Hi, how did this happen?

I don't know where I left this out but I have some great pics from the Cowboys game from the weekend before last and wanted to share... had a ton of fun even though I'm not even close to a Cowboy's fan but I love football and football is football...

We went with some friends from church - Juan's nephew is in pee-wee football and was on one of the eight teams that was playing over halftime - was a great deal! We got our tickets and a free soft drink and hot dog, got to see Juan's nephew play (they were ADORABLE - some of those boys out there looked like bobble-heads b/c they were so small and the helmets were so big!) so it was a ton of fun...

And as you can see from the pics, our seats were great and on the front row so Rowdy was a frequent visitor - he even sat in my lap! HAHA!!

Gotta love holiday weekends of semi-obscure holidays

... but don't worry, I'm a devout observer of all!

So have a lot to talk about although no huge major life events or anything.

Since we last spoke, to start with, a new month began! No just kidding… ok… so last week I did my hip-hop thing on Thursday and then drove into Houston for the weekend. Spent the day on Friday in the Houston office, then came home to get ready for a great weekend! Friday night, we ordered pizza with my mom and just hung out at the house and watched a movie which was great… love to relax and you know I’m all about movies! Then Saturday we slept in and piddled around (I worked on cleaning my room like a good girl – actually purging much of my junior high/high school stuff – still working on this as it takes a long time to go through very old clutter – who knows what you’ll need in the future, or what you will wish you would have saved, right?) and THEN we headed to good old College Station for some Aggie game action! Oh my gosh, I can’t even tell you how important Aggie football is to me but I’m so happy that football season is finally here! Fall is my fave…. So ate a lovely meal courtesy of my mom and met Kendyl’s new roomie who is cute as a button and just as sweet, and then we headed out!

When we got to campus we watched the Aggie Wranglers for a bit, then Curt and I went to some friends’ tailgate that we always like to stop by at, and then into the stadium to be sure to catch the fly over… Big highlight (and surprise for some) was the new *12th Man TV* which is essentially a jumbotron (but not really b/c that’s a trademarked name and fyi they don’t even make them anymore) that is bigger than anything like it that you’ve ever seen… a few fast facts – 2nd largest college “jumbotron” in the nation (don’t know who the first is though I heard t.u. got a new one, too?), the screen is 4,000 square feet (that’s bigger than a lot of people’s houses!) and it is so crystal clear that it looks like the players were going to leap out of the screen! They also made some changes to the decks and added light boards that went all the way around as well – was pretty cool and also distracting at times… even when our team would be in the end zone I would find myself looking at the TV and not them who were feet away from me! Haha! We were playing The Citadel (they have a “the” similar to how The Woodlands has a “the” – apparently at yell they were all making fun of this, but the “the” makes a difference!) and of course they lost (35-3) and at one point I was almost rooting for them (I said almost) b/c I didn’t want them to feel too bad about it! But we did ok and they did well – the score sounds worse than the game actually was so it was fun at least! Let’s see… oh yeah! After the game as we were leaving we ran into the pilots from the fly over so took a pic with them – so fun!

Then back to Houston… long drive and night… went straight to bed after 1 a.m. even though the dogs were so excited to see us! Sunday morning – another sleep in day, then out to the lake for some wakeskating where Curt and I had an adventurous time… unfortunately nothing about this morning went to plan so we were late getting out there, it was crowded of course b/c of the holiday weekend, I took a turn first and it was really rough and Curt has temporarily I’m sure, lost his boat driving mojo… we really need to invest next year in the speed control thing that regulates a mph speed b/c he was trying so hard, bless him, but it was going super fast then slow, and then fast again and I would be off before I really even got going… so after 6-8 times of this I gave up and we decided to go across the lake to another cove that I knew of from teenage days on the jet ski… so on our way out there, crossing at the middle of the lake, we went from 15 feet of water to 2 in 1 second and bottomed out… another boat was looking at us (hello, we’re in the middle of the lake, should not be happening) and of course then they quickly realized why we looked so panicked! So we drifted out and Curt got in to assess any damage, and we continued across the lake b/c things sounded/looked ok. So then we made it to the cove, water was glass there so Curt took a few turns and we did ok, just lots of hydrilla that has grown up b/c the lake is still so low from the Hurricane Rita scare from last year…. Bummer… so then I heard a funny noise and we decided to cut our losses and idled back across the whole lake… hopefully there isn’t something broken or anything, but you know what they say “boat” stands for – “bet on another thousand” which so far we’re determining isn’t too far off the mark! :-)

So we put the boat up, went home, went back out with some family friends to celebrate a birthday – tons of fun and loved seeing them and also loved the food, and then we all went to a movie afterward! We saw “Invincible” which was great… again, have I mentioned that I love movies? Then home to watch some more movies on TBS and then bed again late to again sleep in late on Monday!

Yesterday was the epitome of a great day…. Did nothing! We just watched movies and relaxed (this was slated as another boat day but of course didn’t want to test our luck or anything) so we just hung out with the fam, got some good quality time in with Curt, and just chilled out… then time for me to drive home at about 5ish – hit a ton of rain on the way back and got some good phone talking time in with friends and got in at about 9ish or so… ate dinner and then got ready for bed!

So that’s it in a nutshell – as for things today… glad it’s Tuesday and that the work week is shorter – I’ll see Curt again in 2 days! Though here’s something weird… I don’t know if I did this wakeskating or what, but I’ve got this crazy pain near my sternum/ribs that is like a shin splint but obviously not in my shin – it hurts to breathe and laugh and took me forever to get to sleep last night! I took some Advil today, and it shouldn’t be a big deal (consulted my mom, mam, Curt, and coworkers) just an inflamed muscle that connects the two – either way, doesn’t feel good and feels like one of those things that doesn’t go away after a couple days…. Sigh….

p.s. Talked to Ashley last night and the baby is coming along fine, and apparently Cody can now “wink” though it’s the double eye wink, a signature move of Courtney (or so I hear as of course I wasn’t there)… I love living vicariously through her! And I missed seeing the triplets this weekend but had a laugh at Jason (Pam’s boyfriend – sister of the mom of the triplets) trying to whisper at a really-not-audible level when we called after the movie… haha… will see them soon, though, I hope! ;-)

Anyway, gotta get back to it!

xx

All the little things… like blueberry insides!

So not really much to report, unfortunately, and that’s just a sign that my life isn’t all that exciting at the moment, so sorry for some of the dullness ahead.

This week work has been same ol’ same ol’ – not much to say about that although I should be hearing if I have an opportunity to go to Houston soon which please Lord make this happen b/c it’s a dream project and I’m just ready to start my life there and be back with Curt and my fam! UGH! I feel like I’m in this limbo or in one of Dante’s levels or something except replace dullness with sin levels or something. Speaking of, I just went to search exactly what Dante’s levels are, and found a website where you could take a test to see which level you would go to if that were true, and good news, I would go to Purgatory! Lucky for me that’s not what I believe and I’m really going to heaven - whew!

So anyway, I am very excited about this coming weekend though and having an extra day for the glorious holiday that is Labor Day. I realized this morning in my closet that I have only a few days left to wear my white shoes and skirts/slacks, etc. And regardless of what some people say about this rule not applying anymore, I don’t know what they are smoking b/c it absolutely does apply! I mean all of the magazines and what not that say it’s an old, stupid rule – keep in mind where they are guys – NEW YORK! I mean I love that place, but let’s just call the kettle black and say the fashion industry doesn’t want to be limited!

