I had a great time. I loved being there with Lara and the family! I so wish they still lived next door.

We didn't do too much. We spent lots of time catching up and it was great. My favorite part of the trip was going to a Washington Nationals game. Lara had never been to a MLB game so I took care of that.

We rode the Metro into the city for the game. It was so much better then traffic. I could never live in the D.C. area because of the traffic. It is pure craziness! The game was great. The Nationals played the Pirates. The Nationals won and it was a pretty exciting game. I wish we would have been there two days earlier to see Strasburg pitch his first Major League game. That didn't happen, but we got to see him in the dugout.

The ball park was nice. We had great seats. We were behind the visitors dugout about eight rows up. The hot dog wasn't the best I have ever had, but not the worst. They did have great fries. Overall it was a wonderful night at the ballpark.

Hopefully Devin is becoming a Tech fan instead of tu. He is at least wearing the shirt!

I love Pudge Rodriguez!

The Metro ride home was a little crazy. Not exactly the kind of stuff I can share on the blog. It is a Metro ride I will never forget.

So glad I had a chance to spend some time with wonderful friends. I am happy to be home for awhile. Of course now James is traveling. I really wish we could get our travel schedules on track. Maybe next week.

Gone Again

I am gone again and in D.C. this time. James has been home the past few weeks so I have been gone. For some reason we can not be home at the same time very often.

I can to D.C. to see Lara, Victor, Devin, Mady and Mily. I got here late Tuesday night after my delayed flight. We didn't get back to the house till after midnight. Talk about a long day. To top off the long day, Devin and I stayed up till 4am catching up. I hadn't stayed up that late in a long time. I think I am getting too old for that.

Because we stayed up so late we had to sleep late. Actually, most of yesterday was spent catching up on sleep. We made it to lunch and then we were right back to the house for a nap. We were up in time for dinner. Basically, all Devin and I accomplished yesterday was sleeping and eating. After dinner everyone else headed to bed because they hadn't slept all day like Devin and I.

Instead of watching bad TV all night, Devin and I headed to the movies. We saw "Killers" and it was great. I highly recommend it. It was funny and scary and just all around great. Go see it. We get home from the movie to find out that Nebraska is leaving the Big 12.

What??? No more Big 12? Why can't the Big 12 survive without Nebraska? Nebraska is good at football sometimes, but I definitely don't think they are the sports powerhouse of the conference. Where will Tech go? I am so confused and worried about what will happen. I am starting to like the idea of going to the Pac 10 or 16 or 24, whatever it may be. At least we could travel to some new places to see some football games.

I guess we will have to wait and see what happens with all this conference non-sense. While we are on the subject I would like to make it clear that I think there should be a playoff system for college football. If that means we need four powerhouse conferences then get to it.

Dance Recital 2010

Last weekend was dance recital for my favorite peeps. I spent the entire week in Lubbock hanging out with all my favorite people. When Friday arrived it was time to get the party started. I am still trying to recover. All day Friday and Saturday on my feet wore me out. I had to take a three hour nap on Sunday to try and recover. My left foot still hasn't recovered.

Back to recital. Friday was rehearsal and Doneece and Caroline did great. Doneece was in five dances and was perfect in each. Caroline was a Yankee Doodle dancer. She did a great job tapping away. It was a long night, but at least I got to hang out with my favorite people.

Saturday was the real deal and I was only there for a little bit. I helped Doneece get ready Saturday morning and watched a little. Saturday night I photographed a wedding so missed the recital fun.

New Addition To The Family

We have a new addition to our household. It is kind of a long story so bare with me.

We had the best neighbors that lived next door to us up until a few months ago. Victor, Lara, Devin, Mady and Mily were the best neighbors you could ask for. Lara and I would start our morning off by walking 2-3 miles together. We were always helping each other out. I would pick up stuff at the grocery store for her and she would do the same for me. There were many times she cooked dinner for us and I would cook dinner for them. I would occasionally pick up her girls from school if she couldn't make it on time. James and I went to almost all of Devin's football and basketball games.

On Tuesday nights Victor would work late and Lara would take Mady to cheer practice. Devin and Mily started coming over for dinner on Tuesday nights and would stay over till Lara got home. We came to love and look forward to Tuesday nights. Mily and I would watch "The Biggest Loser" while James and Devin would play playstation after dinner. It was great!

In December we found out our wonderful neighbors would be moving to the D.C. area. I was so sad. We loved them so much and they were such a huge part of our lives. I prayed many times that the move wouldn't happen. The move continued to move forward.

Devin is freshman in high school and is very involved in sports. Devin's dad lives not far from us in the same school district. Devin was given the option to move to D.C. or move in with his dad and continue going to school at Smithson Valley. Devin chose to stay. I was so excited for selfish reasons. I knew Devin's decision was extremely hard for Lara.

We vowed to Lara that we would help Devin as much as we needed to. Devin's dad works shift work so he has a changing schedule. We told Lara we would help get Devin to and from school and any sporting events.

Since Lara and the family have moved we have had Devin with us a lot. I pick Devin up from school a couple of days a week. He has stayed with us a few nights and James has taken him to school. Did I mention he is 15 years-old? It has been interesting having him around. We love having him around. It adds a little excitement to our semi-boring lives.

It is interesting to hear about high school drama again. I have started sounding like my mother constantly asking him about homework. There is never a dull moment with Devin. Devin has become a member of our household and our family. We are loving having him around and now miss him terribly when he is away.