Leavin' on a jet plane...

Just got back this afternoon from a long weekend in Providence to see my brother-in-law Mark & his wife Kacey. We had a great time away! Though the weather was very rainy on Friday, we took a drive to Newport to see the area and mansions. Luckily the rain stayed away from the Newport area and we had a great drive along the sea cliff looking at the huge homes. We toured the Rosecliff mansion which was really interesting. It was beautiful but I can't honestly say I'd like to live there - nothing all that warm or inviting about 12ft high ceilings. But I'd sure love to have a big party there!





Our time with Mark & Kacey was just wonderful really - we don't get to see them too often and they've had so much going on with family health issues and moving and jobs this year. It was nice to just hang out and eat and chat and drive around.

We took a trip Friday night (in the pouring rain!) to an awesome fall event where there are over 5000 carved pumpkins on display. And when I say carved, it isn't your average 2 eyes, a nose and a mouth. These are intricate pumpkins that are themed! This year's theme was "Around the world" and they had pumpkins carved to represent a lot of the countries, ideas, etc. So at night, all these illuminated pumpkins are just awesome to see! Unfortunately due to the rain, about half of the pumpkins weren't lit so they gave free return tickets. But even what we did see was just so cool!

Lots of time spent in the airport this weekend - we got home this afternoon and I'm prepping to fly out tomorrow AM to CA for the week. Most of it vacation, but a few days of work too. I'll be attending the CA Women's Conference which always has amazing speakers. It's a single day event, and then after a day of work in the office on Wed, I'll be driving up the coast with a girlfriend. (I've always wanted to drive highway 1 along the CA coast). We'll be going to Napa Valley and some wineries and a spa. I'll be back Sunday night. Here's a picture of where we'll be staying...

The only "bad" part of this weekend was that #1 - I hit my head on Mark's door really, really hard. So hard, I spent 5 minutes crying (trying to hide it) on our way to breakfast. I felt dizzy and weird and my head was really hurting. Thank heavens Kacey gave me some Tylenol because I don't know if I'd have made it home okay. And #2, we got home to discover that our poor cat had been neglected all weekend! Our normally dependable neighbors just didn't come over to feed her while we were gone, so she went without food for almost 48 hrs. I felt awful that she was so distressed (and she really was). Poor baby!

Almost 8 weeks pregnant, and I've been feeling okay. Just morning sickness when I do not eat. So physically not too bad. Mentally I am a wreck recently. It was about this point of my previous pregnancy when I miscarried the twins. So I find myself constantly thinking "is everything okay?" and wondering if something has happened again unknown to me. I know that I just have to relax as much as I can and trust it will be okay, but easier said than done. Next week's ultrasound will help a lot. If you don't mind, please send up some prayers for our little one. Oddly enough, this is also my original "due date" week from the twin's pregnancy so maybe that is on my mind too. I think the travel will be good for me and a nice distraction this week. I just wish I knew everything was okay with our little peanut right now.

Well, off to finish packing and eat some Triscuits - that pesky morning sickness is back!