Joys of Cabo and Halloween!

Well I know it’s been way too long, so my apologies…

After I last wrote, we went to Cabo! Yea! We had such a great time, but it was definitely a unique trip for a few different reasons:
• First, we were there to celebrate our 2nd anniversary which was so fun
• We were also there to celebrate a friend’s wedding (Jonathan and Heather) – Jonathan was in my grad program at school and he and Heather have been together forever, so it just so happened to fall on our anniversary weekend so we said, “why not?!” as we don’t get to see them hardly ever as they now live in Georgia
• We were shooting to also make it a dive vacation (4 day trip so give us a couple days in between to dive)
• First time to stay in an all-inclusive resort so we tried to eat and drink as much higher-priced stuff as possible to get our money’s worth
• We attended a time-share presentation for 1.5 hours and then they paid us $300 in CASH
• There was a huge storm off in the Caribbean somewhere else which created the most monstrous waves EVER… I mean I’ve seen big waves, but the intensity of which these guys were pounding the shore was so incredible that I really was scared… it was so loud that you could be a 400 yards away from the beach and it sounded like thunder, clear as day… so intense, and I thought to myself, if the wrath of God had a sound, that would be it, man… whew!
• Because of the huge storm, we only got 1 dive out of our planned 6 in… bummer… but the one dive was really cool! We saw two seahorses (YEA – our first ones to see in the wild so far!), a nice sized moray eel that I spotted (YEA! I was so proud), some great fish, and a HUGE school of sardines… I mean when I say huge I mean millions. This was our first experience with so many fish at once… it was such a cool and bizarre feeling to be in the middle of all of these guys, and they’re literally forming all around you to still be clumped up, yet when you reach out to touch them you don’t touch one because they’re SO fast! They were so thick that we could look up (and I’d say we were about 30-40 feet deep so still within much sunlight distance) and it was just DARK! Wow, so fun…

So overall it was an awesome trip, but definitely very memorable because of all of the unique stuff about it… we had some great meals, great time relaxing by the pool, fun exploring the town (there was a huge fishing tournament going on, and we saw a very large marlin!), and a great time just enjoying some time away.

Then came Halloween, which most of y’all that know me know that it’s one of my favorite holidays! This year we decided to go as Shaggy, Daphne, and Maverick as Scooby! :-) We even took Maverick to the Halloween All Area YL club (as he was part of our costume) and he was a huge hit, and SO well behaved… he has been such an angel lately, it’s so wonderful! We only had *2* trick-or-treaters on the actual Halloween night, but Curt and I had carved our pumpkins that weekend, I had decorated, and we had Campaigner’s at our house so I was at least distracted by all of that fun with our YL kids and other leaders, so all in all it was an awesome Halloween despite the lack of kiddos ringing doorbells… it so stumps me because we have kids in our neighborhood, but I’m thinking that they all were taken to Market Street as we live so close?! So anyway… yea for Halloween and PUMPKINS! October is so my favorite month… sigh….

And now it is November… I’ve started a new project which requires me to commute an hour away (ugh) but it’s ok so far, and only 3 weeks left on it so it’s a pretty short one. We’re very busy and stressed currently with getting our house in Fort Worth ready to sell, so we have a double mortgage starting this month so we went up last weekend, and I’ll be going up again this weekend, but we’re feeling really positive so hopefully all will go well and the perfect person will walk into our house and fall as much in love with it as we did!

So that’s the latest… I’ll try to update again SOON!

Love,
Tasha xx

Busy Bumblebees!

So today is my last day here at my client – I’m really sad! Who knows what the future will hold with my next one, but this last year has been pretty fun, I must say!

This past weekend was really fun – we hung out with my family for dinner on Friday evening, had a 1 year old’s birthday party and a wedding on Saturday (Vicki’s younger sister Machelle), and then Sunday was the Renaissance Festival – yea!

At the birthday party, I was so jealous because Dylan leaned towards Curt to hold him and I was like, huh? LOL - it was too cute... Dylan is at a super cute age... last night at Campaigner's though Dylan chose ME! Apparently he'd been all about the ladies that day as he'd felt a little puny, but normally he prefers men... haha

Adam, Claire, Little Dylan (1 years old - yea!), Curt, Mike, Rachel (the parents).