Anyway, that’s that… the work day is over and I’m on my way to a team dinner. Should be fun though hopefully I won’t ruin it for myself and focus on the million other things I should be doing like shopping and having food in my house, for instance! I’ve gone without milk for days, and anyone who knows me knows that every morning and night I’ve been cursing when I open the fridge! Haha…

Got a special treat today as well – saw the window washers! We were thinking that these guys, despite having a blue collar job, make probably a ton of money as the hazard pay has to be astronomical! It’s always so fun to sit in your high rise over the city and watch someone right outside your window hanging out on a harness and swing rappelling and squeegying – they are super fast at their job! So it’s the little things I guess (when you’re life is currently dull, though still great) that really make your day…

I also made this fascinating discovery last week that I don’t think I wrote about – but guess what? I was eating some blueberries one morning, and it suddenly occurred to me – I had no idea what a blueberry looked like on the inside! These blueberries were very large, mind you, so extra juicy in consistency and I was like, omg, I have no idea! So I of course bit one in half (carefully) and I was *SHOCKED*!! (Take this moment to think to yourself if you know the color of the inside of a blueberry)..... drum roll please…….. the color is a beautiful green! It is almost the same color as a kiwi green and actually has teeny tiny small brown seeds so looks much like a kiwi on the inside – I was totally floored and proceeded to bit the rest of them in half to see if it might be a fluke or a rogue nuclear blueberry. What a scientific discovery – still gets me when I think about it. Sigh…

So… that’s been my exciting life lately. This weekend actually will be pretty dang cool though – gotta love days off and Labor Day is one of my favorite obscure holidays! Here are my plans… Friday night will be in Houston and may actually purge my high school room as an incentive for my mom and dad to buy my high school room some new furniture so we can bring it into this decade. I am even considering taking down and putting away my mums – it’s a stretch – but I’m thinking about it. Saturday will hopefully be some lake action, then the Aggie game that night, then Sunday and Monday will be more fun in the sun – we’re hoping to get a ton of time on the boat so it should be awesome. I so need an extra day off!

Anyway, that’s me – time to go but hope everyone has a great hump-day night!

xx

More fun in the sun!

I must say that this summer we’ve done a great job at getting outside and on the water, whether it be beach or lake! This past weekend we went to Padre to celebrate my mom’s 50th birthday – yea! It was a quick trip but we had a lot of fun… I flew into Houston on Thursday night and repacked my stuff, went into the Houston office on Friday and had a meeting, women’s luncheon, and interview with a potential new client so that was all great… got some HR stuff done for the transition like getting a new blackberry phone number, joys such as that, and just did some work and caught up with the Houston people! That night we had dinner as a family which was great and watched a Netflix movie (gotta love Netflix) and packed up to leave early the next morning…. So my family besides Curt and I were all driving b/c they took off yesterday and today to make it a long weekend, but Curt and I flew out to meet them b/c we couldn’t. So they got on the road at like 3 a.m. (and were loud!) and we got up a few hours later to catch our flight… they were meeting Cynthia (my wedding cake baker) to pick up my mom’s cake before noon which is why they had to get up so early…. Was pretty excited to see this cake as I designed it specifically for my mom!

So the flight was uneventful, we flew into Brownsville, caught a cab and made our way to the island… literally pulled up about 5 minutes after Mom, Dad, and Kendyl did, so perfect timing there, and I saw the gorgeous cake – what a sight! It looked amazing, and I couldn’t WAIT to dive into it! Ugh… it was so pretty it was almost a shame to even want to eat it!! Made for the Queen that Mom is… :-)

So we got settled in and changed to head down to the beach and just hung out there and in the pool… the weather was perfect and the ocean was so clear – the most beautiful I have ever seen South Padre! So we played and really had a lot of fun, and then after several hours we headed back in to get ready for Mom’s special dinner at Louie’s – my favorite place to go there! So we all got ready, watched a movie in between and headed downstairs… we stopped and talked to the two Catalina macaws who could talk a lot! We were talking with them and laughed at something they did/said, and then they “laughed” too! It was hysterical! Then on to Louie’s… We had lots of yummy shrimp and crab legs, enjoyed a beautiful sunset and music, and just had a super meal together. After that (in order to digest to get ready for the cake!) we went shopping along the main drag to find lots of on-sale treasures since Padre is not in season at the moment! We ended up not buying anything and loving everything we had found in the first store! Haha… then we went back to the room, sang to Mom and cut into the most heavenly cake (besides my wedding cake, of course) and pigged out on wonderful pink champagne Cynthia’s Cake… YUM! Then we watched some tv and headed to bed….

The next morning we all slept in a ton, had a huge wonderful homemade breakfast and got on the beach… Curt and I got ready first and ended up waiting a century for everyone else, which was important b/c I was holding our spot to go parasailing for the last afternoon slot before Curt and I had to leave on our flight! So everyone finally followed and we got our slot, went to the beach and played at the pool some more, and then trotted down to the Texas flag, got ready and then we got on the boat to take us to the bigger boat!

Curt and I went first, and the water was clear, and the day was so perfect… it was his first time to ever do that so it was cool to do it together… I was hoping/expecting to see some marine life in the water as the visibility in the water was so high, but I guess they were all hanging out somewhere else b/c we didn’t see a thing! The captain dipped us into the water, and we were just floating on the wind…. Mom and Dad went next and they had a great time – they raved about it which I was like, “ugh” about b/c it had taken me lots of persuading to do this! Why can’t everyone just listen to me? Haha…

After parasailing it was time to go to the airport for me and Curt… Mom, Dad and Ken dropped us off, we made it home ok around 7 p.m. and decided to grow a wild hair and rush up to Conroe and take the boat out to get some wakeskating in and also visit Mam. We used our new bathing suits that we got in Padre, had a few turns on the boat each (I did a great job driving!) and then headed in – so we did everything from the time we got the boat out and back in in about an hour! So good! Then we headed to Mam’s (too bad the lake is so low or we could have just ridden over in it) and had some delicious pb&j’s for dinner – she offered to make us something legitimate but I was excited about the sandwich! So yummy… then off to home to pack and get ready for my flight the next morning…

So Monday morning Curt took me to the airport bright and early, and on with another work week without him… makes me sad but hopefully we’ll be in the same city again soon!

Let’s see… Monday worked, did some more work when I got home, went to Pilates which was GREAT, and did some more work then sleep… Tuesday worked a little late, did some more work when I got home, went to Hip Hop which was AWESOME, then I took a break from work and decided to watch some tv and hit the hay at a reasonable hour… and now today working (finishing this up at lunch) and tonight I’m torn between two events so I’ll have to let you know what I decide later…

VERY excited though b/c Aggie Football starts NEXT WEEKEND – WHOOP! I can’t wait for fall to be here… and our first anniversary is approaching which I think is crazy and wonderful… yea! Oh, AND getting excited for my trip to London and Prague late in September… gonna be a great season! I’ll start taking suggestions for Halloween costumes, too – I’m thinking about having a Halloween party!

Hope everyone has a great day!

xx

Sweaty Sunday!

Whoo - just finished a hard day of packing and loading in wonderful 100+ degree weather... we were supposed to have Curt on the road by noon (thus everything finished before it was so hot) but of course the lovely horse trailer loathes the trip to and from our house and the bearings on one wheel decided to go out - lucky for us Curt is pretty handy with that stuff and very mechanically inclined! So 5 hours later, everything is packed and loaded and he will be on his way shortly...

Things have been pretty up and down lately. We had an offer on the house, but then it fell through - so blissfully happy to not so much within a few days spanning from last weekend to about Wednesday. Work is only so-so at the moment - need a new project desperately so hopefully one will hit this week!

But everytime the weekend rolls around I'm happy again - seeing Curt makes a world of difference... this weekend was fun but overshadowed by all the work that had to be done. (Sunday)

So let me give a brief rundown of since the last posting (now Monday night/Tuesday)…

The weekend before this past I went into Houston and we had another blast of a Happy Hour on Friday night with the Houston office of my company – started out at Sam’s Boat which was great and then went to see Austin Collins at the Mucky Duck… Curt and I had SUCH a great time, I can’t even tell you… just awesome company and venues and everything! Saturday we spent the day at the lake and had a wonderful time. Kendyl came with us even though she didn’t want to get in the water, so I wakeskated, Curt drove the boat, and Kendyl filmed us, and then when it was Curt’s turn I actually learned how to drive the boat! I knew I would have to learn at some point so that was pretty fun…. It was actually quite comical as Kendyl was filming, yelling for me to speed up or slow down, etc. and I was yelling at her (not in a mean way, just b/c it was loud with the motor and stuff) asking if I was doing it right, etc. but I did a great job and got the hang of it, and b/c Curt is a natural athlete he did well at compensating for my boat driving faults. We ended up spending about 6 hours on the lake that day and had a lot of wakeskating time each which was fun, and we really weren’t too sore or tired that night! So that night Curt and I rented movies to give the dogs a break and let them be out, and we took them for a walk around twilight which was really nice – I really miss having them around. We took some great pictures (though dark) of Curt and Maverick playing in the field that I’ll throw in here… he really is ten times funnier than the pictures even slightly convey… they bring so much love and joy to our lives!

