JT2

Wow February Already!

2010-02-03T13:29:00.003-05:00

Man I dont know where the last few months of 2009 went and the first month of 2010...guess that means we are staying busy.

Yes, we are busy as ever which should be evident by the lack of updates posted. I know I said this last fall, but I promise in 2010 to keep our blog more up to date so our family and friends that live all across the country can keep in touch with us.

In November we bought another tanning salon so we now have 2 salons as well as 2 Dudes Designs to keep us always on the go. We spent Christmas in Hawaii with my family, which was wonderful and relaxing. We celebrated our 2nd Anniversary in January (yes we made it 2 years already, even though some didnt think we ever would..haha). We both turn another year older this month...no idea where all the years have gone already. Brutus is doing good and getting into trouble as usual. He did really enjoy the snow we had last weekend so that entertained him.

Ok well I better get back to work now, but there will be more updates coming soon.

Remembering Uncle Don

2009-10-13T18:42:00.003-04:00

On Sept 17 we lost Uncle Don, it was a very very sad day in all our hearts. We will always remember his loving and care free attitude. He created so many memories with each of us that we will never forget. Although his life was cut short....he brought a lifetime of happiness and joy to all our hearts. Uncle Don will always be in our thoughts and we pray that he has gone to a much happier place where he can enjoy his life and live without pain.

To view additonal pictures of Uncle Don please go to www.mem.com and search Kerslake.

Uncle Don, Uncle Bob, Mom, Uncle Dale, Uncle Dennis

I promise to happily carry on Uncle Don's tradition of a huge plate of mashed potatoes with the perfect crater in the middle to hold the gravy :)

Love, Nell Bell

Blog Updates

2009-10-08T18:08:00.002-04:00

On my recent trip to Washington I realized how many family and friends actually read our blog, yes this blog that we have been horrible about updating. With the facebook craze it has been easy to not update the blog. I am sorry to everyone that has been missing out, or not missing out.

I promise that in the weeks to come I will start updating the blog more regularly again, or maybe I can talk Brutus into keeping it up to date for us.

Well we are off to Nashville this weekend for a Tanning Expo, not really sure what to expect, should be interesting. I am really tired of living out a suitcase though and once we are back from Nashville I don't plan on traveling until at least December..haha.

Look for more updates next week!

Lazy Parents

2009-08-03T18:16:00.004-04:00

Ok, so the parents aren't really lazy but they seem to be too busy to keep up on their blog these days. I thought since I am kind of a pain sometimes and cause them trouble that I might write a few things for them in hopes of helping out a little around here.

Grandma and Grandpa Troiano visited in the begining of July. I was still having some issues from my surgery and still had that darn cone around my head (which actually worked out well for me because Gma Sandy really felt sorry for me. She kept saying how pitiful I looked with that thing on....and she put up with me real well. I got a few licks to her face in and she didn't even get upset with me...haha...kind of like the spoiled grandchild already).

So, I guess this is what the outside of "The Childress Winery" looks like. I would say it is a very beautiful place and no idea why I would have had to stay home on this trip. I swear I would have never jumped in the water of the fountain or ran around peeing on the flowers...I would have been on my best behavior.

One evening they all left me home again as they headed down into Charlotte to go and eat at the famous Penguin Restaurant. Mom and Dad had heard about this place from a few different friends and then one night they saw it on "Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives" and decided they had to go check it out. As you can see from the picture the place is pretty small and most often you have to wait for a table. I heard Dad say there were some people there that had driven 3 or 4 hours just to eat here because they had seen it on "Triple D" also known as "Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives".

As you can see from the next few pictures our last couple of weeks in July were filled with rain. I don't mind when it rains so much, but it does really limit my outdoor time. No playing outside in the rain, I am pretty much limited to being put out the door to pee and then called right back in.

I heard the weather man say that in a week and half our area had recorded 14 inches of rain...man that sure seems like a lot. That must be why the back yard is always soggy and wet. We have even had a few episodes of hail. Which brings me to my next and final update "The Garden"

Mom has been really bummed about the garden, it hasn't done as well as she hoped. But really with so much rain all summer and hail storms, and then when it isn't raining it seems to be 90+ degrees with lots of humidity, I don't think it looks too bad. I think the worst part for her was she wanted to have fresh peas and she only got a couple of pods off before all the plants died. It was just too hot for them to survive this late in the summer. We are starting get a few cucumbers and we still have corn growing (although the corn seems to get pretty beat up in the wind and rain) it is surviving and has some ears growing.

This is one of the few pea pods mom got..I go out there with her all the time to check the garden and she was so excited when she started seeing some pods on the few plants we had left, then slolwy one by one before the pods could mature the plant would die. I watched mom eat a couple just so she could say she had some fresh peas, but I could tell by the look on her face they werent really ready or what she was hoping for.

Well thats about all I can think of that has happened in July..now we move onto August. I will try to make sure mom and dad do a better job of updating the blog.

Until next time, I will try to stay out of trouble.

Love Brutus

PS I have my own facebook now so if you havent already become my friend, check me out. You can search for Brutus Troiano to find me.

Thanks BT Fan Club

2009-07-14T11:10:00.001-04:00

Well I am happy to report that I survived my not so little surgery. I want to thank the Brutus Troiano Fan Club from Ohio for the thoughtful card...it really did help me get through 3 weeks of misery.

I am not sure which part of the surgery was the worst (well we know which part was actually the worst as is evident by some missing parts now, but aside from that)...the feet and legs (from having my declaws removed) that had to be wrapped and constantly itched or the damn cone that had to be on my head to try and keep me from chewing on my feet. I honestly think the cone did more damage than it helped..I managed to run into everything and get myself stuck. Plus, after a few days I figured out that I could use the edges of it to rub off the bandages and get to my feet anyways.

So after numerous trips (and I mean so many that everyone at the Vet now knows me and Dad by name) to get my legs and feet rewrapped and to make sure I didnt rip out any stitches (yeah I did get the bandages off numerous times and caused them to bleed quite often), antibiotics becuase I got a little infection, many different doses of "Doggie Downers" to keep me calm and relaxed (haha...the Vet had no idea who he was dealing with here), a plastic cone that was broken into about five different pieces that Dad had to keep taping back together, I can officially say that I am recovered and back to playing and causing trouble.

We did have a slight panic one morning when I woke up to find my feet about 3 times their normal size. As you can see in the pics below they were pretty big and funny looking. The Vet said apparently I had slept wrong on them and since they were bandages all the blood had pooled in my feet and were not getting any circulation....oh is that all...haha. Thankfully they went back to normal after a few hours and having the bandages redone again!

At least this whole mess is behind us now and I can get back to life as normal...although I keep hearing mention of some kind of obedience classes and I have no idea what this could be all about but I would imagine by the two words "Obedience" and "Class" I can not imagine it is good! Thanks again to the BT Fan Club....I feel very honored to officially have my own fan club.

Thats all for now until my next adventures.....

Brutus

Hey... I'm Going To Rehab Tomorrow

2009-06-24T15:40:00.002-04:00

So a couple of weeks ago, one a Saturday that we FINALLY had off from Tiki Tan, we decided to take a trip up to Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, NC.

If you don’t know what Bowman Gray is, it is the longest running weekly short track that is still sanctioned by NASCAR. Who really cares right? Well, that is true. But what makes the place cool is that it is a quarter-mile track that is built around the outside of a football field that the local Winston-Salem Division 2 or 3 college team still uses. The stadium serves as both a racetrack and football stadium.

On top of that, it is just a cool looking place and they pack fans in there every week for just regular weekly shows. They get maybe 6,000 to 8,000 people normally… and for big shows, can get over 10,000. That is impressive for a weekly short track.

So after inviting everyone we know (ok, maybe not, but a lot of people), it was just Jennell, JT and Dale heading to the stadium. Of course, a tradition when going up there is heading to Kurleys BBQ. It is one of my favorite places to eat and has great food. They get it out to you faster than any fast food restaurant and have the best hush puppies going. It’s in Welcome, NC, which is where the Richard Childress shops are located. I guess a lot of the RCR guys eat there every day. It is a place straight out of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives on Food Network. Of course, the day Guy Ferri goes there, I’m sure I’ll miss it!

After Kurleys, we were off to the stadium. It had rained plenty leading up to Saturday, but it wasn’t supposed to rain then. So things were looking good. Once we parked and paid for our tickets (we went on $1 ladies night… meaning all women were just $1. And regular tickets were just $10), we were decideing on where to sit. There are plenty of options there and not one bad seat. So we decided on the front row of the beer garden, so we could drink some beer.

Now the front row at BG is special because the track has no catch fencing, expect for in turns one and two. On the straights, you are sitting right by the track with nothing separating you from the track other than a concrete wall.

It was going well and racing was just getting ready to start. We had our beers in hand when came one of the track’s regular fans. And as you can imagine, sitting in the beer garden section, he was something else. Broken foot/leg/toe or whatever he had, he sat right behind us and eventually moved himself right down beside Jeremy. The guy knew EVERYONE! And he smoked enough for EVERYONE. And he didn’t care is his ashes were going into JT’s beer and left over hush puppies.

And, most unfortunate, his family was sending him to rehab the next night, so you know what they told him… go to the stadium and get drunk. And he was. And he told EVERYONE. He told us and we didn’t even know him. And he told everyone that was sitting in the front row, second row, third row and evern whistled and yelled to people in the top row to tell them. It was a real treat.

After one race, we decided that we’d had enough. And with the contact buzz we were getting from his beer drinking, we decided to find some new seats so we could watch the races and hear the race cars.

We sat in turn one, up high this time. And the view was awesome, as you can see. You can see the whole track well and really get a feel for the racing, even though you aren’t right on top of it.
So after the second race of the night… the wide started blowing, and before you knew it, the rain was falling. Most people headed for the exits, but we just stayed put. We thought it would pass. And it did. But then it started raining again. And after about 2 minutes of thinking about it, they called the race.

So Jennell’s first stadium experience was a short one… but it included all of the highlights… big crowd, good seats, Kurley’s BBQ… and even a possible trip to rehab.

We can only imagine what she’ll see in a full show there. We’ll be back soon for sure!

He's Not A Happy Puppy!!!

2009-06-20T17:55:00.002-04:00

Hey there everyone. We just thought we would write and give you an update to a couple of things that have been going on and keeping us busy and away from the computer to update you all on this blog. It was such a great idea in the beginning and still is, but it seems like we just never have time to keep it updated.

Brutus has been doing some of the updating for us lately, but as you all know from the last post, he isn’t really able to update you now. He wanted to, but his “typing” fingers, aka his front paws, are all bandaged up right now. So instead, he’s sitting here and we’re just doing short-hand for him while he is “barking” out (pun intended) instructions.

Brutus had a great day on Thursday. He went to a new vet to get a “major” surgery. He became half a man, as he said in the last post. In addition to that, he had his duclaws removed, hence the bandages on his front legs. He also got updated on all of his shots, which were due anyway. All in all, it wasn’t one of his better days! But it is all for the better.

When we went to pick him up, he came out of the back with a protective cone on his head… ala the great 80s movie One Crazy Summer (if you’ve seen it, you know exactly what I’m talking about. And if you haven’t go rent it. This cone protects his incisions and keeps him from trying to lick them or get at them.

Even though he doesn’t find it too funny, it is rather comical. The cone extends plenty far around his neck, allowing him to pretty much run into everything in the house. Going up the stairs, down the stairs, around the couch, around the kitchen table… no matter where he is, he bangs that cone on everything. He often gets hung up on something because of the cone… and when he does, he just looks at you with this “what the hell is going on” look. Now that we know he is feeling better, it is rather comical.

Even less funny for him is that face that he will have to wear the cone until his front paws get better enough to where he won’t gnaw at them. We wanted to take some video and post it on the blog, but we didn’t do it early enough and he’s figured out, for the most part, how to walk around and not hit everything!

The vet and vet techs said he did a great job while there and got through the surgery just fine. He was a happy puppy going in and everyone there loved him. Not bad for a monster like him going into a new vets for the first time.

And don't worry everyone, we're sure he'll be back behind the keys of his computer soon enough.

This May Be My Last Post

2009-06-16T13:54:00.003-04:00

Hello Everyone, its your favorite dog Brutus! I am not sure what to tell you but I keep hearing mom and dad say I am having some kind of surgery on Thursday...and I really don't understand what that means and if I will be able to continue writing. I also don't know what I am having surgery for as I seem to feel fine and do "whatever" I want all the time. They don't have surgery for stubborn dogs who seem to always get into trouble do they???? Oh know, what could this mean.....

I think this surgery talk came up a while back because I was getting into a lot of trouble and really not being too good of a dog, but hey what do they expect from me, its me Brutus :) But thankfully I hadn't heard anything about it for a while, but then suddenly when Dad was gone for the week to Ohio things changed and as soon as he was back home I had a surgery scheduled. Now again, I am really not sure what this is all about...I have heard mom say I will be missing some manly stuff (ouch that doesn't sound good). And I have heard Dad saying how funny I will be with some cone thing on my head....boy what have I gotten myself into here...

I guess that maybe my decision to start chewing on the granite in the bathroom and eating the corner of the wood molding was not the wisest decision in hind site. I think mom and dad may have been slightly upset about this.
I mean really come on, from this picture it doesn't look too bad...right? They can easily replace the wooden molding...as far as the granite goes it really does look worse in person. I have managed to get some chunks out of it and leave lots of teeth marks and deep scratches in the top part of it.

Or maybe this was the bad decision...when I decided that one corner destroyed wasn't enough so I wanted to see how the other corner tasted. As you can see I was able to get a big chunk off the bottom on this side.

Well enough about me and this surgery deal because it is depressing me to talk and think about. Not sure why I have to lose some of my manlyhood on Thursday and not really sure how that is going to fix the granite in the bathroom...but I guess we will see.

