Blog-cation

If you want to call it that. It's probably more accurate to call it writer's block... or blogger's block. Life has been happening. And I can't find the words to write about it. Or maybe the energy?

I did change the background to get in the Christmas spirit and all.

That's all for now.

Texas!... Fight!

It was a great weekend for the Longhorns... maybe not the prettiest of games, but a win nonetheless! Our Red River Rivalry weekend started Friday at noon when we left Austin for Dallas. I had heard horror stories of how bad the traffic can be, but we didn't run in to many problems until we hit Dallas Friday afternoon traffic. We finally arrived at R&P's friends' apartment around 5. Here R & P relaxing before dinner:


After dinner, we decided to go check out all the pre-game festivities in downtown Dallas. This is where all the trash-talking happens between the Texas-OU fans. I was excited to see it all... D, on the other hand, was not. We walked the streets and ended up at The Iron Cactus where there was a Texas-Ex party going on. The cheerleaders were there to get everyone excited about the game. It was great to be in the company of so many Longhorn fans!

Walking the streets

R & P

D and me

the girls

Saturday would start early for us- 6:20 am to be exact. I had half of a donut hole for breakfast. This might not seem important now, but it will be later. The plan was to get to the State Fair by 7:00 so we would have plenty of time to find tickets. Yes, that's right. We didn't have tickets to the game yet. Livin' life on the wild side... The ticket situation wasn't as favorable as we expected, but D and I found tickets about 30 minutes before kick-off. Actually R found them and he pretty much let us have them. Thank you R! R and P continued to look for tickets while we went inside and found our seats. They didn't have any more luck and ended up watching the game on a TV in a food court at the fair.

Meanwhile, D and I rushed into the fair and found our way to our gate. When we got to our seats, we realized we hadn't eaten anything for lunch. We thought we had used up the majority of our cash (found some later in my billfold that I didn't know was there) on our tickets, so D went to the food court and bought a hot dog and a bottle of water. He ate the hot dog, I drank the water... I was too nervous for food! In the 3rd quarter, I started to feel the affects of the heat and lack of food, so D went to see what else he could get us... a coke and a bag of chips. I drank part of the coke and ate 2-3 chips. Again, too nervous to really be able to eat. Food wasn't important until the game was over!

Here are some pictures from the game:

Oklahoma's flag (which was booed, of course)

The Show Band of the Southwest!

The Lone Star State

We're a little crazy about our flag

The final score 16-13

Sorry- no pictures from the actual game. I was on my feet, cheering and stomping and drowning out Boomer-Sooner with Texas! Fight! more times than I can count.

And remember that video I shared last time that got me so fired up for the game? Well, now I have my own...

I was asked this morning by my mom if the game was worth it... worth the hours spent tutoring this summer to pay for the tickets, worth the anxiety of finding tickets, worth the crowds of OU fans yelling at us, worth my sunburned face?

Yes. It was 150% worth it.

I. Loved. Every. Second. Of. It.

Red River Shootout

I am excited for so many reasons... first of which is that my week is only 3 days thanks to Mr. Columbus and to the title of the post. If you're a Longhorn fan, then you're probably aware that the Texas-OU game has become the biggest game of the season in the recent past... mostly because we're both usually ranked and can be a deciding game in determining what kind of post-season game we'll play. The game is always played in Dallas (a neutral site halfway between the two universities) and believe it or not, D and I have never been to this game. But that's about to change.

This weekend, we will be making the trek (along with about a gazillion other Longhorns) on I-35 to Dallas to enjoy the game, visit the state fair, and hopefully return with a win in our 'W' column. Since it's such a big game, the traffic is awful so we'll be leaving Friday to try to avoid some of the madness. Yay for getting Monday and Friday off! If only every week could be like that...

And with that, I'll leave you with "The Eyes of Texas" played after last year's game which ended as a Texas win- 45-35.

Some Thoughts

D received this list of random thoughts in an email. We both got such a good laugh out of it that I thought I'd share. I don't know the identity of the original author.

Random Thoughts of the Day:

• I wish Google Maps had an "Avoid Ghetto" routing option.

• More often than not, when someone is telling me a story all I can think about is that I can't wait for them to finish so that I can tell my own story that's not only better, but also more directly involves me.

• Nothing stinks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong.