Sunday we slept in and went to see Talladega Nights which was hilarious, of course! Then it was time for me to leave to come back up to the house, so the drive went fine (car’s doing well!) and ready for another week… last week was ok… kind of a downer b/c our contract fell through with the house, but I know there will be more and everything happens for a reason so we’ll be ok, it was just a downer to be up here by myself with no new project in sight, the house falling through and not being able to commiserate with anyone. So just did my thing, went to Hip Hop, watched movies and tried to keep in good spirits until Friday when Curt arrived (late!). So again, this weekend was really fun just to be with Curt, get back on track with everything, etc. We went to see Cars which I LOVED on Saturday night and then Sunday sweated to death trying to get packed and loaded… of course the bearing went out on the tire so we had been trying to get him out by noon or so so he could take the trailer to the storage unit, then to Giddings, etc. but that didn’t so much happen b/c of the bearing that he spent a good 4-5 hours on but we still had a good time together and I enjoyed my time with him. After he left on Sunday night, I cleaned up a little around the house and went to see the movie Step Up which I LOVED – I can’t even tell you how much I loved this movie… it’s still sticking with me today (Tuesday) and I will probably go back and see the movie again. It’s really pushed me to really pursue this Hip Hop/Breakdancing studio in Houston that I was looking into, b/c I think I could challenge myself to get better like Jenna and Channing in the movie… and can I just say, Channing was an amazing dancer! I came home after the movie and started looking up interviews/articles and learned that Jenna has been professionally trained (which you could tell from the movie) but Channing is a raw talent, never before trained street dancer which I couldn’t believe – he was excellent! So hip hop class tonight is going to be great now that I’m uber inspired to pursue this more… When I started hip hop up here I really felt this satisfaction like I was getting back to something that had meant so much to me in my life before college, so I’m excited to find that excitement and passion again and the movie just pushed me over. I know I’m a weirdo but oh well, it makes me happy! So go see it – LOVE it!

So anyway, yesterday went by fast at work, have a potential project on the horizon in Houston which is good news, went to Pilates and got a lot of work done last night which was great, and got into bed by 11 p.m. – good job!

So that’s my update… tomorrow I may go see a musical and have a nice dinner with my girl coworkers which I hope works out (may have to go interview with the client tomorrow afternoon in Houston, so that’s a major wrench in those plans, but hopefully it will be moved to Friday). So should be a great week!

xx

GREAT weekend and a BAD Monday!

Coming off a great weekend, and of course it’s Monday sooner than it should have been… nothing really exciting to report since I last wrote – had a fantastic weekend with Curt… he drove up on Friday night and we had P3’s for dinner (one of the best Italian places here!) and I had baked a Gooey cake for dessert with our friends who got to our place at about 8 p.m. – Ian and Karen, who’s pregnant! We had a great time chatting with them and hanging out, showed them our shark DVD and told them about our adventures in Playa (Ian was our dive instructor who certified us!) and had some delicious cake!!

Picking this back up on Wednesday and it’s after lunch and I’m so blah – Monday morning was all happy and cheery, and then Monday afternoon had a bomb drop at work that has made life a little stressful but good side is will hopefully speed up my time in getting to Houston and Curt and I resuming our life!

So resuming the weekend, Saturday we slept in some but then started yard work, went and hung out at Tiffany’s place, did some more yard work (the backyard grass was ridiculous thus why it took FOREVER) and then got cleaned up to go see You, Me & Dupree and hit a nice dinner date at Brio afterwards… Curt and I had a wonderful time… gotta love dates! Sunday we really slept in, so nice, watched a movie in bed and then headed over to Kim and Kevin’s to see them, and then Curt had to get on the road home… sad…. So to cheer myself up I went straight to the movies to see The Devil Wears Prada – talk about a great movie and what a great job the marketers did with the brand and product placements – it just makes you want to go shopping! The rest of the night was spent getting stuff done around the house and getting ready for the week… was a FABULOUS weekend! So now back to the bomb… has made the past couple of days a bummer but went to Pilates on Monday night and Hip Hop last night so that help burned off some of the anxiety which was good… I can barely walk again b/c my current hip hop routine is very thigh-intensive (lots of lunges and squats) so walking down any stairs today is pretty painful but that’s progress so that’s ok!

Am very much looking forward to this weekend since the week kind of took a downturn – don’t worry – the bomb is temporary hopefully and nothing to worry about really, just a stressful turn that was unexpected! SO it’s my turn to go down to see Curt and we are planning lots of fun in the sun on the lake and boat, so hopefully the sun will melt all of our cares away (b/c it certainly is hot enough)! I’ll keep you posted!

P.S. Did get my juicer in yesterday so that is a BIG highlight! :-)

xx

Nothing new... but!

Another lovely Monday….

So things have been good but busy lately – this weekend was supposed to be a lot of things, but turned out the main focus of it unfortunately was that my car broke down on the way to Houston – really it wasn’t quite so bad except the water pump decided to crap out so I was stranded in 100+ degree heat for a couple of hours in the middle of nowhere so my Mam had to come pick me up! It literally wouldn’t hold any water to cool the engine, so I would drive a couple miles and have to pull over b/c it was reheating, then wait for a half hour for it to cool or so (all the while sweating my brains out) and fill it up with water and run to the driver’s side to get every drop out of it I could – kind of comical except it wasted much of Friday, and I didn’t get to spend Saturday at all with Curt as he and my dad went to go get it… ugh! I guess that’s how life happens sometimes but messed up all of our other weekend plans…

Other than that, been working, hitting the gym and keeping the house OCD clean – we had a showing on Saturday with the following feedback “buyer loved this house but it faces west,” – ugh! Double frustrating as yes, it does face west but that’s only an issue for some if they want to be in those rooms at night, which I promise Curt and I are never in the front of the house – people live in the living room and kitchen! So that sucks, but we just have to find that one person who doesn’t care that the house faces west or realizes that you don’t spend a lot of your time in the formal living and dining area… sigh… Curt brought up a great point in that at least we’re not exposed to the north for some of these high winds we get all the time, so hopefully someone will be smart enough to point this out if they’re really worried about direction of the house…

Other than that this week is going to be a true effort to wake up early in the morning to work out – ALMOST happened this morning but I rationalized in my head that pilates tonight at the gym would be a better work out to gear me up for some cardio tomorrow morning – I’m going to have to get a wake up call I think! This will free my nights up immensely if I can just do this for the first week or so to get in the habit…. Anyone feel free to call me at 6 a.m. on weekdays only, but no Fridays! A girl has to have her limits…

Anyway, back to work but wanted to check in! p.s. We have our flights to London booked! I’m coming from Sept. 28 – Oct. 9th and Curt and my mom are coming from Oct. 4th to the 9th! Whoop! It’s going to be a blast… before Curt and my mom come over Vicki, Jo and myself are going to take a girls trip to Prague… LOVE IT! So that’s what I’m looking forward to, and it will be here before we all know it!

Speaking of… does everyone know it’s the end of July? How did this happen???

xx

Can someone please pass a bed?

Ok, so overly dramatic but I really am quite exhausted… last week was same ol’ same ol’ really, though I did have some good luck with Craig’s List which was pretty exciting! A colleague at work had mentioned I use it to try and sell some of our stuff that we don’t want to move, so I did and have everything sold! The only think left to go is the aquarium which someone is coming by for tonight – this one will be the most sad… can’t bear to give Ariel and Lily away but hopefully this guy will give them a good home.

