Island Dave's first post on the Agonist

Today was the first day that my husband, Island Dave posted an article on The Agonist news site. I'm so proud of him. Article may be found here.

Today I spent the day shopping at my favorite thrift store, Hem Of His Garment in Swansboro, NC. I enjoyed scouring the isles, and even found a great deal on a ceramic soap dish for twenty five cents. I was very pleased with my purchase!
I was also able to take a few picures around Swansboro. I'll post them later.

To top the night off, Dave made some of the best tacos I have ever put in my mouth.

Kitty Time Out

Who says that "Kitty Time Out" doesn't work? I think Duke has learned his lesson! Just kidding.... He loves to burrow into pantlegs, or coat sleaves, snuggle up and then go to sleep! 

Pictures taken in: Swansboro, NC. 1.10.2005 by: Tiffiney Paar
 

Pictures taken in: Swansboro, NC. 1.10.2005 by: Tiffiney Paar  

Pictures taken in: Swansboro, NC. 1.10.2005 by: Tiffiney Paar 

Misty Pier

Beneath the Pier Photo taken by George Mitchell.

Video Blogging

I've been Googling and have found quite a few great video blogs. Now I'm contemplating adding video to my blog as well. Why not? I believe that Emerald Isle, NC, my hometown, is the most beautiful place in the continetal US. That's why Dave and I chose here to make our home.... I want to share the beauty of the SOBX (Southern Outer Banks) with all of you. I really hope that each and every one of you are as proud and feel as strongly about the place you call home. Check out the link to Dylan Verdi-The World's Youngest Video Blogger.> Also, check out her dad's blog Michael's Video Blog.

Well, I'm still feeling a little run down, so I'll let ya'll know soon how the video blog idea is panning out for me.

Peace and Love,

Island TIffiney

New Year's celebration on our stretch of the beach

I've been feeling a little under the weather the past few days, but am starting to feel better now....

I love Dave so much. He actually sat through my favorite New Year's Eve movie: When Harry Met Sally. Yes I realize it's a "chick flick", but I love all the older couples finishing each others sentences, after 50+ years of marriage. That is my dream. To grow old with Dave, and to grow closer to each other, and never drift apart. Next New Years Eve, Dave gets to pick the movie! I can't wait to see what he picks!

Dave and I opperate our own vacation rental, house cleaning service. We forgot that we had a house to clean this evening, so around midnight, we took a 10 minute drive to the northern part of the island, and cleaned for around 45 minutes. I love being at that end of the beach. There's not as much light pollution,and we had the beach to ourselves. There is nothing like holding and kissing your one true love on the beach. Especially when it's 58° F in the 1st week of January no less!!!

Well, I have to be up for work in 7 1/2 hours, so I'll have to finish up later.

I hope you all are enjoying 2005 as much as I am.

Cheers!

Island Tiffiney

This was a beautiful Christmas Season for Dave and me!

Christmas time is the best time of the year! I have had the last 11 days off from work, and Dave is finished with classes until Jan. 17th!

Well, we went to Chapel Hill, NC over Christmas to spend the holiday with family. Dave's mother, Elaine (whom I love dearly), invited us to stay with her. We had a wonderful dinner of beef roast with potatoes and carrots, followed by exchanging of gifts. I will say that the serenity misting fountain was my favorite gift!
Blue Misting Fountain

Then we headed over to my sister Sheryl's place to spread Christmas cheer! We were fortunate enough to catch my whole maternal extended family at one place this year!

1. My mom, Debbie
2. My sister Sheryl, her husband David, and our nephew Brandon.
3. My brother Tim, his wife Brenda, our two nieces Ashley and Erica, and our nephew Justin.

Dinner at Sheryl's consisted of spiral sliced ham, lasagna, potato salad crackers and cheese, followed by homemade cherry pie and apple pie, homemade chocolate truffles, and pumpkin roll. We had a wonderful time exchanging gifts, eating, laughing, joking and talking.
Then Ashley and Erica introduced Dave and me to a game called Pit.
We both woke up with a sore throat from all the yelling!

Pit! card game.

What can I say except that we really enjoyed every minute we were able to spend with family, and the fact that this was our first Christmas as a "married" couple. I hope we have many more years ahead of us together.

It didn't end with Christmas though. My birthday is Dec. 28th, so we celebrated that doing one of the things that I like doing the most. Thrift store shopping and eating Teriyaki Chicken from Japan Express.

To be continued tomorrow......

Santa has a new ride!!!  

Yeah! We got our first snow in '04 last night

Last night we got about an inch of snow. I always love the prospect of snow for Christmas. Of course Christmas Eve, The Weather Channel is calling for a high temp of 72°F!!! I love living at the beach. Check out the link at right to Island Dave's View for pics of snow, here in Emerald Isle, NC (taken in Jan. 2003). That is a sight I will not soon forget!