As far as other happening around here....it is supposed to start raining her today for the next couple of day. We have sure had a lot of rain so far this summer. And man when it rains it pours. I know mom and dad are getting tired of the rain. The garden has gotten too much water from the rain and the yard is just like a swamp all the time, it never dries out and the grass seems to be dying in a lot of spots.

This is what happens to the backyard when it rains (which over the last couple months has been at least a couple times a week). Now don't get me wrong, I love to run around, splash and play in all this water....but that usually gets me in some trouble. It might be because then I like to run in the house and shake all over everything. I do see how the grass has a hard time growing when all this water sits on it. I guess when the contractors built our backyard they forgot to level it out or make any grading so the water would flow away instead of just puddling back there like a lake.

Garden update: well mom and dad have managed to keep me out of the garden with the fence, which I don't really like. Things seem to be looking good in there, although I notice some plants starting to yellow a little bit and in my previous life I had some gardening experience that tells me things are a little too wet in there. I know there is nothing mom and dad can do because it just keeps raining, but I hope it can dry out and survive ok because mom and dad both seem pretty excited about their garden. Mom planted a few more plants this morning in it, she added some cilantro, banana peppers (hot ones), and jalapenos....none of which really excite me.

Well since I may only have a couple days left...I better get off this computer and enjoy them! I will probably cause some trouble, just because I can...I mean really how much worse can it get? Hopefully mom and dad will keep you all up to date on my status....and please, please don't laugh at any funny picture of me with a cone on my head. I think I will talk with the vet/doctor about this and see if the cone thing will really be necessary.

Wish me luck

Brutus

Garden Project

2009-06-09T20:00:00.005-04:00

Well it has officially been a month since our last post so I guess that means either we have been really busy or we just don't feel like posting on our blog anymore. Actually I have no idea where the last month has gone, so yes we have just been really busy. I had the great idea that we should plant a garden this year, especially since Jeremy is such a vegetable lover..lol. If anyone needs any veggies this summer there will be plenty to share because there is no way I will be able to eat all this myself and Jeremy will only eat the corn.

After some debate on where the best place to put the garden would be, we realized the corner of yard by the house really would be the best and make the most sense, although we knew this would not be the easiest location to put it....as you will see in later pictures.

Yep, thats the spot. Perfect know just dig up the grass and get the soil ready to plant a garden. What do you mean the ground is too hard, where are your muscles?

Ok, so just rent a tiller and the ground will be all ready to plant. Why do I see standing water where we are planting the garden? Oh thats right our crappy yard tends to all puddle when it rains and apparently we have picked one of those puddle areas. Once we get the ground all tilled up we will be ok though.....right?

What do you mean you spent all day with the tiller and this is all you got done! I don't see standing water anymore, but the ground doesn't really look ready to plant a garden either. So after a few days of hard labor, a rented tiller (that really did no good..although we should have known this because when they were trying to put up our fence they had to jack hammer the ground on this side due to all the hard rock underneath) we are moving on to "Plan B".

"Plan B" consists of making a raised garden, which is really what we wanted in the beginning anyway. Here is the first truck load of soil. And the guy that loaded it told Jeremy "this dirt with grow some good tamaters" so I guess the pressure is on, although we didn't plant any tomatoes.

Here is truck load two of soil and the start of the retaining wall.

Ok, wall is complete and soil is ready to go. Now someone just needs to plant, plant, plant.

I took over the planting since Jeremy said he had no idea what to do, plus he had already done all the work by getting the thing made and ready to plant. So on I went planting rows and rows of seeds and hoping like heck they actually grow.

This half of the garden is by far the most important: 3 rows of corn and 3 of peas!

Corn was the first thing to start popping up, lucky for Jeremy

A few bean sprouts then followed....man the peas better come up or I will tear this whole garden out :) And I am happy to report everything came up over the next couple of weeks and we have a healthy and growing garden. Now we just have to keep watering it and wait for all the good fresh veggies.
This is what the garden currently look like. We have Corn, Peas (of course), Green Beans, Lettuce, Onions, Artichokes and Cucumbers.

From One Dog To Another - GET OUT!

2009-05-08T12:23:00.008-04:00

Hey everyone. I know mom and dad haven't written on here for a while. They always seem to be busy running around and doing a lot of things. I think their businesses are going good, because dad is always on his computer and both mom and dad look really tan. So I guess that means things are really good for them.

I guess things have been going too good! Or maybe I've been too bad, because when dad came home from work one day and let me out of the bathroom, I went outside and there was this other dog in my yard. I looked at her, looked at dad, looked at her, looked at dad, licked myself, looked at dad again, looked at her, peed on the grill, looked at her and then looked at dad again. I mean, what the heck, how do they get another dog already?

I then heard dad talking to mom on the phone and he said he found this other dog in the backyard when he got home from work. I don't know how she got there, but she is pretty small, so I guess she might have crawled under the fence. And pretty soon, I figured out for sure that is how she got in the backyard, because she kept trying to run away from me and escape by crawling back under the fence. But every time, dad would grab her and get her back in the yard. I kept trying to get her out of my yard and he kept saving her.

Then mom got home and dad took her away. I thought "good, she's gone." But not too long after that, here he came back with her. Still not gone. I think they even drove around and looked to see if anyone missed her, but again, she came back with them. Dad even took her to the vet to see if anyone had some sort of computer installed in her that would say if she belonged somewhere, but again, no such luck. I just couldn't get rid of her.

They gave her my old crate, they gave her some of my food, my water, my old toys. Was I being replaced? I know that they get mad of me every now and then when I eat things and stuff, but replace me with a little dog? What the hell? Then they even named her. They called her Ginger II first. Then they called her Daisy. Recently, they started calling her Cupcake. Geesh... I've only got one name and she's got three.

At first, I didn't really like her. But the more she is around, the more I like her. We've gotten to be pretty good friends. We chase each other all around the house. I think that might make mom and dad pretty mad sometimes, since we broke one of their plants. Of course, they put us outside and she always seems to try and run around on her own. She doesn't like to play with me outside. Instead, I think she is always looking for a way out. Mom and dad both have to try and catch her when she tries to crawl under the fence.

The other day, she got out and dad went running after her. And even better, he left the back gate open, so I followed. I was just chasing after her, trying to help dad get her, but she must have thought I was playing and she kept on running and running. Dad wasn't very happy. But he eventually caught her and we all went back to the house.

So here we are, several days later, and she is still around my house, eating my food, taking some of my attention.

I am pretty sure mom and dad are trying to get rid of her. I saw them working on their computer and print out a pretty flyer. I think they said they put those flyers up at the tanning place. And they keep talking about finding her a home. So hopefully soon enough, she'll be out of my hair.

She is pretty cute. Do you want her? Because I want her out of my house! She doesn't get the code of ethics of dogs. She can't come in all cute looking and steal my thunder!

So if anyone wants her, hit me up on email. Or let my parents know.

-- Brutus

We Are The People

2009-05-02T22:51:00.000-04:00

Hey everyone. So it’s been a while for an update. And not much has changed. We’ve been putting in a lot of time at the salon (it never ends) and Jeremy has also been putting in a lot of time with 2 Dudes (check out http://www.andysanterremotorsports.com/ and http://www.mikeykile.com/), so that has left little time to do too much else.

But one thing that we did have time to do was go to the Jimmy Buffett concert a couple of weeks ago. Jennell had bought me tickets for my birthday, along with a few extra. We got a pretty quick “yes” from Mike and Camie on joining us, but the other two tickets sat there for a while without any owners.

We had quite the setup for the tailgaiting

A few days before the concert, we were talking with Mike and Camie and they brought up their friends Mike and Debbie Rogers. I’ve known Mike Rogers from his son, Andrew. Andrew was a former 51 client and raced in Legends car and the Pro Cup Series. So I knew them pretty well. Well, they took the tickets and were very excited to come. In fact, we didn’t know that Mike and Debbie are diehard Carolina Panthers tailgaters and had the whole setup.

Mike enjoyed some quality beverage

So we headed to Verizon Wireless and got all set up behind the two Mikes’ trucks. We had it all. A easy-up tent, full carpet, two grills, table, plenty of chairs and even a generator to power the blender. After a brief rain storm almost took the easy-up and Jennell (who was holding onto one of the legs) to Oz, we got down to some grilling and drinking. We even made friends with the friendly couple that was parked beside us and they joined our group.

Almost five hours of tailgating finally led us into the concert. And we had a lot fun. We had some good seats, had plenty of overpriced beers and enjoyed some great Buffett music.

The tailgating crowd was huge

And the drinks were yummy

The six of us will probably be back next year. And we are talking about some other things to possibly do together in the future. It was a fun group and one that will probably be together a lot more in the near future!

After we put down the ez-up, we were basking in the sun

JT and Nellie

Mike, Cammie and.... yeah.

Mike and Debbie Rodgers

Mike and Camie

Our group had some quality seats... close to the beer garden

Mike, Camie and Jennell enjoyed the concert, can you tell.

We enjoyed our night.

What? You’re Still Alive? We Can’t Believe It!

2009-04-16T11:12:00.004-04:00

Ok, so I always try to catch your attention before starting these blog posts. So did this one do the trick? Great if it did. If not, well, then kiss my you know what.

So are you tired of hearing that we are sorry for not posting much lately? Well, I’m not going to say it this time. Its just how it is going lately. So freaking busy, I am only getting to watch one Netflix movie every week or two these days. That is the way to judge how busy a person is! Hahaha.

So anyway, I thought the easiest way to give everyone an update on all of the things that have been going on lately… or lack there of other than working… was to do it in a random thoughts and random notes way. So, in no particular order, here are some things that have been going on with us over the past however long.

Enjoy!

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Going to be heading to the Jimmy Buffett concert next Tuesday. When it was announced, all kinds of people wanted to go… but now, we’ve still got two extra tickets, so if anyone wants to join us and Mike and Camie at the concert, let us know. It will be awesome. Still holding out that Wendy and Doug might want to come back again this year after we had a great time with them last year. Maybe Danny and Danielle. Or CJ and Lori. Who knows. I’m really looking forward to that and maybe that will deserve a post on its own. I know last year’s Buffett concert would have had a huge post if we had our blog at that time… and Wendy and Doug know why! Hahaha

Nellie and Wendy had some drinks... and fun at buffett last year.

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Tiki Tan has been busy. Very busy! And we are hopefully finally getting into a routine there. We had to fire one employee for lying to us and coming into work late, so we have been busy trying to find some replacements and training them. We also hired two bed cleaners and they both left, so we hunted for two more. We’ve now got two new employees (our friend Wendy being one of them) and Carrie. And we’ve got two sisters who are our new bed cleaners. And they are great. And they happen to live just down the road from us in our subdivision. Its kinda cool.

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And why don’t we write more on our blog at night when we get home from work? Because our crappy dryer there doesn’t work at all, and we bring all of our towels home every night and do the laundry here at home. Its AWESOME!!!!!!!!

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Funny that having the tanning salon gets you to really know people in the community. We’ve had a bunch of people come into the salon from our subdivision that we didn’t know from before. One family lives just a few houses down from us and we didn’t even know it. And their son has been over to play with Brutus before. And we didn’t know it. And they love our fence and have been admiring it. And we didn’t know it. Hahaha. Also, the people that own the hardware store live just down from us. And now when we go to the bank or around the Harrisburg area, we always seem to see someone that we’ve had in the salon. Its pretty cool actually.

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We are now sending out these really cool newsletters for Tiki Tan. They include our newsiest specials each month, cool info and stuff like that. If you want to start getting them to see what is happening, go to our website (www.tikitannc.com) and sign up on the front page.

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2 Dudes is going really well. We’ve got a lot of interest from new clients and have signed some new ones. We’ve got a new website up (www.brandonmcreynolds.com) and are working on several more. We got a new client in the ASA Southeast Asphalt Tour, which is huge for us. Dale and I went to a Busch East race last weekend and made a lot of contacts and I think this is going to be a HUGE year for us. A lot of people are really excited about us and a lot of people are really really unhappy with my former employer, 51. Dale and I have made a very good name for ourselves over the years and I think it is going to pay off real soon!

******
Facebook is becoming a big thing and now Jennell and I both have Facebook pages to connect with some old friends. We’ve also built pages for both Tiki Tan and 2 Dudes. So that is a good way to get our name out there and connect with people. So if any of you have facebook pages, do a search for Jennell and I, along with Tiki Tan (make sure you pick the right one… with our logo) and 2 Dudes and become our friends and fans. I’ve already got to become friends on there with several people I worked with at ASA back in the day, along with some high school friends.

******
A couple of weeks ago, I raced in the first CRASHCar race of the year. This time, I actually drove Rusty’s car, the Vigilante. I don’t have any pictures of it, because I forgot to take the camera and Jennell had to work since the race was rained out and pushed back to a day she was supposed to work, so we have no pictures. But I was able to finish 3rd and got a nice trophy for it. It wasn’t the prettiest races, as I spun a couple of times, but yellow flags played in my favor and I was able to come home third. Now, I’m going to for championship this year… hopefully… depending on how the “which car am I driving this week” situation plays out. I will keep everyone informed of how that goes on here.

JT's impressive trophy collection, including his newest on the right

******
Jennell and I’s yard looks like CRAP! One Sunday ago, we spent all day in the yard picking weeds and spreading Scott’s Turf Builder until our little fingers couldn’t take it anymore. Its frustrating to see all kinds of green lawns around and then our whole subdivision with crappy looking yards. We hate the grass they planted here.

******
Our friends Deon and Danielle are getting married in the summer and I did a quick little website for their wedding. It actually turned out pretty cool. It makes Jennell and I wish we did something like this for our wedding. Oh well. We’re planning to head to indy for the wedding, even though Deon couldn’t make it to ours since he was at some ASA banquet collecting some stupid award like the crew chief of the year or something. Geesh! How do we rate! Hahaha

www.deonanddanielle.com

******
Jennell finally broke down and got a new phone. He old one was just crapping out and crapping out. So she’s got a cool new one that is touch screen and has a full keyboard. I’m actually jealous of her in the technological sense for a change! And she’s loving it! Hahaha

******
Had Todd and Dale come over for Easter. It was a nice, calm day. It was good for Dale too, since he just got into a big wreck with his truck on Friday in the pouring rain we had here. He actually hydroplaned on some water, went across several lanes of traffic and hit a semi. He was very very lucky to be ok, other than a couple of banged up knees. I went up to pick him up and saw his truck first hand and he was really lucky. He always went completely under the semi’s trailer. So now, he is shopping for a new car.