Went to the gym a lot as well which was great, and by Wednesday Curt and I forced ourselves into deciding our plans for the weekend – there were several options, each of which required someone or both to drive forever so we opted for the most fun sounding – going camping in Austin to go float the Guadalupe River! This has to be done annually anyway so we thought we may as well get it out of the way and also kill two other birds – going to Leslie and Brent’s 10th anniversary celebration in Luckenbach (yes, from the song) and also spending some time with Curtis & Judy on Sunday afternoon. So it was a fun and very tiring weekend – Curt and I drove into Austin separately and met at the campsite on Friday night with the others who were there (Jeff, Tatiana, Jonathan, Patrick, Sylvia, Sam, Andrea and her sisters). I was so beat that by midnight I crashed in our “3000 square foot tent” that the guys gave us for the wedding. It was so hot that I slept on top of the sleeping bags, and Curt was just so giddy to spend some time with his buds that he got nice and tipsy and came crawling in at 3 a.m. or so! Haha – he doesn’t do this very often so was pretty comical… we slept until the sun started to shine through our tent (approximately 6:30 a.m. and from then on it was too hot to sleep so we were up for the day). Had some great breakfast tacos (man, that sounds good – just figured out what I’ll eat for dinner!) and somehow we didn’t actually make it on the river until noon – how did this happen, I’m not sure but we were boiling by the time we lowered our tubes into the wonderfully cool river… what made it not as fun as it typically is was how PACKED it was – I have never in my life seen the river so jam packed full of people and tubes. Literally we got in the water, looked down river and you couldn’t see a speck of water, just thousands of people. So no room to swim really like I normally like to do, but the company was good, the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches courtesy of Sylvia’s Culinary Delights were great, and 3.5 hours later we were slightly crispier (& toastier) and crawling out! A mishap along the way however, was that Curt informed me that somehow he had lost his keys… of all the things you do not want to lose on the river, you do not want to lose your keys b/c they are gone! Of course I was ridiculously mad but seethed to myself for a bit and got over it 10 long minutes later… it all worked out ok, when we got to the cars we called a locksmith so 45 minutes and $85 later we were in business with a key! In the meantime, we actually all had a ton of fun as Patrick was pretty toasty and dancing like a nut for the world to see – it was hilarious! Haha!!

So Curt and I split from the group and hopped in his truck (I had left my car at Sylvia’s) to get over to Luckenbach to meet up with my fam and Ashley’s fam for the ceremony (which we of course missed but that’s ok). So we got there, said hello and congrats, met my fam for dinner for an AMAZING chicken fried steak – yum – then went back to the hotel to rest for a bit until Ash called for us to meet them for dessert in Fredericksburg. So Mom, Dad, Curt and I went walking through the quaint little town of Fredericksburg (all closed down at 9 p.m.) and then got to spend some time with Ash, TJ, Cody, Miss Cindy, Chandler and Shelby. Was a blast – Cody is as cute as ever and not only did he SAY my name, he SCREAMED it over and over under the table (we had been playing a peek-a-boo game) so that was thrilling for me – he knows who I am! Haha… after we finished hanging out and all were ready for bed we went back to the hotel were Curt and I camped out on the floor (in our sleeping bags in a very small space)!

The next morning we woke up and celebrated Mom’s 50th Birthday for a bit (is today – Happy Birthday, Mom!) and gave her the iPod Kendyl and I chipped in for, and headed on out to retrieve my car and head onto Giddings (didn’t I say tour of Texas or what?). There we spent some time looking at the progress of Curtis & Judy’s amazing new house that Curtis has essentially built with his own two hands (only outsourced the Air Conditioning and rock) so it’s coming along very nicely, but what is more is the view of the spread… wow is it gorgeous out there even it was hotter than blazes! Kendyl also had one of her new guns (she’s in a skeet shooting competition so felt compelled to buy a rifle) out to practice with so she and I and the boys all had fun practicing, and guess what?! Turns out I’m a leftie when it comes to shooting a gun… amazing to me that I’ve always been a pretty great shot but I have always noticed that I had to compensate for my arms being short, the gun being too big, etc. So I guess I was firing and seeing where it hit, and then compensating the gun to my line of sight to shoot, when really all I needed to do was switch sides! So my Dad, Curtis, and Curt got me all set up with my new leftie stance, and low and behold I blew the can away on the first shot! Kendyl is pretty great, too – she was getting some of the moving “clays” that they were throwing for her (really trash from the pit but oh well, she shot them)! So that was fun… at about 4 p.m. we all said our goodbyes so we could get on the road to all different places… got some gas and headed out to Fort Worth and got home around 7:30 p.m. and greeted by a girl who wanted to take my gazelle off my hands. Was sad to part with it, but that was part of the deal, and tonight the guy who is buying the aquarium is coming over as well. This one has potential to be more messy, so I’m thinking we’ll go through the backyard with most of it… we’ll see how it goes!

My day has gotten better than how it started… I forgot to say at the top that ALSO why I’m so tired is b/c last night the power went out for 6 houses on my side of the street, so was talking to Curt on the phone in bed (excited b/c it was 10:30 and I was actually in bed!) and all of a sudden the power is out! I of course freaked out b/c I live by myself for the moment, so immediately thought someone was trying to come in to get me and had cut the power, so ran to get a flashlight and went out the front door – found several neighbors in the street as well… it was very much like a scene from a UFO movie where the lights go out, and then everyone comes out to the street and looks around in wonderment. So we were waiting and hoping that the lights would come back soon, but no, of course they didn’t until sometime mid-morning today SO I spent the night hot and camping in my own house – ugh! No a/c, no fan, not even a good light to read until I calmed down enough to sleep… so you can bet I will be trying to get to bed at a decent hour tonight!

Hope all is well with everyone, Happy Birthday again, Mom! I love you so much!!

xx

Lots of candles...

So I spent all week writing about Playa, and didn’t have time to actually write about my first week without Curt in the house! There’s not much to tell other than it’s lonely and kinda weird to not have anyone in the house (dogs or Curt) and to obsessively clean up behind yourself wherever you go… So did my thing – am reading much more and catching up on our DVR cache which has been full for who knows how long, and then of course doing work and other necessary tasks… was very excited for this past weekend though b/c Curt and Kendyl both came into town to celebrate my birthday! We had a lot of fun planned….

Friday night Kendyl and I went to dinner at my favorite local Italian place and had a feast! Then we watched Enron, Smartest Guys in the Room until Curt and the boat got there later that night. Saturday we woke up and got ready for a day at the lake on our boat with Kendyl, Kevin, Kim, Curt and myself so that was a blast… turns out Curt got me a wakeskate for my birthday so that was pretty sweet! So we spent the day having fun in the sun and learning to wakeskate so we had a blast – Kim and Kevin were first timers and they did really well, too! After we finished at the lake we rushed home to eat and clean up so we could make our 7:45 p.m. movie to see Pirates of the Caribbean! Same crew for the movie, plus Juan, Shelly and Cory! I was so excited to see this movie… so we got there in ample time to get good seats, and settled in for a few hours of fun (pre-previews, previews, movie was 3 hours)!! The movie was fantastic (I won’t give anything away) and then home to go to bed (lake days make you tired, you know).

Sunday woke up and dallied around for a bit, Curt and Kendyl sang Happy Birthday to me and we ate my cake for breakfast, and then got ready to go to the lake AGAIN! Tried a different lake this time which was actually much more calm so we did SO much better on the wakeskating front… Kendyl even tried it (was just Curt, me and her) and it was hilarious – she really made some good progress though so we were proud… so that will be a fun hobby to get us in the sun and on the boat… was exciting! So we did that up until 3ish and got on the road to go home… listened to Dad commentate the last few minutes of the Italy vs. France game which was fun, Go Italy!, got home and got showered while Curt and Kendyl went hunting for my “token” birthday gift. They got home and presented me with what they had found – a *gorgeous* white and black pearl earring drop set and necklace with diamonds… very sophisticated and very pretty! I can’t wait to wear them tomorrow…. I have a life so blessed.

Sunday evening I made Curt and Kendyl some yummy dinner, and got them on the road with full bellies of chicken and biscuits and chocolate cake! It was very sad to have my fam with me (or part of them) and then to say goodbye again for the week... both got home safely and on to the rest of the week... BUT it is my birthday week so that should be a highlight!

I'll be going to Kevin and Kim's for dinner, and then seeing Ashley, TJ, Cody (yea!) and her pregnant belly - ASHLEY'S PREGNANT!! as they're staying at my house on their way to Houston so that will be a joy...

So that's me - happy birthday to me!

xx

Playa Del Carmen, Mexico!

Ok... so here it goes....

