Texahoan

Making Stuff and Giving Hope

2012-01-26T10:00:00.000-06:00

There is a website called Craft Hope. It combines the best of two worlds...making and giving...through picking a project and then having people make that project to donate towards worthy cause. Projects from the past have ranged from sock monkeys to bracelets.

Right now their project is to make hats/beanies or bags for pediatric oncology. All of the details can be found on their website and the deadline to make one (or more) and send it/them in is March 12th.

I plan on making several of the bags from this post. Will you join me in making something?

Do it!!!!

5-4-3-2-1 Workout

2012-01-25T10:00:00.000-06:00

I love Pinterest. I have found all sorts of great recipes, crafts and also workouts. I tried out this 5-4-3-2-1 Workout on Monday and I have to say that so far it is the best quick full body workout that I've tried yet. I can barely walk or lift things today...which is the universal sign of a good workout. I plan on doing in at least twice a week and look forward to seeing the result!

Photo Outing - Dallas Farmers Market

2012-01-24T10:00:00.001-06:00

One Saturday this Fall I asked Kevin to go to the Dallas Farmer's Market with me so that I could play around with the camera. It's still very new and intimidating to me and I haven't used it much at all. I think the fact that it is so big and so very black that it makes it seem more imposing to me. I feel weird looking at the world with this giant black thing on my face. I would have an easier time if it were white or a soft pink or silver or robins egg blue. But it is black and so I need to get used to it.

The day before had been warmish (in the 50's/60's) and sunny and for some reason I had foolishly assumed that the next day would be as well. Silly me. I haven't learned my lesson yet.

Far from being warm and sunny - it was cold and it wet from the rain earlier that morning and it was windy.

But I wasn't going to let that get in the way so Kevin admirably and ungrudging went with me.

We didn't stay very long but we did eat some yummy breakfast tacos (they didn't last long enough to photograph) and I got a few fun shots under my belt and a little more confidence. I'll get the hang of it some day.

For some reason I can't get the horizontal ones bigger in my blog template without them looking funny so if you want, you can click on them and they'll get bigger.

Happy Pug Day

2012-01-23T10:00:00.000-06:00

Tyler's Bike

2012-01-21T12:14:00.000-06:00

We went back to Boise for a week this summer and my lil' brother in law, Tyler, asked me to take some photos of the cafe racer he restored. His first ever and I think he did a pretty good job.

I'd never done anything like this before and honestly had NO idea what I was doing. I was INTENSELY self conscious the entire time and I believe I was wearing a skirt which probably didn't help much. I still don't know if these are good photos or not but I like them and thought I would share.

I'm proud of the job he did and I hope one day he can do one for me!

Happy Belated New Year

2012-01-20T14:40:00.000-06:00

and Merry Christmas, Happy Thanksgiving...etc.

Wow. It's been a while and a lot has happened since I last wrote.

Not sure where to begin to catch up so I guess I start with where I am now.

Happy.

I am happy. Content. Filled with Joy. Peaceful.

It's been a long time since I've felt this way. Perhaps I've never felt this way, I'm not sure. But I have definitely not felt this weightless and free in 3 years.

3 years is the amount of time that I worked at a job that robbed me of myself. Those 3 years held brief intense highs but mostly intense, discouraging and confusing lows as I tried to morph myself into something that I was not. My personality type did not fit with the people I worked with/for and so I tried to change into the person I was "supposed" to be. I failed. Failed in an atomic mushroom cloud of failure. And in the process I lost myself. Forgot who I was.

I merely survived. I existed day to day. Each work day absorbing all of my energies leaving me drained and more walled up to the world.

And now....now, I feel buoyant. Bobbing around happy and free like a little yellow duckling.

However, this was not an overnight process. It has actually taken more time that I anticipated but perhaps not as long as it could have. It has been 3 months since I stopped working there. And those 3 months have run the gamut of emotions. And I let myself feel all of them fully.

Happy. Sad. Guilty. Overjoyed. Overcome with Failure.

It has been a detox of emotions. The hardest was coming to terms with the failure and trying to figure out what to do with my life now. In many ways it has been a moment to moment existence. I have found myself clinging to God in a way that I've never experienced before. And because of that I am more alive than I have been before.

Full of hope and expectation. Finding who I am and figuring out how to live one moment at a time and find joy in the process. I am beginning to unfold my defenses and breathe. It's nice.

I'm not sure what to do with this blog. I'd like to start writing more and once again capture my life in little stories and snapshots of who I am.

Now, tell me...how are you?

Ps...hi Meg :)

Sometimes, I need to be disciplined.

2011-06-30T18:49:00.000-05:00

Um...so. oops. It's been about a week since my last post. Blerg. I was doing so good at posting too.

Oh well!

Here's Kevin's reaction to my sneaky shot!

"Heeeeey! I've told you not to do that!"

Pointy finger to enforce point...

"No....seriously....stop..."

Takes away camera to enforce point...

Stopping to Smell the Roses...

2011-06-23T20:08:00.000-05:00

I am a slow walker.

Could have something to do with my short legs. However, I chalk it up to my high level of distractiblity (which spell check is telling me is not a word). Pretty much anything bright, shiny, oddly shaped or textured or vaguely interesting causes me to pause for a closer look. This tends to place me a few paces behind whoever (whomever?) I am walking with.

Kevin is a pretty focused walker and it takes him a while to realize that I am not next to him. This generally leads to me wanting to take photos of him. I have a lot of these types of shots.

Tomorrow I will show the shots I get after he catches me taking this photo! hehe!!

Dallas

2011-06-22T21:25:00.000-05:00

I like living this close to downtown.

Camera Learnin'

2011-06-21T19:55:00.000-05:00

I am slowly but surely figuring out this camera and what we can do with it.

We have been trying different things and getting a feel for what we like to shoot and what looks best. Luckily we live in an area full of great things to take photos of and have planned our weekends this summer around photographing things in the Metroplex.

Yesterday we headed over to one of the best places to engage in outdoor activities in the DFW area...White Rock Lake. It has around 10 miles of walking/running/riding path around a huge lake that is full of rowers and sailboats. I'm looking forward to going there on a saturday and seeing what we can capture.

Last night we tried to arrive at sunset time but unfortunately a storm was rolling in so it was cloudy and the light wasn't great. I did get a couple of great shots. Below is my favorite.

One of my favorite people in the world, Traci, is an amazing photographer and she takes lots of photos from this angle so I thought I'd give it a try and see what happened. This was my last attempt and I love it. It was fun to see the world from a bug's eye view. Also, I was glad that a cyclist didn't come and smush me while I was taking it!

I'll share several of my other favorites throughout the rest of the week.

Time for Tea

2011-06-20T21:53:00.001-05:00

Since I got married 9 years ago I have gained...gasp...20 pounds.

Actually more like 28ish pounds. *shudder*

However, I've lost about 8 pounds over the past 2 months and am working towards losing the rest of it too. Well, I'd be happy with 15 pounds...I was a bit on the tiny side back then.

Part of the the reason behind the ridiculous weight gain is because I tend to get hungry at night and eat my way through quite a few calories. My cravings lead me toward the dark path paved with white carbs - tortillas heated with butter, cinnamon & sugar - that sort of thing. Lately, I've been stopping myself and brewing up a cup of tea instead. Zero calories. Tons of Satisfaction. Cravings smushed.

Plus I get to drink it out of one of my beloved mugs. I've received them as gifts over the years or have picked them up here and there. I'm not ashamed to admit how ridiculously fond I am of my mugs. I love them. In fact the one pictured below was accidentally thrown away one day and I literally dug through 3 bags of trash at work to retrieve it. Yes I did. And its not like it was expensive...cost me .35 from a thrift store but it's very cool and I've never seen another one like it. So I guess that makes it priceless. At least to me.

What do you do when the cravings come a calling? And what do you crave the most and when?

Fat Kitty and Evil Kitty Say Hello

2011-06-19T13:54:00.003-05:00

um...so...it's been awhile, eh?

2011-06-18T12:08:00.001-05:00

I am fairly certain that no one will see this first post for quite some time. Because, you know, I pretty much abandoned it.

But I think I'm going to blow the dust off and get er' going again.

I'd like to start documenting my life once more. I've sort of been doing it through Instagram and Facebook and a little through the Twitters. But it might be nice to have a central location to write a little and post photos of what's going on.

So, what has been going on?

Lots.

We moved from the wonderful house we were renting in the quiet suburbs of Dallas to a lovely little community called Lakewood which is about 5 minutes from downtown and within 20 minutes of a lot of the other commercial centers of the Metroplex.

We've switched churches from Lake Pointe Church to Watermark Community Church. It has been pretty life changing actually. Not that there was anything at all wrong with Lake Pointe. It is a GREAT church. We just didn't quite fit. But literally the moment I walked into Watermark, I felt at ease, like this is the place I've always been looking for. The people are authentic in a way I hadn't experience before, the worship is wonderful....sincere and not too concerty - you know what I mean? The teaching is a perfect mix of instruction, convicting and is spoken from the standpoint of someone who is not perfect but is doing their best to live it out. There are very few "masks of perfection" and I find that beyond refreshing.

We are attending a program once a week through Watermark called "ReEngage" which focuses on marriage and how to build a strong and vibrant one through focusing on our individual relationships with Christ in a small group setting that provide community and accountability. It's scary to be that vulnerable with basically complete strangers but it's wonderful to be in a setting with 4 other couples who all have the same goals and are willing to take down their walls and boundaries and "get real" in order to grow and achieve marriages that are healthy.

We are also spending less time watching tv and more time grown in our hobbies and other activities....reading, exercising, photography, Kevin is podcasting and I am pursuing artistic endeavors and will be starting to study math so that I can go back to school and actually learn how to create in the way I want to. Math is a necessity because apparently just because the Political Science program back in the day at Boise State didn't require it doesn't mean that the Texas education system doesn't think it is important. Stupid Texans and their mathematics. It will be really hard and frustrating but worth it...I think...I hope.

One of the things I will taking classes in is photography. Kevin bought me a Nikon D90 and I would like to figure out how to use the complex piece of equipment to its full capabilities. We just bought a lens for it today and, honestly, I am more than a little intimidated and overwhelmed by the possibilities and options it offers. But excited at the same time. So I'll document a bit of the progress of it here and let you know how it goes.

I'll also post more frequently so that my posts aren't small novels!

I will leave you with the favorite photo of the day...Kevin took it. It's his podcasting microphone.

awh yah...you know it!

2010-10-08T14:51:00.002-05:00

see more dog and puppy pictures

Frenemy

2010-09-21T14:50:00.000-05:00

Construction barrels are both the bearer of good and bad news. They tell of good things to come while simultaneously being bright orange beacons of time sucking, road rage inducing delays.

I am looking forward to the day when this particular set of traffic barrels have moved on. However, I think they are going to be around for a while so I should just accept them as part of my life.

What is that saying? Something about God granting us the strength to change the things we can and the grace to accept the things we can't?

Something like that.

So I will make friends with the traffic barrels.

This one....this one I have named Fred.

Perhaps I will miss him when he is gone?

Doubt it.

Weekend Part One

2010-09-20T09:00:00.000-05:00

On Friday, we had the opportunity to go watch the Blue Man Group perform at the Winspear Opera House. We went with our friends, one of whom is super close friends with the Las Vegas Blue Man Group manager.

We got really good seats.

Really Good.

And I am so thankful because it was one of the coolest experiences ever.

EVER.

If the Blue Man Group is touring in your area you should go. And you should pay to get seats on the floor (even if you have to eat ramen for a couple of weeks) because the final act is simply breathtakingly amazing. I squeaked with enjoyment the whole time and felt like I'd be taken into a Fantasia like movie. It was over the top.

AND interactive.

Here is the awesome chandelier at the Winspear Opera House....one of the MOST beautiful venues.

It started out like this...with all of these long droplets of light.

Then as the performance was about to begin...they were sucked into the ceiling!! It was so fun to watch!

After the show we walked around for a while since the car was in the parking garage with the gillions of other people and their cars. It was a very beautiful night and I enjoyed the stroll.

Then we all got lost trying to get home. Which is kind of how going home from doing something in Dallas normally goes for the 4 of us. We always end up going the long way home and there is much laughing and hilarity.

And that was Friday night!

Texas is Big.

2010-09-17T11:15:00.002-05:00

I was on event site again yesterday and this time I drove an hour from my house to get there and was still in the Dallas Metroplex. Sometimes I get so caught up in my day to day life that I forget how big Dallas and Texas as a whole really are.

And the crazy thing is that for as many people live in the area there are still huge huge areas of empty land.

It's nice because the wooded areas and open spaces provided a nice visual break from the strip malls, subdivisions and other urban clutter. Before I moved here I had no idea how pretty it was. But every day there is something that makes me go "wow, that is so pretty"....from a sunset, to a pond, to a wooded area or some cows grazing in a field.

I am truly thankful to live here.

Frequent trips to the ladies room

2010-09-16T11:09:00.008-05:00

I recently asked our receptionist to remind me every afternoon to take care of the various beverage containers that accumulate on my desk. By the end of every day I have at least a mug and one other type of drink on my desk. I think once I ended up with a travel coffee mug, a regular coffee mug, water bottle, red bull and a drink cup from where ever I went for lunch.

I know!!

Because of this I have been making efforts to get up and walk around more and take my beverage containers to the kitchen with me to dispose of or rinse out. The owner of our company comes to my office a lot as do several other of my coworkers and it's kind of embarrassing when my desk looks like a college boys dorm room (if a college boys dorm room contains a lot of pink).

A Peaceful Moment

2010-09-15T08:42:00.002-05:00

I like having a window in my office. It gives me a sense of peace and connection to creation when life starts getting crazy. The blues and greens and the big fluffy clouds lend a sense of calm to my chaos.

An Unpleasant Sensation

2010-09-14T10:43:00.004-05:00

I spent this morning with sweat trickling down my back. I had misjudged how hot it was going to be and how long I was going to have to stand out in the hot hot intense Texas sun. I was outside to oversee an element of an employee appreciation event and the technician was, uh, having technical difficulties.

I got bored and hot and decide that I should memorialize my time in the sun with a shadow self portrait.

Hope your day is less sweaty than mine.

Blogbandonment

2010-09-13T17:15:00.003-05:00

Yes.

I am guilty.

I completely abandoned my blog for months and months.

I am quite certain that I only have one reader....my ever faithful sister in law, Emily.

BUT!

I read that you should blog like you'd talk to you sister so that works out pretty well for me!

HI EMMY!!!!

Anyhoo...

I recently acquired a new love. My Iphone. I had no idea how much I could love a piece of technology. But I do. I *heart* it muchly.

One of the first things I did was install several different photography apps and I've been playing around them, seeing what ones I like. It actually takes some decent photos now that I've kind of figured out what I'm doing.

So I've decided to try and take a photo a day and post it up so I can share the little things that make up my life.

