Update

hey guys,

sorry I haven't blogged in a while. I told you from the beginning that my life isn't too much to "blog" about (like that play on words?) :)

Not too much going on here besides living in two different cities. I'm working a lot with both my jobs (which is good) and I am trying to find a job and sell a house in the worst financial crisis since the great depression (which is bad.) I have a job interview tomorrow for a job that I'm very interested in and would be great for my schedule (lots of travel and I can work from home from here or Lawrenceville.) Please think of me and utter a quick prayer on Wednesday at 1:00 p.m.

I just got back from Savannah for a conference and will be leaving Sunday for Disney World with my wild, crazy and long time friend Gina. I'm sure there will be lots of blog-worthy material that comes from this trip. Let's see... last time we went we 1) got sushi and saki bought for us by a single guy at Shogun, 2) ate dinner with Disney characters 3) crashed a private party in downtown Disney 4) I got hit on by the "bouncer" i.e. the young associate for the company hosting the party- he gave me his card and told me to call him if I ever got divorced! Wow!

I can't wait to spend some quality time with my longest friend. We've known each other since we were 5 years old. Still going strong 25 years later!

here's a couple of pics from my time in Savannah. I just LOVE that city. Hopefully I'll have them up on Flickr soon.

Rest in Peace, Darrick...

Hey guys,

I just found out that a dear friend and co-worker of mine from TVA passed away while serving in Iraq in the Army Reserves. His name was Darrick Wright and he was only 37 years old. He had gotten married since I left TVA three years ago and his wife is expecting their first child in November. He and I started on the same day in 2000 at TVA and went through all the "fun" new employee orientations and training and really bonded. I even tried to set him up with Joy- but he was too short for her. :) remember that, Joy? We cooked for him at our apartment at The Landings! He actually took my place when I left TVA in the Market Research and Evaluation group. He was an incredible guy that never met a stranger. Everyone at TVA is understandably upset. Please keep this family in your prayers, especially his young wife.

More info here and here

Caption Please...

Hey guys,

Last weekend I had the joy of being involved with a communion and candlelight service. My friend, Chris, is a Worship Pastor at a small church plant in Griffin, GA called Journey Church. We've been friends since I worked as the Tourism Director in Monroe County and Chris was the Assistant Chief of Police in Forsyth (County seat of Monroe.) It was fun discovering that we had so much in common- he is a bi-vocational Worship Pastor! We love hanging out with Chris and Heather and their son, Lance and we wish we could see them more (he works at the new Johns Creek police department now in Fulton County.)

Chris was really creative and had some really neat elements to the service, including a 8' cross that was carried into the service and hung while we sang "Wonderful Cross." I got to sing two songs, "Sing to the King" and "To Speak Your Name"- and I had an absolute blast!

Here's a pic from our service. What I want to know is this: What AM I thinking in this picture? Am I thinking "What a wonderful cross?" or Thank you, God." or hopefully not "What's for dinner?" :)

What do you guys think?

Happy Birthday and Happy Anniversary!

Hmmm....let's take a trip down memory lane to where many of you were six years ago on a Labor Day weekend much like this one. Maybe you were sleeping in at a world class luxury hotel in Downtown Chattanooga, or maybe you were enjoying lunch or a movie at one of Chattanooga's many attractions. Or maybe you were reliving the previous day's events and remembering the celebration of two major events: Scott and Carmen's wedding AND Scott's 31st birthday! Happy Birthday and Anniversary, Scott! (sorry it's one day late- it was a crazy day yesterday, you know that!)

August 31st is a VERY important day in the Copeland family. Let's see, Scott's mom was born on August 31st, 1945. Scott's parents got married on August 31st, 1968 (Scott's mom's 23rd birthday), THEN Scott was born three years later on August 31st, 1971. When we got engaged we realized that August 31st fell on a Saturday that year (2002) and we knew we had to get married on that day. So, let's recap. Yesterday was. 1) Scott's mom's birthday, 2) Scott's parents anniversary, 3) Scott's birthday and 4) Our anniversary. Crazy, right? Believe me, there were text messages, phone calls, emails and voicemails flying around the Copelands yesterday. Scott even got a voicemail with little girls singing " Happy Birthday" to "Uncle Cool" from our nieces, Cassie and Brianna (long story about the "Uncle Cool")