Starting with Friday where I left off - Curt and I hopped on the plane, and got into Playa pretty late that night as the flight was delayed... got in our happy shuttle and were on our way to our hostel, which had looked great on hostel world... and it was, but when we got there at about 12:30 a.m., we meet up with the owner (he had left a hilarious sign on the gate - "Mr. Curtis, please call xxx") so he can let us in, and he shows us to our room. The hostel is immaculate, nice, and gorgeous, with the immediately obvious drawback that it is blistering hot inside that room - ok - so no air conditioning. I'm a camper, I inquire but after we find out the small fan that does NOTHING is all we have, I resign to sticking it out b/c Curt booked this, and by God I was going to be a great wife about it! It really was a shame, b/c I'm sure in the off-season this hostel is prime space, but there was seriously no ventilation at all, and we both just lied there in the bed sweating to death, and of course you can't sleep when you sweat so it was pretty miserable... so at about 3 a.m. Curt swallowed his pride and said he'd had enough and was going out to look for a hotel (we had to think about our diving schedule, too you know, can't dive when you've been releasing every ounce of hydration each night before!). I was of course nervous about this, but he took a little dive knife with him and ventured out while I sat on the bed for a half hour waiting for him wondering what the hell I would do if he didn't come back... but he did - whew! And he had great news - he found the cutest little hotel with GREAT A/C and so we packed up and rolled our luggage out of there at 3:30 a.m. Playa is very safe, we found out, so yea for us there! So we got settled, set the A/C to 16 degrees Celsius (roughly 64 degrees F) and fell fast asleep until 11 a.m. the next morning! Thank goodness for some sleep! We of course missed any chance at a morning dive, but got on the books for a 2-tank afternoon dive as well as a night dive (which would be our first)!

Our dive that afternoon was a great back-in-the-water dive... nothing really spectacular or hard, just some nice reefs with a good group, and enough to get our buoyancy in check and get back into the swing of things... then we hung out and had dinner at a great Italian place and high-tailed it to another dive shop for our night dive which we were pretty excited about! We shoved off at around 7:30 p.m., got our briefing and were diving a site called Jardines (gardens in Spanish) that was literally 100 yards off the beach - if people only knew how close they were to some of this stuff :-). So we got our torches (basically big flashlights), sat on the edge of the boat, and flipped backwards (also a first for me - we usually do a giant stride off the bigger boats) into the water. Wow - night diving is a whole different ballgame, folks! We had been briefed about what to look for, not to touch any sleeping fish (some actually form a bubble around them at night) b/c the panic could harm them, or touch anything for that matter which is usually a pretty easy rule to abide by... some of the notables: a snail like creature that stays in a shell I know we have all seen, but clings on to the coral and is unrecognizable b/c it pushes out its insides which is a beautiful speckled substance. So Juan picked one of these off the coral to show me, closed his hand over it and shook his hand (non-dangerous, promise) and when he opened his hand it was this shell! I was literally so shocked (it was so unexpected, like magic) that I gave a little shriek into my regulator - haha! It had turned back into itself to show it's outer shell, a silky brown spiral shell! We also saw the corals feeding which is so amazing - and of course tons of sleepy fish and some eels as well (moray and spotted). Then we got a pretty big treat - the biggest moray eel I've ever seen in wild or captivity, was out hunting! Juan had told us if we were lucky we might see this, so we knew what to expect and what it was doing... this eel had to be over 9 feet long, and over a foot in height - massive! He was snaking back and forth along the reef, and they hunt by this body motion as once they brush up against something that is alive, they snap at it and constrict similarly to a boa constrictor, though they add a little twist by knotting themselves and pulling their prey through so it tears it to pieces - lovely, I know, but we got to see a hunter in action! He got SO CLOSE to a blue tang several times, but the tang outsmarted the eel that night... (eels have very poor vision which is why they hunt mostly by touch). At the end of the dive we had a great opportunity that is pretty uncommon as well - we got to play with the bioluminescence (sp?)! Juan had us kneel in the sand (Curt, myself and Emmitt - our friend from Southern Ireland) and turn off our torches, and then we all made quick movements with our hands and torches that produced the tiny organisms to spark bright green sparks! It was SO NEAT!!!

So the night dive was pretty awesome... Curt and I were excited about getting the opportunity to do this... so after we got cleaned up we went out on 5th and walked up and down the avenue. If I could count how many times we went up and down this street it would really be hilarious, but it's so active that it was just the natural thing to do! haha... then we went to bed as it was getting late, and we had to wake up early the next morning to go on some more dives!

Sunday morning we headed to Tank Ha, the company that we did most of our dives with (all but the night dive - Dive Mike) to get ready for Tortuga! So we headed out early so we could catch some breakfast on 5th, and got on our way... loaded onto the dive boat and headed out to a beautiful area along the coast that was not inhabited, but it really wasn't too far from Playa! This was to be a true drift dive (another first for Curt and me) so we jumped into the water and immediately the current got to work at carrying us away! A drift dive is where you jump into the water at one point, the current carries you so the boat has to pick you up at another point all together - pretty cool! So we got going, and immediately started to see turtles... in total on this dive we saw 13 (a lot), and some were just hanging out on the bottom, others were on the bottom and eating the corals, and others were lazily swimming along. Some of them were HUGE - 4 ft x 2 ft probably, and I was literally within inches swimming along with them... it was kind of comical because the current was so swift, and they are so well camaflouged that you don't really see them until you're almost on top of them, so then I would turn and swim hard into the current to stay for a minute to check them out, and then when I got tired I would just let go and turn again to see the next one... there were some small guys, too - there was even one pair that was swimming along, and they were so small in comparison to their larger counterparts! At one point we also came upon a school of tarpon (huge silver fish) - it was so eerie b/c our dive guide banged on his tank to show us something, and I looked and didn't see anything - I looked away for a second and then looked back and out of nowhere had appeared an enormous school of tarpon! Tarpon are a huge fish (about 4 feet long) that is actually pretty amazing b/c they can live in virtually any environment b/c they can actually breathe oxygen from the surface! They were completely still and just came out of nowhere so it was very cool to see how sometimes things are right in front of your face! After Tortuga we dove a site called Sabalos (means Tarpon, actually) and saw more great stuff - a few eels in caves, some great tiny organisms, and of course beautiful and colorful fish...

After we finished our dives for the day we went and took a much needed nap! Diving with oxygen tends to make you pretty tired, so we're going to have to look into Nitrox sooner or later (have to be certified to dive with Nitrox but a lot of people love it). After our nap we got up and moving and went out on 5th again, had a "long walk on the beach" so we had lots of together time :-)! This night we also went out of town a bit to have dinner at Alux (pronounced Aloosh) which is a restuarant that is in a huge cave - it was so cool! We walked in expecting a way nice restaurant though, and it was but they were playing totally out of place music - 80's American! So it didn't quite fit but there were a ton of songs that were just hilarious to hear at a restaurant that was so nice - so we jammed to some "Gloria," "By the Rivers of Babylon," and more bizarro dining music! At first it was totally weird, but after awhile we just went into fits of giggles waiting to hear what was next... it was a trip! The food turned out to be DELICIOUS though - Curt got filet mignon and I got flambee shrimp - they cooked it at our table and omg it was just so yummy...

The next day of diving was the Cenotes (pronounced senotay)! Got up early again and got out to Tank Ha to meet up with Luca who was going to be our dive guide - turns out Luca is from Perugia which is about 40 minutes from Castiglion Fiorentino so we had a lot to talk about! He's been gone from Italy for quite a few years - shut down his business one day and started traveling all over the world to be a dive guide and has worked in Egypt and other great dive spots! Anyway, we drove just outside of Playa to reach the cenote system Chak Mol (means jaguar's paw I think in Mayan?) where we were to dive two cenotes: Kukulkan and Little Brother. Cenotes just as some background are basically holes that open up in the earth that are caves filled with water - saltwater is the base of the water table, and then fresh water over time has formed the top layer, but it's not brackish water per se in that there is a line called a halocline where the fresh and salt are separated like oil and vinegar, they don't mix! Thus when you are at that line and swimming it tries to mix and creates a blur so if you're behind someone (which we were!) it's like looking at something in the Twilight Zone (I literally thought that when I first encountered it)! And what is strange is that Luca told us to expect this and I had a picture of what it would look like in my head, but when we actually encountered it I thought something was seriously wrong b/c it's not just a blur it's like things are wavy b/c of how the light refracts... here's a picture of what looking through a halocline looks like... once we got used to this we figured out you just have to not follow directly behind so you could have crystal clear vision. And by crystal clear I mean you sometimes would forget that you were actually underwater the visibility was so crisp! So that was interesting... not to mention being in the dark, going through tunnels, viewing stalactities and stalagmites, warps in the strat of the rock (love geology!) and the fossils that were in the limestone... one observation that Curt made that was pretty cool is how unbelievably sharp the limestone was, but it's because water has never run through there, just sat in there so everything was preserved to however it lay when it caved in (or whatever happened, cenotes are somewhat of a mystery), was dry (and thus the stalac/stalags forming, and then under water as time went on! All very interesting, but you can bet your britches diving these was an exercise in my will and self control. Not that I was on the verge of panic, but you know me in always needing an escape route, and these were severely limited though at any time you could be at the service in less than 10 seconds (it's just that in many places how to get to the service would be another issue all together, but Luca knows the system like the back of his hand - stay close to your dive guide! :-) Needless to say, was an experience of a lifetime and we will probably do this again - the overwhelming feeling at the end and during was just a humbling realization of how we always think we are so great and smart but we just have nothing on God - being underwater and surrounded by amazing rock formations is definitely an awe-inspiring experience!