I think that this approach might be easier for me to keep up with. We'll see. Fingers crossed!!!

Squishy face

2010-09-13T09:34:00.003-05:00

Someone around here looks like a manatee when he sleeps.

1 Minute in the Life of the Pug

2010-09-10T08:38:00.002-05:00

Snnnzzzzz....

A Noise??!!

I Am Concerned!

Never Mind.

Snnnnzzzzzz

Rain Rain Rain

2010-09-09T09:10:00.013-05:00

After the perfectly wonderful weekend we had it just wouldn't be Texas if it didn't turn miserable immediately aftwards by either turning one million degrees outside or, you know, raining a foot in a day.

This time it seems the recent hurricane has ushered up some major rain and a few tornados. I guess a couple even touched down in the Dallas area yesterday. I had no idea until a coworker told me this morning that one even touched down a couple miles from my house.

CRAZY!!

I'm not really complaining though because I love the rain. It makes everything feel more like an adventure!

My Weekend

2010-09-07T16:46:00.004-05:00

This weekend was ALOT of fun.

We started off at Twisted Root Burger in Deep Ellum.

Yummy!

We celebrated Kevin's Birthday. Happy 30th!!

I sat outside in the backyard. A lot.

Gus joined me.

Diesel did too.

Lisa and I had drinks on the patio of the Cheesecake Factory w

hile the boys went to a football game.

Then we walked around the mall for a while and pretended we were teenagers and felt old.

And then we went and had some more drinks. This time at Starbucks.

On Sunday I read a lot. No photos of that.

On Monday, Kevin and I went on an excursion to the park.

Tuesday Morning play time was over and the world knew it becaus it started to rain and hasn't stopped.

Univited Guest

2010-05-02T13:14:00.007-05:00

About an hour ago, Kevin left to go over to our friends house and get caught up on a series they are watching called The Pacific. I have an afternoon all to myself! And as it is a beautiful day here today in Dallas (sun is shining, gently breeze blowing etc) I decided to open up the windows and back to door to let in the springy goodness.

I didn't imagine that would mean wildlife.

After flying around pooping on stuff for a while, he landed in our front office area and proceeded to make himself at home and taunt my cat.

Um...hello? Do you see the bird? May I keep it?

I called Kevin home to help me figure out how to rid our home of our flying fertilizer. However, the bird did most of the work by flying into a window and knocking it's self out long enough for Diesel to pounce on it while Kevin ran over and pinned it down.

And then Diesel got freaked out and backed out of the way giving Kevin room to scoop it up in a box and release back into the wild to go inhabit some other gentle breeze loving sucker's home.

For Traci

2010-03-10T17:35:00.005-06:00

I've been informed that I need to start blogging again.

Oh where to start?! What to say?!

How about this. I should never ever drink 2 margaritas and then start talking to my friend, Lisa, about how we are big scaredy cats about public speaking and how we should sign up for Toastmasters to get over it.

Why?

Because I am now committed to going to Toastmaster starting in April.

Do you think they'll let me have a margarita before my speeches?

A Quick Update

2010-01-14T22:16:00.008-06:00

It took me forever to get in the holiday spirit this year. So I guess it's only appropriate that I finally took down the decorations this week. Not that it took very long considering this was my Christmas tree.

Yup...a branch stuck in a giant pickle jar of unbreakable ornaments. I went ALL out this year. Yes, I did.

But it was okay because then we went back to Idaho where there was snow!!

And all of my sisters (in law...but they are more like sisters to me because I love them all soooo much!!)

And family pictures!

And lots and lots and lots of cookies.

And I got to meet my niece, Juliette, for the first time! So precious!!

And now we are home and it is 2010...crazy. For some reason the beginning of a new year makes me want to clean. So I've made it my personal mission to seek out and destroy all clutter pods in my house. I tend toward pack rattedness at times and I don't want to do that anymore. I loooooove clean, tidy and organized closets. So I made the decision that I don't want to hang onto things in hopes of "someday" using them. The new rule is that unless I can find an immediate use for something or have plans to do something with it in the very near future I am either chucking or donating it.

Let's just say the process has been very very liberating - literally - there have been a LOT of things sent to find new homes either at the dump or Salvation Army.

An unexpected side effect has been how it has pushed me towards being more creative in my use of objects.

For instance, a couple of months ago I found one of those old typeset drawer things at my local thrift store. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it but I loved it so I brought it home and stared at it for a while and then shoved it in a closet.

This week I found a good use for it. It is now the home for my favorite and often used pieces of jewelry!

But my most favorite of all reorganization projects has been my craft room. I've been slowly working on it for a few months now and it's still not complete. But it's very close and it makes me extremely happy to be in there.

Here's a glimpse of what I've been up to....

...This is a shelf of some of my favorite things, including those wee jars which were a Christmas gift from my friend, Lisa. I have NO idea what will live in them but I love the possibilities!

I'll leave you with one last photo. It's been something I've been wanting to do for about a year but just never got around to it.

An inspiration board filled a mix of stuff other people have created, stuff I've created and stuff I just think is pretty.

That's about it for now! What have you been up to this year?

Meet Emilia!

2009-12-30T18:39:00.002-06:00

One of my dearest friends, Traci, and her husband, Herman, are in China right this very second with their new daughter, Emilia.

Follow them on their journey by clicking on Emilia's darling photo and feel free to leave encouraging comments.

Always Read the Label

2009-12-17T11:04:00.006-06:00

'Tis the season for vendors to pass out gift baskets and 'tis also the season for co-workers to share their loot. This morning my co-worker (knowing my love for energy drinks) gave me this out of one of his goody baskets.

I was very excited because I hadn't had any coffee yet this morning and was really needing a little extra pick me up. But I hadn't ever seen this particular type of energy drink before so I was looking at it to see what it was and something didn't seem quite right to me. So I turned it over to read the back.

yah. That's right.

It's sparkling white wine.

I don't even want to know how I would have explained that one.

Words to Live By

2009-12-16T16:12:00.000-06:00

see more dog and puppy pictures

Scenes from My Life Tuesday

2009-12-14T22:58:00.005-06:00

As I drive home every day I find myself looking forward to reaching a certain intersection. And you might be thinking that intersection is the one that is closest to my house.

But it isn't.

It is the intersection where the birds live.

Or more precisely where the birds go to hang out and socialize before flying away in ginormous flocks to roust for the evening. I don't know why but I find all of the birds gathered together mysterious and mesmerizing. I am completely fascinated by them.

I love to watch them sit on their wires. I love to watch them fly to and fro from this line to another trying to find their "spot". But most of all I love the moment when all of a sudden something signals to them that it is time and then off they go in one big cloud of swirling organized chaos.

That moment feels...well...it feels magical somehow. I am always so thankful that I was there to see it. However, I am not always (or ever) thankful for the presents that they sometimes drop on my windshield.

ps...the photo above shows just a small part of the "flock" of birds at that intersection. They are every where. It's crazy!

Lovin' It Monday

2009-12-14T10:43:00.001-06:00

This monday I am loving pretty candy colored pins!

I have been sewing a lot lately and I have to say that having pretty pins to sew with makes the process even more enjoyable. I purchased these little beauties a couple years ago from JoAnn's and when I see them in their pincushion it makes me smile.

What are you loving lately?

Have a Very Zombie Christmas

2009-12-12T17:44:00.009-06:00

I want to be the type of person who has their act together enough to send out Christmas cards every year. I love getting them. Especially ones with photos. It's so fun to see everyone's happy smiling faces on my fridge. And I want very much to be a smiling face on someone else's fridge or mantle or however else it is that they display their holiday greetings.

Last year, I thought about sending out this photo me and Kevin.

Snow. Smiles. Everything is merry and bright. It would have been PERFECT. But I never got around to it.

This year I decided to take the initiative and went to one of those websites that lets you upload photos and make a fancy greeting card with them. I decided that this is the year of the Texahoan Christmas card!! However as I spent the next 10 minutes searching through our 2009 photos for just the right shot of Kevin and I realized that Kevin and I hadn't actually taken any photos together this year.

Except for one.

And call me crazy but something about it just doesn't seem quite right for sending out in our Christmas card.

My Little Snoranator

2009-12-09T22:43:00.003-06:00

Believe it or not, this is quieter than he can be. Sometimes he is crazy loud. As in, I can't tell if it's him or Kevin snoring. And unlike Kevin who stays put when I leave to sleep on the couch because the snoring is keeping me up...Gus follows me. There is no escape!

Scenes from My Life \Tuesday

2009-12-08T10:15:00.011-06:00

Meet R2

He is my very best of best friends at the moment. He keeps me warm all day every day because my part of the office for some reason doesn't get heated by the furnace. It just blows cold air right onto my head.

Sometimes R2 sits on my drawer and keeps the upper part of me nice and toasty and then when my toes get all tingly and cold he goes onto the floor until my fingers get too cold to type.

We have a system, he and I.

What do you do to stay warm in the cold months?

Catching Up on Stuffs

2009-12-04T20:36:00.004-06:00

I have been trying to blog for like 3 days now. Each time I had a different malfunction. It was very frustrating. I am hoping (fingers crossed!) that this time will work...OR ELSE!

Well...it took all night for these photos to upload soooo...I'm going to write about them and then call it good.

First up! Halloween costumes.

We were zombies! We made up a batch of fake blood (corn syrup, red food coloring and chocolate syrup) and then got messy! If you are going to do this I recommend putting it on your clothes the night before because fake blood does not dry quickly and if you aren't careful it will get everywhere.I was the most proud of my head wound. It made me happy. Well, as happy as an undead can be! RAR!

Next we have the little birdies that I made from a pattern I bought from Etsy. I was going to show some more birdies that I made but as Blogger is being MOST uncooperative I cannot.

They weren't too hard to make, just time consuming and required some trial and error to get the technique down. But they were so sweet and I loved making them once I figure out each pattern. I made about 7 or 8 of them and if I do say so myself the little flock looked quite adorable at the Traci's baby shower for sweet Emilia. I was so blessed to be a part of such a wonderful celebration. I really loved being able to go out to California and meet all of Traci's amazing friends and, of course, spend the weekend with one of my dearest friends!

Onward!

A couple of weeks ago Etsy Dallas had their Holiday craft show and so, of course, I had to go. Kara went with me. First we stopped at Cafe Brazil for some yummy brunch.

And I had the most amaaaazing S'mores latte. Seriously. MMMMMMmmmm!

Then full and happy we went over to wait in line for the Jingle Bash to be one of the first in the door and receive 1 of 50 goody bags. It was definitely worth the 1/2 hour we spent in line. The bags had some really cool stuff in them. Unfortunately I forgot to take any more pictures that day...so no photos of the craft fair or my goody bag. BUT just look at that photo of the latte. The goody bag was as awesome as that latte. The craft fair....meh. I wasn't so impressed with the venue. It was very crowded and the traffic flow between booth was pretty awful. I could only handle the suffocating crowds for a little while and then we had to split. All and all though it was a great experience and I'll be going to any craft fair that Etsy Dallas has in the future.

So I still have a few more things to write about but I think I'll save those for tomorrow...so you know..next week.

Later, peeps!

The Gus and the Cone...

2009-11-25T15:38:00.002-06:00

I interrupt this ridiculously long blog silence to bring you a video of The Gus and his cone. Please ignore my extremely annoying babbling.

He's not nearly as funny with it on as he was last night...but that's probably due to the lack of drugs in his system and his having nearly 24 hours to figure out how to navigate with the thing on.

Oh, and yes...I know...I am supposed to show you our costumes from Halloween and then I have to show you some adorable birdies I made for Traci's baby shower...I think I'll be back tomorrow to do that. I'm in the middle of spray painting and need to get back to it. Also, in case you were wondering....nail polish remover is not ideal for removing spray paint from skin.

Halloween, Part 1

2009-11-01T18:32:00.008-06:00

A couple of weeks ago I had the idea to have our friends over to watch some "scary-ish" movies (psycho and some other ones like that). And then I thought it would be fun theme foods. So we cooked up some "bat wings", ie chicken wings, chocolate covered spider legs (pretzel sticks)... etc.

While I was thinking about food, it occurred to me that some creepy decorations might be fun. And then it all kind of spiraled out of control from there.

My cute front room wall went from this.....

...to this (those are old creepy photos with skeletons posing randomly and one creepy looking girl).

My fun art wall went from this.....(please note that the frames are normally not so crooked but I'd been messing with them).

...to this (they also glowed in the dark because I painted the bones with glow in the dark gel).

Anything cute in my house that I wasn't planning on replacing with something creepy got covered in spiderwebs.

But my favorite part of the decorations was my mantle!

It looked WAY cool all lit up. We left the candles burning all night and I thought it added a little something to the movie watching.

But we didn't just decorate the inside of the house...we did the outside too!

We even did some dry ice fog. We had a bucket on each side of the porch and it looked really cool.

I can't forget to show you the creepy table...

I did little "specimen jars" with things I found at the dollar store...

On display were spleens from large blood sucking toads, hairy parasitic forest anemones, imported hill goblin teeth, baby vampire water bats, tiny carnivorous fanged geckos and Amazonian lice maggots.

Tomorrow...the costumes!

Nothing says fun like a little bit of pumpkin carving and some flaming marshmallows!

2009-10-29T22:36:00.007-05:00

Last night our little group of friends got together to hang out...dogs included.

We ate some pizza and had some s'mores on Lisa's cool s'more maker.

And we carved pumpkins!

Here is Kevin's...he free-handed his.

All lined up in a row, waiting to be judged!

And the winners are....Kara and Steve!

This one was mine...I had big plans for an elaborate pumpkin but thought my pumpkin was bigger than it was so the template didn't fit. So I had to improvise.

A Good Way to Spend a Saturday Afternoon

2009-10-27T18:42:00.005-05:00

Saturday afternoon, Lisa texted me to see if I wanted to go to the Harbor with her and Charlie. As it was an absolutely GORGEOUS day and I love the Harbor (it's a cool area on the lake here with restaurants and shops and docks.... a very pretty place to walk around), I love Lisa and I love Charlie. So I said yes! pick me up when you are on your way.

Now, you might be thinking that Charlie is her husband. Nope, that would be Matthew. Charlie is the OTHER love of her life. Her 14 week old English Bulldog puppy. Who will only sit still for a photo when he is forced to sit on my lap whilst we are driving.

When he is out and about, he is much much trickier to get a photo of.

Unless, of course, he is being held.

Lisa is doing amazing things with that little bulldog. He already knows how to sit, shake hands (with BOTH paws having a different command), he is mostly potty trained and she is working on stay and teaching him how to ride a skateboard.

Did I mention he is 14 weeks old?

I think by the time he is full grown she will have him doing the laundry and picking up his own droppings.

Anyhoo...if you are in the mood to meet A LOT of people, I highly recommend taking an adorable baby bulldog out in public. I think every 3rd person stopped us to say "hi" and pet Sir Charles. It was definitely a fun way to spend an hour this Saturday!