Dale's truck... after getting into a fight with a semi

******
Jennell and I are totally hooked on this season’s 24. If you don’t watch it… then you suck.

******
Brutus is doing ok. Sometimes, he is a great puppy. Sometimes he drives you up the wall and gets into everything. As I write this, he is just sitting beside my chair and sleeping. He never seems to do that for Jennell though. Hahaha. I’m sure you will be reading about his adventures soon enough.

******
Well, I guess that is good enough for now. Hopefully you all enjoyed and maybe we’ll try not to take so long in writing back next time!

JT & Nellie

HELLO EVERYONE..IT'S ME, YOUR FAVORITE DOG!

2009-04-02T15:30:00.002-04:00

And yes, I did say dog since I officially passed the 1 Year mark in February...I know what you are thinking...where was the 1st Birthday party with all the treats and gifts...yeah I didn't get one of those. Oh well, maybe it is like Christmas if you are bad you don't get anything. That sucks!

Before you jump to any conclusions...no I am not in trouble here either, just figured since mom and dad seem to be so busy working that I would post at least a little something for all my loyal followers who have been left in the dark lately.

As you can see I am having fun playing around and rolling in mudd holes, yeah they thought they were pretty smart here lately but I showed them! Dad had this great idea to go to the back of our housing development where there are still some bare lots, that way he could throw the ball further and I would have to run a lot more than I get to in the yard. I will give him some props...it was a great idea and I do enjoy getting out of the yard and being able to poop somewhere else (like someone else's yard...no I don't do that).

So, back to the great idea... yeah mom and dad took me down there and we were throwing the ball around and running, having a great time when I suddenly stumbled onto this nice mudd hole..well I knew mom and dad couldn't really see it from where they were so I decided to test the water..just a little drink first, then got my feet wet and then decided why not just go for it..so I laid down and started rolling around in the mudd. Boy did it feel good...nice and cool and mushy. And although I had to get out once mom and dad realized what I was doing, I did not get in trouble at all.

As for mom and dad, well I don't really see them too much and usually only one at a time. I guess they try to not always work at the same time which I must say is nice for me to cut down on the time that I have to be put up....that time is so hard for me to not find something to get into which always leads to trouble. I hear them talking about how busy the tanning salon is (I don't really get the point of a tanning salon, maybe because I am covered in hair that doesn't really tan). Supposedly this is the busiest time of the year for people tanning....I hope that means spring and summer are coming, which will mean more playing outside....and maybe more mudd holes.

I have learned something new that I really enjoy doing....going for rides in dads truck...I even started jumping inside on my own, figured dad looked like he was straining a little to lift me in, I do still ride in the front seat of course, but I enjoy getting out and seeing the sights. I get to go almost every night with dad down to the tanning salon to pick up two big basket fulls of the things that dad always has to use to dry me off when I get wet or muddy....I think you may call them towels. Yeah I guess the dryer that they have at the tanning salon isn't really drying anything anymore and since they have been so busy with all the people the only way they can catch up on the towels is to bring them home each night to wash and dry them.

Well I think that is all that is new right now...I am staying out of trouble..of course..and mom and dad are just busy working all the time. I think dads website business is picking up too as he seems to carry his computer everywhere with him. I have included a picture of the front door of the tanning salon in case you didn't follow your instructions from the last post and check out the Tiki Tan website.....looks great with the new logo that Dale designed.

Ok, until next time.....I will try to stay out of trouble but lets be realistic here....it is hard for me and although I have past the 1 year mark...I am still very much a puppy..just a really big one!

Love Brutus

Sorry Everyone

2009-03-09T18:59:00.002-04:00

Sorry for our lacking of posting recently. We've just been really busy at the salon (this is the really busy time), not to mention we had to fire one of our two employees, so Jennell and I are picking up even more hours. On top of that, 2 Dudes is continuing to try and grow... and we're working on signing some new clients. There doesn't seem to been enough hours in the day... but its that way for everyone these days, isn't it?

Anyway, we were able to get up our new Tiki Tan website. So while you are waiting for us to write again, head over and check it out... along with our awesome new logo that Dale did.

http://www.TikiTanNc.com

Where's The Hot Tub?

2009-02-26T20:19:00.015-05:00

Where is the hot tub? That is what about five of the eight people from our recent ski trip was saying the next couple of days. In fact, my brother even sent me a couple of text messages the day after we got back saying it hurt to walk around his house! Getting old is so much fun.

So last weekend, Nellie and I went on a weekend ski trip with our close friends the Stroupes (Mike, Camie, Zach and Nick), Scottie and my brother Todd. It was a trip for all of us to just get away and have some fun, but a chance for me and Nellie to get away from Tiki Tan for a few days after all the time we've put into it. And Nellie loves to ski, so I wanted to take her to the mountains and let her ski.

So here is our trip... in pictures. There are plenty to go around. And I'll do my best in telling the story as we go along.

So we started out by meeting after the boys got off of school on Friday. it took about 2 hours to get to the house we rented. What an awesome place. And it was cheap. And only 1/2 mile to the slopes. It was a newly built house in the mountains... two floors, three bedrooms, plenty of spare room to sleep, two big family rooms... just an awesome place.

So we got to the house on Friday evening, unpacked and in about 2 minutes, the boys had the Wii unpacked and set up. So right away, we were all playing. As Camie and Jennell made some tacos, the rest of us played our hearts out. Nick and Zach played all the time, while Scottie, myself, Mike and Todd all took turns as well.

Camie and Jennell got their chance to play the Wii too. In fact, we played and raced and danced our way through the rest of the night.

After the Wii, Nick wanted to try his had at some cards. So we found some poker chips and taught Nick and Zach the game of Texas Hold Them (NOT Texas Hold 'Em). And we played cards until 2 in the morning.

The next morning, we headed out to the slopes of Ski Beech at Beech Mountain. Jennell and Scottie had their own stuff, so the rest of us had to get fitted for our equipment. Everyone decided to ski except for Todd and me, who were going to snowboard with Scottie. So once we were fitted, we headed out to the slopes.

Nick took to skiing pretty well. Zach (above)... not so much. After a lot of falling between both of them. They got to going up and down the slopes, pairing off with their mom and dad.

Mike spent a lot of time trying to teach Zach. Here, he stands waiting for Zach to get down the hill. After Zach, Jeremy, Todd and Nick... Mike probably wiped out the highest number of times during the day.

Nellie ended up having to pair up with me. So that made it not to much fun for her. She is a old pro on the skis, as you can tell by her picture. She looks totally comfortable on the skis... unlike any of the rest of us. So she only skied a little while she waited for Jeremy to get up off of his ass after falling down time after time after time on the snowboard.

Snowboarding looks so easy. But its not. Like riding a skateboard? Nope. This picture shows the way I spent most of my day... on my ass. It only took me like 45 minutes or more to get down the slope the first time. I'll actually say though, by the end of the day, I could get down the hill pretty well without falling too much.

We have no pictures of Todd or Scottie on the slopes for a couple of reasons. One reason... it was cold. Another reason, it was hard to be on the slope and take the pictures. And finally, it took Scott and Todd (Scottie was Todd's teach) nearly 2 hours to get down the slopes for the first time!!!!

So there is no camera action from the rest of the day, but there was plenty of skiing. We all skied with each other when we could until they closed the slopes for work and we headed back to the cabin for a little dinner (supper for the Southern folks). After some homemade spaghetti, six of the eight of us headed back to the slopes for some night skiing. Zach wasn't feeling well from a cold he was just getting over, and Jennell's legs were bothering her from her non-fitting custom ski boots. So they stayed back and watched the Busch race and played Wii while the rest of us took up three more hours of skiing.

Todd made it one more run down the slope, while Mike, Camie and myself made it only two more runs down before we were all too tired and sore. Nick and Scottie were ready to keep going, so as the rest of us called it a night, they continued making runs.

The next morning, we got up... without too much assistance... had some pancakes, packed up and headed out. A little problem though... it had snowed in the mountains the night before. When we woke up, we woke up to a fresh batch of snow.

So with the cars loaded up, we were ready to head out to our destination of the day... Hawksnest Mountain, where we were going to spend the day tubing before we headed back home.

We ran into one little problem though... the Stroupe's van couldn't make it up one of the snow covered hills back where our cabin was located. The Denali made it just fine with its four wheel drive, but the van... not so much. So, we had to park. A nice local sheriff came and told us that a snow truck would be through our area soon. So we parked and waited... and waited... and waited.

Nick found a way to pass some time. He got out of the van, found some pavement... and made snow angels.

Finally, the truck came. And after waiting for 45 minutes for the truck to come and drop some salt and sand, we were back on our way to the mountain and to some tubing.

We got to Hawksnest... and it was freaking COLD. At the top of the mountain, the truck said it was only 17 degrees outside. And the winds were easily blowing 30 to 40 mph. So that made tubing a TON of fun. We heard one guy say it was a wind chill of -3. Sounds like perfect tubing weather. Camie was the smart one and decided to pass on the tubing and instead stay in the lodge and stay warm!

Nick was wrapped up trying to stay warm as he waited his turn to go down the mountain.

So we spent two hours freezing our butts off... and doing some tubing in between. Todd was the fastest of us on the tubes. And you can see him holding on in the picture above.

Since we have no pictures of Scottie on the slopes, here is a picture of him having fun while tubing.

Nellie was bundled up as well trying to stay warm... and had some serious tubing skills.

Here is a big part of the group waiting in line for some tubing. Can you tell who is who? No? well, from left to right... its Zach, Mike, Scottie, Todd and Jennell.

So after the tubing, we all got back into our warm cars and headed home. It was time to come back to reality and realize that Monday, it was back to work.

While we didn't have any hot tubs, we had a lot of memories. And we've got a new yearly tradition. Thanks for the good times everyone!!!!

UPDATE

Here are a couple of fun videos from the weekend.

Our Proudest Moment Yet... The Tiki Hut

2009-02-16T20:22:00.005-05:00

Are you getting tired of Tiki Tan updates yet? Well, if you are, then it proves how much work we've actually done to the salon. On day, we'll put up some before and after photos so everyone can actually see what the place looked like before and what it looks like now.

So today (Monday), we put the final "major" touch on the salon... the Tiki Hut. It was something that we were wanting to do for some time and finally just decided to get it done. After the counter got finished, the new floor and everything else, it was the final piece of the puzzle.

So we enlisted the help of Tiki Todd, and decided to get the Tiki Hut done. It started on Friday, when we laid out the plans, bought the wood and built the supporting box. On Monday, we started bright and early at 7:30 am, worked hard and got it done by 2pm.

And we couldn't be any more happy with the results. Look at all the pictures below and see what you think. And we can't wait till everyone sees the salon in person. Pictures just don't do it justice. And remember, clicking on the photos make them bigger.

Getting the counter prepped for the new hut. Notice the supporting poles are bamboo poles too!

Todd and JT getting the finished Tiki Hut in place

Ta-da... the finished product. Notice the bamboo poles in the back against the wall supporting it as well.

Notice the new pictures we added too on the side wall... all our salon certificates

We've also decorated more of the front of the salon with cool pictures

More pictures...

Our new clock (it looks like a footprint in the sand) and another cool picture.

Mmmm... Slippers

2009-02-15T19:42:00.006-05:00

Hey there. It’s me again. Everyone’s favorite dog from North Carolina. At least, I’d better be. If you know any other dogs from North Carolina, then you’d better think long and hard who’s better.

Anyway, mom and dad told me I had to write again. I know what you are thinking… “what did he do this time?” Well, its not like I only write when I’ve done something bad. I think they just wanted me to write so they could put up this really cool picture of me that you see up top.

But… not so fast. So, yeah, I had to write again because, yes, I did something bad again. I know I’m beginning to sound like a broken record, but what the hell do they expect. They work all the time and lock me up. They’ve finally smartened up and put me back in the bathroom to give me more room to walk. They figured out when I was in the kennel… it was HELL when they got home.

Anyway, this time it was the closet that was my target. When they left for work one day, they forgot to latch the closet door shut. And I’ve been in there many times when they’ve been home. There are clothes everywhere. There are slippers. Shoes. Sweaters. Belts. I mean, it’s a free for all.

So, when they left one day, I walked around, laid down by the door and… pop… it fell open. So I started looking around and saw no mom or dad. But there were plenty of clothes. So I started grabbing them all. It was like a shopping spree. There was stuff on the floor. I pulled shirts off hangers. I grabbed sweaters off the rack.

And best of all. I found the slippers. Oh yeah. These were the slippers that mom had taken from me before. They had some sort of animal on the end. And all I wanted to so was play with that animal, bear, panda or whatever it was. But it wasn’t playing back. And in fact, I was tearing it apart. There was white stuff flying everywhere. After a few minutes, they were shredded, and the animal was gone. Oh well

Finally, there was mom’s hair straightener. It was up on the dresser, but the cord was dangling. And I chewed on it for a while. It didn’t taste like anything good. I was hoping the more I did, the more it would taste. But nothing. Oh well.

Then, just like that, dad was home. And he wasn’t happy. He said he’d only been gone for a couple of hours and he couldn’t believe I’d done it. But oh well. It was fun for me while it lasted.
One of these days they’ll figure it out. I’m a people person. I like mom and dad. And without them all day, its no fun. So until they get the point, I guess I’ll keep polishing up on my writing skills.

So until another day… and another adventure…

- Brutus

What mess? Not me!!!!

There once was a slipper in there.

Dad wonders why I'm so wild. We had fun playing with this box that one day.