• Have you ever been walking down the street and realized that you're going in the complete opposite direction of where you are supposed to be going? But instead of just turning a 180 and walking back in the direction from which you came, you have to first do something like check your watch or phone or make a grand arm gesture and mutter to yourself to ensure that no one in the surrounding area thinks you're crazy by randomly switching directions on the sidewalk.

• I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.

• The letters T and G are very close to each other on a keyboard. This recently became all too apparent to me and consequently I will never be ending a work email with the phrase "Regards" again.

• Do you remember when you were a kid, playing Nintendo and it wouldn't work? You take the cartridge out, blow in it and that would magically fix the problem. Every kid in America did that, but how did we all know how to fix the problem? There was no internet or message boards or FAQ's. We just figured it out. Today's kids are soft.

• There is a great need for sarcasm font.

• I think everyone has a movie that they love so much, it actually becomes stressful to watch it with other people. I'll end up wasting 90 minutes shiftily glancing around to confirm that everyone's laughing at the right parts, then making sure I laugh just a little bit harder (and a millisecond earlier) to prove that I'm still the only one who really, really gets it.

• I would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.

• Lol has gone from meaning, "laugh out loud" to "I have nothing else to say".

• I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.

• Answering the same letter three times or more in a row on a Scantron test is absolutely petrifying.

• Whenever someone says "I'm not book smart, but I'm street smart", all I hear is "I'm not real smart, but I'm imaginary smart".

• How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear what they said?

• What would happen if I hired two private investigators to follow each other?

• While driving yesterday I saw a banana peel in the road and instinctively swerved to avoid it...thanks Mario Kart.

• MapQuest really needs to start their directions on #5. Pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.

• Whenever I'm Facebook stalking someone and I find out that their profile is public I feel like a kid on Christmas morning who just got the Red Ryder BB gun that I always wanted. 546 pictures? Don't mind if I do!

• Why is it that during an ice-breaker, when the whole room has to go around and say their name and where they are from, I get so incredibly nervous? Like I know my name, I know where I'm from, this shouldn't be a problem....

• You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you've made up your mind that you just aren't doing anything productive for the rest of the day.

• Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after DVDs? I don't want to have to restart my collection.

• There's no worse feeling than that millisecond you're sure you are going to die after leaning your chair back a little too far.

• I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to.

• I hate being the one with the remote in a room full of people watching TV. There's so much pressure. 'I love this show, but will they judge me if I keep it on? I bet everyone is wishing we weren't watching this. It's only a matter of time before they all get up and leave the room. Will we still be friends after this?'

• I like all of the music in my iTunes, except when it's on shuffle, then I like about one in every fifteen songs in my iTunes.

• Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.

This list is probably more relevant/appreciated by my generation of peeps. My parents definitely didn't laugh/understand a lot of these when I read it to them earlier.

In closing, let's look at my week on the tube...
Today- Leno premieres with his new show. While I'm not a Leno fan, anyone who doesn't live under a rock has probably heard about the West-Hicks controversy. Tonight on Leno, West will be sitting down with Leno and I want to hear what he has to say about what happened last night.
Tuesday- Big Brother 11 Finale (yes, I'm one of the BB followers. I've seen 7-8 seasons and it's one of the reality shows I look forward to each summer.)
Thursday- The Office (Yay for a new season!)
Saturday- Texas vs. Texas Tech (My fingers are still crossed that I won't be watching this on TV, but as one of 100,000+ packing Royal-Memorial stadium.) Hook 'em!

The Giggles

I got the giggles last night for the first time in a long time. You know the kind- the-make-you-laugh-so-hard-you're-crying, everyone-looks-at-you-like-you're-crazy, can't-explain-what-you're-laughing-about-due-t0-lack-of-oxygen, it's-n0t-nearly-as-funny-to-everyone-else hysterics. I don't know what it was- maybe the super-sugary shaved ice at 9:30 at night contributed to it. It was a great end to a crazy week!

This past Tuesday was our first day of school. I'm not going to lie- the idea of having 20 kindergartners was frightening and stressful to say the least. While I've probably had better first days in my 2-year teaching career, the rest of the week went pretty smoothly.

What has really been hard are all the other adjustments I've had to make. I really miss my teaching friends. What I wouldn't give to be able to teach with them again. They were more than just teaching partners, they were friends! And I so miss their presence at school.