While I was away...my cats did play!

2009-10-23T18:04:00.003-05:00

Tonight when I got home, I let the pug in from outside, like I always do. He ran around snorting, grunting, yipping and otherwise spazzing out from joy that I came home, like he always does. And then I turned around to feed him and the cats when out of the corner of my eye I saw something strange....it looked like there was dirt all over the kitchen floor. But we don't have any houseplants (because I would kill them as they don't alert me to their need for sustenance as do other members of the family) so I couldn't figure out why I had dirt on my floor.

Upon further inspection I saw 2 empty baggies on the floor. Baggies that used to be filled with cat nip. I had apparently forgotten to put the catnip back in the drawer. The drawer that I use to prevent my cats from getting at their nip. Little stinkers.

While I was photographing the crime scene Diesel came back to inspect his handiwork and take another hit while his supply was still around.

"Who...me?"

After 2 bags of catnip at their disposal for who knows how long, I am assuming that they had a much more entertaining day than they normally do. Ah....to have been a fly on my wall today.

What is the strangest thing you've noticed your animals to have done while you've been gone?

One foot in front of the other

2009-10-22T18:13:00.004-05:00

A while ago I mentioned that I had started a running program and that I would post my progress and, well, then I stopped blogging.

But I didn't stop running.

Well, kind of. I got sick so I stopped for about 2 weeks and had to start over from the beginning which was a minor set back but doable. The bigger set back was at about 4 weeks into the program in my calves would get so tight after about 10 minutes that I could barely walk. It hurt soooo bad. I tried to just power through it for about a week but that wasn't working so then I started stretching my calves 3-4 times during my workout and that seems to do the trick. My calves still get REALLY tight but I am able to keep going.

That leaves me chugging along at week 5ish. And things are going GREAT.

This week the first day was to warm up for 5 minutes, jog for 5 walk for 3, jog for 5, walk for 3 and then jog for 5.

I was kind of nervous about this because the last week had called for a 5 minute run and it was HARD. I didn't know if I could do 3 sets of 5 minutes. But I decided to give it my best and as it turns out .....I can do it!

AND even better it wasn't hard at all. I wasn't out of breath. My legs weren't very tired and I didn't want to stop.

YAY!!

This program is so great that I am actually looking forward to going to the gym and as daunting as it seems right now, I am fully confident I will get to the point where I will be able to run for a full 1/2 hour and then who knows?! Maybe I'll do the 10k running program. But I'm not going to think that far ahead at this point.

One day at a time!

What goals are you working on right now?

"Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!"

2009-10-20T19:47:00.004-05:00

Several weeks ago my friend Lisa said she had a surprise lined up for me and another friend to say "thank you" for helping her out recently. I figured that would be fun...something like dinner and a movie or maybe massages or something like that. All of which sounded delightful. But that most of all it would just be fun to get out of the house and have some girl time.

As the night we were all to go approached, Kevin started teasing me that we were going to the Miley Cyrus concert that was in town or that Lisa was taking us clubbing downtown which is so not our scene at all. I told Lisa and she laughed.

I started to get excited about the day before because I just loooove surprises and I really had no idea what we were going to do.

That night as I was waiting for them to come and get me, I started to get nervous. I felt like I was going on a first date or something... just like it used to when a boy was coming to get me and I didn't know what he had planned.

It was so fun!

So then she got there and she was looking way too cute for us to be getting massages and then we drove past the place we normally go for dinner and a movie and kept on heading to downtown Dallas.

What in the world? Where was she taking us? Were we really going to see Miley? that would be fun...but weird.

Eventually I figured out that we were headed to the Fair but why would the 3 of us be dressed so cute to go to the Fair...I was not wearing good shoes for walking around much!

And then all of a sudden I saw a sign.....AH HA!! We were going to see Mary Poppins at Fair Park.

SQUEEL!!

I had heard about it and was wanting to go but didn't think it was going to happen. It is the touring Broadway show with the original actors and everything.

It was practically perfect in every way.

The singing! The dancing! The set!

I have not clapped that much or that hard in a very long time. Possibly never.

At one point during "Step In Time" Bert walked up one wall and then upside down along the ceiling, stopped in the middle, tap danced, walked to the other wall and down to the floor. It was one of the coolest things I've ever seen.

Thank you Lisa for a truly wonderful night. Love you, girl!

*this clip is from the Broadway show and is pretty much what I saw. Freaking awesome.

Lovin' It Monday

2009-10-19T19:33:00.002-05:00

About halfway into my commute this morning I encountered the most curious sight. Tied to trees, sign posts, bushes etc were shiny silver & maroon foil streamers. I started looking around to see what they were advertising for but they didn't seem to lead to anything and they were on both sides of the road and in the medians.

They were glittery and pretty and seemed to serve no other purpose but to make me smile.

After about a quarter mile they ended and I forgot all about them until my drive home today when I saw them again. It just so happens that I was thinking about what to write about for "lovin' it monday" and then I knew that those silly little streamers were what I was lovin' today. So I grabbed my camera when I had to stop for a light and tried to capture their loveliness. I failed miserably but you can kind of see them in the photo above. There are 2 or 3 in the photo but I think only 2 are very visible...a silver one on the tree and a maroon one on the lamppost.

I hope I forget all about them tonight so that tomorrow morning I can be surprised all over again.

What are little things that make you smile as you drive around?

Lovin' It Monday

2009-10-12T21:59:00.003-05:00

I don't know about you but candles seem more Fall and Winterish to me. And this fall I have discovered Febreeze Candle in some truly spectacular fall flavors. I love the pumpkin one, but the autumn spice and apple cinnamon ones are pretty yummy too.

They are really great because they last a long time and the smell is strong enough to make my kitchen and living room smell wonderful but at the same time not overpowering. And best of all, they are only $5!

I am not in any way associated with Febreee....just lovin' on their candles!

Squeaka Squeaka

2009-10-11T19:37:00.003-05:00

I am trying out our new camera (just a cheapy point and shoot while I save up for my nice camera) and took some cute video of Gus. I didn't have a lot of lights on so it's dark...but he's soooo cute that it makes up for it.

* hmmmm....I just played it and for some reason it's waaaay darker here than it was when I uploaded it from my camera :(

Lovin' It Monday

2009-10-05T15:10:00.004-05:00

This week I am lovin’ the newest addition to our family – Gus aka Gus-Gus, Guster, Gussers, Gussy, Gusterson or Gussums.

We found him on Craigslist last week and drove about 40 minutes during a rain storm into the Middle of Nowhere, Texas to meet him in a WalMart parking lot and fell instantly in love (despite the fact that the lady had him in red, white and blue striped PANTS and had SHAVED him).

He’s two years old, weighs about 25 pounds (which is gigantic for a pug), is uber chill, ignores the cats, pretty much ignores other dogs, stops doing whatever he's doing when we say "no" or "enough", has only had one accident in the house, doesn’t bark, looooves squeaky toys and just wants to snuggle. He follows us from room to room and plops down on the comfiest place he can find.

I think he's pretty much perfect other than a few little issues we need to work on along with teaching him basic obedience. I want to eventually do pet therapy with him and I think he'll do great at that.

Aaahhhh…feels good to have a dog again.

I’ll always miss Lucy but Gus Gus is beginning to fill that big black hole she left behind.

Lovin' It Monday

2009-09-28T18:48:00.003-05:00

Hellloooooo!

It's been a while, eh? I know! I know! I kinda got wrapped up in my head there for a while and the bloggy inspiration went *poof*.

So I'm back...back again. I'm back...tell a friend.

Or don't.

Whatev.

Onward!

What am I loving right now? Right this very second?!?!

I'm going to have to be mushy and say friends.

God has recently brought some people into my life that have been a huge blessing to me and I'm just so loving it right now. They are spread out all over the country and a few of them I really only have contact with through Facebook status updates but every week each of them puts a big ole smile on my face at least once and for that I am very thankful.

So here's a shout out to Lisa, Traci, Kat, Michelle, Emily, Stacey, Kara and my sweet cousin Faith. You all rock my socks off!

Week 2, Day 2 (alternately titled: Running Makes Me Sweat Like a Boy)

2009-08-19T19:14:00.004-05:00

I've never really been that sweaty of a person. Heck, I don't even wear deodorant every day! Even when it's very very hot outside it doesn't phase me much unless I'm going to be outside & in the sun for a long time and then I'll put some on. This is true even when I exercise, I don't normally "sweat". It's generally more of that proverbial "glow" and even when I do "sweat" it's several beads here and there rather than actual pouring down my face sweat .

That all changed Monday when I started week two of my running plan. This phase calls for 90 seconds of jogging/running followed by 60 seconds of walking, repeat..repeat...repeat...etc.

I headed to the gym all pumped up to start this week because last week went fabulously and I was excited about pushing myself a little further. Plus my bangs were looking really cute with my hair pulled back in a pony tail so I even looked cute which doesn't normally happen when I roll out to the gym....I'm mostly just happy to find matching athletic socks and that's just to keep from embarrassing Kevin.

So we get to the gym and I hop onto the treadmill like a woman with a purpose and start my workout. Doo Dee Doo.... life is good....I'm jogging and I'm walking and I'm jogging and I'm walking and then all of a sudden my bangs are soggy and my lower back is all wet and there's a trickle of sweat in places there shouldn't be.

The sweat. Oh. My. Goodness. The sweat.

It was ridiculous! At that point I was so overheated that I gave up on the jogging and just pushed myself to walk the rest of the 15 minutes I had left.

I was hoping it was just a fluke and pumped myself up to hit it again tonight. But this time I didn't go quite as fast so quickly and paced myself better. It helped but not as much as I'd hoped. I made it to 23 minutes before the sweat won and I couldn't take it anymore and just walked.

I'm thinking about getting one of those mini fan/water bottle combos or maybe one of those awesome sweat headband things from the 80's!

Overall, though, I'm quite happy with the program and feel my legs getting stronger and my endurance increasing. I just need to figure out how to tame my inner sweaty beasty and I think I'll really enjoy this running thing.

Lovin' It Monday

2009-08-17T17:56:00.003-05:00

For Christmas my friend Lisa bought me the most awesome mug. It looks like a paper cup you'd get at a coffee shop but is instead ceramic with a silicone lid. I love it sooooo much. It's the perfect size for me - a Starbuck's tall or an everywhere else small - and it fits so nicely in my hand.

For a couple months I used it every day until one tragic morning when I was hugging Kevin good-bye before I headed out the door for work it somehow got knocked out of my hand. Alas, my poor mug did not make it because, as you may know, ceramic has a low bouncibility rating. There might have been some tears shed that sad & uncaffeinated morning. And as soon as I left, Kevin hopped online and ordered me a new one. Because he's the awesomest. A few days later my new mug arrived to take it's rightful place in my morning routine.

If you are wanting your very own spiffy mug, check out Fred Flare where now they even come with a silcone wrap to keep your hand from getting too hot.

Again, I am not getting paid to say anything nice about Fred Flare or this mug. I just love it and want to share the lovin'.

Week 1, Day 2

2009-08-13T21:04:00.002-05:00

Tonight I battled a tension headache and end of the week fatigue and did the second day of the first week of my running plan. The first 5 minutes were tough and the last 3 minutes but the middle part went pretty well. Woot!

Sometimes You Have to Learn the Hard Way

2009-08-12T18:57:00.001-05:00

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Getting My Run On

2009-08-11T20:53:00.006-05:00

Along with the throngs of other people who make fitness resolutions at the start of the new year, Kevin and I joined a gym in January. We were actually pretty faithful about going 3-5 times a week up until about a month ago when we decided we were throwing our money away at the gym and that we could work out just as well at home.

We thought this in spite of the fact that we have no cardio equipment at our house and Texas in the summer = hell hot so outside cardio is NOT an option. But, hey, we DO have a yoga mat, an exercise ball, some hand weights and Kevin bought a kettlebell that has weights you can take off and on. Plus! I recorded a lot of shows off FitTV (hello, Gilad!). And off we went determined to give it our best shot.

SURPRISE!

We failed.

There is just something about going to a gym that makes working out happen for us. So this week we joined back up. Ahhhh. Real workout equipment, I have missed you so!

This go around, I have added motivation because my work will be participating in a 5k run in September and I'd actually like to run part/most of it. Running is not really something I've done much of but I thought a small fun run thing would be a good thing to get me going in it. I had that bright idea before knowing how far 5K is. It's 3 miles. THREE MILES!

EEP!

Oh geez! I've never run even a mile before without stopping a LOT and wanting to die. But I'm 31 now and up for new challenges so I searched for "how to train for a 5k" and I found this great website with a plan to get people from couch potatoes to running a 5k in 9 weeks or something like that and they even have a facebook group that posts tips and inspiration.

Couch potatoes with athletic ambitions...them's my peeps.

I printed out the plan and looked it over. It seemed pretty reasonable...up until I got to the end weeks wherein running for 25 minutes straight is required but then I went back to the first several weeks which starts you off running in intervals of 60 to 90 seconds. I thought that sounded like something I could do and figured why not give it a try?!

So far so good.

Tonight I did the first day of the first week and I didn't die. In fact, I didn't even come close to passing out/fainting/wanting to cut my time on the treadmill short. I went for 45 minutes and was shocked that it had gone so quickly. A good sign, no?

I plan on documenting my progress here and so that I'll have some sort of accountability.

Anyone want to join me?

Lovin' It Monday

2009-08-10T19:56:00.003-05:00

After a loooong summer hibernation, I've decided to start blogging again. And I figured what better way to do so then to bring back "Lovin' It Monday".

Back at the beginning of the year, Kevin and I were at Whole Earth Provisions and decided that we wanted to drink more water in 2009 and to cement that idea we bought ourselves really expensive water bottles. The foofy fancy metal kind. I originally wanted a Sigg because of how pretty they are but I knew I am way too lazy to screw that top off and on a million times a day. So I kept looking around the store to see if there were any metal bottles with a different type of lid, preferably one with a straw (my preferred beverage delivery method). I figured asking for a metal water bottle with a straw would be like trying to find a swimsuit I'd actually wear in public, so you know...impossible.

But!

Then I looked to my left and found Nathan's water bottles a couple racks over from the Sigg bottle display. They are metal AND they have straws.

Guess which one is mine and which one is Kevin's. he he.

So if you are in the market for a metal water bottle we HIGHLY recomend this brand. The pull from the straw is so smooth that I've actually found it kind of addictive. I drink 3 to 4 times as much water per day when I have this with me at work. I just love it. And Kevin says he loves his too.

OH, and I guess I should say that I've been in no way compensated by Nathan's for this post. I'm just sharin' something that I love and I looooove my water bottle.

I'll Be There When I Get There

2009-08-04T22:00:00.000-05:00

Lately, I’ve been having a kind of circular conversation with God. It sounds very similar to conversations being had in many vehicles this summer between parents and their children.

“Are we there yet?”

No.

“Are we there yet?”

No.