After the cenotes we were sad that our diving was over, but we still had some great fun that night! After our dives we had a great snack at a restaurant across from Tank Ha - so yummy! We filled out our dive logs, got organized, then met up with Luca and other locals (or transplant locals) to have some cool drinks and a good ol' bbq - it was so nice of them to invite us! It seemed like every person there was from a different country... Curt and I sometimes wonder who is really smarter - the person that is ambitious and chooses to climb the corporate ladder, or the person who practices "life is too short, might as well enjoy it" lifestyle? We have no idea... I guess the grass is always greener...

We went to bed at a reasonable time as we had to wake up in the 5's to get to the airport, so the next morning got to Houston without any glitches, but from there I had a hell of a day getting back to DFW - ugh! There were storms all over Texas on July 4th, so Curt and I parted (sad) in the airport (after Dad and Kendyl delivered my laptop - THANK YOU!) and then I got on my way only to be delayed on the runway, caught in a holding pattern, experience an aborted landing, THEN sit at the gate for a good half hour b/c the ground crew was not allowed to assist us b/c of lightening... SO overall I was supposed to be at the airport at 2 p.m. and didn't actually get in to the airport until 6:30 p.m. - I could have driven it! What's worse is that some of our friends were picking me up so I was still in Houston when I was supposed to be landing so told them not to bother and that I'd call them when I got to DFW - I felt so awful! Luckily I didn't impose on any 4th plans for them, so when I did finally get in I took them to dinner as a thanks...

Whew! Ok, so this has taken me days to write... Curt gets in town tonight so we'll get the rest of the pictures up soon! Stay tuned for those... they will be the highlight! :-)

xx

Stay tuned....

I am planning on writing a ton tonight and hopefully getting some pictures from our vacation up - I can't wait to share b/c we had SUCH a great time and I think y'all will get a kick out of it...

It is a bummer to be back at work, though, and I don't even get to see Curt when I get home! :-( I guess that means that I'll have plenty of time to write, huh? Not really - have lots to do, but GREAT NEWS - we have two showings of the house today, so that's good, and we're up on the websites and stuff so things are moving in the right direction!

Cross your fingers!

Will post soon....

xx

VACATION!

So it's Friday and we are going to Mexico tonight! THANK GOODNESS - this has been a very trying week for Curt and I but we got the house immaculately clean and ready to show to anyone who wants to see it this week! We should be listed on MLS by tonight, so here we go on this rollercoaster ride that is selling a house! Just so everyone knows, we are staying FIRM on our house price as it's the lowest we wanted to go, but our realtor advised us that it's better to have higher traffic and not play games with the negotiation so we'll see... he's supposed to be one of the best in the biz so cross your fingers for us!

Our flight is later on late afternoon, so I'm just working from my parent's house while Curt is out taking care of the boat and other business (storage, etc) so we will be ready to start our vacation when we get on that plane! We didn't roll into Houston last night until 2:45 a.m. - holy smokes were we tired!!!! It took us longer b/c we were trailering the boat - ugh it was slow goings (or not slow, just not 80 like I would have liked to be going)! So Curt is officially a resident of Houston from here on out, so we'll see how long it takes for me to follow... I'll miss him! I already got the pooper scooper service in line - cracked me up b/c I called the guy up (the service is called "Scooper Man" - so cute) and I didn't know his name so I asked, "Is this Scooper Man?" just like on the old timey movies the way they say "Superman" with the inflection of their voice - sometimes I just tickle myself! haha

So... hopefully we'll have safe and uneventful travels for tonight - we'll have to call our hostel when we get there, and hopefully get to sleep at a decent hour so we can wake up to go diving tomorrow morning! We booked our dive package through Tank Ha in Playa as we read some good reviews, and told them via the website that we HAD to go to the Tortuga dive site (the cenotes are built into the package) so hopefully all will work out and we'll have awesome pictures to post when we get back!

Wouldn't it be insane if someone wanted our house this weekend??? Would be bizarre... it does look AWESOME by the way - it made me so sad to think that it won't be our true home anymore... sigh...

Ok, more work and then Mexico - talk to y'all soon!

xx

Hump day fun...

Sorry it’s been awhile, but things have been nuts!

We are officially putting the house up for sale on Thursday, so it’s a do-or-die deadline which I think we will be dead by the time it comes around (chanting mantra: “if we can just make it to Thursday night, if we can just make it to Thursday night”)… so here’s what’s been going since I last wrote:

So Friday night we got on the road to Austin so we could look at the boat. We got there at about 8:30 p.m. and had all the dogs with us in the truck. We checked out the boat, loved it and said we would like to buy it, and went on our way (of course there was lots in between but not important). We went on to Giddings and spent the night at Curt’s Dad’s place, slept in – thank the Lord – had DELICIOUS breakfast tacos that Giddings is famous for, went to the ranch to get the trailer and had fun there for awhile – I let the dogs out and we went on a mini walk… Maverick is still unsure of the huge cows that Curt’s Dad runs, and it’s hilarious for both the cows and Maverick to size each other up… the calves were hilarious and being rather bold in how close they were coming! The girls of course could care less and were happy to trot along beside me… Curt in the meantime was working on the trailer getting it hitched, and then we were on our way to good ol’ Wal-Mart so Curt could rig the lights so we wouldn’t get a million tickets. Then we went home, got showered up and ready for Nonnie and PaPa’s big party – their 50th wedding anniversary!! It was adorable – Curt’s aunt, Heidi, really did an amazing job getting the venue ready and it was like a wedding almost, except everyone there was mostly older but it was so cute – there was a “anniversary cake” that could have been a great wedding cake for anyone, the original bridal party (minus PaPa’s brother George who passed on this past year – so sad) was there for pictures and toasting, and it was really cool – it made me excited for the next 49 years and 4 months with my Curt. And my family came in, and of course Curt’s family was there, and we danced and ate and had a wonderful time visiting with everyone!! Then we got on the road to College Station where we were staying at wonderful Townplace for the evening – I just love it there! So spent some time with fam, went to bed, and got up early the next morning with everyone to get on the road to home.

We got back to Fort Worth at about lunchtime on Sunday and spent the rest of the day packing and loading the trailer, went to Bible Study with our friends, and then did some more work when we got home – sigh – Monday was eventful as well… more fun moving! So Curt isn’t working this week, and Monday was his first day “off” though he has been working like crazy to get the house ready while I’m at work – so he got up at 7 a.m. to get on the road to Houston to load our stuff in our new storage unit there, then got on the road to Giddings to drop off the trailer, and to go back to Austin to pick up the boat! (We couldn’t pick it up this weekend b/c the money hadn’t come through yet)! So Curt’s tour of Texas took him all day – he didn’t get home with it until 12:30 a.m.! Meanwhile my Monday was spent at work, then I rushed home to meet with the maids to get an estimate for a complete overhaul and then met with a realtor to do all of that, and then gabbed with Sylvia while I was getting work done around the house, so that was a fun spot in the midst of everything! Then we went to bed super late, and had to start all over Tuesday…

So Tuesday Curt worked a ton again, I worked a ton at work, and then when I got home we agreed to take the boat out for an hour (so really we were on the water for a total of 15 minutes by the time we did everything – haha)! But we had a great time, the boat is great – I think her name is Toby, haven’t decided for sure yet – and we are excited for when things settle down and we can make that a regular occurrence! Then we met Mary and Jason for dinner – my New York plane friend – yea! So that was a ton of fun, then more work when we got home, and then bed again really late – sigh – SO… today is another busy day at work, Curt is at home with the maids and meeting our last realtor around lunchtime, and getting more done around the house so we can put our house ON THE MARKET TOMORROW – absolutely insane… Can we be in Mexico already? We’re really going to need it this weekend… whew!