I'm trying hard to create a bond with my teaching partner now. She's really sweet. We're just at different points in our life, and while that will be a great learning experience for both, it won't replace the girls I worked with last year. Keep praying that they find jobs soon!

Football season is just around the corner and I'm so excited about a particular game we'll be going to this year. I LOVE football. And when our team is ranked #2 in the nation, that just makes me excited and nervous at the same time. First game of the year is next Saturday. We won't be getting tickets- we'll be enjoying that one from the air-conditioned comfort of our own home!

On the planner for this weekend is hanging out with J & J, ordering pizza (thank you Papa John's for customer appreciation) and playing Wii. Tomorrow they'll be joining us at church where the service will look a little different. I can't wait!

What's your go-to?

Isn't it funny how we are such creatures of habit? I find myself sticking to the same routine, day after day... and watch out if something throws a wrench in it! Don't get me wrong- I'm not a strict follower of my non-existent day planner, but I do find myself going about my life pretty much doing the same things, eating at the same restaurants, watching the same shows, etc.

This follows even in my cooking. Before having friends who don't particularly care for Italian, I would never have realized how much my weekly menu resembles an Italian restaurant- just the dishes, not the cooking. I love making my mom's homemade spaghetti sauce, marinating chicken in Italian dressing and sprinkling with Parmesan cheese before putting in the oven, or eating the buttery garlic bread whose caloric content I don't even want to know. Lasagna, fettuccine alfredo, Parmesan chicken, baked ziti, garlic chicken- I'll make and eat it all.

My friend P, on the other hand, is much more Mexican at heart. Her menu is full of delicious enchiladas, salsa verde casserole, fajitas, to-die-for Spanish rice, and spicy pinto beans. It's always a Mexican feast at her casa! This makes our friendship work out great- we never tire of each other's dinners. The other day, we were talking about the spice that we use the most when cooking, the spice that no meal is served without-
Mine is garlic (in any shape or form)
P's is cumin.

Which makes sense when you look at what we cook the most.

What about you? What's your spice? Do you have a spice? Or are you an equal opportunity spicer?

what I've been up to... in case you were wondering

I've been absent from the blogging world for a couple of weeks, keeping myself busy doing all sorts of things...

We've been working on D's investment project:



Making trips to the library with my new library card



Organizing our closets (getting rid of old clothes to make room for new ones!)

Those aren't his only clothes, but he does need to go shopping!

Refurbishing patio furniture



Trying to keep our yard alive


Making (new!) dinners


Taking pictures of our dinner (that's homemade pizza by the way- complete with homemade pizza dough!)


Hanging with the nephews (and their toys that stayed here)


Organizing the linen closet



And enjoying the delicious shaved ice treats that P introduced me to... I wish I had a picture- or better yet, a taste to share! Hope you're having a great summer too!

As promised...

Here are before and after pictures of our bedroom makeover that I have almost finished. Enjoy!

Before:

After:

New furniture

New Accessories

New Wall Art

Handmade pillows

Chargers-turned-wall art

Decorative fruit, of course!

'Green' wall art

Crafty, huh?

Next project: re-upholster chair and renovate legs

What do you think?

Please pray

for a dear friend of mine whose husband was told yesterday that he has terminal cancer and has been given 3 months to a year to live. He went to a different doctor today who has a better attitude about his chances and is now waiting to be accepted into MD Anderson. Please pray that God will put the right people in place and that He will give them wisdom as they go down this road together. Also pray for their two young children as this has to be a confusing time for them.

Lord- You are the Great Physician. You are All-Knowing. We ask that you heal this body. Take away the cancer. You are not surprised by any of this and you know how the story ends. We pray for wisdom and guidance for this family. Please be near to them right now. Let them feel your presence. May You receive all the glory. Amen.

Happy 5th Anniversary!

*I started this post last week, but due to being out of town for a family reunion on our actual anniversary, I didn't have time to publish it.*

June 26, 2004- D and I began our new life together. We were so young- I was 18 and he was 20. I remember thinking about how young I would still be when we celebrated our 5th anniversary. And now, here we are. We've started and finished college, found jobs that we love, bought our first car together, and then our first home. We've shared so many laughs, made fun memories, and enjoyed great friendships.

