I need HELP!!!

Ok, y'all. I need your help. Most of you know that we decided to put our house up for rent when we left LA. I don't know if it's common knowledge, but it has still not rented!! If anyone, I mean anyone, knows someone who would like to rent a house, please let me know! The specs on the house are:

1,114 sq. ft.

3 bedroom

2 bath

ceramic in entryways, bathrooms and kitchen

carpet in the rest

garden tub in master bath

rent (at the moment) $1100

to see pictures go to dowlingproperties.net



I know that it is a small house, but it's perfect for a family/couple just starting out or a single person. We have already lowered the rent twice. We are using Coldwell Banker as the rental agency, so if there are any problems with the property someone will promptly attend to it. Please, everyone, rack your brain to think of anyone who might be interested. Thank you sooo very much!

My Favorite Movie...

Ok, so I just got done watching P.S. I Love You. I absolutely LOVE that movie. It has just the right amount of humor mixed with tear-jerk-i-ness. (I know that's not a word but I have to express myself somehow...) I first watched this movie with friends from work and felt like a big dork bawling my eyes out and sniffing every three seconds. But y'all, I could watch that movie back to back for an entire day and still love it (well, to be honest I might get sick of it after a day, but you get the euphemism, right?). Let me tell you a little about it for those of you that don't know. It stars Hilary Swank and Gerard Butler (the guy from 300 if anyone is into Spartans...). They are married, living in New York City. The husband, Gerry (oddly enough played by a man named Gerard), gets a brain tumor and passes away. But in an effort to console his widow, he writes letters before his death to be sent or given to his wife in many various ways. The whole story is about her healing from his death. It is a wonderful love story that just touches my heart. Anyone who knows me knows that I'm a sucker for love stories! And this is the best to date! I totally plan to read the book, which was written by Cecelia Ahern, an Irish writer. So, I suggest the next time you girls get together and want to have a girls night in, bring along this movie. And maybe it'll feel like I'm there with you, kind of......

November 6th, 2008

Well, folks, for those of us in North Dakota, winter is officially here. On November 6th we got our first snow of the season. It was crazy! I went to bed at five a.m. on Thursday the 6th, and when I woke up this is what I saw!


It's so weird, in the summer, when the weather is beautiful and wonderful for being outside, everyone is in their houses (myself included!), but for the first snow of the season, everyone comes out! Probably out of necessity since driveways and sidewalks have to be shoveled. It was fun talking to my neighbors and mutually freezing!

I love the snow...except when I have to get out and drive in it!! It's kind of funny watching me drive, because I go about twenty miles under the speed limit! Everyone passes me!! I don't care though, as long as I'm safe!! Well, I'll quit blabbing and show you the money...or pictures...

Blair and the neighbor-men shoveling snow!

This was after it melted a bit.

My fall wreath got layered with snow!


Folks, I drive in this!!


Isn't this gorgeous!

The drive home...

A beautiful North Dakota sunset.

On the Road Again!

Hey all! Blair and I went to Fargo, ND. Blair, as you all know, has ink (the 'new' lingo for tattooing) and has been thinking for a while about getting another one. Well, finally he settled on what he wanted, where he wanted it, and where he wanted to go to get it. So off we went to Fargo. After our trek to Bismarck we were a bit skeptical about what we were going to get. However, we were very pleasantly surprised with the city of Fargo. I reminded us a lot of home. Anyway, back to Blair's ink. He found a shop he liked and made an appointment to get the tattoo on Friday at 3 p.m. The only problem was that we both had to work on Thursday night...all night!! So Blair started the drive, I drove in the middle and then he brought us in. All in all, it was about a four to five hour drive. When we got to the shop, we didn't have to wait for long before Blair got placed in the chair. For those of you who don't know, getting a tattoo takes a while. So while Blair was busy, I decided to go check us into our hotel and check out the town. I found some really cool shops in the downtown area by our hotel. I was walking around and would have gone farther, but I saw some unsavory characters lingering on the sidewalk and hightailed it back to my car!! Blair didn't seem too happy when I told him about the drunk man walking in front of me on the sidewalk! In the time I was gone the artist made a lot of headway. The tattoo looks amazing. However, it's not done. It's rather big and part of it is right on his elbow. The artist finally said that he felt he should stop because the skin was swollen and no longer accepting the ink. It was disappointing, but we needed to stop so the healing process wouldn't be impaired.


After leaving the tattoo shop, we went on the hunt for something to eat. Blair and I were in a hurry to get to the appointment so we didn't stop for food. We were told about an Italian restaurant and decided to check it out. We were so glad that we did because it was yummy!! After we had filled our bellies to over their limits, we headed back to the hotel. By this time, Blair and I had been up for over 24 hours! We were swamped.

Saturday morning when we woke up, we were hungry so we decided to hunt up breakfast. I've seen commercials for IHOP but we don't have one in Minot (oh, the loss). And of course, when you see commercials for something you don't have, it just makes you want it worse! So we waited for about twenty minutes to get a table and boy, was it worth it! I got the Chicken Sante Fe Omelet and substituted my pancakes for a Strawberry Crepe. Y'all, it was SOOO good! Wow, I can't wait to go back to Fargo just for the food!


After eating some scrumptious vittles, we headed to the mall. It was a good day to go because they had all of these auxiliary groups set up in the middle. I got a cool crocheted hat for this winter. I also got some new shoes for work. Blair got an outfit from Buckle. After dropping more money than anticipated, we got some coffee and headed home. I took the first stretch of driving and at one point, we went through about a mile of snow dusted road. You heard me right, SNOW!! In October!! I couldn't believe it. Blair got really nervous and told me two or three times to be careful! He's so sweet!!