“Are we there yet?”

No.

The kids want the journey to be over already. Despite their air conditioned comfort, the plethora of snack and beverage options and their many entertainment choices all they want is to be wherever they are going and to be there RIGHT NOW. But they aren’t yet and no amount of whining about it will get them there any sooner. And as much as they’d want their parents to pull over and say “Yep! We’re here! The fun can begin!” They probably wouldn’t want the reality of their parents pulling over in the middle of Nowhere, USA and being told that because of their whining they will now be playing hide & seek in acres of cornfields for the next week rather than seeing princesses and riding rollercoasters at a certain uber fun amusement park that they would have arrived at in 5 hours had they been patient.

That is, in a nutshell, what I have been doing. I’m ready to be at my destination already. I just want to be "there" rightthisverysecondthankyouverymuch. I’m whining at Him and railing against His timing. And that is not a good thing.

I was praying about my impatience and frustration one night and in the quickest response to a prayer EVER, God placed in my mind the Children of Israel and their looooong march through the desert, their impatience, disbelief & disobedience. I bet that they had many whiney conversations with God asking if they were there yet.

He had a plan for them. He freed them. He was taking care of all of their needs and giving them more than clear guidance about where He wanted them to go (hello there, large pillar of fire and cloud!) and all they had to do was believe in his provision and follow where He took them while he fed them and met their needs. But despite the in-their-face way God was providing for them (mana, quail, water from rocks) they still struggled (and an entire generation epically failed) in trusting Him. I used to think they were such dummies. And now I see how easy it is to fall into their ranks.

I’m marching around the proverbial desert right now. I’m having my needs more than adequately met and instead of celebrating and finding joy and contentment in the amazing ways God has and is providing I have been, unfortunately, whining about what feels to be the bland and boring now. I've walked by the same ole scenery so many times that it's hard for me to see the miraculous in it any more. I struggle against His leading because I feel like I’m not getting anywhere even though I know that I am. I know that every day takes me one day closer to where He is leading me but I have a hard time living in the right now without knowing the when, what or how of the future. I just want to be THERE already.

I know that there is value in the journey. That there is value in the daily walking because it is getting me one step closer to where He would have me end up. And it is one more day I am being refined by His patient love and one more day of maturity so that when this part of the journey is over I am who I need to be.

And so I am learning to quiet the whine that wells up inside me. I do NOT want to end up in the middle of nowhere twiddling my thumbs and wondering what kind of awesome would have been if I’d just stayed in my seat a little bit longer. So I’m praying for patience & wisdom to do as much (or as little) as God calls me to today and see where He takes me tomorrow.

A Big Empty Space

2009-06-19T15:48:00.003-05:00

My grandpa died last night.

My mom called and told me at 5 this morning and I have been awake since then.

I’ve never had anyone I’ve known pass away before. I’m 31 and have never experienced death.

I’m currently unsure of what to feel. I’m somewhat removed from my emotions. I think it’s because I’m here in Dallas and everyone else is in Boise. I feel mostly just upset. My stomach is on edge like it is when I think I’m about to get in trouble for doing something wrong.

This all has made being at work today an interesting experience. I’m frantically trying to wrap up loose ends before being gone for a week that I wasn’t planning on being gone for and it’s like swimming through mud. I can’t really focus but I know I need to but I keep forgetting what I’m trying to focus on. I guess it's the stereotypical haze that people say they walk around it but I've never experienced it before. I don't like it very much.

My head is pounding and I’m very tired but other than that I’m doing ok right up until I’m trying to tell people that I won’t be here next week and then have to tell them why. One second I’m matter of fact about it and then *WHAMMY* out of nowhere I get overwhelmed with sad and there are tears welling up.

I don’t like to cry in front of people. Especially not these people.

I’m not particularly sad because he has died. I know where he is. I know that he’s not hurting anymore and that his body is no longer hindering him and that is so wonderful. But it will be very empty in the family now and that makes my heart break.

People are so irreplaceable. It’s such a weird thing for him to just not be there anymore. My mind is struggling with the concept. It’s very strange to me.

Maybe once I’m back in Boise it will make more sense. Or maybe it will just be more confusing, I don’t know. Either way, I’ll be in Boise celebrating his life with my family from Sunday through Saturday. I don’t know if I will blog while I am there but if you are in Boise and want to meet up with me I should be checking Facebook on a regular basis so let me know and I’ll see what I can do.

Lovin' It Monday

2009-06-15T19:27:00.006-05:00

In an effort to start the week off on a postive note, every monday I plan on posting something that I'm loving.

Right now that something is this lil' elephant named Wellington. He was created and filmed by Andrew and Melissa Frueh.

If you click on the photo it will take you to the video. Please do..it's quite delightful.

Lazy Listy Thursday

2009-06-11T21:43:00.005-05:00

Ugh, this week has been one of those that just go on and on and on. I wish it were Friday night I was looking forward to sleeping in. Instead I'm trying to figure out what I'm going to wear tomorrow and since I haven't done laundry in fooooorever nothing fabulous is coming to mind.

bleh.

What to write what to write....I'm wanting to post but actual paragraphs seem too involved so its a list for you!

1. After 294 days of ignoring the Wii Fit, we broke him out again and what he told me was quite disheartening. In fact, I may or may not have immediately left for the gym after receiving the news that I somehow gained 10 pounds since the last time I used Wii Fit. And I may or may not be still sulking 3 days (and 3 trips to the gym) later.

I think it was quite a surprise especially because I've been trying to be so good about working out and eating well and think i've lost about 3-4 pounds recently so I wasn't expecting the weight gain that the evil Wii Fit not very gently let me know about.

2. Kevin and I are obsessed with So You Think You Can Dance. Love. Love. Love. I wish all the dancers could stay. What they can do with their bodies BLOWS MY MIND.

3. We are also loving Wipeout. Ha ha. It's so funny to watch those crazy people who are obviously out of shape and think that sheer force of will is going to get them through. It takes an amazing athlete to make it through and win that insane obstacle course. Big Balls!

4. I really want to cut my hair. Like all off up to my chin. I have this urge about every 2 years and regret it every time and spend the next couple years growing it back out and then the urge hits and I do it again convicing myself that this time will be the magical time and it will be wonderful and I will love it. I never do. Ack. But I really really want to!!! Maybe I should just buy a wig.

5. We are currently on a hummus and pita kick here in the Reitz household. We've been buy the giant Costco size and going through it in about about 2 or 3 weeks. We eat hummus and pitas for dinner about 3 times a week. The Super Target near my work sells a super delish whole wheat flat bread that tastes amazing with the hummus. Just talking about it makes me hungry!

Well that's a quick update from me. Hope your week is going faster than mine!

7 Years

2009-06-07T22:18:00.004-05:00

This weekend marks my 7th year of being married to my very best friend.

It's kind of crazy to think about all we've gone through and know that there is so so much more ahead.

Good times. Bad times. Laughing. Crying. Dancing. Eating. Traveling. Learning.

This weekend was one of our best anniversaries yet and we didn't really do anything special. We just connected with each other and had a mini-adventure here in the Dallas area. We didn't go to a fancy restaurant or stay at a cute bed and breakfast. There were no candles or roses or chocolates.

Instead we went to a new part of town and ate at a restaurant we'd never been to and talked and laughed out on the patio and enjoyed the beautiful weather. It was 80ish with low humidity and a strong breeze that felt wonderful. The kind of weather that makes your soul feel alive and reconnect with that little kid that used to run in the sprinklers.

We didn't talk about anything special or lovey dovey. It was just nice to be together without any sort of distractions. After lunch we walked around this funky little arts district holding hands and popping in and out of the funky little art shops.

There was a really cool bookstore that had a great selection of books and a warm inviting atmosphere. I fell in love with all of their beautiful children's books and wished I had a $1,000 to buy them all. There is something so wonderful about kids books and I get lost in their illustrations and whimsicality. Kevin found a cool book about a gigantic sailboat and it made us remember how someday we'd like to sail around the San Juan islands. Someday!

Before the bookstore was this absolutely amazing little shop. It was a place that sold the work of many different artists. Most of them were WAY off the beaten path and nowhere near mainstream. We were there for probably 45 minutes looking at all of the crazy and wonderful things that came out of someone's imagination.

I'm quite certain that we missed much of the symbolism that was woven into the mixed media pieces but they were just so fun to look at that we didn't really care that we had no idea what they meant. I, of course, forgot to take pictures of those because was too distracted by how cool they were.

Some of our very favorites were quite creepy and cute at the same time. I couldn't stop looking at them even though I very much wanted to. We think they were made up of at least 2-3 different types of animal bones.

One of our favorite pieces and one that we both agreed that if we'd had an extra $1,200 laying around we would have seriously considered purchasing was this guy.

A sea turtle made out of some sort of industrial metal with seaweed tealight holders made from rebar. It was simple and beautiful and I loved it. Alas, I don't see us ever being comfortable spending that much money on an art piece but I sure wish we could!

Once Kevin had let me explore the shops to my heart's content we headed off to see the movie UP.

HOLY CRAP.

It was such a great movie. It was kind of a perfect anniversary movie as its about the epic love of a man and wife. After they have lived a long and simple but loving life the wife dies leaving her husband feeling the need to live the adventure that they'd always talked about but never been able to do.

I'm not ashamed to say that I cried at least 3 times. I think Kevin's sleeve was a bit damp by the end of the movie.

Not only was the storyline AWESOME, the entire movie was total eye candy. There was one scene that I found completely breathtaking (when the hundreds of balloons that he's tied to his house to carry him to South America are released from their covering and bump bump bump their way into each other and up into the sky).

We fell in love with all of the characters from Doug the talking golden retriever to Kevin the gigantic FEMALE bird that they are trying to save. And the relationship between the old man and the little boy that inadvertently comes along for the ride is just so sweet and fun to watch unfold. This movie is definitely in my top 10 movies of all time.

Ok. So basically what I'm saying is GO SEE IT! Right away, please.

After the movie we walked over and grabbed some bubble tea and headed home to work on the presents we were making for each other. We decided this year we would make each other something. It didn't have to be expensive or anything extravagant, just something meaningful and from the heart. And being the procrastinators that we both are, we of course, waited until the night before our anniversary to start working on them.

I took a box I'd been saving for a special something or other and figured that now was its time. I took my wood burner and burned the words "for always" into the top and then did a watercolor wash in blues and greens. I went around the house and gathered little mementos of our life together and put them in the box symbolizing the adventures we've had and the ones that are to come. I didn't realize that it had been years since Kevin had seen some of them so it was super awesome to see his face when he opened the box this morning.

Kevin put together a playlist of love songs that expressed the way he felt for me along with the lyrics to each song and a little note about why he picked each one. Let's just say I was glad I hadn't put my makeup on yet as the tears flowed freely and often.

All in all this weekend has been a really great time of reconnecting and reminiscing and remembering why we love each other and the things that have brought us this far. I feel so badly for people who don't "get" marriage and feel that it's an antiquated institution. They are missing out on one of the most amazing experiences. To be truly loved and known by someone with the promise that no matter how ugly or how hard life gets they will be there is the greatest comfort and joy that could be had.

Kevin, I love you with all my heart and am so glad that you are my partner in this great and crazy adventure. Thank you for the 7 best years of my life.

Sometimes Vintage is Awesome and Sometimes Not So Much

2009-06-02T22:35:00.006-05:00

Lately I've been channeling my creative energies towards sewing. I found a pattern for a cute grocery bag that I thought looked pretty simple and I had visions of sewing them up by the dozens for gifts.

That is until the first one took me ELEVEN HOURS.

Because I'm special and was unaware that thread can go bad which means that it was a less than stellar idea for me to use thread left over from when my mom used to sew me costumes for school plays.

Many additional hours of frustration later and after having a professional seamstress look at my machine, put it back to normal and admonish me sternly about its proper settings, bobbin placement and the merits of new thread ... a bag now takes me an hour and half (if the moon and stars are aligned just right and I'm wearing my lucky undies).

Anyhoo.

We celebrated my friend Kara's birthday this weekend and I made her one out of some amaaaazing vintage sheets I thrifted when Kevin's parents were in town.

The outside.

The lining.

All rolled up and ready to be stashed away in a purse.

And finally tucked in a gigantic plastic cupcake liner I found and about to be presented to the birthday girl.

That's what I've been up to in my free time...how 'bout you?

Scens from My Life Tuesday

2009-06-02T00:02:00.007-05:00

The wall above our tv had been blank for over a year because I couldn't figure out what to put there. There are three different walls (each a different width) that make up the tv nook and for the life of me I just couldn't come up with any idea I loved. And I still haven't. I just got tired of looking at a blank wall.

So one day I took apart a scrapbook paper pack my mom gave me for Christmas, affixed sheets of it to poster board and sticky tacked it to the wall.

Done.

It doesn't really look finished to me but it looks WAY better than blank wall. yay!!! The suitcases are vintage and we've been collecting them since we were first married.

The books on the suitcases are a collection of a few of my most cherished childhood books (well, all of them except the baseball book, that one is just there for extra height). I love that they are out and I can see them every day! It helps me feel connected to my past through my present.

What are some of your favorite household treasures?

Fort Worth

2009-05-28T19:54:00.000-05:00

Over the long weekend, Kevin's parents came to visit us. It was their first time down to see us so we drove around a lot and showed them all of the cool parts of Dallas and Fort Worth. Well, probably not all since we are still pretty new to the area and are finding out new stuff all the time.

For the most part I didn't take that many photos but I did take quite a few the day we went to Fort Worth.

Enjoy!

The Fort Worth Stockyards are one of the most touristy parts of Texas, I think. But it was still cool to go and see that part of western history and imagine what it must have been like back then.

There are cowboys and cowgirls dressed up in authentic garb and on their horses and then twice a day this street gets a taste of the old west with a "cattle drive".

Hmmph. Cattle drive.

It's about 10 longhorns hustled down about a block and then they go to a pasture to graze during the day. I was very dissappointed. I'm not sure what I was expecting though. Maybe more cows? Maybe cows that didn't look bored? I don't know.

The highlight of my time at the Stockyards was Big Jake.

He has a saddle and if you have $5, you can sit on him. I didn't have $5 so there is no picture of me grinning from ear to ear on top of Big Jake. Because I would have had the most idiotic huge smile on my face if I could have sat on top of that giant cow. *sigh* Next time I'll bring $5.

psst...if you look closely in the background you will see my mother in law, Kathy, at the picnic table. We brought a yummy lunch and had a delightful picinic. The weather was surprisingly nice.

After the Stockyards we went to the Log Cabin Village about 10 minutes away. It's set in a pretty little wooded area and I loved it there.

There were about 6 cabins that had been relocated to the property and inside they were set up with furniture and items that would have been used during that time.

My favorite was an old mill with a working water wheel.

There were also docents in period dress throughout the area and they offered helpful glimpses into life back then.

