A moment to breathe

I've taken my sixth ARE exam and I'm finally ready to take a moment to blog before I start studying for my next exam.

A few weeks ago Pat, Morgan's mom, and her fiance, David, came to visit. They drove David's RV down and stayed on Hilton Head. The RV park was relly nice - right on the water and it had two pools. We had a great time with them, especially getting to know David better. We haven't had the chance to spend much time with him since he lives in Tennessee at the moment and Pat lives three hours north of us.

One of my favorite things that we did when they were here was to see Lisa Roti perform at the Jazz Corner on Hilton Head. Morgan and I went to see her when she came to town last July and we loved her so much that we went back this year. She has such an amazing voice. If she wasn't so great, beautiful, and talented I'd really have a problem with how Morgan drools all over her and was so giddy to go up to talk to her and get her autograph on a cd that he bought. He actually got mad (kind of) at me that I walked up when he was talking to her and joined the conversation. Apparently he's the only one who's allowed to say how big of a fan they are and I was cramping his style.

Below are some pictures that were taken on their trip. The landscape photos are from the view at the RV park. Beautiful.

Bits and Me

Morla "Bits" Bonner

Intermission from studying

Just wanted to take a quick break from studying for my next exam (I take it on Monday) to say that I just got my pass letter from my last exam! I'm over half way there! Four more to go...

I got my wisdom teeth out and all I got was this lousy MacBook

Seriously.

I asked Morgan to bring home a McDonald's double cheeseburger for me since I'm still recovering (I shouldn't be eating cheeseburgers either, but after being on this liquid diet for a few days now anything sounds good)...and he came home with the cheeseburger and a new computer for me. Not just any computer though, a MacBook!

I'm not complaining, but there would have been hell to pay if he had forgotten my cheeseburger.

knock on wood

I finally bit the bullet and got my wisdom teeth removed yesterday. I've been told for eight years by at least three different dentists that I should get them out, and all for the same reasons, so I didn't feel I had any right to doubt them. I mean, that's three opinions all with the same answer.

So, yesterday was the day. After hearing horror stories from friends (thanks guys) and my mom calling me over and over telling me how bad it was going to be and recounting her experiences (back then they removed them one at a time, not all four at once and she didn't get knocked out).

But, I was brave enough to toss those stories aside and was convincing myself it wouldn't be so bad because all of my wisdom teeth had actually come in all the way so it would more more like pulling teeth instead of surgery to cut them out.

I braved the pediatric IV (thankfully he uses the small one - I hate IVs - and he got it on the first try which is unheard of with me) and the next thing I knew I was waking up at the end.

On a small side note, all of the times that I've had an IV I usually end up using crude/loose language (slip of the tongue) so I was interested to know what I would do this time since I wouldn't be able to talk. It wasn't as bad I don't think. I remember waking up, asking for something to write on and with, and writing "thank you" to the doctor and nurse. Morgan is always telling me how gorgeous I am (thanks hon), so the next thing I wrote, as a joke to him since he was in the room was, "am I still gorgeous?". Then I heard the doctor say that I won't be able to talk a lot during the first day and Morgan made a snide comment about that being great and I flipped him off. Right in front of the doctor and the nurse. Hopefully they laughed because that's the last thing I remember before being wheeled out to the car in a wheel chair. I was so close to being a lady. Oh well.

So, I have to say, I have not had any pain AT ALL. The anesthesia has worn off, I was on pain pills yesterday that pretty much just made me sleep, and besides being a little nauseated from swallowing some blood, this has been much better than I could have imagined. I was even out and about today and went to lunch with Morgan (I only had mashed potatoes, though). I keep waiting for something to go wrong, but hopefully it won't. I also keep wondering if they indeed took out any of my teeth because I was told it was supposed to hurt really badly. I guess I was one of the lucky ones.

Let's hope it stays that way.

I know, I know...

I'm bad about blogging. Everybody knows that. I guess that's why people check it about once a month, I don't blame them. It's sad because I'm on the computer most of the day, every day at work and I check all of my friends' blogs at least once a day and am excited when they have posted something new.

I don't have one big item to report on most of the time so this is an update:

1. I've taken another ARE, this time it was General Structures. I should know my results in about two weeks. I'm taking my next one (Lateral Forces) in three weeks. So, I've been studying a lot.

2. My Mother-In-Law is engaged! How cool is that? She met her fiance on e-Harmony in April or May. They are coming in a couple of weeks for a visit. I'm not sure when they are planning on getting married, but I don't imagine that it will be very long.