At one point when we were dating, I came up with a list of 50 reasons why I like D. This past year when I was going through things that we had saved from those years, I found the list and thought I'd share some of them. Some are sweet and some are pretty funny.

Why I Like D

1. Your blue eyes
   
2. Your thoughtfulness
3. How nice you are to my sister (that would be you A)
4. The way you always tease (really?)
5. How you won't step down from your morals
6. The way you would stay up till midnight to do your homework just to talk to me a little longer (what can I say? we were in high school)
   
7. The way you respect everyone
8. How, even though you would much rather watch ESPN, you settle on whatever I want to watch (things change after you get married)
9. The way you look when I confuse you (ha!)
10. How you put up with my brother's teasing
11. The way you'll never end a phone conversation without saying those three words
12. How you always compliment me
13. Your love of His Word
14. Your love for your family
15. The way you love me!

Happy 5th Anniversary D!

A little bit of this and a little bit of that...

I don't know why, but I have that song stuck in my head. Anyway, yesterday we returned from our cruise with R & P. To say we had fun would be an understatement. It was so great to spend time away from everything, hanging out and laughing with friends.

Departure

Galveston

Thursday morning, we woke early to get on the road by 7:00 am. After a stop in Giddings to see the house the guys are working on and to get a breakfast taco, we were on our way. If you've ever been on a cruise before, then you know how hectic the departure process can be. Thankfully, it wasn't too bad. We were on the ship and eating lunch by 1:00 or so. The ship was really rocky that day, but it calmed down for the rest of the trip. At dinner that night, we found out we were at a table for 11, so our hopes of just eating by ourselves went down the drain. Two families that knew each other would be our dinnermates, and after several attempts at holding a conversation with them, we knew we had little in common. Dinner was so awkward that we considered trying to switch tables, but decided to give it another chance. After dinner, we went to see the show that they put on each night. The dance routine was disappointing, but the comedian was hilarious. She would be doing another routine the next night, so we made plans to see her again.

Formal Night

Friday was spent hanging around on the ship. We laid out, P and I read books, we all played Bingo, the guys played basketball, shuffleboard, putt putt, and ping pong. I think P and I were so thankful that the guys had each other so we could relax. Watching the guys play basketball was really funny- the wind and the rocking of the ship would mess their shots up. Dinner that night would be our formal night, but the UT baseball team was also playing in the College World Series. We all really wanted to see the game, but the ship either didn't have ESPN2 or weren't showing the game that night. The guys were disappointed, but we knew we could look it up online after dinner. Dinner that night went much better. There weren't as many awkward silences, so it was much more enjoyable. After dinner, we changed clothes and checked the game online, only to see that it had been delayed because of the weather. We arrived early to the lounge where the comedian would be performing and caught the last part of the karaoke show. This ended up being one of my favorite things to go see- not because the singers were that great, but the guy running the show was hilarious. Here are some one-liners from him:
"Stop being so white and dance!"
"If you are not clapping, you are ugly."
"Good job, karaoke stage mother!"
Wow. I haven't laughed so hard in a long time.

Cozumel

Playa Mia Beach Club

Saturday is our port day. We would be arriving in Cozumel in the morning and our group is taking a taxi to a beach club to spend the day in the water. The water was beautiful. The weather was hot! But we got to have all the drinks we wanted. We spent time in the water and laying out, reading or sleeping. The buffet lunch we were promised was disappointing, but it held us over until we got back on the ship. D had fun climbing a floating rock wall and then sliding down the other side. R paddled around in a kayak. P and I got floating rafts and relaxed in the water on those. Afterward, we took a taxi back to the town and did some shopping. I bought two maracas for my kindergarten class when we learn about Mexico next year. P got a pair of earrings and R bargained with a merchant and bought a picture frame. As we were walking toward the ship after we had passed the first security check point, we saw a crowd around the side of the sidewalk. Several girls had jumped off the pier and into the water... right by the sign that says no diving. They were then climbing a ladder back onto the pier. Members of the Mexican police saw this and came running over. We really thought they might get a ticket or taken to jail, but it didn't seem like anything happened. One of the moms had the nerve to say, "But we paid for this!" Oh, Americans.

