Beetle Bailey

Last night Brandon and I attended the Chamber of Commerce Ambassador Century Club Dinner at the University Club on the MU campus. Ambassadors that earn 100 ribbon cutting points within the Chamber year they receive special recognition and a dinner. Midway Electric, Inc. was a gold sponsor. This marked the 3rd year that the Century Club has been around and I have been there all 3 years (the first year I was a sponsor but the past 2 years I have earned my 100 points needed to attend as well as being a sponsor). What a great time we had. I also arranged a surprise 50th birthday party for one of the Century Club Ambassadors, Tom Trabue, who thought he would just slide by without anyone knowing it was his 50th. Little did he know that someone had told Michele this news! We had a lot of fun and I think Tom was surprised! On our way leaving we decided to stop and take a couple pictures with Beetle Bailey which is just outside of the Reynolds Alumni Center (this is the same building that Brandon and I had our prom back in 1994). Beetle Bailey is Mizzou's famous comic-strip character created by Mort Walker.

Professional picture

So I went today to have a "professional" picture taken. I have put this off as long as I could because I like the "posed" shots of me. Women's Network and the Chamber Ambassadors directory is requesting updated photos and information so I thought this was the best time to do this. I went over and saw Nancy Fay with Mary Kay Cosmetics and Yolanda Ciolli this morning and they fixed me up! We took about 30 shots and these 2 are my favorite (if you can have a favorite of yourself). Thank you ladies for helping me out and having some fun with the shoot!

My Quilts

I love my quilts! Grandma Ruby had a quilt collection of about 130 quilts. She didn't make them she just collected them and always showed anyone who came to her house all of them. When she passed away I got about 24 or so of her quilts and proudly display them as you can see in the first picture. This past Saturday my mom, dad and I went to Wentsville, MO to an outdoor flea market and I picked up these 3 old quilts to add to my collection! I was so excited when I found these and paid $30 each for them! What a good deal! (Old quilts usually sell for anywhere from $200-$500+ depending on the size and shape). I know Grandma Ruby would have loved these quilts as much as I do!

Snow Cones!

Well many of you know how I get on a "kick" about something and that's all you hear.... well my new found place is the snow cone place at Lake of the Woods exit (in the parking lot of George's) and man-o-man am I in heaven! This place has like 50 flavors to choose from!!! After reading their list like 5 times I settled on the Homemade Ice-cream (vanilla and evaporated milk) and boy is it good! I got a small and because it had the milk in it the thing cost $2.50 but normally a small is $2.00! I think I am going to try the Red Velvet Cake tomorrow night.... yep I might be addicted! You should go try it..... it is so good!

Cards vs. Phillies

Today was Lori Spry's birthday and what better gift could I give her other than take her to her very first Cardinals game! Uncle Terry and Chris came along too but for her to experience the Cardinals was the best! Of course we had to do it first class.... I had 4 tickets to the Champions Club which includes all you can eat buffet (nachos, hot dogs, brats, chicken, carving station with beef, pasta station, dessert station, 2 full bars, private bathrooms and HUGE room to sit in the A/C and then patio seating to watch the game... all of this was all inclusive! We had a great day and many good laughs! The Cardinals were on an 8 game winning streak and lost to the Phillies in the 11th inning (score was 0-0 until then and Phillies won 2-0) I think her 31st birthday was eventful and I am glad we got to do something fun as a family! Better luck next time Cardinals!

Happy Birthday Grandma Ruby & Lori!

Today is Grandma Ruby's birthday and Lori Spry's birthday! What a special day to share with your grandma! Grandma Ruby would have been 77 years old. There isn't a day that goes by that we don't miss you! Brandon reminds me of you.... always making sure the hummingbirds have fresh water and those red "Spry" cheeks! Rest in peace Grandma Ruby.

Ambassador Cardinals Trip 2010

This was the second year the Chamber Ambassadors decided to take a trip to St. Louis to take in a Cardinals game. I took my momma as my guest and what a great time! Tony, our bus driver from MO X, was great! It started raining about Truxton and poured down rain. We left Columbia around 4:00 pm and arrived at the stadium at 7:45 pm! We all laughed alot on the way up there.... from the beer/snack hostess, to the tractor trailer driver, Buddy Head, playing his guitar while driving, to the flooding waters guy telling the TV camera how it all happened to laughing at and with Dennis Lynch..... but we could have shortened the bus ride by an hour or so! Cards beat the Phillies 5-1 and they are on their 8th game winning streak! What a great time with some great people! I love our Chamber! Go Cards!