3. Morgan and I are in the middle of watching "John Adams". It was an HBO special some time ago and we're now Netflix-ing it. Each episode is about 2 hours long and there are 7 episodes. It is SO good!!!

4. We have ants. Carpenter ants that won't go away, and I have found out that I'm allergic to any type of ant bite. Lucky me. The exterminator is coming on Friday.

5. I'm getting my wisdom teeth out on Thursday. I'm not really looking forward to it, but I've been meaning to get them out for 8 years now so it's as good of time as any I suppose.

6. We went to an Obama party last Saturday and there was a German reporter from Frankfurt covering it. Kind of weird.

And that's about it. Isn't that sad? I have one friend vacationing in Costa Rica, one on a brief residency for three months in Washington, D.C. sent there by the government (her husband is a border patrol officer) so she's visiting all of the museums and historical sites, and I'm sitting here in South Carolina in the blistering heat and humidity getting my teeth pulled out. Something's wrong here.

Happy Father's Day, Morgan

Don't get excited, I'm not pregnant (sorry, Jayna). I know it's customary on Father's Day to recognize the men in your family who are fathers and as I called my own father today to tell him I loved him and my brother who has a young son, my thoughts drifted to Morgan.

In the last few days I have been perusing my friends' blogs and most of them have posted cute entries about their own fathers and most commonly, their husbands, since most of my friends have children. I read their kind and heartfelt words towards their men as they listed all of the attributes they love most about their fathers and husbands and again I thought about Morgan.

As I stop and reflect on what this day means to me, every middle of June, I think of all of the cards and hugs and kisses that I've been able to share with my own father and how much joy this day has brought in my life.

We all have been so blessed to be able to share in this day and look forward to it each year.

Yet, Morgan has not had the chance to celebrate Father's Day in 21 years. Each year this day arrives and passes much like the day before. His father passed away when Morgan was 8 years old. He has not had the chance to reminisce about his camping trips and the life lessons his father taught him, and I feel sad, in the pit of my stomach sad. Morgan doesn't seem to be bothered by the passing of Father's Day, or not that he has expressed. So my post today is not about my father (you know I love you Dad!) or Morgan's father, but Morgan, and the father that I see in him and know he will one day become.

Years from now, when our children crawl into bed and into his arms on a Father's Day much like today, with a homemade card and possibly glitter falling into the sheets, this is what I know they will have already taken from him:

1. His undeniable thirst for knowledge, the importance of reading as much and as often as you can, intelligence and understanding, the art of learning.

2. His pride in his work, no matter how small the task, whether it's doing the laundry, or fixing a problem at work. His work ethic is unmeasurable.

3. His decency, integrity and trustworthiness.

4. His inability to eat ice cream without having some left on the corners of his mouth.

5. His love of sports (Go Broncos!). I'm sure he will be buying our children sports equipment that is five years too advanced for them because he will just be too excited to teach them what he knows and loves.

6. The importance to take time for yourself as an individual.

7. The importance of loving and respecting their mother like he does his own.

8. His love of all cereal that comes with little toy surprises.

9. His unending passion for the Apple Computer. Our kids will be computer whizzes by the time they are able to crawl.

10. His capacity for love...and most importantly his love towards them.

So, to you, honey, I wish you a Happy Father's Day today for the man that you are and the father that I see in you and the father that you will one day become. I look forward to spending many Father's Days with you.

I love you.

Permission to laugh

This is what we do in our spare time, just in case you were wondering...


My three cats are indoor cats, but they look like they long to go outside. So, just to start, I bought this harness to take the cats out one by one to see if they like it. I mean, they are cats, why wouldn't they like it? My biggest fear is them getting hit by a car.

Mac was the first one we took out. From the minute he stepped in the grass he was howling this ungodly sound, very loudy, and was scared as...well, you know. Morgan was very disappointed in this and let Mac know that he was now officially the biggest pussy of our three cats, and he's the only male.

Next it was Morla's turn, and although she faired better, she did not seem at home. She didn't scream, but she also didn't jump for joy. She mainly hung out on our back stairs or next to the house.

We took Ady out last and it took her a few minutes to get used to it, but she warmed up to it and started to really enjoy it. She walked all the way around the house, and even tried to take on our neighbors huge dog. We always knew she was the leader of the pack.

So, this is how we tortured our cats on Saturday. I picked Ady up when we got around to the front of our house because I was so embarrassed to have a cat on a leash and harness.