Wow...someone turned 30!

2009-02-13T21:06:00.004-05:00

Yes, it is true I actually turned 30. Man I am starting to feel old. haha I was fine just having a low key pretend like it is happening birthday, but Jeremy had a different idea (I was nice last year when he turned 30, I just kept it kind of quiet). So I was told to just be ready at a certain time and that was all I could know. Well as you can see below Jeremy planned quite the surprise party at BW3's.

The whole gang: The Stroupe's, Scottie, Cheryl and her husband, CJ, Lori, Diane, Johnny, Danielle, Danny, Brittani, Dale, Tiki Todd and of course the Buffalo Princess.

It was a very nice surprise, I mean I didn't really think I would get away with the low key birthday, but never thought so many people would come out to make a big deal out of a simple little 30th birthday!

Zach and Nick were nice enough to get me this great sucker! It was pretty cool. We all had a good night of visiting, catching up, eating some wings and drinking beer.

More Tiki Tan Work

2009-02-07T21:15:00.006-05:00

We know we are a little behind on updates....but as you will see below we have been very busy working at Tiki Tan and continuing to make improvements. We can actually see some light at the end of the tunnel now as far as remodel/fixing things up. Please forgive us for not updating too often and then when we do finally find time, we know we give lots of info and pics.

We finally got our counter top done...we were really tired of getting slivers from the raw wood, plus we had all the equipment just set on the counter and really unorganized since we knew it would all have to come off again to finish the counter top.

CJ shows me how much glue you need to put on the formica to make sure that it holds good. We decided that just huffing glue fumes wasn't enough, we needed to drink some beer too!

Tiki Todd precisely measuring and cutting and the formica. He may be wondering where all his help is....haha, we are inside with the glue and beer.

We patiently wait for the glue to dry, and apparently this takes a while....Jeremy misjudged the whole process and we ran out of beer way too early. I think CJ will cut him some slack this time, but he better get it right next time.

The formica turned out really well, especially for a group of rookies. The whole counter looks really nice now and complete.

We finally got the bathroom painted too. Jeremy installed the new sink and cabinet, as well as the matching mirror. Man just a few little things sure made the bathroom look a lot better.

Jeremy finished installing the bamboo that wraps around the new counter and he put down the new flooring. It looks good and matched well with everything.

The rest of the wall covered with the bamboo.

Along with all the big projects, we continue to make small improvements in the rooms too. Just some little things that the customers seem to really appreciate. Jeremy hung mirrors on the back of the doors. He also put small corkboards on the walls so that we can hang specials and ads in each room.

We put pictures in each room that are tropical and warm. They really make the rooms look complete by bringing the paint colors together. It is amazing how such a simple thing like a picture can tie everything together.

Jeremy painted the wicker furniture that the previous owners had. Made them look so much nicer and they fit with our paint scheme much better now.

We had been getting a lot of complaints from people saying that they could not tell we were OPEN. We put some window tint up on the front door to try and keep the entry way cooler (which really does keep it a lot cooler in the front of the salon) and I guess because the front door is tinted that means we aren't open...who knows. So we got a nice and bright neon sign. We really liked this one because it has the business hours lit up as well...and it is easily changeable. So no more complaints, everyone should be able to tell that we are "OPEN"!

So as you can see, we have been very busy continuing to improve things.

Tiki Tan - The Long-Awaited Update

2009-01-29T23:44:00.005-05:00

Ok. So everyone has been waiting for an update on Tiki Tan. Well, we think everyone has been waiting on one. And if you haven't, oh well, you're getting one.

So, its been a couple of weeks since we posted last about the new venture, and things are going good. We took a little time off of doing major construction projects and started just doing little things that needed done around the salon. And also setting up our prices, the new computer system (well, the old system reworked and set up right for a change), getting credit cards set-up, making sure things are running smoothly, getting all the beds running right and so on and so forth.

But, in the meantime, we've still been doing things, and we figured that we'd show everyone some of the stuff that we can show you. Pictures of the computer screen and our credit card machine aren't very interesting.

Now though, we are getting back into the swing of construction. We are going to finish the floor around the new counter (the plywood went down today), the Formica on the countertop (getting done on Sunday) and eventually the tiki hut roof (Tiki Todd's project in the coming weeks). We are wanting to get as much as we can finished up soon so we can start feeling like the place is done and we can start some of our marketing plans. Dale is designing our logo (still) and we'll start doing more with that once we get it.

On a business front, its going great. We've had several huge days and there are a lot of people coming in that stopped coming after the last owners pissed them off. Plus, we're getting into the busy season (prom time) and that is picking up business. So we are really happy and excited. We've had some of the biggest days in the last six months and they are getting bigger and bigger each day. So we think its working.

So enjoy some new pictures.

We cut up some of the left over bamboo pieces and used them as trim.

We also used some of the spare bamboo pieces and cut them up to make new numbers on the doors. Everyone seems to like them and it keeps with the theme.

We finally got our new, cheap sink and faucet installed. Huge improvement over the one that was there before. We're going to get the full bathroom done soon, but at least we've got a sink and counter now.

We've added chairs to all of the rooms now, so people can sit. Sitting is something so underrated.

Mommy & Me

2009-01-24T19:20:00.007-05:00

So Tuesday after I enjoyed my first snow for a little while and learned not to eat the yellow snow....well I decided that since I couldn't eat the yellow snow then I probably shouldn't make the yellow snow either. In hind sight this was a bad decision and it ended up leading to mommy and me having an accident in the house.

Since I wasn't making yellow snow outside I decided that I probably needed to make some yellow marks in the house, this was really a bad idea! I seem to be having more and more of these bad ideas lately, especially since my parents keep leaving me home alone all day. So I made my yellow marks on the recliner just where I wanted them and I would have been just fine had I not decided to stay right there and sniff around. While I was sniffing mommy came around the corner and caught me. She started yelling at me and I knew I was busted so I quickly decided that running would be the best idea.....and this is where my already bad decision turned even worse. When mommy caught me she drug me over to the recliner and was ready to punish me, being the great puppy (who is almost a year old now) I decided that one more tug to get away was needed. Well mommy was mad and had a tight grip on the collar and when I tugged the collar flew off, which would not have been so bad had the collar not flown directly into her face. I was scared at this point because I knew I was really going to be in a lot of trouble. I sat back and waited for my punishment.

Mommy was sitting on the floor now holding her head, I wasn't really sure what to do. Then I really got scared when mommy moved her hand away from her head and there was blood everywhere. Mommy seemed to stay pretty calm..I was kind of freaking out and not sure what I should do. I followed mommy into the bathroom where she tried to stop the bleeding and to see exactly what had happened. We then saw where she had a pretty big cut above her right eye. I was pretty sure at this point that she was going to need stitches and I wasn't sure how I was going to get a hold of Daddy because he had already left for work. Mommy thought she was going to be ok, but I could tell that she was in a lot of pain. I kept telling her that she needed to call Daddy and tell him. She really didn't want to bother him at work but I think she realized she may need stitches and it would be a little difficult for her to do that and go to work all day.

I finally convinced her to call Daddy and tell him what happpened. I was relieved to hear that he was going to come home and take Mommy to the doctor. Sure enough the doctor put 4 stitches in her and gave her a tetnis shot, since it was my collar that had cut her. Daddy brought her back home and told her that she had to rest all day, she was not allowed to go to work. So I got to spend the rest of the day with mommy, although she wasn't too much fun because her head was really hurting her.

So the rest of the week I got to watch while her eye got black and blue and her arm got really really sore from the tetnis shot. I have tried to be a good dog and I will really try hard to not leave my yellow marks in the house anymore. As you can see in the picture above her eye is getting much better, only a little bruising and yellowing now. And mommy tells me that she gets to go in tomorrow and get her stitches out. She seems excited to get them out. I hope she doesn't end up with too big of scar because she will always remember that I was being a bad puppy...it may be hard to live this one down.

Well that is all from me for now (until I get in trouble again..haha).

Brutus

What's This White Stuff???

2009-01-22T22:57:00.002-05:00

Here I am. Back for another blog. My parents said they haven’t had a lot of time lately to do a lot of writing on here and people have been wanting to read something… so they paid me to do it. They paid me in biscuits, but they paid me anyway.

And, I’ve also spent a lot of time in my cage as of late (my parents say they are busy and always look tired… so I guess they are telling the truth). So I’ve had a lot of time to think about what I wanted to write.

Then, I woke up on Tuesday morning and it all came to me from heaven. Yep, I was whining and wanted outside… for good reason. I’m only 11 months old and for the first time, I got to see something new. Something cool. Well, something COLD.

Dad let me outside and there is was… this white powdery stuff. All over the ground. Where I normally pee and poop… there was this white stuff. I ran around in it, I jumped around in it. I rolled around in it. I even got a running start and slid across the patio in it while trying to get my ball.

Then, the best part of it. I could eat it. And it was good. It was cold. It felt good on my tummy. And it was all over the yard. It was like a huge buffet. How lucky can I be.

So dad let me stay out in it playing, rolling around, even peeing and pooping in it some of it (not where I was eating it).

But then, just a couple of hours later… its all gone. I know I didn’t eat it all, but it was all gone.

I don’t know much about what it was. I heard them say “snow” and mommy was all excited. But then it was gone. And I was back to the same of green and yellow yard.

Maybe one day I’ll see it again. But until I do, I’ll sit in my cage and dream about it all day long… while drinking my water.

A Year Later

2009-01-22T22:41:00.006-05:00

Well, contrary to what some people wanted to believe… me and Jennell were able to make it one whole year (some people will know exactly what I’m talking about).

It was Jan. 19, 2008 that Jennell and I were fortunate enough to have all of our friends and family down here in Concord for our wedding. It was a great night that I know both me and Jennell think about quite often. Of course, with the way our 2008 went, had we known then what we know now, the wedding might have looked a little different, but it was still a great night.

And 2008 was an interesting year. I left my job at 51 Sports, Jennell took a job at IAA and then left it, and we started two new businesses, in 2 Dudes Designs and Tiki Tan. And we got Brutus, which is like a job in itself. So it was a stressful year for sure.

And like any year of any marriage, there were some tough times, but there were far far far more good ones than tough ones.

So to celebrate our first year of marriage being done, we spent a lot of time with a lot of friends.

On Saturday night, our friends Wendy and Doug took us out. But first, they gave us a couple of anniversary gifts. We got a bottle of vodka (for JT) and an awesome Seahawks blanket that Wendy made (for Jennell, even though Wendy said she was looking to make an Ohio State one as well if she found the fabric).

So we went to downtown Charlotte (that was a big trip for them) to a place called Rock Bottom Brewery. And it was good. There was brick oven pizza, solid nachos, pasta and Hawaiian chicken. And plenty of brew to go around. Then, we headed to The Flying Saucer bar in the University area for a couple of more drinks and a couple of Woodchuck Ciders and Pear Ciders. And good thing there was one of those touch-screen bar games there. We played that for HOURS while drinking. It was a great night.

Sunday, we spent the day at the track with the Stroupes. Then, they took us out to Carrabas for our anniversary. They also gave us a very nice card and a cool little figurine. Then, they came back to Tiki Tan to see how it was progressing. The boys were asking all weekend what Tiki Tan looked like and how much they want to run the logo on their racecars. That should be cool once it gets done (come’on Dale).

So on Monday, our actual anniversary… we didn’t do anything! Ha! Well, we were planning to go out to eat, but decided to postpone it since we had eaten out the two nights before with our friends. So Sticky Fingers… we’re coming one of these nights.

We did exchange cards and gifts… kinda. We each gave our cards and Jennell gave me her gift to me… a couple of awesome Wii games that we played the rest of the night. She thought it was a lame present… but I loved it. If it is something we can enjoy together, then I liked it.

My present, well, it was supposed to be done before Monday night. Then maybe on Monday. Then, it got pushed back to Tuesday and Jennell finally got it on Wednesday. It’s a framed print that features our first dance photo in the middle, with a copy of our vows on each side above pictures of each other while the vows were being read. Its got a three-dimensional look to it. It really came out even better than I thought it would. I was happy with it and Jennell loved it.

We also got our frozen wedding cake out of the freezer and had some of it. Ok, so it wasn’t as good as a year ago, but I was still pretty good. And even better, we freed up all kinds of room in the garage freezer. *see Jeremy above enjoying his cake. He loves his cake.*

So we had a great anniversary, especially considering as busy as we’ve been lately.

There will be many more to come. And each one will continue to prove more and more people wrong. And we’ll be laughing together the whole way.

A Tiki Break: FOOTBALL SUCKS

2009-01-12T12:52:00.003-05:00

Just giving everyone a little bit of a break from the Tiki Tan stuff. Even though it looks awesome and Jennell has been doing a hell of a job at keeping everyone updated, I thought I would just share a little bit of hardships through all of this Tiki Tan business.

Everyone knows... our household is football crazy. Well, Jennell didn't have the best years, with Washington State being a college football embarrassment and the Seahawks being only slightly better than that in the NFL. Her fantasy football team... well, they made it all year long, just skating by!

Well, Jeremy's teams were pretty good. Ohio State went 10-2 and ended with a huge win over Michigan. Ball State ended the year 12-0 and ranked in the top-15 in the AP poll. The Panthers were 12-4 and highly considered one of the two best teams in the NFL. And his fantasy team was always near the top of the standings.

Then... the wheels fell off. As Nate from Washington said... I might need to be on suicide watch after the last couple weeks.

First, the finals of the fantasy football season ended with Jeremy's team losing the championship by .4 points. Yeah, not even one full point. 0.4 points is 4 yards rushing or 4 yards receiving. Or one extra catch by a receiver.

Then, BAll State coughs up a big loss in the MAC Championship game. Then, Ohio State goes and loses yet another BCS game, this time to Texas. So more people can now make fun of Ohio State even more for losing another BCS game. Then, BAll State goes out and really chokes in their bowl game, losing about 140-14. It wasn't that bad, but might as well have been. Then, the biggest disappointment... the Panthers lose AT HOME to the crappy Cardinals. So in one week, all three of my favorite teams lost and i turned off two of the three games before they were even over in favor of playing Rock Band.