Kinly & Aunt Shell

I had the pleasure of spending some time with Kinly Ann this past Saturday! The Greening family loaded up and headed to the lake with us. Kinly is a little ham! She is such a happy baby and is now crawling! She's so darn cute! What's really nice is she can play by herself and be completely content unless she's hungry and then she is just like Aunt Shell.... crabby! :)

She loves hanging onto her daddy!

The Greening Family! Jill, Kinly Ann & Greg..... What a good lookin' family :)

You can see her two bottom teeth.... she loved rubbing her teeth across the lid of the Mt. Dew bottle and would just "talk" to us. She is such a hoot to watch and smiles all the time! Thanks Kinly Ann for spending some time with us this weekend!

Our flowers

What a wonderful surprise I had this morning when I got to work.... My momma had baked some fresh, homemade Chocolate Chip and Oatmeal Raisin cookies and brought Brandon and I a little bouquet of fresh flowers! Now these aren't just any flowers these are Grandma Ruby's flowers! After Grandma Ruby passed away and we were selling some of the items that no one else wanted/needed there was 2 little brown lunch sacks of flower seeds. Brandon told mom to take them and plant them.... this is what she got! I don't know what kind they are but they are beautiful! Little reminders from time to time of those you loved and are no longer with you are the best gifts.... just kind of makes you smile and think about the good memories you have. Thanks mom for making us smile and for the yummy cookies! We love you!  Shell & Bubba :)

Where's Waldo?

My good friend, Heather Stewart (aka: DJ Sparkle), mailed me a surprise and when I got it today this was what was in it! I love it! Waldo was a nickname she has given me because you never know where you'll see me.... I can't help but smile and how perfect! Thanks Heather for making my day! :)

Little piece of art.... isn't it Spry!

While we were waiting in the Denver airport for an hour I decided to look around. I went into an artwork store called Avilar (it reminded me of Poppy in downtown Columbia). They had some really neat things and I found several things I wanted. So as I am looking from floor to ceiling at all of the really cool stuff I just happen to notice this area full of robots that were made out to antique things. The larger robot in the back caught my eye! It had my name all over it.... no really.... see it has a Spry container for it's mid-section. How cool is that! I have a glass container that I got from Grandma Ruby that is a Spry container but have never seen another. So I wanted to know how much this little guy was.... he was $600! It was really cool but not something I want or need..... just nice to know that Spry's are everywhere! LOL! :)

Paul & Whitnee Lear

As I said in my earlier post we went to Colorado to be a part of Paul and Whitnee's wedding! What an amazing day! We all got up and went to the meadow to set up chairs (the wedding took place with the mountains in the back ground.... beautiful!) and then took about a mile hike up into the mountains. I will have to be honest.... it wasn't so hard to walk up the mountains but we had the hardest time catching our breath! The elevation was about 7,700 feet. We hiked into another meadow that was just beautiful. Where Paul and Whitnee got married we had to drive through Ralph & Rachel Lauren's 17,000 acre ranch (yes Ralph Lauren as in Polo) and was really cool. One of the brides family members stopped and talked to him... how cool was that! I would have loved to had my picture taken with him! The evening was perfect and we are so happy that we could be there for Paul and Whitnee. I don't think I have seen Paul this happy before and I know he has found his true love! I just love happy endings :)

Colorado

Brandon and I took a little trip to Colorado from July 8-11, 2010. A good friend of ours, Paul Lear, was getting married and we wanted to be there to help celebrate this special occasion! Paul and his woman, Whitnee, lives in Montrose, Colorado and we were able to fly into their airport which was 10-15 minutes from their house. Paul, Whitnee, Shane, Elaine and Connor came and got us and we all went to Chili's for dinner. We got up the next morning and headed to Delta then over to Olathe, CO. Brandon and I just couldn't believe the amazing view that was constantly around us! Our travels took us to Ridgeway, CO and ate at True Grit Cafe which was a John Wayne inspired cafe (www.truegritcafe.com). The movie True Grit was filmed in that town and Brandon is a huge John Wayne fan! This picture was taken on the way to the meadow that Paul and Whitnee got married at. They call this spot the little Grand Canyon. It was an amazing trip and we can't wait to go back!

A little miracle....

My little sister, Ashley and her husband Greg, are having a baby! This is some very exciting news in our family! Ashley is my only sister and has wanted a child for years. Finally baby Adams will make his/her debut around February 19, 2011! Our mom and dad is so excited about this news and the baby will be here for dad's 60th birthday! We were depending on Ashley and Greg to have children since Brandon and I are not. I can't wait to spoil this little baby rotten! Aunt Shell can't wait!  Ashley and Greg are going to make wonderful parents.... Congrats!