This cabin was especially cool because it was divided into 2 rooms by a breezeway. On one side was the kitchen/dining area and the other a living/sleeping area. This helped to keep the heat from the kitchen out of the sleeping areas in the summer. Bleh. I don't even want to think about Texas in the summer without airconditioning!!

There was also a cabin that was full of replicas of old timey things that gave people a chance to feel and experience the lifestyle without worry about damaging antiques. It was pretty cool.

My favorite was this morter and pestle. They had coffee beans and dried grains that you could smash up. I found it oddly relaxing and have been trying to figure out what possible use I could have for one.

After that we did a brief driving tour of downtown Fort Worth (which is GORGEOUS!) and I saw this groovy old building with a suit of armor at the top of it!

We had an overall lovely weekend visit with Kathy and Larry and were so glad that they could come and visit us. Now our guest room is empty and sad and lonely. Would anyone like to come and stay for a while?

Welcome to My New Schedule

2009-05-26T19:57:00.005-05:00

I've always been someone who valued routine but not necessarily schedules. I get distracted too easily and always end up way behind on the schedule. I found that kind of discouraging so I gave up and just figured that I was the type of girl that needs an idea of a plan without the restrictions of a timeline. But I'm seeing that now as less character trait and more character flaw (lack of discipline).

By saying I want to do xy&z without a timeline to do it left me too much freedom to do everyting and nothing at all. And that's not working for me any longer (truthfully it never really worked!)

So today I put together a schedule for my evenings.

6-6:45 go to the gym
7-7:30 dinner
7:30-8 chores
8-8:30 blog, journal or catch up on e-mails
8:30-9:30 creative time
9:30 -11 free time in 1/2 hour chunks to be used as necessary (time with Kevin, more creative time etc)
11-11:30 get ready for bed
11:30 lights out

I fully expect this schedule to be modified until it matches my needs/lifestyle but so far so good! In fact, tonight I have followed my schedule to the minute and am amazed at how freeing it has been. I thought I would feel really constricted and oppressed by the clock (tick tock tick tock tick tock) and that following a schedule would be a struggle for me. Instead, I've found that using up my entire block of time to accomplish a task has give me the freedom to do it thoroughly and not feel rushed to do the next thing.

For example, I was cleaning the kitchen and kept thinking that I needed to hurry up so I could blog. But then I would realize that I had still 15 minutes left to clean and I didn't need to hurry at all! I could take my time and really put things away where they needed to go. I found that what I thought would take 15 minutes really only took 5. So I had another 10 whole minutes to straighten up the living room and my reading nook.

When 8:00 came around I was pretty surprised at how much I had accomplished in my half an hour and was able to sit down to at my laptop guilt free. I hadn't rushed to get things done and I also wasn't using blogging to procrastinate doing something else by blogging because that something else had either already been taken care of or would be taken care of at its alotted time.

And now it's 8:30, time to sew!

Yay for schedules!!

Sweatpants vs Being Creative

2009-05-25T19:24:00.005-05:00

It has been a long long time since I have blogged. I just haven't had it in me. I go to work and communicate with people all day long. I put on a happy face and outgoing persona and solve all their problems. I expend sooo much energy throughout my day just being nice to people that when I get home I don't have much left in me.

This is unfortunate because I really really want to be creative when I get home. I want to have something to show for my evenings. During my down time at work, I look out the window and I think about all of the things I want to do that night. I daydream of all of the projects that I will accomplish in the 4-5 hours before bed.

Blogging! Sewing! Painting! Getting rock hard abs!!

I compose blog posts in my head. I might even take some photos.

I think and plan out what I want to sew and where I will put it or who I'll give it to.

I sketch out what I want to paint.

I visualize myself doing crunches while Kevin and I watch our shows that night.

Man, oh, man! It will be a great evening.

And then I drive home.

Go to the gym (30-45 minutes of cardio).

Come home and eat some sort of food (sometimes it's an actual meal and sometimes just a substantial snack).

Then I make the mistake of sitting down. And once I sit down, I don't want to get up again. I try to motivate myself by thinking of all of the things I wanted to work on that night. I might even look at the list of things I wrote down just precisely for that reason...to help me be inspired to push through and git 'r done.

But it doesn't really motivate me. It just makes me think that the afternoon Me is a very ambitious idealistic person with a poor grasp on reality because the evening Me just wants her sweatpants, a glass of wine and the remote control.

Not surprisingly, 4 out of 5 nights the evening Me wins. That is why my poor lil' blog sits stagnant for weeks.

Fooey.

I hate that kind of life. I want to be better. More purposeful. Mind over matter and all that.

I think this week I will set aside some dreaming time to dream up an evening schedule. I don't want to just exist through this time in my life. I want to have something to show for it. I want to live with purpose and meaning (and still find time for my sweats and wine!).

I'll be back tomorrow with what I come up with.

Happy Friday

2009-05-01T00:21:00.001-05:00

Hi Everyone....

I know I haven't been posting much lately. I've been processing a lot and think that in the next week I'll have some posts up with some answers about the direction my life will be headed.

Until then, please enjoy this awesome video of Maru. He's pretty much the bomb diggidy.

Learning the Dialect One Call at a Time.

2009-04-14T18:43:00.004-05:00

I answered the phone at work today and it went a little something like this.
______

Me. Thank you for calling, this is Shelley.

Him. Hi, I need to talk to your pyro girl.

Me. Silence. (thinking thinking...fireworks, who does fireworks here?!) Um. Our pyro girl?

Him. Yes. Your pyro girl.

Me. silence.. (more thinking)

Him. You know...the girl that cuts the checks.

Me. OH. (light bulb. Ding!) You want accounts payable. One moment, please.

Noodle Brain

2009-04-11T15:58:00.002-05:00

Kevin tells me I think too much and I would tend to agree. Sometimes I get “spaghetti noodle brain” when I have so many thoughts going on and it’s hard to talk about what’s going on in there because it’s hard to distinguish where one thought ends and another begins.

This week I’ve been having a serious case of noodle brain.

I’ve for so long thought that I wanted to go back to school and finish my degree…at first I thought I would follow the art path so I could learn to paint, draw, sculpt and all of those wonderful things that get my heart excited. Then more recently (as I’ve hinted) I thought God was leading me down a different path to getting my degree in psychology with maybe later on a Masters in Counseling, so that I could satisfy my longing to help those who hurt. It made sense and I felt peaceful about the idea.

It was with the psychology idea firmly in place that I enrolled in community college, had my transcripts forwarded and decided to proceed without fear of the uknown. I decided I would take each step one at a time so I wouldn’t get overwhelmed with the future and freak out.

So after having my transcripts forwarded, the next step was to meet with an advisor to figure out the right path to take. I called earlier this week to make an appointment but they said it would be better to just drop in. So I took Wednesday morning off work and headed to the campus to drop in and see an advisor.

I was kind of nervous on the drive there but I fought down the butterflies and prayed for God’s peace. I found a parking place and realized that I had no idea where the building I wanted was. Oh well, I would just walk, find a map and figure it out.

It turns out I parked almost on the opposite end of where I needed to be…but it felt nice to be walking on a college campus again. There’s just something comforting about being on campus and this one was has a little lake and the trees here already have their leaves so it was very pretty.

After I found my building and talked to 3 different administrative people I finally was able to meet with Lorrie, a wonderful, knowledgeable advisor.

Lorrie talked with me for a good hour or more. She has her Master’s in Counseling so she was able to offer lots of practical advice about what to take and not to take and what 4 year school in the area would be best. That was the good part of the conversation.

The bad part was the realization that 19 year old me was an idiot without direction who took the most random classes with no particular plan in place to ever graduate. She never saw an advisor and just figured it would somehow “happen”. This leave 31 year old me having to take placement exams. Placement exams involving MATH, my nemesis. I barely escaped having to an English placement exam because they looked at my transcripts and figured that if I could pass numerous senior level poli sci classes, I’m probably proficient in English. Yay.

After setting up a schedule for when to take those tests and armed with some numbers of advisors at the 4 year schools in the area, I left Lorrie and walked across campus back to my car.

I don’t remember a time I’ve felt so completely overwhelmed and unsure of my future and so full of “if only” thoughts of my past.

And then the questions came. Just a few at first and then more and more and more until my brain was so full and so loud and I was officially freaking out.

Do I really WANT to go back to school? What are my reasons? Are they prideful? Am I just scared and asking these questions because it will be hard? What do I really want to do with that degree when I am done with it? Is this the most responsible use of our money at the moment when we’d rather pay off all of our debt and then travel and start an adoption? Do I just need to move on and embrace this next stage in life without a degree? Should I just pursue private art lessons to learn the skills that I want to bring my ideas to life? Do I get the quickest degree I can (political science) just to have one?

And over and over in my mind the questions just kept on coming. All of them adding up to the same issue. What am I supposed to do with this life God gave me? He has given me passions and gifts and talents, how would He like me to use them? How do I know for sure which path is the right path?

I don’t know.

After DAYS in prayer and thought and discussion after discussion with Kevin, I still don’t know. We’ve narrowed down to 4 possible paths and each one of them seems good. Each one seems like God could bless it and it could be wonderful and pleasing to Him.

LOL Cat Wednesday

2009-04-08T22:24:00.001-05:00

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Scenes from My Life Tuesday

2009-04-07T21:37:00.003-05:00

For this week's installment of Scenes from My Life (insert cheesy soap opera theme music) I bring you my desk.

This is the direction I face 90% of the time with my computer etc.

Here's what is right behind me.

Please note my nemesis Mr. Typewriter with no functioning backspace. To his left is my other nemesis Ms. Fax Machine. She's a delight. She chooses to receive faxes intermittently and leads people to think that they have sent us information and then they call regarding that information but really I have no idea what they are talking about because a certain fax machine decided I didn't need to receive it. That conversation normally goes a little something like "but I have a fax confirmation" and I'm all "but I never received the fax, sorry, please send it again".

Fun times.

Here's my phone and my chair. And some papers I need to file.

Also...you might have noticed a long horn steer. He is made of fiberglass and his name is Bob.

Up next is how he looks when I'm sitting down. Don't worry, his horn isn't sharp and even though it might look like it, it's not in an eye stabbing zone.

Here's what he looks like from the front.

Well, thanks for taking a tour around my desk. Hope you had a good day!

MMMM...tastes like summer

2009-04-06T20:05:00.003-05:00

Friday night, Kevin and I went grocery shopping because I’m on a roasted vegetables kick and HAD TO HAVE vegetables to roast or else! So off to the market we went…and by Market, I mean, Wal-Mart.

We normally avoid Wal-Mart on Friday nights because it is a ZOO. Almost as bad as on Sundays. There have been several times that we went there on a Friday night to get some snacks and have walked out without what we came in for…which almost killed me because I was jonesing BAD for my Hot Tamales.

Anyway…we decided to brave it because I NEEDED vegetables. Oh and the cats might have asked us to pick them up some kitty litter.

Luckily, for us we got what we needed and the wait at the checkout wasn’t so bad BUT the best part was that we scored two tubs of strawberries for $1.50 each! I had to paw through several tubs of half rotten ones before I found a couple good ones but it was totally worth it. Especially because Kevin introduced me to the taste sensation that is powdered sugar and strawberries.

Then on Sunday we realized that we needed to get some lunch food for this week and reluctantly stopped by a different Wal-Mart. And there right out in front was a table piled high with tubs of strawberries for $1 each!!

That’s ONE DOLLAR for a tub of strawberries!!

And these strawberries weren’t anywhere near as scary as the ones from Friday night. I kind of freaked out a little and sent Kevin on to get lunch stuff without me as I tried to find the very best strawberries. When I caught up with him later, I proudly plopped 5 tubs in the cart. Because that's what happens when he's not there to reign in my enthusiasm.

Basically we end up with 7 things of strawberries.

Of those 7...we have eaten 4.

To Plan or Not to Plan....part 2

2009-03-25T15:55:00.003-05:00

Today I am having a hard time concentrating and getting anything done. My mind is flitting from this idea to the next…coming up with things I want to do, could do, should do and how hypothetically to do them.

It’s fun for me to redesign something in my head or come up with something that I want to make. It’s easy for me to start these things and then a quarter of the way into the project I get distracted or realize I don’t have everything that I need and so I stop, thinking I’ll pick up where I left off the next day or the next weekend.

A day turns into a week.

A week turns into a month.

Months pass.

A new project peaks my interest and off I zoom in that direction.

A year goes by and I have 6 projects in various stages of incompletion (with 6 more rumbling around in my head). Thank you cards written but not sent due to lack of stamps or address or both. Cookbooks under my bed from when one night I had this grand idea of meal planning, hauled the cookbooks to bed to write out a shopping list and then promptly forgot all about it the next morning.

All of this adds up and weighs on my mind.

I think that’s why a life plan appeals to me. I want a system. I want a way to break this cycle of incompletion in my life.

Kevin and I have been talking and agree that 15 year plan is kind of ludicrous because of how far out it goes.

However 5 year plan…well, that seems pretty doable.

There are things that God has laid on my heart to accomplish and it would help me to really think (and pray) about these things and how I get from here to there so that I may begin to take those steps and see them through to completion as He leads me.

In fact, I’ve already started.

Stay tuned for more!

To Plan or Not to Plan....

2009-03-19T11:12:00.004-05:00

Last night we watched one of our favorite TV shows, Life. There was a new character in this episode. She was a super driven detective that had a 15 year plan to become Mayor of Los Angeles. The plan involved becoming a lawyer then a detective then the chief of police and then the mayor.

My first thought was WOW, that’s so crazy. Who (A) wakes up one day and says “hmmm, I’d like to be mayor of LA one day. How do I do that?”, then (B) puts together a plan to do it and then (C) follows through on it?!

It struck me as simultaneously bold, arrogant, courageous and fascinating.

And it got me thinking…

What do I want in life? Should I put together a 15 year plan? If I did, what would that plan look like? How does one know, really truly know what one is supposed to be, supposed to do? Do I only want to have a 15 year plan so that I have an excuse to write a list?

I am intrigued by the idea and part of me really wants to sit down and figure it out and come up with a 15 year plan to achieve it. What would the next 15 years look like if I sat down and planned it out and then followed through on those plans?

Then another part of me slaps my brain and says “no way, jose”. It feels extremely presumptive to set up a plan and then set about to achieve it. Like if I say “I want to be this and do this” that I am then automatically doomed to fail at that thing and that people will think I’m arrogant and full of myself to think that I could achieve it. Or if I don’t achieve it I will be considered a failure.

It’s not that I don’t have a vague idea of where I’d like to end up and what I’d like to do along the way but I’ve never really thought about how exactly to get there. And I guess I’ve always just thought that if it’s meant to be it will be. Kind of an “if God opens a door, I’ll walk through it” mentality.