Needless to say, Greg Jennings (the Packers receiver who caught one pass for 2 yards in a meaningless game that cost Jeremy his fantasy championship), Colt McCoy (Texas QB), the entire Ball State team (choke) and Jake Delhomme (choke) won't be on my Christmas card list next year.

GOD I HATE FOOTBALL!!!!!

Still Working

2009-01-11T17:59:00.004-05:00

Yes, we are still working in the salon and as usual all projects take twice as long as anticipated. The salon was open Saturday until 6 pm so Jeremy and I both went in in the morning figuring we could get a good portion of our weekend projects done by 6 or a little after.....well lets just say we spent 5 hours there on Sunday even after staying until 8 on Saturday night trying to get it done.

For the weekend we wanted to get the three remaining beds cleaned and ready to use, three beds needed new bulbs which we got on Friday and really wanted to at least get started on the bamboo.

We can officially say we know all the ins and outs of the tanning beds now. We can tell you where every little secret fan or compartment that collects dust and filth is. Seems like each time we would start on another bed we would find something else and have to go back to the other beds. It is really disappointing that the previous owner had no maintenance or cleaning habits. The beds really were disgusting and luckily the customers did not see what we saw when we took them all apart becuase they would not be tanning there. We have spent so much time cleaning every nook and cranny that the beds almost look new.

I swear every time you turn around you find more dust mites or dust bunnies....I don't think we will ever get rid of all of them. The dust and filth is really frustrating, not sure how anyone could spend that amount of money on equipment and then not take care of it.

Below are a couple of pictures of the beds and some of the layers of dirt. Some of the fans were almost solid with dirt...it really is amazing the beds were still working properly.

We had three beds that were way over due on new bulbs and let me tell you those are not cheap bulbs...and I was a little nervous and afraid we were going to break one. But we replaced all of them with no incidents.

All the acrylic tops and bottoms had to be cleaned and polished...boy that was a project in itself. But that stuff cleans up really nice and looks like new once you buff out any scratches. I am not sure my arms can take much more wax on--wax off though.

Jeremy got started on the bamboo and was pleasantly surprised that it installed fairly easy with some screws. It makes the front counter look so good....now if our formica would just come in we could have the counter done.

We decided that putting the bamboo half way up the walls in the entry way would look really good too. Jeremy was able to get about half of the bamboo up this weekend. And we both really like it.

So although it seems to be going slow and taking a lot more work than we thought it would, things are really starting to look good and come together. The place is really starting to look more like a place that would called Tiki Tan. We are getting a little tired of spending every waking moment there fixing and cleaning things, but we are both still very excited about the potential here.

**Special Note** Brutus is not enjoying us having the tanning salon so far. He is spending way too much time alone and man is he ever full of energy and wanting to play when we get home. He just does not understand why we have to be gone so much and then so tired when we get home.

Re-Opening

2009-01-10T22:42:00.002-05:00

Monday, January 5th was our scheduled reopen and so reopen we did, with only half the salon painted and only three beds cleaned and ready to go.

Jeremy and I went in early to rehang doors on the three rooms that we had ready. We kind of figured the customers might want doors and handles that locked..haha.

Oh and naturally we didn't have any phone or internet because the previous owner went ahead and had everything disconnected and with the holidays the earliest the phone company could come out and turn things back on is Friday. No phone means no Credit Card machine and surprisingly the computer system for the tanning beds didn't work either and it is kind of hard to get fixed without phone lines or the internet. Luckily we were still able to turn the beds on with the remote timer system and we had to go old school and keep lots of spreadsheets with info on them. Again why would anything be easy or work right.

This is the biggest and fanciest bed that we have. It is really pretty nice, built in fans and radio.

Throughout the week Wendy would come in when she had time and help me paint trim around the doors and the floor. I was a little unsure of the yellow color that we picked for the hallways until we got the brown done, now I really like it. Nice contrast.

Jeremy also worked on getting the other three rooms with beds in them painted throughout the week. By Friday night he had them done and we were ready to clean the beds and change bulbs in three of the beds becuase again the previous owner had not maintained things as she should have. We also got our delivery of bamboo at the end of the week, so stay tuned for bed cleaning (some great pics), bulbs changing and bamboo installation.........

Tiki Tan Day 4

2009-01-09T23:54:00.003-05:00

It is now Sunday and the painting continues....not exactly where we expected to be the day before we are scheduled to reopen. Thankfully the Stroupes have offered to help again today, and Tiki Todd is still hanging in there and helping every day. Everyone is starting to get tired of painting.

Yesterday we put Zach and Nick on the task of painting all the doors dark brown and as everything that didn't really go as planned. They painted for 3 hours and were only able to really get a couple of doors done. They were trying really hard just for some reason the doors did not want to cover with paint, they kept streaking and I think the boys were getting frustrated. So they politely commented that the next day they would like to paint some big areas like walls. Their wish was granted...we had them paint the two biggest walls in the front of the salon, little did they know those walls were going to take three coats of paint. Not sure which was worse, the doors that wouldn't paint or the three coats of yellow..haha.

"Nick do you think I have enough paint on this wall yet?"

"Zach I don't know....can you tell where I have painted? I am lost in all this yellow."

"Not sure what was wrong with the boys painting these doors or why JT couldnt get the sprayer to work....things seem to be going just fine for me."

Well after Saturday night and the unsuccessful door painting Mike and Jeremy decided to give the sprayer another try. After all we only needed to paint 11 doors. Between the two of them and some helpful advice from the hardware store right across the street, they were able to get the sprayer working good enough to do the doors. Mike ended up spending the entire day spraying doors and his shoes.

After getting a couple of the rooms painted Camie and I decided to start trying to get the beds clean, again we are supposed to reopen tomorrow so guess we better have a couple of beds ready.

"Come on Camie, you can do it, just lay in here and you can see all the filth!"

"Camie I think we are supposed to be cleaning, not taking a rest. I know we are all tired and sick of painting and cleaning, but really we still have a lot of work left to do."

So at the end of day 4 we had almost half of the salon painted, doors done and three rooms with beds cleaned and ready to be used. Guess that will have to work for the reopening. Stay tuned for more Tanning Salon fun.......

Tiki Tan Day 3

2009-01-09T23:17:00.004-05:00

Yeah it is only the start of day 3 and we are already tired of painting. We make our morning trip to Lowe's to buy more paint and supplies....yeah the first day we bought all the gallons of flat paint they had and apparently the delivery truck doesn't come by there because every day since they have still been out. We have switched to Eggshell paint which we will most likely end up buying them out of at the rate we are going.

It is Saturday so The Stroupes are racing at Lowes for Winter Heat, which gives Jeremy a good excuse to get out of a little painting. He went back and forth to the track helping the boys and watching their races, although I will admit he really wasn't gone too much and probably made up for any missed painting later.

We did get a small glimpse of hope today.....when I started painting the first tanning room with the blue color that we had picked I was happily surprised that it seemed to be covering just fine with only one coat. What a relief.....let me tell you I was excited. As soon as Jeremy got back and I shared the good news we quickly starting changing our painting plans.....we really needed to paint more walls blue and less yellow. Which in the end really turned out well.

Once racing was done at Lowe's Stroupes and Dale came over to show off their painting talents....I think they may have been a little timid but they did a great job. Now Dale...he is like super painter, he took to the back wall and before we all knew it he was done with a nice blue wall. Not sure if he is for hire, but if you are looking for some help painting I would give him a call. I think his rates go down if you are a single female mid to late 30's.....haha.

We decided to put some blue in the front area...turned out really nice.

The original plan was to have a whole wall in each tanning room yellow, but since it was taking two coats and the blue only one....we opted for less then half a wall in yellow.

Tiki Tan Day 2

2009-01-09T22:30:00.005-05:00

With the first day complete and a little more sleep we were ready to start the 2nd day of our fun. We still had no idea what we were in for.....the previous owners had the whole place painting in this really boring beige color, so we figured spend a little money on some paint to really liven the place up and improve it. Little did we know how much work this was going to be. I mean really we have painted some rooms in our house and that wasn't so bad, so how hard could it be. Plus Jeremy had done his research and bought a sprayer that didn't cost too much and was supposed to be decent.

As you can see, very plain and boring color for a tanning salon.

So we arrived earlier Friday morning to start the painting. We had bought our 15 gallons of paint, which we hoped would be enough and our sprayer....we were ready to tackle the painting. Well thats when things really started to go down hill. The sprayer was not working....it would spray really thick then really thin...not spray at all....or over spray onto everything in its path. Some of these problems we were expecting, but hoped we could get the thing figured out enough to cut down on our painting time and labor. Of course we would not get so lucky.....so reluctantly we broke out the rollers and took to the walls.....and yes things continued to get worse.

Wendy and I enjoying the physical labor...haha.

After a few sections of yellow on the walls we realized that this yellow was not goign to cover well enough with just one coat of paint, fantastic the work load just doubled, as well as our paint order. We hadn't bought nearly enough.

After about 8 hours of painting and two coats we were done with the hallway, great that only left 3/4 of salon to paint. We quickly realized this project of just painting was going to take waaayyy longer than planned.

Tiki Todd was the smart one...he stayed up front to continue working on the front counter area. He added some nice trim pieces and finished everything up so it is was just awaiting its formica top. Don't worry though, once Todd gets done with the counter we have plenty of rollers and paint that need done.

Tiki Tan Day 1

2009-01-06T22:43:00.002-05:00

So for those of you who may be living under a rock...not really a bad idea...anyways I think I may have had a temporary loss of sanity and some how convinced Jeremy that we needed to take over a tanning salon that is just a few minutes from our house. Not really sure if we are entrepreneur's or just gluttens for punishment. And not really sure what Jeremy was thinking trusting me on this one and thinking it was a good idea too.....but either way we are now the proud owners of Tiki Tan with 6 tanning beds and 1 spray booth.

Since we finalized things with the previous owners on Decemeber 31st and needed to do some upgrades and improvements while also not closing the salon for too many days since clients had already paid for tanning, we again thought this through and decided that we would close the salon from Dec 31st and reopen on Jan 5. Who in their right mind would think you could get all this done in a matter of 4 days....and in case you are wondering...no you can't get it all done and we are still painting!

So the first day we had our friend Doug come and start on building us a new front counter desk area because it desperately needed something. Did I mention that Day 1 was Jan 1st....yes the day after our great New Years party where we didn't go to bed until about 3:30. Well Doug was smart and knew that we had a long day of work so he got to bed early and was ready to roll first thing in the morning. Needless to say Jeremy and I were just a little tired..and I seemed to have a terrible headache.

After Jeremy tore out the old counter we consulted with our General Contrator Doug and his always helpful assistant Wendy(not sure he really thinks she helps..haha) and decided that to properly build the new counter we needed to tear out this small section of wood flooring (really no idea why they had the section of flooring behind their counter) and also a couple rows of tiles.

Here I am supervising to make sure that Doug knows which tile to stop on...haha. Actually I was unable to help at this point because the loud hammering and chiseling was not helping out my unexplainable headache.

After a long day of hard work we have the base for our new counter area. It turned out great and is much more functional for the salon. Doug with the assistance of Todd did a great job.

Stay tuned for Day 2.........

We Are Still Alive

2009-01-06T21:43:00.005-05:00

Yeah, we are still here even though it may seem like we have dropped off the face of the earth since we have not posted anything since before Christmas. Well we have had a very busy few weeks.

We headed out to Ohio on Christmas Eve to spend the holiday with Troiano's. (I really thought or hoped we were going to Ohio to see snow for Christmas, but no such luck! Guess it all went to Washington instead) Anyways we had a wonderful time in Ohio even without any snow. I can say I have officially met all the family now...and let me tell you it wasn't nearly as bad as Jeremy and Sandy thought it would be on me. There certainly were a lot of people and I probably couldn't remember half of the names....but it was nice to meet everyone.

Game Night is a tradition when Jeremy and Todd and are in town, so Friday night after Christmas we treated the family to Wii (since I had gotten one for Christmas and Jeremy and Todd had both given me games). Amy wasn't quite sure at first, she seemed a little intimidated, but by the end of the night she was laughing and enjoying it along with everyone.

Jennell and Steph doing some crazy dance moves from Ravin Rabbids (the most bizarre yet fun games)

Sandy and Amy getting ready to dance....they both look a little unsure.

We also went and watched Marley and Me while were there....I will just say we all cried, even John. I think Sandy and I pretty much bawled for the last 30 minutes or more. Seriously we all know what it going to happen do they really have to drag it out for sooooo long. It was a great movie though and some of the dogs and things Marley did really reminded us of our wonderful Brutus..haha.

We headed home from Ohio on Sunday...since we weren't getting any snow. Just a little rain and lots of wind.

Next came New Year's Eve....we had decided to invite all our friends to our house to ring in the new year, needless to say we didn't think this all through so we had only a couple of days to unpack, do laundry, clean the house, get food and stuff ready for the party....oh and finalize all the paperwork and details on the tanning salon (if you have no idea what I am talking about you soon will in another post coming soon). So we had a very busy few days, but things worked out well and all our friends seemed to have a great time or at least I am guessing the ones that stayed until 2:30 or 3 were enjoying themselves...haha. It really was great to have all our friends (well almost all our friends....wemoore :-) that are so special to us here to celebrate the New Year with us.

Scott Z, Nick and Camie Stroupe are trying to show us how to be a "Rock Band". And yes there was even some singing compliments of Danny and Jeremy.

Ok, so that is my brief summary of Christmas and New Year's.....no I am not the writer of the family so that is all you are getting out of me...haha.

Stayed tuned for "Tiki Tan"

And enjoy these "dancing" You Tube videos.

