Summertime

It was a sad reality that I had to face recently when I realized that there really is no such thing as "summertime" anymore. The meaning of the word no longer holds the joy and freedom that it has for so many years. All summertime means to me now is more 8-5 days...Monday through Friday...week after week. The smell of fresh cut grass, the warm breeze as the sun goes down in the late evening, and finally being able to pull out the flip flops...those are all wonderful things, but they don't quite hold the same meaning to me anymore. This is my first summer in the "real world." I never thought I'd say this before, but I kind of miss school.

Coming Soon...

I have exciting news! My website that has been "coming soon" for the last year and a half is finally finished and on the web! Thanks to my amazing husband who lovingly put hours of work into it- the website can now be found at www.biancamerkley.com- Please check it out! He did an amazing job.

What happens to Richmond when it snows??

So what do you think happens to Richmond when it snows 6-8 inches??? It is beautiful at first as you can see above.

Then later on after it begins to pour down thick- things start to happen. As you can see above- the wiring in Richmond needs some help. This is a picture of our back yard. I'm pretty sure that the pole you see is not supposed to be leaning. Anyhow, the result is what you will see below...



Huge explosions and power outages all over the city. What would be considered a light flurry in Salt Lake practically puts the entire city of Richmond to a halt. Gotta love Richmond!

music + family + friends = good times

Ellwood Coffee is a great community place. It offers the best in delicious, organic, fair trade, food and drinks. This past Saturday, my friend Naomi and I played at the new Ellwood's Coffee.




We had so much fun and enjoyed spending the night playing music and mingling with family and friends that came by for a listen. Thanks to those who came out!

Thursday Night

It's Thursday night- and I think that mentally I've already checked out for the weekend. I have that careless and relaxed feeling that usually accompanies Friday afternoon-

I've been getting lost here in front of the computer for the past hour and every time I think I am just about to X-out of every page I suddenly think of one more thing I want to do on the computer...like post on the blog for instance.

Anyway, just wanted to post on here and say that overall- life is good. I can't complain. I am continuing to learn and grow at my job- so that is a good thing. But, I must admit, after an hour of looking at other people's blogs and seeing what seemed like hundreds of baby pics, I'm kind of wishing that was my life. Someday at least.

Joe continues to be busy at school. Just a few more months though! We are getting to the end. Can you believe it?!

Goodbye 2008

It's officially 2009! That is exciting to me for some reason. I just feel good about 2009, I think good things are coming. Joseph will finish up grad school in 2009! That is already something we are anxiously excited for... and with that graduation will come a lot of changes... and I am hoping and anticipating that they will be good changes.

It has been a while since we have posted on here and I have quite a bit to catch up on. So I will go back a little.

First of all...Thanksgiving. For Thanksgiving this year, we had so much fun because Mandy, Cristi, Brooks and my mom can out to visit us! We got to celebrate Mandy's birthday together as well as Thanksgiving in Williamsburg. I had never been to Williamsburg before, so I was a little worried that it might not be as fun and interesting as everyone had told me it was. But we had a really good time. As you can tell by the pictures, we really tried to experience Williamsburg to the fullest.


After they left, it was hard to go back to work and get back into the routine of things. I have to admit, I had so much fun with them that it was really hard for me to see them leave. I was able to get back into the swing of things after about a week, and the fact that Christmas and New Years was approaching made it that much easier to continue forward.

We had a really nice Christmas and New Years break with a good amount of time off to chill out. We also went all over the place it seemed. Joseph and I went up to Wilton, CT where he grew up and spent time with friends family for a few days. We met up with Sarah in New York and went to see the train they have at the botanical gardens. They have created an entire town out of all natural products from plants and trees, and it is pretty unreal! The detail was amazing.


We also had a chance to do some ginger bread house making with our friends, the Pratts, one night. Ours for some reason turned out to be an LA house. We have a half pipe and a pool in the back yard. (Clearly Joe's idea)


We also had a chance to play in the snow up there with the Francia family. It snowed quite a bit when we were up there. I miss the snow, but I'm not so sure I miss the cold.

Look at how cute this little girl is. You gotta love the suit.


Finally...to end out trip and vacation, we spend Christmas and a few days after the new year at the Merkley's farm in C-ville. It was much warmer than NY and we got to spend days by the fire and take walks out in the beautful woods. It was very relaxing and we had a great Christmas. It was different this year because there were no kids around, so we woke up late, ate late and opened our gifts around noon. It was a nice way to end the Holidays.

Possible Christmas Gifts

I have finally gotten around to posting some of the jewelry I've made on Etsy.com. If you want to check it out you can find it at: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6081982