So, what's up with our other cats? What cats don't like to be outside? I guess they are too used to being sheltered from everything. Another case against home schooling I guess!

Please, have a laugh on me.

North Cackilacky

I just returned from spending three full days at my mom's in Concord, North Carolina. We spent most of the time running around looking at stuff for her house and working in her garden which is coming along nicely.

We did take in some local flavor including the old man who has a "auto parts and gift store" that is located in a small shack with eight weed wackers out front and twelve more inside, not for sale, along with random cheep toys that have probably been rejected by the dollar store. The inside has no light, no air conditioning, and smells like gasoline. The man spoke some sort of English dialect that I don't believe has been discovered by man.

On our way home we stopped by a genuine bbq dive to pick up lunch to go. Along with our bbq salads (shredded lettuce and tomatoes with bbq piled on top) came three hush puppies. In a lapse of judgement, my mom showed signs of back country hick when she unwrapped them and when we had to go into a store, stored them in her cup holders (seen below). I think she's been there too long, especially because she's starting to drop her g's in her speech. Hopefully she doesn't learn the old man's dialect or I'll need a translator.

We had a good time together and we also went to see the new Indiana Jones movie, which was pretty good, if you know how to suspend belief.

So, here's to you crazy weed wacker man, it was fun!

I'm so proud...so you better go read it!

Morgan gets asked every once in a while to write a column for The Guide which is the Entertainment Publication that comes out every Friday in The Island Packet (the newspaper where Morgan works - just in case we have any new visitors to my blog who don't know anything about us). He has written columns on Star Wars and High-def t.v.s before, but this one takes the cake, in my opinion. Go read it!

Brain Freeze

In case anyone was wondering why I fell off the face of the Earth when it came to blogging...this is what I've been doing:


I spent last Friday, Saturday, and Sunday (an average of 10 hours each day) in Jacksonville, Florida cramming Structures into my brain at a seminar that is designed for ARE candidates, such as myself. I can't believe I have to know this stuff. The last time I looked at this/studied it was four years ago in school.

There are two Structures exams of the ARE. I just got my pass letter from the last test I took (brings my stats up to 4 for 4) but I still have five more tests. I'm going to take the Structures exams next. If my brain doesn't permanently freeze first.

Don't. Just Don't.

No questions. Don't ask. Just trust me.

Lila has arrived!

My best friend Jayna had her third (and final, so she says) baby on Monday, April 21st. It is a girl, officially named Lila McKay Haws. You can read about her ordeals here (they are pretty bad/funny) and see more pictures. To the left is a photo with her two big sisters Grace, almost 5, and Caroline, 2 1/2.

Congratulations to the Haws Family!

Closer to 30 than 20...

but, still closer to 25 than 30!

This past tax day I completed my 27th year on the 3rd planet from the sun and started my 28th. People keep trying to make me feel bad by saying, "You're closer to 30 than 20!". These people are all over 30 and I'm convinced they want to make themselves feel better, or make me unhappy because they wish they were younger. Too bad, it's not going to work on me, because I am one of those people who believe turning 30 WILL NOT be the end of my life, unlike others I know who have just turned 30...Morgan.

I had a lovely birthday regardless of people's jabs at me. My coworkers took me out to lunch and I received two bouquets of flowers (one from my Dad, Lynn, and Katy, and the other from Morgan) - see below. Morgan gave me the one with the teddy bear! Awww.


After work Morgan took me out to a very nice dinner.

I think any day filled with flowers, free food, family, and friends is a good day.

One of my favorite gifts was this quirky, but appropriate, tribute to me by my best friend. Read it here.

Hometown Holiday

Morgan and I just returned from 7 days in Boise (my hometown) and two Days in Denver (Morgan's home away from home). Morgan was kind enough to spend his 30th birthday with my family (I thought I'd make it as painful as possible - ha!). We had a nice time at an Idaho Stampede (semi-pro) basketball game accompanied by 11 of my family members. The best part was when the announcer wished Morgan a happy 13th birthday. He looks good for his age, I think.

The rest of the vacation was spent visiting children, literally. My brother and his wife have two children, my best friend Jayna has two girls and one on the way (4 more weeks to go!), another high-school friend has 3 children, and another just had her first in January. That's in addition to my little sister and various family members' babies. There were gymnastics classes, dance classes, softball practices, singing rehearsals, and just hanging out.

One thing it reminded me of is that kids are hard! I feel as though I'm not ready for kids, but that's it's too late to start because they take so freakin' long to raise.