The Dooly girls: Kelly, Vicki, Machelle's friend Megan, and James the MOH:

Now I know a lot of people don’t get why I love the Renaissance Festival so much, but I really honestly do… I just think it’s so great! I mean I've been going every year for my whole life, and there's just a special kind of magic when you have YEARS of memories like this... sigh! This time we had the whole family there (Dad is not always a given as it's not so magical to him - LOL) but he did really enjoy telling Curt about the year that I was 3 months old, and my mom was all into it, and my Dad saw rain clouds so suggested they should go, but she wanted to stay and they ended up getting stuck in the mud for HOURS all wet and cranky... OMG I was dying... they finally made it out by driving over the baby pine tree rows which are not babies anymore!! We went to plenty of shows this time, too - we had a great time at a comedy show in which I was invited on stage and was giggling like crazy!, watched my favorite, the Birds of Prey show, belly dancing, two GREAT music bands, one of which is E-Muzeki and the other is Tartanic of which I have a video…

Me and Arsene for his trick and me giggling because I had no idea what he was up to behind me but I wasn't allowed to look (but then I would, and he would get mad at me!) LOL

Me assisting him with his hat juggling - he was going so fast! I dropped a hat a couple of times, but overall everyone agreed I did a great job helping!

The Birds of Prey show... this year my best pic was of the North American Great Horned Owl... beautiful!

Other than that this week has been pretty crazy with me trying to wrap things up here at work, and getting ready for another busy weekend! Tomorrow I’ll be in CS all day for a conference that I’m speaking at, then we’ll be in Giddings/New Braunfels for a wedding and then YL on Sunday evening! Whew! I’m already so tired, maybe Curt will let me sleep in the car! LOL!

Enjoy the music from Tartanic!

Love,
Tasha xx

I think you guys will like this...

Ok - so found this link on a fellow blogger's website (thanks Aggieland Mommy! She has an awesome Aggie blog, by the way! Wow!) and thought it was really great. Basically it's 11 questions about your views on the good ol' US of A, and then based on your views it shows the presidential candidates that closest match your opinions!

I'm *very* happy to report, that although I have not been following platforms, who stands for what, etc. that I most closely match Rudy Giuliani, who is my favorite so far anyway! I truly answered honestly, without dwelling on political party, etc. and he was at the very top, and guess who was pretty close to the bottom? :-) LOL!

Anyway, go take the quiz - some of the questions really made me think and "bucket" my opinions, but thought it was pretty fun...

Also good news - Curt and I are officially registered to vote in our new county! Whoop! So we're all set for this November and *especially* next!

Check out the link to see who you share opinions with!

October... YEA!

Since I last wrote, we’ve been busy (what’s new), but it’s been with fun things so yea for that! Last weekend was crazy – Friday I was out in the heat all day for a charity golf tournament for my client, and it was just non stop from 6:00 a.m. until 5 p.m., and then Friday night was the high school homecoming where we went to see Chelsea as she was on the Homecoming Court! Saturday was equally as nuts – we woke up at 6 a.m., were picked up by Heidi by 7 a.m. to head up to College Station to see Chelsea play in her tennis matches (she won!), and then off to the Aggie game! I was so exhausted at the game that in the third quarter I actually did a head bob b/c I started to nod off! WHAT?! I slapped myself around and quickly got back into it… the halftime show was GREAT though – Baylor did Thriller and actually started doing the dance and it was so fantastic – other than our Fightin’ Texas Aggie Band performances, this is the best one I’ve ever seen! So good… then after the game we went to Tom and Carolyn’s for some water and cheese and to visit for a bit, then drove home to *rush* to get ready for dinner with Vicki and Paul at a great Thai restaurant in The Woodlands! We loved our chicken curry, but unfortunately Curt was down for the count for the rest of the evening – I guess those spices didn’t mix well with his meat and potatoes tummy… (LOL)! Sunday I slept for what seemed like forever, and we took it easy for a bit and did some chores, then drove out to Kendyl’s new house! Yea! We had fun moving her in some, and will go again this weekend I’m sure, too!