On the pier

Saturday dinner was just the four of us. The other families spent the day swimming with the dolphins and didn't come to dinner that night. It was nice to have the table to ourselves. The show that night included a ventriloquist, so we went and watched and laughed. He would be doing a stand-up routine the next night. Later that night, the ship had a Mexican buffet. We went, but P was the only one willing to wait in line to try the food. I don't think it was as good as our local Mexican restaurants.

Enjoying an afternoon snack

Our last dinner

Sunday was another lazy day for us. We slept in, ate a late breakfast, read books, and pretty much did nothing. Later that afternoon, we played couple against couple in putt putt. I was reading a really good book and didn't want to put it down, so I read for most of the day. The guys made trips to the casino, I found postcards to send to my kindergarten class (now big 1st graders), and we watched the Newlywed/Married show. After dinner, we went to see the comedian do his stand-up routine. It was really funny. P had to get on to an inebriated lady that was being so loud, we couldn't hear the comedian. She used her 6th grade teacher voice and said, "Hush!" after another lady behind us had basically said the same thing to the lady, to no avail. I thought for a second we might have a skirmish on our hands, but realized the lady was in no condition to even figure out who had asked her to be quiet. We thought it was funny all the same though, because P said it so loud that the comedian was kinda startled by it and paused in his routine.

All in all, the trip was so much fun. We did decide that next time, we would probably go on a Royal Caribbean cruise. I'm not hating on Carnival, but the people were having too much fun on the FunShip for us. It was really embarassing to see the lack of self-control displayed on the cruise. It was also sad to see how the economy has affected the cruise industry- there was no midnight chocolate buffet ( our waiter told us they have had to cut back), our waiters were taking care of more tables than I remember from our last cruise so we didn't get to know them as well, and even the quality of the food was affected. That didn't stop D from ordering two or even three different desserts!

Summer is here (almost)

My first weekend of (almost) Summer has been great! We watched the Horns play in the Super Regional last night (won) and this afternoon (lost)... which means we will also be watching them tomorrow evening to see if they will be making the trip to Omaha. I'm really liking Texas baseball this year (and high school baseball as D's little brother's team is going to the State Championship tournament). The games have been hot- thanks to Texas summer heat- and I've gotten my share of a baseball tan (burned on the front of the legs, white on the back). But the games have been oh-so-fun!

Other things on my list of summer activities include painting our bedroom and finishing up the bedroom makeover, which was started by the purchase of new bedroom furniture. I love our black sleigh bed! As always, I'm a bargain hunter and made some really good finds at my favorite store, Target.

Green recycled glass hurricane: $13.98

Sunburst mirror: $12.48 (originally $49.99)

Charger-turned-wall decor: 3@ $3.24

I'll keep you posted on how the re-do turns out. Other things to be excited for:

Cruise to Cozumel with our friends, R & P
Family Reunion in the Hill Country
Weddings!
Relaxing (sigh)
Reading
Morning walks
Afternoon naps
and more blog posts!

Get Well and Teacher Appreciation

As I mentioned in my last post, I have not been feeling well lately thanks to the pesky mold spores in the air. I missed school on Monday because of the pounding headache my friend was giving me. The best thing about missing school is how much love your students lavish on you the next day. Here's a card a student gave me when I returned on Tuesday:



I feel so loved. And speaking of feeling loved, this week is also Teacher Appreciation week. My class has really blessed me in so many ways throughout the year and it's funny how well we get to know each other... The last three days has seen an influx of little (and big!) brown packages. Take a look:

*one or two bars might already be missing*

As one student told her baby-sitter last night, "My teacher cannot live without chocolate!"

Amen.

Not feelin' it

Sunday: Sore throat
Monday: Sore throat and pounding headache
Tuesday: Headache

Stinkin' mold spores that are in the air.

However, the rest of my week looks bright. Tomorrow I'll be at school, doing the regular routine. But Thursday and Friday I'll be attending a reading workshop, which will be held at our school so I won't be in class. It'll be a nice change. Then after school on Friday, D and I will leave to go see my parents that night and will spend the next day with his parents. Then it's back home again for church on Sunday. I'm looking forward to seeing each of our families, though I'm sad we'll be missing out on our weekly Friday night dinner with R & P.

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Can you guess

why D would be excited?




11 biscuits for the price of 10.


What a bargain shopper.