Hurricane Ike....

Well....we aren't going to make it to Fort Worth due to Ike deciding to pay us a visit. They keep changing the projected path but it really doesn't matter too much when the storm is as big as this storm is. We are going to get rain and lots of it. I definitely do not mind the rain at all....it's the wind that I don't want.

Darrin and his Dad and some guys are out cutting down some old and dead trees around Avalon today to keep them from falling. We have one at the house that they are going to try to do as well. Otherwise, we should be good. They were predicting hurricane force winds here but now it is just a watch and we'll probably just get tropical storm force winds (~50 mph).

A friend of ours from Houston is going to stay with us this weekend so I have a feeling we will just be hanging out and watching movies or something. Thank goodness we didn't have a wedding scheduled out at Avalon.

I better get going. Take care...

Yes...we are still alive...

Hard to believe that it has been almost 6 weeks since my last entry. I guess we have been a little busy.

Avalon is doing great. We put a rail around the deck before our August wedding and it looks really nice. It provides a backdrop for the flower beds. Some other Avalon news (sorry, no pics this time):

• We stained the wood floor inside again to get it a little darker and it now has three coats of polyurethane on it to protect it and give it a little shine. It looks very pretty and hopefully will last for a long time.
• Keith came and helped us lay out new flowerbeds around the gazebo area and along the wall. These flowerbeds will add hideaway places near the gazebo and will "guide" guests to the pathways instead of cutting across the dry creek bed.
• Darrin bought several new flower pots and a bench to go in front of the wall. It looks very pretty there and will provide great photographic opportunities.
• We have one wedding in October and one in November out at Avalon. So far we have 4 weddings booked next spring/summer.
• We have a booth at the Bridal Association Bridal Show in September and at the Meeting Planners Showcase in October. We hope to get lots of appointments at both events for future weddings and parties at Avalon.

We went down to Galveston this past weekend to do a family portrait session and an engagement portrait session. We enjoyed having a couple of days away from everything just relaxing. The only bad thing was Darrin couldn't get any oysters....he had been really looking forward to them since no local restaurants serve them anymore. Apparently fresh water got in the beds and they were not any good. Very sad for Darrin.

We are headed to Fort Worth on Saturday for a bird show. Hopefully we can sell a lot. Thankfully, Hurricane Ike has changed direction and is pointing further south now. If he had kept his course to Houston, it may have made our trip to Fort Worth a little interesting. We would have appreciated the rain though....

Have a great day!