Speaking of snow, when we woke up this morning, it had snowed just enough to cover the grass. It made everything look beautiful! Let me share my pictures of the weekend's adventure!

Blair and I heading out for Fargo! (He hates pictures!)

We're in Fargo!


This is where we stayed!!


Blair had to lay on his stomach for three hours!


Is he asleep?!

This guy is good!

It's coming together!

Not completely done, but still looks good!

Our encounter with snow!

Our first snow of the season in Minot.

Fall is in the air!

Fall is in the air!! Oh my gosh! Some mornings it's positively freezing! I let the girls at work know I think it's cold, and...they laugh at me! Then they tell me that it's only going to get worse!! Oh I can't wait to have winter set in! Yahoo, Negative degree weather, here I come!! (Do you hear the sarcasm?!) However, at the moment, the weather up here is BEE-U-TI-FUL!! The wind is brisk, the sun is shiny, and the air cool (minus humidity!!) and it is wonderful. I actually enjoy rolling down my windows. That is something I never used to do, huh, Lay? The trees here (what few there are!) are already changing and the colors are so pretty. Even though I am a thousand miles from my family and friends, I still enjoy living up here, much to my surprise!
Here are some of the trees in their new outfits...

Ok, so off the weather...Blair and I have this real problem with left overs. We don't really eat them. When we first got up here, Blair made chili, put the left overs in a bowl, put it in the fridge, and we promptly forgot about it! The other day, I pulled it out and this is what I found! How gross right?! Blair saw me taking this picture and he was horrified! He told me I should not post this, but I find it to crazy not to post! I couldn't believe this would actually grow on food in the fridge. So let this be a lesson to all! Gross stuff can grow on food in the refrigerators! Power to the home-made penicillin!

And on to the next picture...I love my husband and all of his idiosyncrasies, and the following is one of them...He makes sandwiches on the counter top and this is what is left over...Until he eats this off the counter...Bless his heart. At least it's not the floor, right!?
Well that's all for now folks! Hope all are well and happy!! Fill me in on your lives!! I miss you!

My Braggin' Box

Hey y'all! I just wanted to enter this post as a braggin' corner on my wonderful, loving husband! He is so awesome! Here's a little background...My wedding gift from Blair was a Vera Bradley purse, wallet and checkbook cover. Now, back in the day when he gave all these wonderful items to me, I switched purses like underwear...well, not quite that often but you get my meaning! Anyway, my hubby told me that I "have to use that purse for a whole year!" At that point, a year felt like a millennium! Low and behold, the year flew by and before I knew it, the year was come and gone. And so, I got a hankerin' for a new purse. On the recent life-changing move, I mentioned this new desire to my love. He told me "Just go get a new one." Now, what wife doesn't like to hear that when they tell their hubby's they want something?! Well, I looked, albeit half-heartedly, for a new purse, but Blair had spoiled me when he bought me the accessories to match the purse. I mentioned this new bit of info to him and his reply was "Well, just get all of it." Yes, folks, you read correctly! Since most of this transpired during our move, I didn't feel that I should spend that much money on something I just wanted (not needed, ya know?). After we got settled in, Blair kept asking me when I was going to order a new purse and I kept putting him off saying I would wait till I got my first paycheck. Well, I guess Blair got impatient for me because he ordered me a purse...with a wallet, checkbook cover and eyeglasses case!! How sweet is he?! He got me my hearts desire (at the moment!) out of the blue! Ah, I love him! Take a look at my present!!


Okay, so to do a bit more braggin' on my super-duper hubby...I just want to congratulate him on the Accommodation Award that he recently received. He got a medal, new ribbon (for his blue's, I believe), and a certificate. Once I read the certificate I was doubly impressed by this award. It tells of all Blair did while at Barksdale AFB. It's amazing to see how he was so greatly appreciated by his superiors. Now, for those of you that know Blair, you know he's good at most everything he does. I am proud that his "higher-ups" realize it too! He was presented the award by his commander here, so now they know how wonderful he is! Congratulations Baby, I am so proud of you!!



P.S. Just to let you know, Blair told me that one of his co-workers mentioned to him that it's unusual for an airman of Blair's rank and age to get this award. Usually it's someone that's been in for a looonnnnggg time. Cool, huh?

Our Day Trip

**Well, guys, I am so glad to hear that everyone made it through the hurricane. At least Gustave. I really hope Ike doesn't do any damage!!**

This weekend, Blair and I decided to take a day trip. We wanted to go to Bismarck, ND, about an hour and a half away. Blair has class on Saturdays from 10am to 12pm so as soon as he got home, we loaded up and headed out, after a stop at Starbucks for a Grande Carmel Macchiato! It was really cool to see some of our new state. It was an absolutely beautiful day. The sun was out, the clouds were huge and fluffy and I could see for miles! Blair does the same thing I do on trips, that is, sleeps! He missed most of the trip, looking at the backside of his eyelids! That's okay though, sometimes it's nice to just be quiet and appreciate God's handy work!

Although we weren't to greatly impressed with Bismarck, since Minot has virtually everything they do, we still had a good time. I think the best part for me was the trip there and back. On the way home we saw a really pretty view of the sun shining through the clouds. We did decide though that next time we'd try Grand Forks (about 3.5 hours away) and Fargo (about 5 hours away) for our next road trip.

Here are the few pictures I did take!

This site was common due to all the farms in North Dakota.

It's too small to see good, but those are horses! There was a whole herd of them!

The sign says "Bismarck 56 miles." I took this about an hour into our trip.

North Dakota is big on the windmill energy. These are so neat to see, and HUGE!

Just wanted to prove that in August, somewhere in America, it can be in the 60's!

This is the beautiful storm we could see on our way home. I have no idea how far away it was, but we didn't get any rain from it!