We celebrated our anniversary by spending the weekend at a hotel in Atlanta. On Friday we went to Stone Mtn and hiked many of the nature trails and ate at a yummy restaurant. (pics coming soon on my flickr site) On Saturday, we went to the High Museum of Art (great exhibits from the Louvre and a fascinating exhibit on Civil Rights history) and the Center for Puppetry Arts. Here is a pic of Scott next to his "hero" Kermit the Frog. The Center for Puppetry Arts is going to be opening a new wing in 2012 dedicated to Jim Hensen's collection of muppets. It will be amazing (especially if you like Jim Hensen, and Scott does)

Sunday we attended church and there was a HUGE summer blowout that evening for the community at our church. They had a cookout, inflatables, volleyball AND professional fireworks. Our pastor negotiated a great deal from the people who do the Braves' fireworks and we had a 15 minute show which was amazing. Here are some bad pics from my phone, but it shows you the caliber of fireworks. Not bad for any event, let alone a church! We had TONS of visitors and hope to make this an annual event for the community.

Scott promised me fireworks for my anniversary and I got them! :)

Dreams and Mt. Vesuvius

This is bizarre. The other night I had the MOST vivid dream that Scott and I had gone back in time and were in Pompeii, Italy in A.D 79. We knew that Mt. Vesuvius was going to erupt soon and were warning people, but no one believed us. Then, my friend Joy (who was back in time with me for some reason) called me on my cell phone (don't ask me why we had cell phones in A.D. 79) to find out where I was. She wanted to be near me so we could die together. How morbid and weird is that?

The other weird thing about this dream is that I found out today that it's the anniversary of the massive eruption that buried Pompeii and killed thousands on August 24 and 25th, A.D. 79. Isn't the brain an amazing thing? Growing up, I was fascinated with the stories of Mt. Vesuvius, Mt. St. Helens, the Titanic, etc. Somehow I think the date of the Mt. Vesuvius eruption was buried somewhere DEEP in my brain and came out in my dream. You guys have anything happen like that?

Master Bath update...

hey guys,


it's been very busy around here. This weekend I got the "whim" that I was going to paint the main room of our master bath. We've mentioned that we've put in new tile, countertops, mirrors, toilet, etc, but I had left the color in the bathroom (a chocolate brown that is the same as in our bedroom.) Well, after putting in the countertop (a laminate called butterum granite), it just seemed very dark in our 1980's small master bath. So, I painted the section with the sinks and left the other color in the room with the tub and toilet. I like the effect because they are both in the same color family. Anyway, here's our tiny, but cute master bath!









After: This shows the tile we put in.

Toilet Room- Not much to look at.

And this next pic shows the cute transition between the rooms.

Check out Scott's blog for Before Pics! We had pastel laminate floors, baby blue countertop and awful wallpaper (although I think it was painted in the before pics...we didn't get any shots of the "cute" flowered 80's wallpaper!)

My babies...

My babies right now are my two puppies, Lexie (the beagle) and Anna (the lab/shar-pei mix). I'm not sure if I've ever told you the story of our animals' names. When I had my transplant, Scott let me get a kitten. I brought home a scrawny little white and black kitten from the pound. He had a big, black spot on his head and Scott decided to name him "Gorbachev" (we call him Gorbs or Gorby) because his spot is in the same spot as Gorbachev's birth mark.

Well, we decided to go with this "Russian" theme with as we acquired more animals. Next we got our beagle puppy, and we decided to name her "Alexandra" and call her Lexie. Then we got our Lab/Shar-pei mix and named her "Anastasia" and call her Anna. Don't worry, we aren't going to continue this trend with our children!

anyway, we have taken our dogs so many places since we've had them and they are always up for a ride. And they are the BEST travel dogs. We usually travel with them in Scott's Pathfinder, where we have a gate set up and they have the reign of the trunk area. I didn't have this luxury when I took them to Chattanooga this past weekend and we all had to pile in my little Saab. But check out my angels! They were so great! Here's Lexie (who decided she HAD to sit in the passenger seat like a human)

And here's Anna, who was an angel in the back seat.

I love my babies! (yes, I took these with my phone while driving- Don't worry, I was careful!)