As I reread that paragraph a thought struck me that it seems like I want God to spoon feed me life. Hmmm…

This character got me thinking even more deeply about something that I’d already been mentally chewing on as I’m in the process of enrolling to go to summer school (go to isn’t quite the word as most of the classes will be online) and the degree that I’ve decided to pursue is quite different from the one that I had originally planned on. (wow…that was one long sentence!) However, that’s a story for another post.

What do you think? Are 15 year plans a good thing or a bad thing? Do you have a life plan? How did you come to it? Or are you more of a take it one day at a time person?

Scenes from My Life Tuesday

2009-03-17T20:31:00.002-05:00

I live far away from most everyone I love and care about so I was thinking that on Tuesdays I will post a picture that shows a little snippet of my life.

For the first "scene of my life" I am going to show you what my front seat looks like on most days.

I've got my trusty water bottle, work purse/mini luggage, notebook for writing down thoughtful thoughts, my Zune (insert snort of derision from Traci) and my beloved cell phone.

What are your daily essentials?

true to my word, yo!

2009-03-16T19:32:00.003-05:00

I'm baaa-aaack!

Just like I told you!

I'm so proud of me right now! Aren't you?

Ok, well enough patting myself on the back...on to the post!

Back in January Kevin and I joined the gym. I know, such a cliche! But, unlike a lot of those who get gym memberships in January, we've actually been pretty faithful in going. Though, I'm going to say that a lot of the faithfulness is due to it being literally a minute from our house rather than our superior work out ethic. I'd say it's pretty hard to come up with a worthy excuse when your gym is pretty much in your neighborhood.

And since it's a YMCA and since there's just the 2 of us, let's just say we are paying a premium price for the proximity. Thus we get our slowly toning tushies to the Y multiple times a week.

This is a good thing. A VERY good thing.

However, this has lead to a wardrobe issue for me. Because even though its mostly full of soccer moms in sweats and big t-shirts (which I LOVE!) rather than barbie's strutting their stuff in yoga pants and exercise bras (which I LOATHE), I still feel weird wearing the same 4 shirts over and over again.

Enter threadless.com.

Through March 23rd they are having a great sale on some super fun t-shirts. And by super great, I mean $5. Now they are kind of artsy and some of them are a little tongue in cheek...which I find awesome, but I don't necessarily want to wear out and about. I figured they are perfect for the gym.

So I bought 5.

These 5 specifically.

This one glows int the dark! Eep! How fun!!

And I saved the BEST for last.

I totally want whatever that creature is. I would name him Bob and we would be so happy.

Moving on.

There are tons of super cool shirts for $5, $10 and regular price. So if you are needing some thing spiffy to wear to gym or an upcoming social engagement in which one of these shirts would be appropriate, I say, get thee to threadless.com right now!

See you tomorrow, peeps!

Back on the Wagon

2009-03-15T22:21:00.003-05:00

So I've been thinking a lot about this whole blogging thing and why I was doing it in the first place and why I stopped and if I should continue. I've decided that I should continue...but...in a different way. I think I'm going to try and keep it more photos and shorter stories rather than the longer narratives I was trying to do.

I just have too much going on right now to try and write too much. Well. That's not exactly true. I don't really have that much going on. I just don't have a whole lot of creative energy to expend after spending 8 hours a day at a job that does its best to suck the life out of me Dementor-style (for those of you who are unfamiliar with Harry Potter...a Dementor is prison guard that lives on other peoples misery and likes to suck out their souls - lovely, no?).

So I'm going to just try and post here little quips about my day and what I'm up to.

Now that I've gotten that out of the way...this weekend was full of firsts for me.

Karaoke AND Dim Sum.

On Saturday night, a group of us went out to celebrate a couple birthdays and one birthday request was to go to a local dive bar and listen to some karaoke (which I spelled correctly on my first try, thankyouverymuch). We were told that this was NOT your typical karaoke. It was supposed to be full of people who could get record deals if they wanted them and we were going to be blown away by the talent.

Um.

Not.

I guess the people who were the super uber awesome karaoke-ers got married or moved away or something and in their stead were less than super uber awesome karaoke-ers who sang loudly and drunkly and often.

It's good to try new things though and I'm glad we went. Especially now that it's been a day and my ears have stopped ringing.

Speaking of new things.

Dim Sum = Dim Yum.

We went with one of the birthday boys, Steve, who is of Chinese descent for dim sum today. It was a cool experience. Pretty much everyone there was Chinese. Steve said it was pretty authentic and when his parents come that's where they want to eat. I didn't try anything too crazy or anything but there was some mystery meat involved. I'm telling myself it was just beef....let's just say that it was and call it good.

(psst....Traci, I thought of you the whole time I was there!)

The rest of the weekend involved cleaning the house, napping and watching Battle Star Glactica and Arrested Development.

Well, folks, that's my update! I'll be back tomorrow. See you then!

Today I....

2009-02-24T21:26:00.004-06:00

1. Sat through a really annoying mandatory sales meeting. (I'm not even a sales person!)
2. Told 6 people with sad eyes that we are not hiring
3. Dealt with a minimum of 4 really obnoxious sales people
4. Ate a chicken teriyaki bowl for lunch
5. Ate half a roll of Thin Mints for a "snack" chased down by a Red Bull
6. Found out some punks opened a wal-mart credit card in my name (it's a long story about how but it's all resolved now...still made me VERY angry).
7. Worked out really hard at the gym until my calves cramped on the treadmill and then I just pretended to work out hard
8. Ate a 100 calorie bag of popcorn, a string cheese and some cool whip for dinner

I didn't like today much. I'm hoping tomorrow will yield a lot less frustration, stress, stupid people and bring some better eating habits.

I'd like some cheeeeese with my whiiiiiine

2009-02-01T23:45:00.007-06:00

So I'm not even going to offer an apology for my long absence. Because there's only so many times one can say "I'm sorry" before it just starts sound empty and pathetic...and so I will merely offer an explanation.

This whole going back to work full time and being a receptionist thing is really kicking my butt. I am an introvert by nature and since the job I have requires me to basically pretend to be an super happy enthusiastic extrovert every minute of the day by the time I get home I'm pretty much running on empty.

It's only the memory of the 2 donuts I scarfed down earlier in the day that can motivate my butt to the gym to work out with Kevin for 30-40 minutes in the evening. And when we get back from conquering the treadmills the very last thing on my mind is whipping up a witty recap of the absolutely boring day I just had. Instead, I fall onto the sofa with a sigh and zone out for a couple hours before going into an 8 hour coma at 10:30.

So, basically, it's not that I don't WANT to write. It's that I really have nothing to say other than to whine about how tired I am and how obnoxious the general public is and also about how I hate being called "hun, little girl, pretty lady and sweetie" or "how much I look like a teenager and they couldn't believe I wasn't in high school when they first met me".

in fact, during the day, I write blogs in my head that I wish I had the energy to write when I got home. Well, truthfully, I alternate between writing blog posts and letters to the editor and both revolve around the same topic...how people should/should not to interact with a receptionist.

It can quickly be summed up with "keep it short and sweet".

Unless you are calling a medical office or somewhere you have a reservation or appointment made by last name, the person answering the phone does not need to know your last name. Basically I'm looking for 3 things. 1. your first name. 2. your company and/or 3. a super brief reason for why you are calling such as "to confirm reservations" or "to discuss a business proposal from last week".

If you, for some reason, decide to give me a mini-autobiography, i.e.; your name is Susie Jo Montgomery Smith, head buyer for Throckmorton & Sons Advertising and Sales Southwest, LLC and that you just spoke to Brian Petersonian 5 minutes ago about the Sales Report for your last quarter dealey bob magee...well, don't get annoyed at me when I ask you to repeat your name. Because I will have forgotten it while I was trying to remember all the other crap you just told me.

Also if I ask you to repeat your name...just repeat your name, do NOT launch into your spiel again. Because I may not be able to resist the exceedingly great itch to hang up on you.

Instead it would be better to say "Hi this is Susie from Throckmorton calling for Brian about the sales report." Ta DAAAA. Easy to remember. Sounds legit to me. And Brian will have enough information to say "yes, I'll take the call" or "not right now, voicemail please".

Next.

Please don't get annoyed when I tell you that the person you called for isn't in their office and then repeat that you just spoke to them FIVE MINUTES ago and they were expecting your call like it's my fault they aren't at their desk or that I'm looking right at them but have decided that I'm just not going to let you talk to them. Because when that happens, it's really really hard for me to not say "um, listen...."not in their office" well, that's receptionist code for THEY ARE PEEING and will call you back after they have finished their business". But that's just not professional and, well, it's also mean to my co-worker to have their full bladder announced to the world like that.

Instead I have to say that "while I do believe you that you spoke with them recently, they are not in their office at the moment, perhaps they stepped into a quick meeting? I am very certain that they will return the call at their earliest convenience would you like me to take a message or put you into their voicemail?" Then please refrain from huffing in my ear and asking if I could just put you "in their voicemail" like I hadn't even thought of that option yet even though I had just offered it to you like 10 seconds earlier.

Ok, well, I guess now you understand my long long absence. I've been a whiny and disgruntled woman. I'll try to unwhine and...um...regruntle this week and post about the fabulous time I had this weekend for my birthday extravaganzaa!

Until then, tell me about your biggest work pet peeve...if you can.

Jumbles

2009-01-14T21:57:00.004-06:00

I promised I would write more and so I am trying to write on Mondays, Wednesdays and one other day each week. Which day that will be, I have no idea. it'll be a little surprise for you and for me! And who knows, I might even write more than that.

If you weren't already aware, today is Wednesday. Which means I need to write something.

Something.

Ha ha.

Ok, seriously.

I am so tired today and I have a jumble of things going on in my noggin' so that's what you are going to get. And because I'm in a mood to number things, you are going to get a series of numbered paragraphs that most likely will have nothing to do with each other.

Let's begin.

1. I have always wondered what my favorite number was. It's one of those things that I've always thought I was supposed to have but could never quite figure out what it should be. For some reason, I always felt torn between the number 3 and the number 7 but neither never really felt right.

Well, this week I've discovered what my favorite number is and boy, oh boy, do I sure feel a weight lifted off my shoulders. As I was writing a list at work I wrote the number 4 and all of a sudden it was as though I had met an old friend. Why? Dude, I have no idea. If I were made to quantify it, I'd say it's because it's fun to write and I like the way it looks.

Therefore, my favorite number is 4.

I now feel oddly complete.

2. We have no food in our fridge. No. Really. We have some condiments, a 2 liter bottle of Pepsi from last week and some vegetables that probably should be avoided if we wish to avoid long stays in the bathroom. Oh and some eggs and lunch meat. Earlier this week, we also had some cheese and tortillas.

This has led to some very interesting dinner combinations this week, none of it coming even close to what a 30 year old should be eating for dinner and all of it coming very close to how I imagine it would be to feed a picky toddler.

3. I am cold. So very very cold. My hands have essentially become ice cubes attached to my arms. In general, this is no fun at all. HOWEVER, it has become quite useful in my new favorite sport which is coming up behind an unsuspecting Kevin and shoving them up the back of his shirt and listening him scream like a girl.

Yes.

I am evil.

Yes.

I pay dearly for my evilness.

4. In an attempt to stay warm, I have been brewing lots and lots of tea. The downside to this is that I usually forget that I have put the teapot on to boil and the resulting whistling of said teapot makes me nearly jump out of my skin every time.

Ok. Well, I think that is quite enough jumbled thoughts for one evening.

Tell me. Do you have a favorite number?

Growing Up, One Food at a Time

2009-01-12T19:10:00.011-06:00

One of my highlights from 2008 has got to be that someone called me an adventurous eater.

And meant it!

Me, who used to only eat turkey, mashed potatoes and rolls for Thanksgiving dinner. Gravy? No WAY. Cranberry Sauce? Blech. Stuffing? Over my dead body.

Me, who would literally wipe off any guacamole and sour cream that might have made it onto my taquitos. With a napkin. While on a date. At a sit down restaurant.

Me, who used to order her hamburgers completely plain. Meat. Bun. That is all. Thankyouverymuch.

Yes...that person has now morphed into an adventurous eater.

Honestly, at first I laughed when Kara told me that she wasn't an adventurous eater like me. And then I thought about it. I have actually become pretty adventurous.

Ok. Well, semi-adventurous. I still would never eat snails and sushi creeps me out big time.

But whereas before when I would go out to eat I would panic if I couldn't find hamburgers or chicken strips on the menu (if we were at italian it was spaghetti or pepperoni pizza) now it takes me a while to figure out what I want to eat because so many things sound good AND I almost never order hamburger, chicken strips, or spaghetti.

How in the world did this happen? I'll tell you.

The. Food. Network.

I used to be obsessed with it. I would come home from work and watch it for 3 straight hours.

This is the part when a normal person would say that she then got up and whipped up some delightful dish she just learned how to make.

Nope.

I would generally go pop in a frozen pizza and eat it while watching something mouthwatering being made and pretending that I was eating it too.

BUT. The watching of how different types of food were made helped me to realize that things that looked a bit weird or scary (like pesto) was really just made up of stuff that I liked on their own or in other foods (garlic, basil etc). And so I started trying more of the stuff Kevin ordered or even ordering it on my own.

In that way slowly but surely more and more foods entered into my food vocabulary so that now I am no longer a super insanely picky eater.

I am....drumroll puhlease.....semi-adventerous!

Here are some foods and beverages that I now eat and drink on a regular basis that would NEVER have crossed my lips 5 years ago.

Coffee
Tea
Red wine (well, wine of any type actually)
Sweet potatoes
Mongolian BBQ
Pasta sauce
BBQ Sauce
Cilantro
Mustard
Artichoke hearts on my pizza
Salad dressings other than ranch
Things other than just butter on my baked potatoes
Pesto
Pasta tossed with olive oil & veggies rather than a red or white sauce
Honey in my coffee to sweeten it (sounds weird, tastes AMAZING)
Guacamole
Sour Cream
Celery
Chow Mein
Brown rice
Fried Rice
Mexican Rice
Sprouts
Dark Chocolate

Hmmm...so after rereading that list, I am apparently NOT adventurous. I'm just normal.

What about you? Were you a picky eater growing up? Did you get over it? How?

Christmas Recap with Photos!

2009-01-08T18:57:00.006-06:00

Hello there!

I’m BaaAAAAck!

We have been home for almost a week now and I am just beginning to feel normal again so that should mean more regular posting from me. Woo hoo for you!

So what happened in Idaho?

Let me tell you about it!

Due to some scheduling snafoos due to the weather (which caused my SIL Emily to be delayed 4ish days and my super awesome friend, Traci not to make it to Idaho at all...booo hisss), Kevin and I spent most of our time with our families and didn’t get a whole lot of time to see any of our Idaho friends. And while this was a massive bummer, it got me some great bonding time with my wonderful sisters-in-law.

Honestly, I am convinced that I won the lottery when it comes to my sisters-in-law. Each one is completely different but totally awesome. I love them all mucho mucho.