This week has been eventful as well, and mostly stressful as a bunch of stuff has happened – sigh! First, we found out our renter decided not to buy our house, which is totally fine, but adds ENORMOUS stress to us! I’m so at the end of my rope about it that this is all I’m going to say about it… ugh. Then I found out my project here at my client is going to stop for the moment for various reasons, which are also understandable but now I have my next project to worry about. So two major things, and then other stuff as well that just showed me that this week was just not my week, but Curt and I will keep the faith and just keep moving forward and hope for the best as most of it is out of our control. Send any prayers our way, people! We thought we had a lot on our plate before, but oh no, we didn’t, so let’s just hope this is it for awhile.

This weekend, we have Dylan’s first birthday party, Machelle’s wedding, Kendyl’s house, a potential visit from Andrew, taking the boat out (I am insisting!), and a car inspection – LOL! Should be fun… Oh! And we'll probably conclude Harry Potter 1 - moving right along!!

Last night, though – a Halloween Phantom came to our house! It was so fun… Curt and I are sitting down to eat and watching Grey’s, and the doorbell rings, Mav goes crazy, we go to the front door and no one is there, but a bunch of Halloween stuff is with a note from the Halloween Phantom! So tonight I have to go shopping to participate which should be fun, but there was a light up pumpkin included in our goodies, and we thought it would be interesting to see what Maverick thought about it, so here’s the video… he’s so unsure, and keeps looking at Curt for reassurance! Too cute…

Here is Maverick and the Great Pumpkin!




Hope everyone has had a great start to their October – my favorite month! We’ll hopefully buy some pumpkins tonight… Muah-ah-ah-ah-AH!

Tasha xx

How can September be almost over??

So it’s been awhile, but honestly, I don’t know how September has flown by so quickly!

To start from where I left off…

The weekend of the 7th Curt, Mom, and myself headed up to Fort Worth for Matt & Lauren’s wedding, and we had a ton of fun! Curt had to be in Mesquite that day for work, so Mom and drove up later so we had some good girl chatting time, and it was a gorgeous day, so it was really relaxing… the sun was even shining in such a way that just said that Fall was here, which makes me so happy! The wedding itself was really nice, though the reception was outdoors, and it was SO hot, and none of us really dressed for an outdoor shindig, so we were feeling the sweat (and not just a glow, but SWEAT)! We had a great time dancing though, and I LOVE this shot of Curt dancing/dipping Claire - too funny!!

Then the next Saturday, we met with our renter who has expressed interest in buying our house, so we’re still discussing this with him (so cross your fingers!) but it was a good visit, and then we had to high tail it out of there as the Aggies were playing at 2:30 p.m.!

The game was great, although it was ridiculously hot!!! I mean sweltering is probably a better word… we won, thank goodness, after three intense overtimes! What is even MORE fun is that we apparently were on TV! Sylvia called and left me a message saying that she saw me, Kendyl, and Curt screaming our heads off in the third overtime, and then I guess when we won, and they kept replaying it! She said she got to show her mom and Patrick even, and she was so excited, and of course we were THRILLED! We're FAMOUS!! It was also cool b/c in the last bit we got some cloud cover, there was a brilliant rainbow in the distance that was simply *framing* Kyle field, and then as soon as the buzzer sounded announcing our victory, the heavens opened up and it started to pour rain! LOL... Curt and I jogged back to our car, but kind of pointless really as we were soaked! Good thing we had bags packed from our night in Fort Worth, so we changed right there in front of people's houses (and I almost gave some guys a show - yikes!) and headed out relatively dry, considering! I think if I remember correctly we relaxed for the rest of the evening. I can’t remember what we did Sunday, although Sunday evening we had a YL Leader’s dinner which was so fun!