Hope everyone else is doing well – speak soon.

xx

Yea for Friday!

Wow - so glad that it is Friday, and very excited for the weekend!

It's been a super busy week with me getting back from vacation on Tuesday night, and packing up the house and working really hard to get it where it needs to be to put on the market next week!

Wednesday night we packed, last night we packed and also celebrated our 8-month anniversary as well as Curt's last day of work, which is today! We are very excited, and I'm so excited for him, so here we go into this new adventure!

For Curt's last day today I got him a cake to take into work that says "Thanks for everything - I'll miss y'all" so that's super cute and hopefully it will be a really positive ending to a big chapter in his/our life. I think he said they're taking him out to lunch as well, but my *favorite* thing about this day for him took place this morning... he jumps out of the shower and I'm straightening my hair, and he goes "I know what shirt I'm going to wear today," and I was thinking through his wardrobe and couldn't imagine what he would choose so I asked, and he came out of the closet with this black t-shirt that I'm pretty sure he's only worn once or twice since I've known him, but is absolutely perfect for the theme of the day - it's black with smallish white writing in the center of the shirt and it says, "What is the Hokey Pokey is really what it's all about?" - how classic is that?! I died laughing and he looks adorable in it - I don't know why he doesn't wear it more! :-) So that's his day...

We're going to try and breakaway a little early today as we may have a couple appointments with realtors that are coming to the house, but for sure a little early at least so we can get on the road to Austin before 5 p.m. if possible to avoid traffic tonight on our way out - we're going to check out the boat and we told the guy we'd shoot to be there at 8 p.m. so hopefully we won't be late! If all goes well and it checks out, then we may have a boat by tonight! That's crazy, but Curt is really excited about it and he deserves it so that may be our summer love if it works out! Then we'll go to Giddings and stay the night, pick up the trailer, go to The Woodlands Saturday morning to drop off the dogs and the load we pack up of stuff we've already packed, then back to Ledbetter for the big 50th wedding anniversary party for Nonnie and PaPa! This should be so fun, we are so excited for them - check back in 49 years and 2 months for Curt and I's party details! ;-)

Sunday we will go home, pack up the trailer with even more stuff and on Monday Curt will go back down to Houston and start filling our storage unit! So hopefully we will be on track to put the house up on Thursday before the July 4th weekend if all goes well - cross your fingers, folks, it's going to be a push!

We did get our camera housing in the mail yesterday, which is super sweet and will pay for itself hopefully this trip with all of our amazing pictures of the marine life in Playa! Ugh - so excited for this I can't even tell you! Turns out we're missing my Aunt, Uncle and cousins from Maryland in the airport by a few hours as they'll be coming as we're going - crazy! Too bad there is no overlap, huh? So I think that's about it... hopefully will see the sis this weekend, but am excited to at least see Mam, Mom, and Dad, and of course Curt's family as well!

Everyone have a great Friday and weekend!

xx

My GREAT trip!

Sigh…

So back at work and back in the real world... it’s amazing to me that even if you’re only out of it for a few days that you kind of forget that you have a full time job and what your life is really like at home! There were a few times when I was with family and friends that I was like – shoot – I have to go back to work on Wednesday – what is that? Haha!

So things are about to get crazy, but before I get into that I’m going to talk about my vacation! It was jam-packed, so hang with me!

So I flew out on Wednesday night, arriving into North Carolina late and hanging out with my aunt, uncle, cousin and her new beau until about midnight-thirty and then hit the hay! The next morning I got up early to meet Tiffany in Charlotte – my aunt was very gracious in offering my cousin’s driving services so she and her friend drove me to the meeting point where Tiffany met us and we exchanged me! We had Bojangles for breakfast which was pretty yummy for a fast-food place that I had never heard of! So we met Tiffany with no events to speak of, and then she, her mom and myself had some snacks at TGI Friday’s and got on our way to Greenville! We got to her place and caught up, got ready and went downtown with her fiancé, Joe, and had great sushi as well as fried cheesecake (another first) for dessert (we shared)! Downtown Greenville is super adorable – we went walking around and took pictures by the footbridge, river, and falls and it’s just so cute… we also were hunting for the bronze mice that litter the main street – not litter really but there are 9 of them and we found 3! When we got home we watched some TV and crashed…

Friday we headed out to the Biltmore Mansion, which was INCREDIBLE!!! We took the dogs, Yoshi and Fancy who are Tiffany and Joe’s respectively, and left them in the car while we toured the inside of the “house” which is really 250 rooms and the largest “house” in America. It’s more like a small castle, people! It was so cool – built in the 1870’s I think by the Vanderbilt family and has so many gardens and rooms it’s unreal. The view alone was amazing… see corresponding pictures! So we spent all morning and a good bit of the afternoon here touring the house and then the gardens, topping off with our wine tasting where I bought my souvenir wines! Yum! Then we got on the road home as we had a bridal show to get to for her and Joe which was also awesome, and had dinner at a great little burger place and went home and watched The Island which we really liked! The next morning we got up and held a meeting which was awesome, then I got packed and we got on the road to go meet my aunt and fam at the Great Dane Gathering in Charlotte which was so cool! There were no female fawns to market Mav to, which is fine, but there were a ton of great danes there and it was so fun to see all the of differences in all colors, shapes and sizes!

That night we were pretty tuckered out, but Shannon called us as we were pulling into home and said we HAD to go check out the tallest cow ever, SO we dropped Uncle Randy off and Kelli and I headed out to see this freak of nature cow... she was right, it was enormous, but what was funnier is that we were in such a small town that some of Kelli's friends saw us (and in their head were wondering if I had ever seen a cow in Texas as I was on the side of the road taking pictures - lol - but for Uncle Randy) and turned around to come and chat... and THEN Brenda's Dad also stopped by and he's gotta be in his 70's or 80's, and he was a trip so we were having a party on the side of the road! So Brenda and Mike invited us to see the Lake House so we went home, got slightly cleaned up and headed back on out! I personally really enjoyed it, though it's probably a true chick flick! Then it was late, so off to bed from another packed day!!

So Sunday was time to exchange me with Katie, so Aunt Kelli drove me to the halfway point and we met Katie at a gas station late in the morning (thanks Aunt Kelli)! We hung out at her place after the very scenic and beautiful drive up to Blacksburg and then went to a cookout at her friends' house and spent the whole afternoon there! The group was majority vet students at VT so of course there were lots of dogs present and they were all having an awesome time playing while we were having an awesome time eating, chatting, drinking, etc. Met a lot of really great people and got a great glimpse into Dave and Katie's down time activities (when they have any)! At about 9 p.m. we headed out to Cabo Fish Taco for dinner where I had a yummy burrito and Dave, Katie, and I had good food and fun and then we went home and called it an early night (still 11:30 p.m. by the time I got to sleep)! Forrest (Dave's very cool beagle) decided it would be just fine to sleep with me, and I really enjoyed having him as my bed companion as he was so snuggly!!

The next morning I slept in - Hallelujah!! Forrest and I woke up at a leisurely 10 a.m. and we had a leisurely and yummy breakfast courtesy of Katie's culinary skills (biscuits and cinnamon rolls - double yum) and got on our way to have a fun day of hiking at the Cascades! So we got the dogs and ourselves ready, and Katie and Dave had two great Mule Camelbaks to accompany us to keep us hydrated, and then we got on the road! Forrest again in true form snuggled with me the whole way there, and we proceeded to hike a very nice 4-mile trail to the Cascade waterfalls. The day was overcast and cool in temperature (at least compared to what I am used to) so we were red and a little sweaty by the time we got to the falls, but it was very pleasant though not a super-easy hike so we were getting a great workout! Dave even decided to take a dip in the swimming hole beneath the falls which I'm sure was ridiculously cold, so Katie and I ate apples while we watched him! Then we hiked the 2 miles back, mostly downhill but still working the muscles and had a nice drive back... We got cleaned up and got ready for dinner - a nice night out to the Chinese Buffet where we ate ourselves silly! :-) We headed to Blockbuster afterwards (or maybe before?) and picked out two movies - The Ringer and Firewall - but of course we had to watch these later around Katie's current fave summer show, The Closer, much to Dave's chagrin as Kyra Sedgwick has a very fake southern accent - haha! So we watched most all of The Ringer which was kinda funny and kinda dumb, but watchable, paused it to watch The Closer, finished The Ringer, and then put in Firewall and then bed... So was an AWESOME relaxing night...