Merry Christmas

2008-12-21T22:40:00.000-05:00

Wow, it is hard to believe that 2008 is almost over already. It seems like it just started not that long ago when we were still in the final stages of our wedding planning. Now, its all over and we're already working toward 2009.

Its been a great year, but its been a year of learning for both of us. We've went through our ups and downs, but the best part is that we've went through them together and with the support of our family and our true friends right by our sides.

So we just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, a Happy New Year and a Happy Holiday season (that's for you Doug and Wendy).

We've been very fortunate to have two great sets of parents there for us all year long. Zach, Kristin and Todd have all been awesome and always right there. Our friends back in Washington who came out here to North Carolina to help us celebrate our wedding, and even the ones who couldn't, and our true friends here in North Carolina that have stuck by us through a crazy year make us realize how fortunate that we really are.

Now, we are getting ready to head to Ohio for Christmas, even though we wish we could be in Washington all at the same time. Maybe one day, our true Christmas wish of having all of our family right here in North Carolina will make it very easy.

So we hope everyone that is important to us has a great holiday season and we want all those people to know how fortunate we are to have them in our lives!

Happy Holidays!!

Santa, I've Been Bad

2008-12-21T22:00:00.006-05:00

I just don't get it. I really don't. I'm just a puppy. I'm cute. I'm cuddly. Yet, my parents seem to get mad at me a lot. And then, they only let me write here on their little blog thing when I've done something bad. I really don't get it.

So they built this nice, new, pretty fence. I watched the guys build it. I would watch them every day. In fact, they even left me some tasty chunks in the yard. But anyway, they built this nice new fence, and they kept telling me it was for me. They wanted me to be able to run around outside, so I would quite knocking stuff over in the house with my out of control tail. And they said I'm a dog so I should like it outside, but they are crazy. Its cold out here and its nice and toasty inside.

So, they've been putting me out here. And they just let me run free. I see them looking out the window every now and then, but they just let me go out here. And there is a lot of yard for me to explore.

And like they tell me, I'm a dog... so therefore, I like to dig.

And today, they put me outside after it had been raining for few days... and I dug. And I dug. And I dug some more.

Then they come running outside and yelling at me and saying bad dog. Dad was saying a lot of other stuff, but I can only understand so much. But I saw mom laughing. And dad even cracked a smile too.

So then, I got a bath. They didn't look to happy, but they started running the spicket outside and washing me and then drying me with a towel. They also took some pictures.

And now, I'm here writing this blog to tell of my adventures. They like to think it is like a punishment... but lets do the math:
- I got a fence
- I got to dig
- I got my picture taken
- I got a bath
- I got to share my adventures

So who's the winner here?

Brutus

Sorry!!!

2008-12-18T14:15:00.000-05:00

Just wanted to say sorry to everyone that its been a while since we posted anything. Things have been REALLY REALLY busy around here. From doing stuff with the Tanning Salon, growing 2 Dudes Designs, going racing with the Stroupes, having Jennell get sick and finally starting to feel better and dealing with Christmas stuff , we haven't had a lot of time to post much.

So, sorry!!!!

For now, enjoy this great video. I found it and love it. 40 Inspirational Speeches from Movies... in 2 minutes.

Thanksgiving Memories

2008-12-17T21:44:00.010-05:00

This post will be more of what people like... pictures. Jennell says I'm pretty long-winded at time (she just laughs because I write so much), so this time, it will be pretty short.

We wanted to share some pictures with everyone from Thanksgiving. Last year (2007) after we bought our house, we decided to invite all of our families to North Carolina for Thanksgiving. It served two purposes... so everyone could see our house and so everyone could meet each other, since the wedding was coming up.

Well, we've decided to make it a tradition, so the families can get together and take a trip to North Carolina in the process. So this year, we had everyone here again and had a blast. Once again, Zach did the turkeys (we did one oven and one deep fried), we had a TON of food, we drank plenty of beer and wine, invited some friends over and had three dogs roaming.

It was a blast and we already can't wait for next year. It's a great tradition that hopefully continues for years!

It was a BIG feast.

Mom Sandy was able to cut the onions... but she cried quit a bit.

Mom Cindy cooked the green beans... once she found the utensils.

Kristin was a big help to Zach... just ask him.

Randy had quite the spread on his plate.

My parents' dog, Ginger, was in this position most of the weekend.

There were three dogs at the house on Thanksgiving... it was like the Niessner household.

There is nothing to say about this picture... just look at Zach's face (click to enlarge)

We had a keg of Woodchuck Cider that lasted only 3 days.

Brutus got a new shirt thanks to Randy.

The Troianos were a week away from celebrating their anniversary.

Todd brought his kid... er... dog over for the day. He was tired of Brutus by the end of the day.

Troianos & Niessners = Guitar Gods!

2008-12-11T16:56:00.008-05:00

Sandy - 1.5 of 5 stars - She did get farther than Cindy in one song.

Talk about a whirlwind last few weeks. It seems like EVERYTHING is going on at the same time! There is so much to write about, and so little time to do it (because we are doing stuff that we want to write about... and not writing about it. It's a vicious circle). We had everyone in town for Thanksgiving, then, the day after they left, we headed to Pensacola for the Snowball Derby where Zach raced. Onced we got back on Sunday, it was back to work on Monday for me, and Jennell was then feeling under the weather, which kept her pretty much bed and couch ridden for the last few days. So finally, we are getting back to normal and there is still a ton of stuff going on.

We've still got to do our Christmas decorations, outside lights, get a tree, go to the Winter Heat on Saturday, do some Christmas shopping and get out business stuff going. Business has been picking up for the 2 Dudes deal, and stuff is moving forward for the tanning salon. So we are plenty busy. That damn cold for Jennell came at the wrong time, that's for sure!

Anyway, Thanksgiving was great. We had a good day with the turkey (Zach cooked two really good ones), the other food and the beer and wine. Things went really well. Couldn't have asked for any better. Its a nice tradition we've started here.... Thanksgiving in North Carolina.

On Friday (Black Friday its called I think), we went out for some lunch (yes, still eating) and I decided that I wanted to get the new Guitar Hero game for our Xbox. I figured it might be good for some laughs and fun during Friday and Saturday. And then, we invited out friends Doug and Wendy over that night, along with their son Justin (and his Wii video game system) for some fun. Needless to say, it went over well.

Guitar Hero was a blast. It couldn't have been more worth the craziness of braving Toys-R-Us to get it half-off on Black Friday. Of course, I was the one dropped off and had to brave all the crazy parents in there. I actually got the last one in the store for the Xbox, so it was a good omen.

Anyway, we started sitting around, having a few drinks and playing. And EVERYONE got into it. That made it even more fun. The kids, the parents and everyone took their turns playing. If you don't know what Guitar Hero is... get out of the house more. If you still don't know, you play the Guitar along to famous songs. The controller is actually a guitar and you have to strum and hit the correct keys all at the same time to keep up with the beat of the song. Sounds complicated, and it can be on the harder levels, but on the easy levels, it wasn't too bad for everyone.

So we all had a good time, heard the song "Slow Ride" way way way too many times (its the easiest song on the game, so the parents all started on it to get used to the game) and watched everyone make a fool of themselves.

When you make it through a song in Guitar Hero, you get a score and a ranking between one and five stars, depending on how good or bad you were. So, we've included pictures below of everyone having their turn at Guitar Hero, and the star rankings we give them (not the game) based on how they were.

So enjoy.

Kristin - 5 of 5 stars - She is a Guitar Hero whiz. It actually makes you sick.

JT - 3 of 5 stars - He should get four just for braving Toys-R-Us to get the game.

Zach - 2 of 5 stars - He gets 4 when he dances (see well below)

Randy - 2 of 5 stars - He actually made it through a song... and it wasn't "Slow Ride."

Nellie - 2 of 5 stars - She needs to wear the outfit the girl in the game wears for 5 stars.

Cindy - 1 of 5 stars - Although with some wine, she gets 2 or more stars

John - 2 of 5 stars - For having a real guitar in his closet, he sort of disappointing (ha).

Justin Moore - 5 of 5 stars - He's a future rocker. But you better not boo him. He gets MAD!

And Finally... the YouTube video of Zach rocking out to Guitar Hero. He gets 5 of 5 stars for this performance.

Zach Pensacola Update - Saturday (And Nick Too)

2008-12-07T00:42:00.007-05:00

Ups and downs. Craziness. Frustration. There were plenty of words to describe Zach's day today at Five Flags Speedway. But in the end, the word of the day was "satisfaction."

Today was race day at Pensacola. Well, it was practice, qualifying and race day. After a final practice on Friday that went well, the team returned to the track on Friday night and made wholesale changes to the car, not knowing what the hour and half practice on Saturday morning would hold. When it came down to it, the car was good. But the more improvements the team made to the car, the slower it went. When the team went out for their mock qualifying run, it was nothing special and put Zach 19th of the 65-plus cars.

A few more changes were in store before qualifying. That, along with some repair to the upper-A frame bracket that had broken loose, made for a tense qualifying session. It didn't disappoint though... in the not so good way. Zach qualified at a 17.59, which put him 40th of the 65 cars that took time. When Zach came back in, he said something was not right with the car and it was worse than it had been all weekend long.

Zach then started 5th in the second of two Last Chance races. The car was good after more wholesale changes, and he was able to grab the final transfer spot to get into the race with a 3rd place finish (ironically, last year, I worked with a driver named Zach who made the race by starting fifth and finishing third in the second last chance race). More changes to the car to make it looser came before it was feature time.

When the race started, Zach slowly started working his way up. He missed several big accidents and held his own, gaining spots and moving into the top-25. Then, when everyone else pitted, he found himself third.

He ran 3rd for quite some time. Finally though, around lap 70, his old tires fell off and he got freight-trained and fell a lap down in just about 8 laps. The team made the call for him to come in and get tires under green. He fell a couple of laps down in the pits, but was able to finish the race with the car in one piece, missing all of the wrecks.

He finished 14th. He also wrecked Johanna Long, who is the track champion and the most popular driver at the track. He got a few middle fingers because of that.

But 14th was a successful night, considering where the day started. So congrats Zach, on one hell of a run. You did AWESOME!

Gotta give our props to Nick Stroupe too. Today (Saturday) was the first day of the Winter Heat Series at Lowe's Motor Speedway. And Nick won his heat race and the feature in the Young Lions division (a new rule forced Nick to run Young Lions rather than his normal Semi-Pro). way to go Nick. You did AWESOME too.

Enjoy the pictures.

Zach gets introduced before the race. He started 36th and finished 14th, but this was the only checkered flag he'd see.

Deon looks at the car during tech. It actually went very smooth.

Zach qualified at a 17.59. That wasn't overly impressive.

The team sits in tech line. I know, the pictures are totally out of order today.

Zach raced really good during the Snowflake 100. He actually improved 22 positions. Way more than anyone else.

Zach and sis Jennell are very loving! Here, they share a close moment.

Zach got into a couple of cars during the night. And the side of the car showed it.

Zach Pensacola Update - Friday

2008-12-05T21:23:00.009-05:00

Today was kinda a quick and slow day all in the same. Why you ask? (I know you asked, don't lie) Well, because the day was short, and with a lot of drivers who showed that they can't drive, it made it a shorter day than it was supposed to be.

Practice started again at 10am, but was only supposed to go until 2pm. But then, during the early Late Model practice, cars kept on wrecking, spinning and hitting the wall. So Late Model practice got lumped into a one hour session. But when you have 140 cars trying to practice, that doesn't give you much time to practice. But the good thing about the morning practice was a HUGE gain was made and Zach was getting quicker, even though the team had much older tires on the car.

After we thought practice for the rest of day was done, we found out there was another half-hour practice just for the Snowflake cars. So the team made more changes, strapped on new tires and Zach ran his fastest time of the weekend. It was good enough to put Zach 10th of the 70 cars that are trying to make the race (with more speed possible in the car). It left the team in pretty good spirits, with a few more changes still to be made.

The team then loaded up, got out of dodge and called it quits at 1pm. Some of the guys went back later in the day and worked on the car some more.

Saturday is the big day... practice, qualifying and the 100-lap race. We'll see how it goes. And we'll let you know.

The team unloaded the car this morning under cool skies... notice how much the guys are bundled up? Far different from the 60s we had yesterday. Damn!!!!

Jennell's parents got here today. She and her dad spent some time on top of the trailer directing the team... well, maybe just watching and seeing how its going.

Jennell's mom was just hanging out on the Gator. I think she was ready to take it for a ride.

Zach and Deon have always worked well together and it showed by the end of the day when they were 10th of the 70-plus cars here.

Zach got out there and was fast in the afternoon session. Tomorrow is the big day.

Zach Pensacola Update - Thursday

2008-12-04T21:09:00.009-05:00

Well, today was actually the first day of the Snowball Derby... well, the Snowflake 100 for Zach here at Five Flags Speedway. Yesterday was just parking the trailers and tech, but today, the cars actually got out on the track.

After getting up and having a COMPLETE hot breakfast at our hotel, we were at the track at 8am, and quickly had the car unloaded and was getting it ready. They didn't have to take the car through tech again today, so it was just getting it ready for practice. The only problem was the weatherman... who told everyone rain would be coming.

Kenny and Jay (two of the crew guys) took over putting the decals we brought with us on the car. A nice big 2 Dudes Designs went on the hood, along with a cool STE logo. Then, two 2 Dudes Designs were put on the side of the car. It looks sweet!!! And boy I bet it drives some people in the pit area wild!

After meeting the rest of the crew, everyone got ready for practice. Zach squeezed (and we mean SQUEEZED) into his old Juice Batteries driving suit and got in the car.

The practices went well. They started out on old tires and was in the top-15 of the Snowflake cars that were running. Then, with a few changes to get some more forward bite and get the car turning through the corner, they put on some new tires and the car got quicker.

Then, the rain started... and didn't stop for quite some time. It went from a nice, sunny 65-degree day to a swampy mess in the pit area. When the rain finally cleared and the track was finally dried by the truck dragging big tractor tires, Zach was back out there. This time, he was able to run a 17.90-second lap, which put him 9th of the Snowflake cars. It was pretty impressive on a set of tires that had already went about 15 laps and through two heat cycles.