The next week went by really quickly as I had a National Practice Meeting up in Dallas, so that was definitely something out of the ordinary! It was so great to meet people that I’d emailed with over these last 3 years, but just hadn’t met yet, and also to see my work friends that I never see b/c I’m never in the office! Lots of great food, chatting with people about what I’ve been doing for the last year here at my client, great drinks, and by the end of it Thursday I was literally SO exhausted that I felt physically sick – it was so weird!

Friday was the moment of truth for Curt – he had his wisdom teeth surgically removed, as well as a cyst in his gums (they did a biopsy, all is ok!), so that was Friday morning and pretty much took up the whole of the morning and early afternoon, and let me tell you – Curt and Pain mixed together make for a cranky, unhappy camper! As Bill Fisher (our YL area director in Fort Worth) would say, he was as mean as a SNAKE (this is said with love) after the meds started wearing off and he was feeling the pain, and he really was in no mood to listen to what I had to say at all, even if the doctor had ordered certain things… so I know this for the future! Later his mom and Don came and brought us dinner (really for the 3 of us as Curt couldn’t eat solids), but were there mostly to take care of him and see how he was so that was really nice of them. Thankfully after they left he was nicer to me and from that point on I was sure to make sure he didn’t have any downtime between the pain meds, so we managed the rest of the experience ok – haha!

As a result of the surgery, our weekend was pretty low key… we did venture out Saturday evening to attend the Aggie game as Curt was feeling pretty decent and the weather was unseasonably cool so the game was PERFECT, AND our friends Sylvia and Patrick were there, so we got to tailgate with them, and then I had them come sit by us after some season ticket holders didn’t show up! It was so much fun! Sunday we went to a new church with Chelsea and Mikey (two YL girls, and sisters!) and had a nice relaxing day.

Then the next week was a regular week full of YL, working out, Curt recovering, work of course, and then the weekend again!

So this past weekend was again low key as there was no Aggie game (we played on Thursday and lost, and in efforts to keep this a happy post that’s all we’re going to say about that)! On Friday night we went to the College Park/Kingwood game in Kingwood, and had fun with our kids - you can see in the picture that they are very school-spirited! Haha... we had a lot of fun, and I even got two blue pom-poms! I was really excited about this, and no wise cracks about cheerleader ANYTHING! We also spent time relaxing, lounged by our pool, Curt worked on his computer a lot, I read books, and then Sunday spent most of the day with the Espegren’s as I was helping Chelsea make her garter for Homecoming (this week) and then we had girl’s Bible study afterwards. Chelsea is even on the Homecoming Court so it would be so fun if she gets Queen!

Friday I'm manning a charity golf tournament all day, then in the evening we’re going to the game on Friday, so that should be great! Saturday is busy with a tennis match, tailgating, the game, Tom and Carolyn visiting, and then for dinner we will hopefully go out with Paul and Vicki! Sunday will hopefully be a day of rest – as it was meant to be… :-)!

So… this is the last week of September, which I will say again is quite insane. Next up is my *favorite* month, October!! I’m very excited as Curt and I will be celebrating our anniversary down in Cabo and also celebrating the wedding of two sets of friends – Jonathan and Heather (who are getting married in Cabo, not a coincidence that we will be there) and Claire and Adam who will be getting married in Beaumont.

Other news on the Fall front… The Bachelor has started and I am so thrilled! I’ve posted Lincee’s link on my favorite blogs list, so check it out if you haven’t already because it is just as great as watching the show. I was telling Vicki earlier that I feel like I should be “over” this show as I have been a faithful watcher since the very beginning OH-so-many seasons ago in college, but I just still love it so much, and I’m not sorry about it! And all of my other favorite shows are starting too – yippee! There is nothing like the fall… all of my favorite things!

Sorry again for the long overdue post, and sorry also that it was so high-level… I’ll try to do better!

Love,
Tasha xx

I'm in a contest to win a template!

I know I'm overdue for a post - I'm so sorry! I have been working on my post forever, and am trying to finish soon so stay tuned... in the meantime I'm in a contest so that's what this link is all about!

Love,
Tasha xx

What a Great Weekend!

Here’s a nutshell version of Labor Day weekend, but it was great! I kept telling Curt over and over that it is so rare that we have a 3 day weekend at home, and it was so nice!