I was also thrilled to get back in touch with an old friend from England that I haven't seen in a very long time.

On our way back to South Carolina we stopped through Denver to go to a few sporting events for Morgan's birthday. We stayed with my Aunt Carol and Uncle Chuck. If Morgan hadn't been sick I think he would have enjoyed it more. But, we still had a great time.

Here are some highlights:

The fam at the Idaho Stampede game

Goofy Wyeth (my nephew)

Grace and Caroline (Jayna's girls)

Jenny and me (England friend)

Ben, Wyeth, Kate and myself at Kate's softball practice

Chuck and Carol at the Rockies game

Unfortunately when we got home we were surprised to find cat fluids (from every imaginable hole) all over our house. Not a fun thing to come home to. So, since I caught Morgan's cold, I stayed home from work and spent the entire day cleaning up liquidy poo, throw up, (none of which was mine) and taking my cats to the vet. They are pretty beat up, but I think they'll pull through. Hopefully in a few days I can recover from my traumatic experience and then get over this cold.

9 weeks minus 2 days...

and worth the wait. I passed! 6 more to go!

I finally found a use for my high school senior t-shirt

This is me working on my 1890s mantel that I picked up for free from one of our renovation projects at work. I decided to try and strip the 10+ coats of lead paint off of it and refinish it. It didn't go so well. I think there were many, many more coats of paint than I even realize and some parts are on there for life. I spent Saturday putting on this super duper paint removal paste and three straight hours on Sunday stripping it off. This is the second weekend I've been doing this. And I'm done. All of the paint isn't off, in fact, the mantel looks more like a topographic map, but I can't do any more.

So, I sanded what was left and am in the process of slapping some white paint on it. The funny thing is that I stripped off some layers of paint, to put more on. Ridiculous. Although, it was lead paint. Anyway, I have one more layer of paint to put on and it actually looks older than it did before I started this process. I don't mind it though, because you can see the old layers of paint through the new, and I like that. It tells a story of it's life...or that's what I'm going with.

Once I cut part of the bottom out to fit around our baseboard, I'll attach it to the living room wall and I'll make sure to take a picture of the finished product. For as jacked up as it looks I think I'll actually really like it.

Morgan on the other hand is convinced that I'm crazy and has no idea why I brought home two mantels when we don't even have one fireplace. But, at least I know when and when not to flush the toilet!

huh.

Saturday
1:41 pm - power goes out at house
2:05 pm - Morgan: "So, Can I still flush the toilet?"
2:10 pm - Allison finally gets off of ground after laughing too hard
2:11 pm - Morgan claims that when his access to Wikapedia is cut off his IQ goes down a few points

Sunday
11:30 pm - Morgan says "you know I was just kidding about the toilet right?" after Allison tells him she's posting that on her blog.

Way to try and back track. No one is fooled.

Important vote - not for the Presidential Primaries

My mom wants to paint the shutters on her house (see pictures below). They are currently a beige and her siding is pale yellow. I took her two suggestions of paint colors (dark navy blue - probably darker than shown in the picture, and maroon) and used my handy Photoshop skills to superimpose the colors onto a picture of her house.

Here's where you come in. Which color do you like better?p.s. This is also another great way to procrastinate studying for my next exam (see post below).

Still waiting...

On Monday it will be 8 weeks since I took my last ARE exam and I still haven't received my results. With each passing day I grow a little more skeptical and doubtful that I passed. They say that the graphics exams (which this was one) take longer to get the results, but seriously! The other two (multiple choice exams) took three weeks. I'm revving up to take another graphics test on the 21st of March. I hope I don't get a failing grade on the last test right before I take my next one. That would be a crap-tastic way to go in to my next test. Ugh.

Is it over yet?

Anyway, I wanted to take a test in February and another in March (after taking my last one in January). This plan has not happened. What have I been doing instead of studying? Anything, really.

I installed a light fixture in our kitchen (I can post a picture if anyone really cares to see it) and I'm in the middle of stripping two fireplace mantels and refinishing them. The bitch of it is, is that one is from the 1890s and the other from the 1950s so they both most likely have lead paint on them. This requires me to dress up like a chemical worker and be careful to not breath in any lead dust (or eat the paint chips - we all know I like doing that) or else I could get permanent brain damage and also make it much harder to get pregnant. Good thing I'm not pregnant or else my baby could be born with three heads. Apparently this is a very serious undertaking, but don't worry, I don't have lead poisoning yet...that I know of. I'm pretty brain dead after a day's work as it is so I don't know if I would notice a difference.