The rest of the day was spent just trying to improve the car. It got better, but more can be done. And by the end of the day, the tires were old and it was time to regroup and come up with some ideas for Friday.

Deon and all the guys did a great job today. With a couple more changes, Zach should be in the top-10 of the 70 Snowflake cars that are here.

Friday will be another full practice day. We'll put another update Friday night! Enjoy the pictures below (and you can click on them and see them bigger)

2 Dudes Designs and STE is on the hood of Zach's car. Notice how good the decals look. Thats because we didn't' have anything to do with putting them on!

Kenny and Jay put on the decals for us. We stood, watched and took pictures. Real helpful.

Late in the day, Zach became the mentor to a Snowflake rookie drive who is pitted just a couple of haulers down from us. He looks all of 10, doesn't he? The other kid, not Zach.

It was nice to see Zach race with Gary St. Amant, who is my favorite driver of all time. Sorry, I'd pull for Gary in this race! HA. Just kidding.

Jennell sported her new 5K Motorsports sweatshirt on Thursday, but didn't seem to enjoy standing on top of the hauler when the wind was whipping before the rains came.

Zach's car looked pretty cool with the 2 Dudes and STE logos on the hood! Too bad the sponorship dollars aren't flowing in from them.

Zach and a couple of the crew guys talk at the end of the day to come up with a plan for tomorrow. We think he was telling them "I want to go faster."

Zach Pensacola Update - Wednesday

2008-12-03T21:30:00.004-05:00

Sorry, but not much updating here from Wednesday. And don't worry, but we plan on having pictures up on other updates. But with the way today went down here, there wasn't any real opportunity for us to do any pictures.

Jennell and I drove down to Pensacola today. Its a nine-hour drive, but that was added to because we had to drop Brutus off with my brother, so it took us 10 hours. We got into Pensacola at 5pm Pensacola time (Central time).

When we got to the track and got signed in, we found Zach on the infield (Jennell spotted them right away) and they were loading the car up. Today was nothing but parking the trailers and getting the cars through tech. When we got there, they were just finished loading the trailer up for the day. They said they went through tech twice and was able to get the car pretty much up to par.

Zach said they left Wisconsin on Tuesday at 9am and got to Pensacola on Wednesday morning at 5am. They drove straight from Wisconsin (the car he is driving is housed in Milwaukee) and had to stop to get the trailer fixed in Indiana, then headed the rest of the way from there to Pensacola.

So we loaded up the crew and took them all to their hotel, then we checked in to ours. We are really close to where they are staying. We then checked in, unpacked and went back, got them and went out to eat for dinner. Was good to hang out with the guys (there are four of them down here helping, including Deon) before the weekend starts.

Tomorrow, practice starts. We'll take some pictures and have them up as well. As of now, it is supposed to rain, so we'll see how that goes.

It will be a good night of sleeping and we'll be back tomorrow.

Zach's Going Snowballing

2008-11-24T20:55:00.003-05:00

We are pretty excited because after we have fun with the families here in North Carolina during the Thanksgiving holiday, we're going to head to Pensacola, Florida for the Snowball Derby. Jennell's brother Zach got a call late last week asking if he would be interested in running the Snowflake 100 at Five Flags Speedway during the Snowball Derby weekend.

The Snowball Derby is the biggest Late Model race in the country. The Snowflake 100 is the 1oo-lap Late Model race that runs Saturday night before the Derby on Sunday. Its becoming just as big as the Derby. There are almost 70 cars trying to make the Snowflake itself.

Zach is racing for 5K Motorsports and will be crew chiefed by our friend Deon Deneau. Zach and Deon work great together. And Deon crew chiefed for Zach when he won the Nashville race in the NASCAR Elite Division (also the same race me and Jennell started our close friendship).

So we're excited. And we'll update the blog a couple of times during the Snowball Weekend.

Fun At The Racetrack Again

2008-11-24T20:32:00.007-05:00

So it's been a while since we made a post (well, really only since last Friday, but it seems like forever). Now, our families are coming into town for Thanksgiving (our new family tradition... Thanksgiving here in North Carolina), so it might be a while before we post again, although we are sure to share some photos from Thanksgiving.

But we wanted to post and tell everyone how much fun we've had in the last couple of weeks at the racetrack with the Stroupes. The Stroupes are a great family that we've met through racing. Mike, Camie, Zach and Nick are typical southern family... they are just so friendly, nice and will do anything for you.

The boys are both racers... and great racers at that. They raced for another team for the last couple of years, but Mike and Camie pulled them out of that situation because it wasn't too good for the boys or any of them. And we supported their decision 100%. And we couldn't be happier for them in one bit.

Now, they are back to racing and they are having a blast at it. Zach, who is 16, hasn't raced as much at the end of the year, but will get to race quite a bit next year. Nick, who is 13, has been racing a Legends car and been doing a great job since going back to the family-owned car.

We recently traveled to Rockingham Speedway to watch Nick race on the road course there (all the pics here are from there) where he finished third in his first road course race. Not bad for the kid. Then, we went with the family to the open practice at Lowe's Motor Speedway for the Winter Heat series, which runs in December and January here (yeah, in North Carolina you can race all year round).

We just love hanging with the Stroupes. Like we said, Mike and Camie are just great parents and good people. They will do anything for you at anytime. And the boys are so funny. We just love hanging out with them. They can always make you laugh. And being brothers, they really enjoy each other. They don't seem to bicker (too much).

we plan on being there all year long for the boys and for Mike and Camie and will be helping out and having fun the whole way. We can't wait for the racing to start! And you can click on the boy's website on the side of the page to see more about them.

The Stroupes even put 2 Dudes Designs on the back of their Legends car. It looks BAD ASS!

Mike talks with Nick after the race in Rockingham. And even if Nick had finished last, the two would have been smiling as they are having fun again at the track.

I like this picture I took of Nick. It makes him look... well, kinda cool!

Go Buckeyes!!!!! Michigan Hate Week

2008-11-21T17:06:00.005-05:00

It's that time again. Ohio State vs. Michigan. And the Wolverines SUCK big time this year, so I'm fully expecting a huge blowout. And I will be loving every minute of it. There is nothing more I love to see than Michigan losing and Ohio State laying it on them.

GO BUCKEYES!!!!!!!!

Fence Update #4

2008-11-21T16:56:00.003-05:00

Well, the fence is now starting to look like... well, a fence. And it is nice to see the completed project. So we are getting more and more excited about it. The only bad thing is that it is taking them longer to finish than we thought it would. They said today it would be either next Tuesday or Wednesday before it was all done. But, it will be worth it when it is done! So we are excited. And Brutus is already showing he is really loving the fence. And let me tell you, his parents are going to love it too!!!!!

Wii Love Wii

2008-11-20T22:47:00.007-05:00

It’s pretty funny, because before we started this blog, we really didn’t think we did that much. Now, it seems like there are a hundred things we could write about. We still haven’t said anything about going to Rockingham with the Stroupes yet. And some of the posts like “Go Ohio State” and “Go Ball State” have been short and sweet.

But we don’t want to overload the blog, because we don’t know how often people read it. But, then again, we need to write before we forget the details. Really, that was the reason for the blog to begin with… so we don’t forget to tell people things.

So if you don’t check this blog too often, get on it. Make it your homepage. Make sure when you turn your computer on, this is where you come. Pretend there is some free music on here, or maybe free crafts for some of you. Whatever draws you in, come here first.

Anyway, we wanted to talk about how much fun we had last Friday. We were FINALLY invited over to our friend Doug and Wendy’s house to have some dinner and play their Wii. Don’t know what the Wii is? Well, get a life. And then turn on the TV. Then go to your local electronics store and look for the product that is never in stock. Then, you will know what the Wii is. But if you still don’t know, it’s a new video game system that Nintendo put out that lets you be active when you play games. It is pretty tricky, but you have to move your controllers to play the games.

Well, after some pizza, it was off to our games. Doug and Wendy’s son Justin had been waiting for us to come over and we’d always told him we were ready to play. So he had me dive right into Guitar Hero. You play a guitar shaped controller to popular songs. Sounds easy? Well, its not. But it was a lot of fun. I mastered Metallica’s “One.” And Justin mastered about everything. And Jennell tried… but got booed off the stage (that is what happens when you don’t do too good).

Then, it was off to tennis. You actually swing the controllers like a tennis racket and it makes your player do the same. Its pretty amazing really. Well, Justin and Jennell played and had some fun, with Justin winning (he’s a kid, he beat everyone all night long). Then Jennell and Wendy played. Then me and Jennell. Only Doug kept his butt warm on the couch.

Then, we moved onto baseball (swing and pitch with the controller) and then bowling (way too much fun) and then boxing and then shooting, table tennis and golf. It was all so much fun! And man, it gives you a workout. Jennell actually said the next day, her arms were sore.

We wrapped up the night by taking a break from the TV and playing some cards. We taught them Texas Hold ‘Em poker and they taught us a game called “Scum.”

But we couldn’t stay away and played some more Wii. Before you knew it, it was 2am and we were beat. Jennell and I came home, put some Icy-Hot on our shoulders and headed to bed.

We never knew video games were such a work out. But man, we love Wii.

Justin pretty much killed all of us all night long! But it was still fun to even lose. Notice Jennell had to rest her sore shoulders by having a drink!

Jennell and I box. This game really really gets you tired. But I beat her this time. She normally kicks my ass when she boxes me at home though.

Fence Project Update #3

2008-11-20T17:59:00.003-05:00

Are you getting tired of seeing and reading about the fence? Well, deal with it!!! We are pretty darn excited about it. So the fence is coming along quite nicely. This is the end of the fourth day that the guys have been working on it and it is finally starting to look like a fence. They now have all of the posts up and the top and bottom railings. Tomorrow (Friday), they should start putting the slots in the fencing. We're pretty excited about seeing what the finished product will look like.

On a side note... man we're glad we decided to get this done by professionals and not do it ourselves. We were planning on it until we found the company that is doing it. But I never put up a fence and our friend Doug who was going to head it hadn't really either... so if it is taking two "professional" guys this long, imagine how long it would have taken us "amateurs." NO THANK YOU!!!!!

Fence Project Update #2

2008-11-19T08:39:00.003-05:00

So here is the second picture of our new fence and its construction. They got the remaining posts up on Tuesday and laid out where they are putting the gates. And they did it in freezing cold weather. Hey, we moved away from Washington and Ohio to get away from this cold weather... what gives? Anyway, they should be back on Wednesday to start actually putting up the slots and we should see our fence starting to take shape. Hopefully, it should be done by the end of the week. We'll keep you posted.

Fence Project Update #1

2008-11-17T22:55:00.003-05:00

So our fence project has started. Well, actually it started last Thursday, but the guys were only able to work for about two hours before rain shut them down. As it did on Friday. But at least they got the fence strung out. Finally, they were back on Monday to start putting up some of the posts. And its finally coming along. Although, we are beginning to think its going to take longer than the three days or four days they said... as they only got about a third of the posts up on Monday. So, maybe the fence will be done by Thanksgiving.

Maybe I'm in the wrong business!!!!

If You Aren't A Winner, You're A Loser

2008-11-17T22:29:00.003-05:00

Well, on Saturday, we were able to head off to the racetrack for the final CRASHCar/Redneck Racer/Bootlegger Brigade (yeah, we can't come up with a good name that sticks. People call us everything anyway) of the year. It was the first time that JT got to race in the last few races. That's because Rusty gave JT's car away because he had a few other commitments and couldn't make it to the race track. Oh well. I drive what I can, when I can.

So lately, I've been driving the pink station wagon.... ok, I'll give you some time to make some jokes.... go ahead... The car is named Trouble. More jokes? go ahead.... It's always been the car that runs around the back or that Rusty just puts people in that want to have a good time. But I don't think anyone really knew the car had in it until they put one hell of a driver in it. And I've had a good run since I got in it.

Anyway, we went to race at Concord Motorsport Park on their little quarter-mile instead of the half-mile we normally race on. And if its a quarter mile... I've got some great beach-front property here in Charlotte you can buy. Its lucky if its a fifth-mile. So putting a bunch of big cars on the fifth-mile that was built for go-karts and Legends cars is something else.

But we got to practice and race. And both were something interesting. Once we all got used to the track, we all got fast. I kept telling Rusty I was faster than him and I was dogging him in practice. In fact, once I even got into him (visual proof of that below). But I was faster and I told him he would see it come race time.

Well, race time was not much fun. After starting fifth, I got to third after an accident. Then, I started outside of Rusty on an early restart. Then the fun started. Anyone knows me and Rusty is that we run hard and have a good time. But i don't think Rusty likes when I can beat him, which I've been on my way to doing the last four races.

Going into turn one after the restart, Rusty pushed high and I got under him. Going down into turn three, I started to pass him and down the front stretch, I had him cleared. Well, he didn't like that much and slammed into me going into turn one and pushed me all the way up into the wall. When I hit the wall, it broke something in the steering and after restarting in the back (with Rusty behind me after getting black flagged for rough driving... FINALLY). Then, we banged some more and finally something broke in the suspension and I had to pull of the track. I thought the tire was flat and I went to the pit area, jumped out of the car and fully planned to change the tire while still in uniform and helmet Days of Thunder style. "Change the tires. But Cole, the race is over...." Rusty can be lucky it was suspension damage.

Anyway, on Monday, Rusty all but apologized to me for getting into him. He said it was our bumpers locking up that caused me to get into the wall. But he knows he's got some payback coming. He just doesn't like me beating him, especially in the pink wagon.

My last four races, all in the pink wagon: Summer Shootout - led the whole race before spinning late and finishing second; Dirt Track - going for the lead when wrecked by the leader while blocking me; Dirt Track trailer race - lead most race before cutting tire with two laps to go; Concord - passing for lead before getting wrecked.