We started off on Friday by taking a walk in the rain when we got home, though it was a colder summer rain so we didn’t go too far… then we showered up and got ready and went out to our favorite Irish pub for drinks and dinner… yum, so good! Then we went on a walk on the waterway for a bit, came home, and watched a good Netflix – perfect date night!

Saturday we woke up, put the finishing touches on the arbor, cleaned up some, ran a couple errands, then got ready for the first Aggie Football Game of the season – WHOOP! Mom, and Kendyl came to get us around 1ish, then we went and got Mam, and then went a roundabout way to take a look at a property my parents are looking at in Anderson, and then hit the road to good ol’ College Station… interesting trivia on Anderson, Texas – did you know that the old courthouse there was the site of a trial with one of Bonnie and Clyde’s accomplices? So cool, huh? Then on our way we talked some about Bonnie and Clyde, and how Kendyl drives by the place of the infamous shootout all the time when she’s on her way to the field… wow!

So we got to College Station, and the excitement was definitely in the air! And my tummy was a grumbling, so we made our way over to Mi Cocina and had a *delicious* Mexican feast – I pretty much inhaled a small thing of guacamole before we got our meal – it was so fresh and yummy… sigh! Then Curt and I walked over to the game so we could stop by the Hluza’s tailgate – we chatted with Mike and everyone, and then made our way in as to not miss the flyover! I’m including a video I took of it – they had their afterburners on so they were SO loud that I cowered down (and I knew they were coming so that was funny – haha)! As the game was a 6 p.m. game (versus Montana State) we were already in the shade, and the weather was surprisingly gorgeous, *perfect* football game weather! It wasn’t hot to me at all; there was a substantial, cool breeze, and beautiful sunshine that made the field gold… I could inhale Aggie football I love it so much… we had some laughs too as there was this little girl sitting behind us that became very enamored by us, and wasn't afraid to get right up next to us - we had Reveille play on our shoulders, hot little breath on our necks when I had my blue snocone, and she was so cute so I took a picture! LOL... We ended up winning by a lot, which I don’t like as much because it makes me feel bad for the other team, especially when they’ve come so far, but it was a fun game and good times… I just hope our defense improves or else we’ll have a difficult season! Our offense could also work on their passing game… or play calling as Curt was complaining about this the entire time – haha…














Here is the flyover video:


Sunday we woke up early and went to church – we’re still church shopping so we tried a new one this Sunday, and enjoyed ourselves. We then went to breakfast after and enjoyed some delicious breakfast tacos (and Curt a lovely coffee that almost made me decide that I LIKE coffee, which I don’t, but it had caramel and whip cream, and it was kinda good…). We then hurried home so we could begin our crazy day of cleaning in preparation for our fun party! We literally worked so hard up until 30 minutes before – Curt in the yard, garage, and on the pool, and myself on the inside – picking up, cooking, washing windows, etc… we literally deep cleaned our house from top to bottom, and it is probably the cleanest our house has been since we moved in, which is *exactly* why we like having people over so much – it forces us to make our house presentable! We were also very proud of the finished wisteria arbor, and the painted patio furniture, so all perfect for our party… Then at about 5:30 people started showing up – we ended up having Heidi, Bill, Heather, Danny, Sonora (baby), Rachel, Mike, Dylan (baby), Patrick, Sylvia, Manny, Amber, and David come over which was a perfect size party! We had delicious steaks, hot dogs, queso, salad, desserts, and lots more and everyone enjoyed just chilling out. The YL couples and babies all left around 9ish to get the little ones to bed, so then Amber, Sylvia and I enjoyed “girl time” while the guys all went to play washers in the front yard… they left at about 1 a.m. and after a GREAT night, we collapsed into bed ready for a proper lie in for the next day – woohoo thank goodness for 3 day weekends!