Hummingbirds

Brandon's Grandma Ruby loved hummingbirds. When Grandma passed away Brandon wanted to put a hummingbird feeder in the front yard of the shop so that we could see them. This morning I happened to look out and catch one at the feeder. It seems like every time I grab my camera they are gone.

It is so cute because he is the one that makes sure it's full and clean.... just like Grandma Ruby did. I can't help but smile when I see Ruby Jr. taking care of the little hummingbirds.  :)

The Wiswall Boys

Derry & Lisa Wiswall have 3 boys, Dawson, Logan and Owen, who were asked to be in the new Boone Hospital Center's baby commercial! (They just started running this weekend) How exciting is that! Derry, Lisa and the boys were all born at Boone Hospital Center and in the new campaign they wanted to showcase some of their Boone Babies! We couldn't be more proud for the Wiswall's! What handsome boys they have..... Good job guys! There is 4 commercials total and you can see them all if you go to www.youtube.com and search for this commercial by putting "Boone Baby Commercial Magical Place 2" in the search line. I'm a Boone Baby..... Are you?

Rivera Maya, Mexico 2010

Brandon and I planned a little get away along with another couple this past week. We left Monday June 28th and returned last night on July 3rd. We stayed at the Valentin Maya Resort which is all inclusive and adults only. It was so nice to get away and we are so thankful that we have great people on our team (Derry, Kim, Rhoda and Brian) that took care of the office end and made sure everyone was doing what they needed to do allowing us to get away. The weather was perfect! Hurricane Alex was moving in the Gulf of Mexico and we wondered what we would be up against but it was perfect. There was overcast of clouds and a nice 25 mph wind that kept you cool. We had a wonderful time and checked out the resort for the first couple of days. On Wednesday we went to the newest park "XPLORE" which was really cool. First we rode John Deere gators through the jungle and in caves. Next we did the zip lines. We climbed up a tall tower zip lined over the jungle to another tower and went all over the park. What a blast! A couple of them took you through water so you had to wear swim wear or walk all day in wet clothes. We then paddled by hand on a raft through caves/caverns which was really neat. Lastly we swam through a cavern. It was a day full of adventure and things we had never done before. We stayed at the resort again until Friday and went into Playa del Carman and took the ferry to Cozemuel. Once in Cozemuel we took a taxi all around the island. The taxi driver was our personal tour guide and it was just 4 of us and the driver. It was really neat because we got to see the whole island (in a quick tour) in 2 hours and because he has lived there for 30 years he could tell us things that others didn't know. Check out time was noon on Saturday and our shuttle picked us up. As soon as we left it started pouring down rain. We got to the airport and they told us we needed to go to gate B11 and we even asked the lady at the gate if this was right (no screens showed Miami, FL) and she said yes. She didn't know what we were saying and thank goodness Brandon and Josh checked because we needed to be at another gate in like 2 minutes. We ran hard to get to were we needed to go and made it just in time! Needless to say it was a complete zoo until we got to St. Louis! It's so good to be back home!

Dr. Paul Shurnas

On July 3, 2010 a life was taken far too young and far too soon. Dr. Paul Shurnas was killed in a one car accident near his home in Columbia, MO. I worked for Dr. Shurnas, who was a foot/ankle orthopedic surgeon at Columbia Ortho Group, as his Secretary/Office Manager from December 2004- September 2006.  I left his practice to become full time in my own business. I was looking through my pictures trying to find the picture of myself, Dr. Shurnas and Amy Sanders (his PA) and found this one. It reminds me of the crazy way he would make you laugh and how full of it he was. He had passion for helping people and wanted to make them better. He was an excellant surgeon and was really good with his patients. He would have patients drive up from Mountain Home, Arkansas (where he practiced before coming to Columbia, MO) to see him because not only did they trust him, they built a friendship with him. I saw him for the first time in 4 years in Westlakes about 3 weeks ago. We spoke but we were both in a hurry. You know it's a funny thing how you have someone in your life that pushes you to become better.... well without going into great detail a comment that he told me over and over again has pushed me to become better. Until today I always felt I had to prove myself to him in the sense that I didn't have to have a college education to be successful.... yet I belive that he may have pushed me to test myself.... did I have it in me to be the best I could be? This is something I will never know but something that I think about all the time. My heart goes out to his wife, Jennifer, and their 3 children. Rest in peace Dr. Shurnas.....