Once Emily and her family got to Boise we were able to spend lots of time with them. Which was awesome because I was really looking forward to seeing my little nephew Maddox! He’s almost 2 and not talking yet but more than makes up for it with his sweet and fun personality. Can I also mention that he's way smart? Cuz he is.

Unfortunately he doesn’t sit still for very long so all I got were action shots.

On top of playing a bunch with Maddox, we had a couple nights of hanging out with our siblings. One night we hung out with my brother, Jason, and his wife, Mo. And my Dad joined us, as we played Killer Bunnies. If you like board games but are bored (get it board/bored…heh heh) with monopoly/clue etc. you might want to check it out.

Then another night we headed over to Kevin's little brother, Tyler, and his wife, Nicole's, house and we played Wii and ate pizza (and perhaps enjoyed a few adultish beverages).

Nicole ALWAYS wins.

Unfortunately, I really only took pictures the first half of the trip and then my camera decided to go missing for a couple days which sadly means that I can’t show you the fun wacky gift exchange we had with Kevin’s family or the trippy game of glow in the dark, mini-golf we played on New Year’s Eve with Emily and her husband, Kyle, (which is unfortunate because we had 3-D glasses on and we were super stylin’).

I'm sure I've left stuff out but I have bathrooms to clean and so I will leave you now but first I will share one of my favorite photos from our trip.

We were all laughing at something funny that had just happened and I was lucky enough to catch my dad making the best face. Makes me smile!

What was your favorite memory from this holiday season?

Scenes of Christmas

2008-12-26T17:57:00.004-06:00

All I want for Christmas is some antlers for my car

2008-12-21T22:25:00.007-06:00

Thank you for you comments! Gives me a little fuel to get back on the blogging bandwagon.

I have decided to go ahead and make an effort to blog on a regular basis. It really is a great way to keep in touch with far away friends and family. Plus, as Antique Mommy commented, it's a nice to have a record of this time in my life.

So, cross my heart, I will do my best to blog 3 or 4 times a week.

Spread the word.

Moving on.

Remember, yesterday when I mentioned my lil' Charlie Brown Christmas tree. Well, I took a photo of him and you should be so proud of me because I have actually remembered to post it for you the very next day!

Here he is in all his pathetic glory.

I ordered him from Urban Outfitters a couple years ago when we had Lucy, our massive puppy, and I didn't want to deal with the 80 pound puppy and the tug o' war Christmas tree fiasco that would have been inevitable. He has served me well since then.

And up until this year, he had a bright shiny red ball on top. Unfortunately, glass Christmas balls do not bounce. Now he has a bright shiny blue plastic shelley-proof ball.

Ok. Now onto the real reason I am posting.

Last night Kevin and I went to Pocket Sandwich Theatre with our good friends and landlords, Lisa & Matthew, and our other friends, Kara & Steve.

Pocket Sandwhich Theatre is one of my absolute favorite things about Dallas. It's this hole in the wall, local theater in a strip mall that puts on a new play every 3 months or so. It's such great cheesy fun. And ever since we first went about 6-8ish months ago we have gone to every new play they've put on. So it only made sense that when we heard about their annual showing of Ebenezer Scrooge, we knew we had to go.

And, we thought it only appropriate that we go in cheesy Christmas attire. Well, technically the original plan was to don ugly Christmas sweaters. However, ahem, some of us procrastinated and either couldn't find any or couldn't find any for a price we were willing to pay.

Here's a picture of all of us crammed together in our cheesy Christmas finery.

It's a dinner theater so everyone sits at tables or in booths. And because we had such a large party they split us into 2 booths.

The boys at one.

There's Kevin, Matthew, Steve and his brother, who I just met and now I can't remember his name, Peter..David?!

And us girls at another.

There's me, Kara and Lisa!

This picture is for Meg who is wanting to see me with big Texas hair and well... for me my hair is pretty big in this picture. But is NOTHING compared to true Texas Big Hair.

Also it's just a cute picture of me and Lisa :)

We had a GREAT time, just like we always do. It was a musical so there were lots of Christmas carols and the acting was awesome and Tiny Tim was freaking adorable.

But I think the highlight of my night was as we were leaving.

I saw this.

A Rudolph Smart Car.

And believe me when I say, I was not the only one having my picture taken with this car.

Merry Christmas, ya'll!

Christmas decorations and craftiness

2008-12-20T13:49:00.009-06:00

I KNOW! I am awful at blogging lately. FOOEY! I'm seriously considering calling it quits. Here's my thought, though...if I get 8 comments from people saying they want me to keep blogging then I will come up with some sort of strategy to blog at least 4 times a week. But if not then I guess I'll keep doing what I'm doing and blog every 2 weeks or so.
____________

Moving on...here are some photos from the drama that has been me decorating for this holiday season.

First, I bought that stupid white Christmas tree that I thought was prelit but happened NOT to be prelit. In case you were curious, I did end up putting it together.

I made Kevin take a picture to prove it.

After it was assembled, I was feeling Christmas spirited again. And was looking forward to getting the finished product all assembled and gazing contendly at it's beauty. With that in mind, we spent several hours the next night driving around to store after store trying to find white lights that have white cords. We found PLENTY of white lights with green cords and also colored lights with white cords.

But NO WHITE WITH WHITE.

This lead to some bitter tears being shed in the ornament aisle at Wal-Mart and upon our return home the immediate the dissemblance of that evil Christmas tree.

Now we have our little Charlie Brown Christmas tree up on our coffee table. He has served us well these past several years. I just realized I have no photos of him. Hmmm...maybe I'll snap a photo of him and post it soon.

Or maybe not.

Who knows.

So with no big Christmas tree, I decided I would make up for it with a spectacular mantle. I had such visions of awesome in my head.

But no matter what I did nothing looked good, let alone awesome. It was quite frustrating.

After lots of different arrangements, I ended up with this.

I know.

Way less than spectacular and not even close approaching awesome. (But I did make all of the things in picture frames, so that's gotta count for something, right?!? )

Well, I was prepared to just deal with that mantle and pretend I liked it.

BUT THEN!

I found this beautiful vintage mirror at a local consignment store for $40. So I bought it and put my giraffe reindeer in front of it.

Still not spectacular but definitely more Christmassy than what was going on up there before.

I started to feel more in the Christmas spirit again. Which was good because 3 days later I had a Christmas craft night planned at my house.

We were going to make Martha Stewarts Beaded Letter Ornaments. It looked so easy on the website and my sister in law, Emily, made them several years ago and they were adorable. So I thought it would be a great craft for us to do and practical too!

In preparation, I bought a very unnecessary amount of beads because it would not do to run out midcrafting! (I was so paranoid about it even sent Kevin on a bead run for me. He must love me a lot!)

Here they are waiting for everyone to arrive.

Does anyone else love to run their fingers through beads? It's so soothing for me.

In the end, there were 5 of us making beaded ornaments and talking and eating and drinking sangria.

Some of the girls managed to make wonderful A's and other such tricky letters. Me, well, I ended up making several s' and l's and straight lines.

I'd like to blame the sangria on my crafty ineptitude. Alas, I cannot. I know because I tried to make some prototypes before everyone came over so there would be a finished product for people to look at for inspiration or whatever.

Unfortunately, my letters turned out less Martha and more creative kindergartner. And that was pre-sangria.

So, add in the sangria and well...it's not pretty!

All in all it was a fun night and now I have enough beads to see me through the next decade!

Deckin' the Halls, Ya'll

2008-12-06T18:01:00.005-06:00

Today I went shopping with my landlord/good friend, Lisa, at a great mall in North Dallas. It was just the thing I needed to put me in the Christmas spirit.

Our most memorable stops included Anthropologie , Paper Source, Lush.

I was very proud of my self restraint at all of the stores but especially at Anthropologie and Paper Source. Oh, Anthropologie...how I long to live there. There are so many things that I absolutely LOVE at that store that it is hard for me to pick just one or two things. It is also hard for me to stand still for long because as soon as I get to something fabulous, something else fabulous catches my eye and off I go! So I was quite proud that all I bought was a a wee owl cup.

A wee owl cup that no more than 10 minutes later I managed to drop and break into several pieces!

Kevin is currently working on piecing him back together. He's quite experienced in piecing my "oopses" back together. Once my wee owl is back together I will post a picture of him as he is quite adorable.

As for Paper Source...wow...that store is wonderful. Absolutely wonderful. Beautiful papers and gift wraps. Fun things to make and the supplies to make them with. Awesome stationary and supplies. Basically, it feels like walking into a craft closet at Martha Stewarts house. So the fact that I walked out of there only $40 poorer makes me quite proud of myself.

After we were done shopping and Lisa dropped me back off at my house, I was positively brimming with Christmas spirit. I was finally ready to drag out the boxes of Christmas decorations and have at it. Unfortunately, I had not yet bought our Christmas tree and I was determined to have a white one.

So I headed off to W-Mart to purchase a white pre-lit one that I had previously seen there for the low low price of $35. And after wrangling my wonky cart (one of those that goes thunka thunka thunka) through the throngs of people I arrived at the fake tree aisle to find that the tree I wanted was out of stock. I could buy a pink one (which I would love but Kevin would not appreciate) or a regular green one. Neither of those options worked for me so I bought another white tree for $5 more.

I then took my wonkified cart all over W-Mart gathering a few more items that I "needed". In the process, I had one of those moments that make the aging process all the more real.

I gave some young teenagers the "look".

You know, the look adults give to youngins when they are being entirely too obnoxious for the situation.

Unfortunately, I only appear to be 3 years older than them so they just thought I was a stuck up high-schooler thus making it entirely ineffective.

At that point, I figured that I needed to get out of W-Mart before I did something I would regret.

When I got home I had Kevin start to assemble the Christmas tree at which point we discovered that this tree was NOT pre-lit causing a mini-melt down on my part as we don't have any white Christmas lights and I DO NOT WANT TO GO BACK TO W-MART TONIGHT!!!!

So as I write this I am staring at the white pole/base thing of that stupid Christmas tree and trying hard to muster up the necessary Christmas spirit required to assemble it and then venture back out into the cruel cruel world to get some freaking lights to put on it.

Merry Christmas!

If only they had life size gnomes!

2008-12-02T19:40:00.004-06:00

Yesterday I started my new job.

Yes, internets…I got a job and forgot to tell you about it. I know, I know! I'm horrible and bad and I should be grounded. But I got distracted by the road trip and stuffing my face full of food and I forgot to blog for a bit so you must forgive me because now you know and I'm going to tell you all about it!

The job itself is not very exciting. Just a front desk/reception/grunt job. The major upside is that the commute is not awful and there isn't really any good shopping close by which keeps me from shopping on my lunch break.

The cool part is the type of company I work for. No boring property management place or law firm. This place does event planning, trade shows, themed corporate events and things of that nature all over Texas. Whatever kind of theme you can imagine, they can provide.

I got a firsthand look as I was getting the “first day tour”. We walked through the boring normal sales office and then they took me into the warehouse and much to my delight I was looking at rows and rows of props. Wonderful things like life size long horns steers, medieval knights, etc all smushed together on tall metal shelves. It was all I could do to remain professional and not whip out my phone and ask them to take a picture of me with the cows and knights.

Then they took me into the art room. Oh the art room...the wonderful wonderful art room. It's in there that they make the props and things that they need. Well some of it. They have some stuff fabricated for them. There are power tools and paints and all sorts of fun materials. I almost started twitching with desire when we were in there. I had no idea that kind of job existed outside of my dreams. I’m hoping to somehow figure out what I need to do to work in that room. That magical magical room.

Until then, I’m up at the front desk trying to figure out which calls go where, making files, updating calendars and thankful that they finally gave me a space heater (which I have nicknamed R2D2 because he’s round and kind of looks like he should start beeping and waddling around at any second) because it was so cold that I kept running to the breakroom to reheat my cup of tea to warm my hands with and shivering violently every minute or so.

And while this place is full to brim of wonderful props and creativity it is sorely lacking in technological advancements. My poor sad computer is so slow I might as well be using dial up. And if that weren’t bad enough, they make me use a TYPEWRITER to type up labels.

A freaking typewriter, people!

A freaking typewriter with no ability to remove errors.

Um. Hello.

It’s 2008.

Not only do we not have to use typewriters anymore, I’m pretty sure that if one becomes necessary that they make ones that have the ability to erase mistakes. Thus saving time and frustration.

I am not at all joking when I say that it took me at least a half an hour perhaps longer to type up FIVE labels.

FIVE!

Let’s just say that I would not have lasted long in the secretarial pool of the previous century. Nope. Not one day.

Anyway…all of that to say…I have a job. It is going fine, I haven’t messed up too badly yet, I am beginning to make some friends and am very proud of myself for having resisted the temptation to become better acquainted with the props.

Good Times, Good Times

2008-11-30T18:12:00.005-06:00

This Thanksgiving was the first Thanksgiving that Kevin and I did not spend with either of our immediate families. Since we will be flying back to Idaho for Christmas we decided to take a "little" road trip to Florida to spend Thanksgiving with my long lost cousins and my Mom's side of the family.

The last time I had really spent time with my cousins I was, oh, 15ish, so I was a little nervous during the drive over there thinking "hmmm what if I don't fit in? what if no one likes me?"

I'm so silly.

They liked me just fine (or if they didn't, they did a VERY good job pretending). I fit right in and had a great time getting to know them all again.

There was lots of laughing and teasing and reminiscing. So much so that I didn't take very many pictures at all. Unfortunately I didn't pictures of everyone there. Fooey!

Here are some of the ones I did remember to take though!

This is is us Friday night when we went out for sushi. (Ok. I didn't eat sushi, I had japanese fried chicken. But I did use chopsticks!)

Across from me is my cousin DF, next to her my cousin in law, Mari, & on the end is my cousin, TJ.

This is me and my 2 girl cousins, Katie (who got all of the height in the family!) and DF.

Here is the obligatory family shot where 3 people are actually looking at the right camera and the rest of everyone look silly.

This is the only picture I have of my Antie. Boo.

We had such a good time with everyone. We can't wait to go back and laugh with them again soon!

Tidbits

2008-11-17T11:19:00.003-06:00

1. It's cold here.

2. Not cold cold. Like in Idaho. But cold enough for hot chai tea (thank you Costco for the amazing deal on Tazo Chai...3 boxes for $8) and warm sweaters and jeans.

3. My interview last week went ok, I think. I never can tell. I hate interviews. They have to be nice to you and pretend that you have a chance....but in reality, the interviewer almost always goes back to their co-workers and makes fun of you. Or says that you were awesome and should get the job...but most of the time it's the first one.

4. My fish is still dying...slowly. I'm considering ending his misery and flushing him down the toilet but I can't figure out if that is more cruel than a slow death. He's currently floating sideways. He can't seem to correct himself and swim normally. So everytime I go in to check on him he looks dead but I wiggle his jar to make sure. Well, that seems to scare him so he darts all around the jar and then comes back up and floats sideways at the top. Breaks my heart.