Monday morning we slept in, had cinnamon rolls (traditional in my family that I have deviated from but was in the mood for) and watched a TV movie that Curt loved from way back, and then got ready to take the boat out! We got out to the lake by lunchtime (we packed hot dogs) and went to our cove, which was *empty!* I don’t know if people were worried that because of the holiday, the lake would be packed, or if they were worried about impending weather, but there were literally just 3 boats sharing the cove with us where there are normally at least 10-12 or so… the water was relatively smooth as a result, so we both had great wakeskating days, had HOT hot dogs as they “baked” in the sun while we were having fun which totally hit the spot after working so hard, and then the storm clouds rolled in around 3:45 p.m. so we SPED back across the lake to beat the rain… it was so cool being out there with those big huge clouds… the way the light was made the water look like liquid mercury… so eerie and beautiful! We made it in just in time as it started to sprinkle, and had a relaxing night with leftovers from the party, and a movie from our collection….

So back to work, but hey, at least it’s a short week, right?

This weekend we’re heading up to DFW for a wedding and then to meet with our renter – cross your fingers that we work something out with him! Then we’ll be hightailing it back to CS for another great Aggie game… and that only takes us to Saturday so it will be a busy one!!

Love,
Tasha xx

Happy Labor Day!

Gotta Love holiday weekends!

Well it’s early Friday morning and wanted to post before the big Labor Day weekend starts! Today is work as usual, but from home which is nice, getting ready for our party, tomorrow is the Aggie game (whoop!) which is going to be a GREAT kickoff to the season, Sunday which is when we’re having a small get together, then Monday which will most likely be boat day if the weather is nice!

On Wednesday after work I went over to visit Fred, Elizabeth, and Mary Charlotte! It was so great seeing them and their new family… she is beautiful, and Fred and Elizabeth are so excited (of course) so it was fun getting to see their new family unit. I didn’t stay too long so they could get on with their evening but I can’t wait to spend more time with them as Charlotte starts growing!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!


Tasha xx

How can it be Fall already??

Fall is officially here…

And I’m kinda glad, actually. As much fun as summer was, I’m looking forward to putting this one behind me and moving on to football season, getting back into YL, my fave TV shows, and everything that comes with my favorite season…

Before I begin catching everyone up, I just wanted to say a heartfelt *Congratulations* to new parents, Elizabeth and Fred, for their new addition, Mary Charlotte who arrive last night at 10:02 p.m.! From Elizabeth’s text, it seems as if they are going to call her Charlotte or Charlee, which I think is so adorable, so now I just can’t wait until I can see pictures or her in person! I bet Elizabeth (& Fred) are both exhausted, but oh so excited… so cool.

As for me, things have been kinda busy, but not out of hand which is nice. Since I last wrote, Curt and I had a great time one night at the Astros game - it was the intern's night for his company so a great time (and deal, too)!


Maverick also turned 5! Happy Birthday, Maverick! Here is a pic of him playing with his "birthday buddy" that Mom so thoughtfully bought for him... too cute! She also bought him a squirrel, so we usually catch him with one or the other at all times now! haha....


This past weekend we went up to Curt’s grandparents place in Ledbetter, for a party for his cousin who is leaving off to college this week in Wisconsin! It was great to spend time with his grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins, and of course his Mom and Don, and Courtney. Courtney shocked us when she got there – she died her hair brown! Like, the color of mine or slightly darker! It looks REALLY great, but such a big change! We had taken Maverick as we knew we’d be gone all day, so he had fun meeting a bull calf that weighed as much as he did… at first they were a little weary of each other, and the calf was jumping and bucking, but eventually the calf’s curiosity won out, and when Maverick laid down (uninterested) the calf tried to suckle on his belly – it was too funny! Then Curt showed me how to make a fist and feel the calf suckling which was SUCH a strange feeling but really fun, too… Afterwards we headed out to see CP & Judy at the ranch, and wow that place is just so beautiful. I cried on the long driveway in when I started thinking about Savannah, and went up to visit her later, but the grass is tall and all grown over, and Judy even mentioned that she had wanted to put a tree up there for a long time… it would make that hill so pretty!