Then on to North Carolina the next morning to exchange me again, so Katie and I met Aunt Kelli at the same gast station, and I started to get sad as my trip was coming to a close... So Kelli and I went and said bye to Shae who was working at the vet clinic, went and hung out with her friend Kay and her daughter Kendall for a bit, then we went home for me to get packed up, and then on to the airport!

All in all it was a very quick and great trip... it was so great to see good family and friends, and now it's there turn to come see me! I love that... LOL!

Hope everyone is doing well...

xx

Leaving on a Jet Plane!

Hopping on a plane to North Carolina tonight to see my aunt, cousin and uncle! Should be good times… will also see Katie and Tiff while I’m in which I’m also very excited about – we have a lot packed into the next few days so I’ll probably have lots to share when I get back! AND hopefully a lot of pictures!!

Curt has a softball game tonight that I’m missing, as well as an after birthday party for one of the guys – bummer! But hopefully he’ll get a ton done with the house while I’m gone, b/c time is ticking away quickly and we only have a couple weeks until we said we would put it up! Yikes!

Talk to y’all soon…

xx

Let's try this again....

Ok – here we go one more time…

So this past weekend was really great – Friday we went to a comedy club downtown and saw Cowboy Bill Martin, who by the way is the funniest cowboy I have ever seen… my favorite one liner of his that is SO true is “What is the difference between a redneck and a cowboy” which he supposedly asked his father as a boy growing up b/c people were teasing him about being a redneck, and his father quickly replied back “acreage, which makes you a cowboy” b/c they had some land… We laughed so hard! And then he goes – “Now I know some of you are laughing, but the truth is some of y’all will be going home late tonight, and the only place left to park is next to the dumpster,” which of course sent the audience into roars… very classic! He was a great comedian that is one of those kinds that used human nature to make people laugh so we had a great time… come to think of it, I’ve never gone to a comedy club and NOT had a great time – why don’t we do this more???

Saturday was an exhausting day – woke up at the butt crack of dawn and got ready for the moving sale festivities to begin… Curt and Kendyl started putting signs out at 6:45 a.m. and by 7 a.m. there were people coming by (and interrupting my process of bringing everything outside) and buying stuff! I swear over 100 people came through for the sale, and probably about half of them came through before 8 a.m. when it officially was slated to start! But I’m not complaining, we sold a ton of stuff and made a great profit, and by 2 p.m. we were finished and packing up. In the 11th hour someone wanted to buy the couch set, so we got that sold. It sold for less than I wanted, but the lady was telling me a sob story so I negotiated with her and I am happy with what we got even though it is lower than what we wanted… so now we just have the Gazelle, Oriental Rug, and Aquarium left to find people to buy and that’s it! We’ll be taking a bunch of stuff over to Goodwill as well and Half Price Books and make all of those rounds so that will clear out some more stuff!!

After we finished with the Moving Sale fun, we got cleaned up and got ready for a movie and dinner out with some of my Life Group folks – we saw Da Vinci Code and I liked it, though of course the movie of any book will never be as good! Then we went to Mi Cocina for dinner which was SO YUMMY and one of my favorites – best salad of your life! So it was a great night out with friends and as soon as we got home (11 p.m.ish) we hit the hay b/c we were all so tired from sitting in the hot sun all day from the moving sale!

Sunday Kendyl left in the morning and Curt and I hightailed it to church, then spent the rest of the day fixing up the house and doing things to get it ready to put on the market – this is such a huge job!! Then we went to Life Group and had a great time, and watched Crash (Netflix – whoop!) when we got home – GREAT movie, by the way!!

Yesterday Curt and I worked hard… I got home at around 6:45 p.m. from work, and then we got busy mulching the front and backyard – that stuff was *radiating* heat – not kidding – so not only was it in the high 90’s, but we were kneed deep in that stuff until about 9:15 p.m. and just dripping sweat… but we got it done! So tonight we have a meeting and what not, but maybe we’ll start packing a few boxes to “de-clutter” our house… take down personal pictures of us, and make it look like neat freaks live there! J

Oh! And Curt and I are getting way excited about our mini vacation to Playa del Carmen… Curt bought a camera housing for our digital camera which will save us a lot of money from here on out with diving… (disposable cameras are expensive and not good quality, and renting a camera from a dive shop is ridiculously expensive, not to mention getting the CD and prints of the pics you like), so the housing will probably pay for itself in its first trip if we take a lot of great pictures! Curt also invested and bought us a couple diving knifes and scissors, which will make me feel better about diving in general… always have to have a plan and be prepared!! Here is the housing we bought…
we’re SO excited! We’re hoping to see a ton of sea turtles, and I have a feeling the cenotes will be so amazingly gorgeous… this will be just what we need before we start this new chapter of our lives!

I hope everyone is having a great day – speak soon.

xx

GRRR

I totally just wrote this huge entry that covered the weekend and everything, and it is officially lost in time... I just don't even have the energy to recreate... sorry :-(

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRR - there's a nice 20 minutes of my life wasted!

So glad it's Friday!

So this week was full of business, fun, and sometimes not so fun things like work - well I'll take that back, not that work isn't fun but it's not AS fun as hanging out at the pool or something! We had a ton of meetings this week but will have our tasks lined out very soon and get going on the report writing! I did well with working out this week and woke up early on T,W,TR so that was an accomplishment though I'm exhausted with no weekend catching up in sight, so oh well....

Curt had his first softball game this week which was a blast – they won 24-8 and really had a ton of great plays!! He's really excited about his team except for the burnt orange jersey! Don’t worry, I bought some white letters and stuck them on (then Curt ironed them) that says Gig ‘Em Aggies so it was a big hit despite the color!

This weekend we're hitting a comedy club, having a moving sale tomorrow, going to see the Da Vinci Code with some friends, and getting the house ready and other *great* chores! The ball is officially rolling!!

So leaving the office and ready for the weekend, I hope everyone else has a great one! :-)

xx

We have some news!

So... last week Curt got an offer to go work for Baker Hughes in The Woodlands, so we will be making the move to Houston! It was a really sudden happening, but he's had his feelers out for awhile though not actively pursuing. We are so excited about what this move will mean for his career, and it's for an amazing job with an awesome company that we both hold very highly... so he'll be starting there in July, and I'll be staying up here to finish up my project and coming behind him when that happens. In the meantime I'll be trying to get the house ready and keeping it clean while I'm up here so that hopefully it won't take too long to sell. So we'll see - going to be a lot happening here in the next month but it's exciting for us so it will be great! I do get *really* sad when I think about having to leave our house and the area, b/c we really have made so many wonderful friends here and it will be hard to leave this life we've built here behind...

Anyway, thought I should share the news!

We are excited about another new development, too, as a result of this - we are taking a quick vacation over the July 4th weekend! We booked a trip to Playa Del Carmen so we could scuba dive away so that Curt could have a mental break before beginning his new job, so that will be a BLAST and satisfy some of our scuba cravings. We're going to dive the Cenotes and do a night dive as well - I had just better see a turtle, though, because we didn't see ANY in the Bahamas! So we'll let you know! Here's a couple pictures of the Cenotes (not my picture - from the web)... these are like shallow caves and were formed from running water, so there are a series of them. Those of you who know me that I am a little antsy about cave diving, so this is really the best place to start as there is ALWAYS a way out to the surface which is my condition on anything in life, not just diving! :-)

So we are very excited about our upcoming adventures... we're of course pysched for the trip, and we're very proud of our spontaneous booking (though don't worry, we did our research!) and deals that we got for it... now Curt will just have to find out if he can come to Europe with me this fall!

Hope everyone is having a great day -

xx!