And of course, instead of studying, I'm blogging. Bad Allison! All of you reading this should be ashamed of yourselves. You are such enablers! Especially you, Jayna, ragging on me for not updating my blog regularly. We all can't be blog queens like yourself!

Amazing!

Morgan and I were driving down the highway, when we spotted the oddest thing! Take a look for yourself...

I need new shoes...

Today I went out on a site visit to a very beautiful lot right on the marsh overlooking downtown Savannah. I was out there with two men who are apparently both 200 pounds lighter than me because neither of them sank a foot into the mud we were walking through (see picture). Yes, that's right. I have fought the stigma of women in the architecture field my whole career and in one moment I turn into the damsel in distress, sinking a foot into the mud and requiring my project manager to literally pull me out. As I was dislodging my foot, my other one sank. It was classic. I wondered to myself why these two men (of whom I was following right behind) didn't sink. Luck, I guess.

What makes this story even better is that when we got back to the road I had to prop my feet, one by one, up on one guy's truck wheel while the two men wiped off my shoes (because apparently I wasn't doing a good enough job a.k.a. not putting enough "elbow grease" into it). So, with one foot on the wheel at a time the two guys stood on either side with spray bottles full of cleaner and towels and shined my shoes (I still don't think that the shoes are salvageable, though) while more men in construction trucks crawled on by laughing. Great...

I guess I was the cliche of the day.

I've always aspired to be "exotic meat"

You Are Duck

Exotic and unusual, you are a bit of a rare bird - literally. You're known for being soft and succulent, though at times you can be a bit greasy.

What Kind of Meat Are You?

Guess the context

Morgan: Look, I know all the tricks, but sometimes you just have to shower afterwards...

A Working Weekend

Well, that's what it was supposed to be. My grandfather, who lives in Allentown, PA, invited me up to spend the weekend with him, his wife, and my 11 year old half Aunt (I'll give you a second to figure that out). Can I move on? Ok.

They currently live in a house that they want to renovate and add on some square footage, so they flew me up to see the house, take measurements, and take photographs. This is what I figured I would be doing the entire weekend (from Saturday to Monday). Instead, this is what I got in between doing my work:

Saturday:

Sunday:

Not too shabby!

Obama/Bonner 2008!

New Years Resolutions...

I have none, and I make it a point every year not to have them, I guess that's kind of my resolution. No one sticks to them, so why create unreasonable goals for yourself that make you feel horribly guilty when you bail?

I think resolutions are for those who are dissatisfied with their lives and feel that they need to change themselves or some personality trait and people think that the New Year is the perfect time to start. Like a woman saying "I'll start my diet tomorrow" while she shoves a piece of chocolate cake in her mouth, those who make New Years resolutions are doomed to fail, because if it was that important to you, you would have already started them. You wouldn't wait "until tomorrow", you would start this minute. You fail because you are already procrastinating the start of the resolution by waiting until New Years, like magically when the date changes you will have more willpower or you will find your goal more important or you will just happen to have more time to squeeze in that workout.

New Years day is just like any other day, with no mystical powers attached. The only thing that it ushers in are unrealistic goals set by people who are dissatisfied...and the start of the accrual of vacation time at work (I like that aspect of New Years).

I, myself, am happy with my life. Sure, there are things that I'm not thrilled about, like my areas of pudginess and the fact that I still have tons of projects to do around the house. I wish I made more money and I wish my cats could clean their own litter trays. I want to work out more, but I'm not going to start today and be disappointed when I don't stick to it. But, all in all, I'd like this New Year to just roll over from last year and have my life continue on the course it's been on.

Don't get me wrong, I have goals in my life and I have ambition, but I know that the magic of January 1st won't help me to achieve those.

So, those of you out there who do set New Years resolutions, please, let me know how that goes.

Slummin' the streets of Greenville

New HGTV Green Home

Apparently we're getting close to being HGTV's personal architects...(not really)

Check out the HGTV Green Home which my firm designed. Scroll down on the page and watch the video, Neil Dawson (the architect) is one of my bosses.

Let me know what you think!

HGTV 2008 Dream Home Unveiled!

Earlier this year my firm was selected to design the HGTV 2008 Dream Home in Islamorada, Florida. It was built during the summer and it has now been unveiled on their website. The big television premiere is on January 1, 2008 at 9p.m. and I expect all of you to watch it! Pay close attention to the "Doggy Dream Home" which I helped design and draw. I also helped on the drawings for the Main House, but in a limited capacity. I hope you like it!