So that was really fun… another great thing from last week is that I got my bike – FINALLY! Yea! Now I can ride along the bikepaths on my pretty red bike (still thinking of her name), and I think this evening Curt and I are going to try and take a break from arbor building and painting to catch some dinner at Market Street… so fun! And yes, you heard me correctly, we are finally also building the arbor and painting the patio furniture! Both are big projects, but we have an end goal of this Sunday to get them both finished before we have our Labor Day party on Sunday… should be fun!

Will write more later, but bye for now!

Tasha xx

Maverick having fun outside ("I'm a hound dog!")

Just the latest...

Well, another weekend slipped through my fingers and it’s Monday once again!

Last week went by fast, which was great, and this weekend was a perfect marriage of productivity, entertainment & fun, and rest & relaxation!

Friday night I headed off of work early so that I could be home by 5 p.m. so we could get on the road to see Curt’s mom and sister who are about 55 miles away or so, and in rush hour traffic this turned out to be 1.5+ hour trek for us! Yikes! Once we got there we visited with Curt’s mom who had knee surgery earlier that day, then went out to Pappasito’s with Courtney and her guy friend, Jeff, to have a drink and order take out for the family. The ended up losing our order, so we ended up just chatting and drinking for an hour or so, which was great, and then went home and had a really late dinner, but it was so yummy! We got home around 11:30ish or so, and crashed!

Saturday morning was full of productive errands: Garden Ridge to get the cash for the gift certificates I couldn’t use, Lowe’s to get mold battling supplies, Kohl’s to trade Curt’s two LEFT shoes for one of each – LOL!, to the hospital to visit a coworker and his wife as they just had their baby, Hobby Lobby with the portrait and painting to pick out frames, and Potbelly for lunch – whew! Hobby Lobby was a lot of fun, and we were SO lucky because their frames were half off this weekend, so instead of paying $1000 for only two frames, one with a mat, it will only end up to be about $600 or so (higher b/c the Italy painting has to have TWO frames, one on the underside to stretch on, etc. and this costs extra in labor, too! But I am excited to have these two things finished so they may display on our wall instead of being hidden away… so anyone who comes over at the end of August will be able to see our two new additions!! Let’s see – then we went home to tackle the mold, which was really smelly as we used all bleach (don’t worry, I made us wear fume face masks, which were SO HARD to breathe in, but instead of taking 2 seconds to get woozy, we were only getting woozy there at the end when we were finishing up… so killed all the mold, and Curt sawed into our sheetrock to ensure it was not coming from the INSIDE, which thankfully it doesn’t seem to be, so we’re thinking that because we hung our towels up on the door, combined with shower steam and no separate air vent for the tiny toilet room, that this must have been it… So did that, and then Kendyl came over and we all went swimming to get the yucky bleach smell out of our nostrils for good! While Kendyl and I played with the torpedo, and other *classic* pool games, Curt floated and then started working on the pool lights, which of course Kendyl got interested in so then I read… then she had to run, and Curt and I got cleaned up, had some dinner, put in a Netflix, and relaxed before our big night of Blue October! Sam, our YL friend, came over too as he said he would join us for the concert, so we were happy to have the company! We finished our movie (The Libertine – was 4 out of 5 stars in my book), then at about 9 p.m. we headed out to the horse track to see Blue October, my favorite band when I was in college!

We had an issue at the gate, that thankfully got resolved, but in a nutshell, we had these two free coupons for concert tickets at the park from participating in the MS150 that I’ve just been sitting on waiting for the *perfect* concert, and so I called the box office several times over the last few weeks, and then twice this past week, making sure there were still enough tickets left, did I have to go in advance to trade them in to be able to get in, etc, etc. So we get there, and of course they have no idea what I’m talking about, and this girl was trying to tell me that it’s just free admission into the PARK, not the CONCERT, which was great as NOWHERE on the coupon does it say, free admission ONLY TO THE PARK, and ON the coupon it had Verizon Wireless Concert Series with the dates, etc! I recap for her my numerous box office conversations, show her the coupon, and then I ask politely if she can please call a superior to discuss this with, so she gets on her cell phone and calls this other girl, and I kid you not, here is what she said, “yeah hi, I have this lady here who has a coupon to get into the park, but is trying to say it should be free for the concert, too, yeah, ok bye.” Then to me, “she said no.” I then said, “you didn’t even tell her the whole story! Can you please call her back, and this time let me speak with her?” To which she grudgingly did, then I had my chance to tell this girl what the coupon said, what had been communicated to me at the box office, etc. and so she said she would let us in. Ugh! Anyway, so that was successful but such a chore – I mean I didn’t ride 150 miles to go gamble on horses, people – what kind of “prize” is that? They obviously intended the *CONCERT!* Ok, off my soapbox there…