But you know what they say... if you are not a winner... you're a loser!

I had to do a lot more work on the car after the race than just this.

There were six of us in the race... and Rusty once again cheated by getting to start on the pole.

Yeah, I got into Rusty in practice, but I just knocked him sideways and let him gather it up. I've always called Rusty "RD". Now that stands for "reckless driver."

CJ came back in from practice with some new "white wall" tires. By the end of the day, every one of us had some retro "white walls."

Look... Our Dog is in the Movies

2008-11-12T21:01:00.005-05:00

Ok. So not really. But you will get a kick out of this new movie trailer.

And you will see what we go through each day around our house.

Enjoy!!!! (Click the play button smarty...)

Our New Old Piece

2008-11-12T16:41:00.007-05:00

So me and Jennell are pretty excited about the little project we did around the house last weekend. We got an old tv armoire from our friend Dale. It was a very big piece that he didn't want anymore and was going to give to Goodwill. He'd been wanting us to come over and help him load it up. He said that we could have it if we wanted it. He'd rather us have it if we wanted it.

So, we decided to keep it and eventually transform it. We did and we are pretty proud with how it came out.

We had to take off the back paneling first. It was all cut out for Dale's old tv to fit. It was cut up pretty bad, so we stripped it off and found a different type of paneling to put on there. We used a wall paneling that had a nice design in it.

Then we spent plenty of time at HomeDepot and Lowe's looking at the kind of shelving and brackets we could use to put in there. We found what we liked that would be ok to be screwed into the sides of cabinet without going through the side.

After we were done adding the three shelves, we cleaned it up and put stuff back in there and it came out looking really nice. We're pretty happy about it and it was a nice find for "free." So thanks Dale, its way better than the $15.00 Wal-Mart bookshelf we had there before.

Watch out Bob Vila... we're coming for you.

Those Fighting Cards

2008-11-12T16:27:00.003-05:00

Just gotta give my boys from Ball State a quick shout out. They didn't play their best game last night, but they still won over Miami of Ohio. Now, they are 10-0 and have a good shot to go 12-0 in the regular season. They play a big game next week against Central Michigan on ESPN2 on Wednesday night.

Now don't fret.. I'm still a huge Ohio State fan. And I'm ready for another big win this weekend, and then another win over Michigan in a couple of weeks. Its just nice to see Ball State winning and getting some national attention. They normally SUCK!!! Go Cards!!! Go Bucks!!!

Man We Love Football

2008-11-07T16:39:00.007-05:00

Ok... so i think we are officially "football" crazy here in this house. Why do you ask? Let me discuss...

- We named our dog Brutus, after the Ohio State University mascot
- We normally watch football on Saturday and Sunday. Then again on Monday. And this past week, on Wednesday. Then on Thursday. What the hell? Where is the Friday games?
- JT gets up every single Saturday and Sunday and goes out and changes the flags outside of the house (more below)
- Both JT and Nellie are addicted to fantasy football.

However, JT and Nellie are having two totally different kinds of football years. JT's Ohio State Buckeyes are ranked in the top-15 and are 7-2 and looking like a possible Rose Bowl. JT's alma mater Ball State University is ranked 16th and moved to 9-0 on Wednesday night (yes, JT sat and watched the whole game on ESPN2. The Carolina Panthers are 6-2 and first in their division and ranked as one of the best 5 teams in all of the NFL. Oh, and JT's fantasy football team (Cracker Please) is 7-2 and already qualified for the playoffs. Now, Nellie's year... not so good. Seattle Seahawks are 2-6 (still second in their division... weak); Washington State Cougars are 1-8 (constantly killed in every game); and the Outkasts (Nellie's fantasy football team) is 3-6.

Enjoy another weekend of football everyone!

Our house on Saturday mornings (no WSU flag yet)

Our house on Sunday mornings (notice the cheap see-through Seahawks flag! C'mon Seattle, get some quality products.)

Go Ball State... David Letterman talking about the "Fighting Cardinals" (I'm the second most famous Ball State alum behind Letterman)

Dude... That's Cool

2008-11-03T21:51:00.003-05:00

Ok.. short post tonight. Just was playing around on the Internet, and I found this and I had to share it.

ESPN.com is putting up Joey Logano for its "NEXT" athlete. For those of you who don't know what that means... they try to find the up-and-coming athlete who will be the "next" big thing. Well, one of the nominees is Joey Logano, who is NASCAR's next big thing and been a friend of mine for some time, as well as 2 Dudes Studio's first client (me and Dale's new website company).

Well, ESPN.com posted an article with a bunch of links about Joey from around the web. They include cool videos, cool photos and great articles about him. Well, one of their links goes to Joey's personal website (http://www.joeylogano.com/) and says "Dude's personal site is just slightly sweeter than our own." They even played off of 2 Dudes Studio by writing it that way.

So its cool to get noticed by ESPN.com for our website design. HERE IS THE ARTICLE.

A Note FROM Brutus

2008-11-02T15:53:00.004-05:00

Yes, you read that right... it's a note from me, Brutus. My parents wanted me to write something as part of my punishment for my bad behavior on Saturday night. It's like writing "I will not be bad" on the chalk board 100-times... or so they say. They just wanted me to write in their blog instead. I figure they use my mug to make people go "awwwww" so I might as well write something.

Yeah, I got in trouble on Saturday night. I don't know what they expect though. They get to go out to the dirt track two nights this past week, and pass out candy to all the kids in the neighborhood (who all LOVE me by the way) and I get stuck in my room (which is the same room they use to pee and poop in and shower. They call it a bathroom I think).

So when they went to the track on Saturday night, they thought they would be nice and leave my bed in the room with me. Well I said "I'll show them" and proceeded to shred it to pieces. It was my stance. It was my way of showing them I wasn't going to take it anymore. No more keeping me in my room during all the fun times.

But they didn't find it so funny. They got mad at me and made me go to bed. But I had just ate that. So I slept on the floor, but I like that better because it feels good all nice and cool on my stomach.

Anyway, this is my punishment. To share my story. And if anyone wants to get me a Christmas present, I'm in the market for a new bed!

Brutus

Honestly, my mess didn't look that bad, don't you think?

Getting Dirty and Cold

2008-11-02T15:34:00.007-05:00

First, I must say that I'm happily sitting here on the couch, watching the Jets play the Bills (my Panthers are off and the Seahawks don't start for a couple hours, so i'm watching my fantasy quarterback suck it up) and writing this blog. What does that mean? I didn't move my entire desktop PC out to the tv room.... no, I finally got a laptop. Man, football and a computer on my lap, life is good.

Anyway, its funny how sometimes me and Jennell sit around and think about how we don't do much. Then we start a blog and we look back on it and we do all kinds of crap. Once again, we had quite the busy week.

After going and getting a new computer on Wednesday, we were ready for some "dirty" fun. No... we went to the dirt track on Thursday night. There was racing going on four-straight nights there and we decided to go and check it out. Well, actually to kind of work.

Our friends the Moore's run one of the souvenir trailers for Lowe's Motor Speedway and go to all of the races to sell stuff. Wendy and Jennell have gotten really close and Wendy needed some help, so Jennell went to help on Thursday night. Myself... I got to go help my buddy Rusty. He has a close relationship with the people at LMS and works every one of the dirt track races and helps "pack the track." What is that? Well, we just drive old cars around the dirt track and help pack the dirt. That makes for better racing. Still dont get it? Just go with me on this one and drop it.

So we froze our butts off doing that on Thursday night and got to stay there nice and late. But it was still fun and we liked hanging out with our friends.

Friday night, we skipped the dirt track in favor of some trick-or-treaters here in our neighborhood. Last year, we didn't buy nearly enough candy for all the kids. And a year later and even more houses built, we bought a lot more. And guess what... even less kids this year. That makes no sense. So, we got plenty of extra candy. If any of you out there want some extra candy, come visit us and ring our doorbell, we'll pass some along. We got good stuff... really.

Saturday night, we got to go back to the track. Jennell helped out Wendy again for part of the night, I packed again for part of the night, and we got to watch some decent racing. It wasn't nearly as cold this time, but still just as fun. I finally got to take Jennell out with me while packing the track (although she now tells me that she has rode with me before, thats my great memory). I don't think she was too impressed. She's a huge racing fan, and she would probably be a pretty good racer too, but riding with me isn't her favorite. But that is understandable. I'm kinda crazy out there.

Sunday turned into another "chores around the house and football" day. Its really nice here today too, so we're going to grill out and figure out what this week has in plan for us.

Again, enjoy coming back and reading here and comment when you can. We love reading what you guys think.

JT and Jennell

Jennell and her friend Wendy got to work in the souvenir trailer during a couple of nights at the dirt track. They also had to keep each other warm! They really did have more customers then the picture shows. Honestly.

See the sweet blue van? That's JT's packer car. He looks fly driving it.

Busy Weekend With Stroupes and Stiltners

2008-10-28T20:40:00.009-04:00

Hello all. Here we are again for another post to keep you all updated as to what we are doing! We had a busy weekend. Sometimes we sit around and think we don't do anything (like we do on most Sundays), but then we sit back and have weekends like this and we are always seeming to be on the go.

On Friday, Jennell dragged me kicking and screaming (ok, not really, but i'm sure she would have liked to have gone with someone else to make it more enjoyable to her) to the Christmas in the South show here in Concord. It's a long running southern Christmas show. It opened at 10am and we got there at 11am and the place was already crawling with grey hairs (don't be offended anyone). I couldn't believe how many people were there.

Friday night, we went out to eat with the Stroupe family, Dale (my partner in 2 Dudes) and Dustin & Julie. The two boys Zach and Nick are a couple of years difference in age, but have birthdays just a couple of days apart. We met up with Dustin and Julie at The Melting Pot to surprise the Stroupe when they got there. They were surprised, but had already figured something was fishy. It was the second-straight weekend we celebrated a Stroupe birthday. Camie's (MammaStroupe) was last week. The Melting Pot is a fondue restaurant where you cook all of your own food in fondue pots at your table. You also get cheese fondue and chocolate fondue. It was pretty good and the boys love it!

On Saturday, we met up with Danny and Danielle Stiltner, Diane and Johnny Lefler and their daughter Britanni to go to the Renaissance Festival here in Charlotte. I wanted to take Jennell there last year, but never got around to it. Thought this year would get cancelled too because of rain the day we wanted to go, but we ended up getting to go. Danny and Diane both work out at IAA and Danielle did before she left, so we know them all rather well.

The festival was a lot of fun. It is a huge park tucked back in the woods where an entire Renaissance town is built, with all kinds of shops, pubs, food shops and lots of stages for different performers. There are also all kinds of people walking around dressed in part talking to you and selling things and pissing people off, like Jennell. It took only moments for this one group to do a little act for us and then tell her she looked pissed the whole time. It was kinda stupid to say when they are looking for you to give them some money for their performance.

Once we met up with everyone, we just walked around all day and took in shows, ate food and drank beer. I was super happy when i found out they served Woodchuck Cider on draft. We watched a show on birds, a couple of comedy shows (mostly funny, some of it stupid) and two events at the joust arena. It was pretty cool, but the actors won't be winning any awards soon. The "good guy" knight had fake blood running out of his mouth the whole time and totally made you believe he was hurt.... no.... really.... he was. Honestly. He sold it too. But we had a blast and finally headed out after being there for about 7 hours.

After that, the weekend turned to football. Jennell fell asleep Saturday night as the Buckeyes lost a game that they should have won and i got pissed about, then sat around Sunday and watched the Panthers win again and then... shockingly... saw the Seahawks win their second game of the year. it was amazing. Schedule the 49ners a couple of more times this year.

Back to work this week and off to other projects. But it was fun and we love hanging out with our real friends and those who are always going to be there for us. Even when we get frustrated by losing some other people in our life, its nice to have the real friends you have always be there for you and realize how great they are and how fortunate we are to have them all!

At the boy's birthday party! (click the pictures and they get bigger! wow... amazing)

Jousting at the fair.... no wait, the festival.

With all the Stiltners & Leflers at the Renaissance place.

Leave Us Comments

2008-10-24T14:26:00.002-04:00

Just for a lot of you "technologically challenged" viewers of our blog... there is a section under each entry where you can "post comments" if you feel the urge. Just click on the comments link and fill it in to the right. You can post with your name or keep in anonymous... but we'll figure out who you are. It will be fun for us to hear your thoughts as we keep this thing updated!

And again, don't get all excited about three posts in the last two days. Probably won't happen that often! ha!

Hello... & Alex's New Website

2008-10-23T18:56:00.007-04:00

Hey everyone. Here is my first post, but our second post (Nellie did the first). Don't get used to seeing two posts per day or maybe even per week. We aren't that good! But like she said, this will be a good way for us to keep in touch and let eveyone know what is going on. We can even share a picture or two here and there as well. I know I'm horrible at remembering things to tell the folks or Todd or anyone I talk with, so this way, the responsibility falls on you! Ha! I'm off the hook.

Anyway, here is what I wanted to share. We just wrapped up Alex's new website through 2 Dudes Designs. You can go there by clicking this link or typing in http://www.alexkerslake.com/ in your web broswer.

Well, it is time to get off the computer for now. Hopefully, it will be one of the last time's I'm going to be getting off of this old Sony computer. It's on its last leg (hey, it's 4 or 5 years old, its had a good run) and I'm looking at new laptops. Jennell will be happy just so she can stop listening to me complain about my computer. She'll probably be with me on throwing it out of the window as it has put me in a bad mood more often than not lately while trying to do more web work.

Talk to everyone soon!

Hello All

2008-10-23T17:12:00.003-04:00

We decided to try this blog thing...new to both of us as it probably will be to most family and friends that look at it. We hope this will be an easier and better way for all of us to keep in touch. It is hard to remember what you have told who and we don't want to leave anyone out on all the exciting and fun filled adventures in our lives. Ok, you may not really be missing much but regardless this should help. We promise to do our best to keep it updated with new fun things going on.