5. Before we moved here I was worried that the leaves on the trees wouldn't turn colors. That's my favorite part of the year, when all of the leaves go from green to all of these amazing vivid colors. God is so good to give us a last visual present before the world goes bleak for a while. He didn't have to do that...but He did and I love that.

But I wasn't sure if the types of trees that live down here turned colors because when we visited last year, we came a couple weeks after all the leaves had fallen off and I didn't know if they turned colors first or just turned brown and dropped. Well, I'm happy to report that at least some of them turn colors first! Including the 2 trees in our front yard!

YAY!

6. We spent about an hour and a half raking leaves from those 2 trees yesterday. Probably didn't need to take an hour and a half but you could say that I revisited my 15 year old self who procrastinates A LOT when it comes to yardwork and who took many many avoidance water and bathroom breaks.

Also...I hate nature to touch me. Leaves, grass, dirt...no thank you. And even though I had my super cute (never before used) gardening gloves on having dead leaves get on me kind of freaked me out.

Creeps me out just to think about it.

Anyhow...because of this, let's call it a nature related tactile issue.... getting me to do yardwork can be very similar to herding cats. I tend to get "distracted" a lot and try to do other things. Things like focusing on how the front walk needs to be swept or how messy the flower beds in front of our house were (see...still yard work but it didn't involve dead leaves trying to get all over me). Every time we took a break or needed a new bag, I would sweep or start pulling out weeds and stuff. I was secretly hoping Kevin would forget about me and just carry on with the leaf pile removal. He didn't forget about me though.

Thanks to Kevin's persistence (and my distractions), our front yard looks respectable again! All of the leaves have been removed as well as a great majority of the weeds (and something that I thought was a weed but ended up being the root structure for St. Augustine grass that hadn't had a chance to go underground yet. Oops).

9. Here's a picture of me with my new hat. I love it and have been wearing it a lot.

10. Hope you all have a great week!

She Blogs Again

2008-11-11T11:12:00.004-06:00

Hello?!

Anyone out there?

I know. I've neglected you. I've abandoned you. I've been a bad bad blogger. But I'm back. And I come armed with excuses!

You see, I have had a very busy and interesting several weeks. The last post I wrote you was right before I went with Kevin on a trip to Abilene and while we were there we sent my computer in to get a new motherboard (it had been deciding to just turn itself off and that's not a good thing in a computer).

Then when we got back from Abilene, I was still computerless for several days so I couldn't blog because Kevin and I don't share computers very well. But it was for the best because I had to get serious about a pumpkin carving contest that weekend. And, in case you are interested, I took the trophy for Rookie of the Year. That trophy is 2 inches tall and is now proudly displayed on my mantle. Although since it is so tiny I'd have to point it out to you if you were to come over to my house.

Here's all the "winners" from the night....and if you look reeeeaalllll closely you can see our trophies on top of our pumpkins. (you can click on the picture to make it bigger) My friend/landlord, Lisa, is next to me. She won 3rd overall!

This is what some of the pumpkins looked like all lit up. Mine is the one on the far right. It's a lil' owl sitting on top of a pumpkin. Lisa's is the skeleton next to mine that looks like it's about to jump out of the pumpkin and give you a wedgie. (argh! I keep spelling pumpkin "pumpking"!! does anyone else do that?)

After my glorious pumpkin carving victory, I temped for about 2 weeks at a job with a 2 (sometimes 2 1/2) hour daily commute, which sucked the life and soul out of me. They offered me the job permanently but I said as politely as I could..."no freaking way am I doing this commute every day". And even though they begged and pleaded and offered me an insane amount of money I stood firm (really...they did beg and plead and offer me A LOT of money..it was very good for my self esteem). So the job hunt continues. I have a couple of interviews this week, including one that seems very promising.

In other news, Kevin and I went to an adoption seminar/conference this weekend at our church. We are in the very beginning stages of starting an international adoption. Please keep us in your prayers as we begin our search for an agency, decide for certain which country we will be adopting from (right now we are leaning towards Bulgaria) and begin to save up for the various costs involved (this is one of the huge reasons that I have been wanting so badly to get a job).

Well that pretty much brings you up to speed with what has been going on in my life over the past 2 weeks. I should be back to posting several times a week if not more from here on out.

How have you all been doing? Anything fun? Does it feel like Fall where you are?

Treasures from my trip

2008-10-22T12:19:00.007-05:00

When I was in the Bay Area with Traci, she was kind enough to spend most of a day taking me around to her favorite places in San Francisco. I was amazed with all of the wonderful shops packed with wonderful things. I only had a carry-on so I couldn't buy a ton (which is a good thing because I could have done some serious damage to my checking account!).

The night before we left Traci showed me this wonderful print of an owl that she had recently purchased and I kind of fell in love with him. She said that we would be going to the store where she had bought him. I was hoping that they would have one for me!

They did! Now I, too, can have his sweet little face on my wall. He is by an artist named Jon Carling who, luckily for you, has an etsy store. I didn't see this little owl in stock but he did have some other really great prints available for only $7 each!

Another great find where these 2 wooden postcards. I LOVE THEM

I'm thinking about collecting more of them. I was excited to find the website of the maker, Night Owl Paper Goods. They have many other designs available as well as several other wonderful products.

Then there's Mr. Mushroom. He's a magnet. He's fuzzy. And adorable. He lives on my fridge watches the goings on in my kitchen.

I saved the best for last.

My bowls.

I bought a set of 4 bowls at our first stop. These bowls called to me. They begged to come live at my house. And who was I to deny such cuteness!

Each one is a little different. There are 2 bunnies...

one in pink....

one in blue...

But my favorites are the owls....

and the puffer fishes....

Don't think that the awesomeness of these bowls is limited to their outsides.

Nope.

On the inside of the bowls you will find this.

They are just awesome. I look forward to serving ice cream in them for years to come.

OH! I almost forgot my tiniest treasures!

Traci collects teeny tiny magnets and she gave me one from each of the 2 sets she bought that day. Aren't they ADORABLE!

Updataroo

2008-10-20T16:59:00.004-05:00

1. Hank is doing better already! Even Kevin noticed so that's encouraging. Because if Kevin noticed that means that the fishy is actually doing better rather than me just wishful thinking that he's doing better when in fact he's about to go belly up.

2. I had an "interview" at a temporary staffing agency this morning. It was good/interesting. Basically I showed up, filled out some papers, the girl (wearing jeans and flip flops...weird, yes?) asked me about my availability and what type of pay I was looking for. She told me that she might have some things that look like I might be a good fit for and that was about it.

I am hesitantly hopeful.

3. I have ANOTHER interview tomorrow with a different staffing agency. This one is in response to my massive resume assault on the Dallas Metroplex. It's nice to know that one of my resumes actually landed in front of a person. A person who read it and then called me! Gave me a wee warm fuzzy. Then that warm fuzzy was quickly replaced by what I like to call "interview butterflies".

4. To help quell the evil interview butterflies, I am choosing to look at my interviews as opportunities to get dressed up in my new cute clothes. At least, that's what I did this morning and it helped until I was actually in the car driving there. Then the stupid things fluttered all over the place.

5. In other clothing related news, I bought the cutest madras hat from Wallymart the other day. For $3!! I have been looking for a cute hat that fits my head for MONTHS. It's my new favorite thing ever. I just wish I could figure out how to work into a professional wardrobe.

6. I was looking for some hair doing inspiration/help and ran across pursebuzz.com. It has all sorts of great hair tips and tricks that I was completely unaware of! I am awful at doing my hair so this website is pretty much just like manna straight from heaven. I was up until the wee hours of the morning watching tons of tutorials on various wonderful ways to do my hair. I highly recommend checking it out. PLUS the girl that does the tutorials is just so darling. I want to go shoe shopping with her and then out to coffee.

OH! Kevin just put in Season 4 of the Office so that's all for now!

Florence Nightingill

2008-10-19T17:03:00.003-05:00

Hank is sick.

I believe it had something to do with not having cleaned his jar for 3 weeks around the time we went on our trip to Southern California. I knew I should have cleaned it before we left but I didn't. Because sometimes I'm lame like that. Then when we got back I was too busy with laundry and stuff and ended up taking about a week before I got around to it. Unfortunately, by then the prolonged swimming around in his own filth had taken its toll on him.

Surprising, I know!

Since then I've been pretty good about cleaning his jar but he just hasn't been his feisty little self and his color has been weird and he's looking a bit...um...slimy. So today I set out in search of a cure. I didn't even know if you could treat sick fish. And honestly, I was a bit embarrassed to admit that I was the cause of his sickness but I was determined to make him better if I could.

Luckily for me, they do! And after the girl at the pet store listened to me describe my fish's sickness rather graphically for several minutes she hooked me up with a thing called BetaFix. I'm supposed to dose him with it for the next 7 days and it should make him all better.

I sure hope so because I have grown strangely attached to this little fish and have taken my fishy nursing duties very seriously. In addition to the medicine I've been telling him encouraging things like "you can do it little fishy, I know you can!" and "just hang in there and you'll feel better soon".

If I do say so myself, I have very good tank side manners.

It's been a while

2008-10-16T15:46:00.004-05:00

Argh...so I just typed a huge long post and then erased it. Because I'm special like that.

Here I go...starting over. I doubt it will be nearly as witty as it was before. Poop.

My post started with an apology for not being a very good blogger lately. I've been frustrated, grumpy and whiney. Those things don't add up to very good blogging. Now that I think about it...I probably haven't been a blast to live with either. (Sorry, Kevin).

Things are looking up, however, and I'm feeling much more optimistic and perky. I think that this will help me be a more consistent blogger. We'll see.

Today the things I have to tell you don't really flow well together so rather than wrack my brains and try to make it cohesive, I'm just going to do a numbered list of some of the random happenings in my life right now.

1. I have an interview with a temporary staffing agency on Monday. I am very excited about it because now I won't have to take back some of the cute new work clothes I bought.

2. I spilled an entire soda on the floor of my car today. It took the creepiness level of my car's carpet past what I could tolerate so I bought some heavy duty car upholstery cleaner. I then spent about an hour of my afternoon detailing my car...leather cleaner, amorall...the works. It now feels like I'm driving a brand new car!

However, it still smells like crayons. But that's not my fault. Apparently all 2001 VW Beetles smell like crayons. I did buy a vanilla car smelly thing, though. So now it will smell like vanilla crayons. MMmmmMMmmm..

3. I bought a wood burner a while ago and have been experimenting with making balsa wood bookmarks.

Here are my first attempts.

The brown is the burned part and then the colors are watercolors. They still need a coat of varnish.

4. A couple of weeks ago we went to the Texas State Fair.

These are both "Big Tex".

The bottom one talks intermittently. And has some rather ill-fitting pants. Tapered leg jeans don't look good on anyone, seriously! But apparently he's very near and dear to the heart of most Texans so I won't tell you how creepy I think he is. Oh, wait, I just did.

I think they should have defibrillators sporadically placed throughout the fairgrounds because I have never seen so many fried foods for sale IN MY LIFE. I was surprised people weren't dropping like flies all around me from their arteries being instantaneously clogged. Especially since the "special" this year was...ahem...chicken fried bacon.

Luckily, I wasn't in the mood for fried foods that day (which is weird because I am ALWAYS in the mood for fried foods). But I did cave and split a fried Snickers and some fried Oreos with Kevin. I could have done without the fried Snickers but the fried Oreos...holy cow! They were DELISH. They might be the only reason that I go back to the fair next year.

The highlight of the fair for me was that I got to feed and pet a baby version of my favorite type of cow. A Scottish Highland. I cannot tell you how much I want one for a pet. They are like a dog/cow hybrid and SO cute.

Well...it's taken me longer than I'd wanted to write this post so I'll leave you on that cute fuzzy note!

TTFN

ARGH!

2008-10-10T11:16:00.003-05:00

So yesterday I told you how I was frustrated because I hadn't heard back from anyone regarding the many many resumes I sent out. Well, I know for sure that at least 5 of those are because I am a moron.

I just realized that I had taken my previously nonspecific resume and had made it specific for one company in the Objectives line, sent it to that company and then forgotten to make it unspecific again and then sent it out to several other companies.

ARGH!!!!!!!

It doesn't matter how qualified I am or how awesome my cover letter was (and there were some truly great cover letters). The fact that I stated that I was looking to gain employment at a company that was not their company gets my resume tossed in the trashcan faster than fast. It's pretty much showing them I am incompetent with flashing Vegas style lights.

Currently I am chanting to myself over and over....Everything happens for a reason. Everything happens for a reason. Everything happens for a reason. Everything happens for a reason. And contemplating going back to bed.

ps...in case you are wondering why I wasn't making my resume specific for those companies in the first place, it's because many companies aren't giving their name or any contact information in their job postings. The only way to contact them is to send them an e-mail.

Frustrated

2008-10-09T16:14:00.003-05:00

I know I need to finish telling you about my vacation....but I'm not going to today.

Today I'm going to tell you that I'm frustrated.

With what, you say?

Firstly, job hunting.

I've been looking for a job on and off for about a month. I sent my resume in to many places that had advertised for positions that I was more than capable of filling. NOT one of them even acknowledged receipt of my resume. If they don't want to interview me, fine, but couldn't they at least let me know that they got my e-mail?!

Grrrr.

I'm starting to get very bored. And stir crazy. In the begining, I had fun keeping my house really really clean. Now, pfffbt, not so much. Don't get me wrong...my house is sufficiently kept up. Just not as clean as it was a few months ago.

I'm also not nearly the crafty lil' beaver I thought I would be when I didn't have to work. I had visions of me making stuff all the time.

Nopers.

I've discovered that given large quantities of free time I am not nearly as productive as I am when I have small bits of time to get stuff done. Also, I do better when someone else imposes a deadline on me rather than one that I arbitrarily assign myself.

Another reason, I need a job is that I've recently been inclined to give up on any clothing that isn't of the sweatpant variety....and that's not cool. Plus there are things that I wish to do and save up for that will not happen if I don't get a job. Things like a fancy camera, a nice printer, a trip to China with Traci and her husband, cute shoes, school, etc.

If you think about it, please pray that God brings me a job that I love and won't hate going to every day and that I find it sooner rather than later.

Secondly, my clothes aren't fitting. I have been losing and gaining the same 5 pounds for about 4 months now. It wouldn't be so bad if the 5 pounds went back to the same spot each time but instead they go to to a different area. Sometimes my tummy, sometimes my thighs, sometimes my posterior region.

Currently it's some weirdo combination of all 3 and unfortunately, I chose today to go try and find a cute outfit or two for interviews (you know the whole if you build it, they will come principle...if I have a cute interview outfit then an interview will come my way!) Well, out of the 20 things I tried on, only 3 things fit. It was seriously like looking at my head on someone else's body. Stuff just wasn't fitting right.

Not fun.

I'm trying to figure out a good consistent weight loss/toning regime. I'm thinking about South Beach.

Do you have any good weight loss/workout tips?