I hope all of my readers are safe and warm drinking hot cocoa, coffee tea, or other hot beverage of their choice right now! Maybe kicked back, reading a book,
Google-ing, QuackTtack-ing or at least enjoying some form of relaxation.
Peace!!!

Searching for thrift store blogs

Well, this afternoon, I've spent several hours at QuackTrack trying to find people who blog about thrift store shopping, or people who run/operate thrift stores. there were a few blogs I really enjoyed reading. The only thing that concerns me, is that the ones I like, haven't been updated recently. Not that I post as frequently as I should, but I would like to see Thrift Store Shopping as a BlogShares industry. I also decided to either call, or email the people who have blogged about thrift stores. If there are any fellow bloggers out there, who have friends or associates interested in blogging about thrift stores please leave a comment on this entry. I would really like to see the idea of thrift store shopping get the recognition it deserves. Have a great day!

Is anyone out there and reading this?

Maybe it's just me, but some times I wonder why bother posting if no one reads this. Maybe it's just because it's Monday. I'm feeling a little blah, and a little restless right now, and maybe I just need to focus on where my professional life is going. I'm not sure what the next step is. Do I go back to school and go for my real estate salesman license? Or do I commit to the whole 4 year college thing and work towards getting a degree? If I work towards a degree, what do I focus on? Yikes! Decisions, decisions, decisions.... Well that's all for now. I'm open to suggestions, and other opinions, so don't be affraid to leave feedback. I'm hoping have a clear moment, and make a change to increase my marketable skills, education, and salary within the near future.

Watching the beautiful Emerald Isle sunset  

Good News Today

Well, last night Dave and I were able to reach our land lord, and agreed upon the terms to purchase our place. Yeah! No more paying rent. My father generously offered to help us straight out buy, as a wedding gift. So Dad, if you ever happen to read this post, thank you, from the bottom of our hearts. One of the most strenuous parts of a new marraige, are the morgage on the house. I am so happy that home hunting is not a major issue right now.
Today was a perfect day to have off from work. Clear, cool (50 degrees or so), and just a slight breeze. I was able to clean out and detail the car, and a little bit of house work, I even had plenty of time to get my nails manicured, and pick up pizza from MichaelAngelo's too!

I love this time of year

Today, I noticed a few things that remind me how much I love fall. A neighboring business have had Chiristmas Cactus' in their front window for several months now, and today they are blooming! Another thing I noticed was that a lot of people today think we may have our first freeze tonight, so they have covered their palm trees with blankets. In coastal NC, we normally get our first overnight freeze in early December, at least, that's how I remember it. Time seems to go faster and faster. My mother warned me it would happen. I hope we're fortunate to get a good snow this winter, like we had 2 years ago, because there's nothing like snow at the beach!

I Hate Working On My Car!!!

Today started well enough. Woke up, felt great, and anticipated doing a little auto maintenance. Yesterday, when my beautiful 1985 Subaru (with 487,000 miles on it!) wouldn't start, I decided to pull the battery and alternator, and have them both tested at the local auto part store. Both failed their tests and had to be replaced. No problem.... It took about 15 minutes to pull both parts OFF the car, so it should only take a few minutes to replace both today, right? Wrong answer!!! 3 hours later, after replacing both battery and alternator and the cable connectors that attach to the battery, the damn thing still won't start!!! I've had it, I will never work on the car again, I'd rather pay the mechanic his 60 bucks an hour to do it for me... In fact he probably under charges me!!! The next time you take your car into the shop for your mechanic to break his or her back from leaning over the engine and busting his or her knuckles trying to get to that one stubborn bolt, be kind to him or her.... and be thankful it's not you. I have never wanted to break something so much!!! If there are any mechanics that happen to read this post, thank you for all you do to make peoples lives less stressful and hectic.

Not a Great Day For Democrats

Well, today started off okay until I got to work. 2 hours into my shift, I got a childish phone call from an old co-worker that just HAD to scream in my ear about the republican victory taking over the white house, house and senate. Of course I hung up on her! You know, it's okay to celebrate with your political party, but it's NOT okay to rub it in with the hahaha!.. in your face schoolyard brat.. beligerant attitude. I just had to get that off my chest and also to say... Holley.... YOU SUCK!!!!

Still waiting on election results...

Dave and I have been watching the election results for the last 9 hours. I'm not surprised that the presidential race is so close. Will Ohio turn toward the Democrats or towards the Republicans? I have a feeling that it will be several days before they delcare Ohio one way or the other. After what happened in 2000, they don't seem to want to err in representing the people again. Well, I have a long day ahead of me tomorrow, so I'll blog more later.

Election Day 2004

Dave and I slept in today. We want to make sure and catch all the news on the presidential race throughout the night. It should be fun monitoring various news sources, including all news networks (except those right-leaners Fox!). I just hope Comedy Central does a web update on their coverage of the election, since we will be unable to view it! Well time to go vote...