So anyway, after that brief instance, the rest of the night was GREAT! It was a fantastic concert – they played a few of their songs that I loved from college, including HRSA which is my all time Blue October song (just LOVE the violin!) and a lot of new great songs, as well. We also had some extra entertainment as this woman, who seriously had to be late 60’s, early 70’s was rockin’ out! I mean, hands in the air, dancing WAY offbeat, holding up a lighter occasionally, and just bopping along… it was hysterical, omg. She even had her hair all hair-sprayed and in a top bun (as a normal grandma would), but then with a black heavy metal t-shirt with the middle finger as the main image, with high water, high wasted jeans and white tennies – too funny. Sam enjoyed it, too (he had never heard them) so that was good, too. So the night was just great, and then we headed home. When we got home, Curt played their new song for me – "Congratulations," a duet with a woman, and it’s SO good… Take a listen on their myspace or online.

Sunday was a semi-lazy day… we slept in from our late evening (we had planned to go to church, but when the alarm went off neither of us could muster the strength – ugh, I hate that!), decided to make homemade waffles, then lounged around, got Cottonwood from Kendyl (we have her for another week), then took the boat out for a few hours. The lake was ROUGH so wasn’t the most enjoyable days we’ve had, but still fun and lots of laughs (specifically Curt in the middle of these huge waves after he’s just “coached” me on how to maneuver them – LOL), then headed in so I could make a lovely lasagna meal complete with wine and bread – was perfect! We also watched another movie, and then climbed into bed at a decent hour so that I could get up early to workout, which I did – yea!

As for this week – we’re going to try and run tonight and swim in the pool, then sometime this week take the boat out, and tomorrow we have National Night Out tomorrow evening which should be fun, and we’ll go from there!

Hope all is well with everyone!

Love,
Tasha xx

Like water off a duck's back...

This week has been a mixed bag of great moments and not so great ones, too, but I think things are on the up and up so I’m just going to forget about it and be ready for the month of August!

The week started out on a low note with a few things going wrong - here it is in a nutshell but if you want to know more than be ready for an earful! We were watching Cottonwood of course, and Curt was gone Monday and Tuesday so had some accidents to clean up on my own, had to rush home from work to try and beat her bladder (unsuccessful both times), and found a bike that I LOVED that was mine, but got sold out from underneath me as a result of a miscommunication, huge bummer… then tried to go to Garden Ridge to get my wedding portrait framed with the gift certificates Mom, Dad, and Kendyl gave me, but turns out Garden Ridge got rid of their framing department… I hit my foot REALLY hard on one of the barricades made for Cottonwood too that has left me still limping two days later, and I mean just a bunch of stuff literally back to back that kept making me sigh, rage, cry, all of the above. LOL – no, just kidding, wasn’t so dramatic but definitely had a few “are you kidding me” moments as they just kept coming!

Anyway, yesterday I vowed that the rest of the week and even all of August was going to be different – so far so good! Last night I had a great evening with a few coworkers, and also Elizabeth and Fred! Curt and I had planned on dinner with them, and when my coworkers found out we were going to Ninfa’s at 6ish they decided we should all go early to have an impromptu Happy Hour, so we did, and then a few left for a movie around the time Elizabeth and Fred got there, and then Curt arrived, so we just had fun mingling and chatting about things. We had a great meal and margaritas (but not Elizabeth of course on the margaritas, though she said she will have one as soon as she can after the baby is born – she can do that if she times it right, pumps in advance, stuff like that, so it’s ok – sorry if that was an overshare for some, but hey, Elizabeth misses her margaritas and understandably so!). Anyway, we had a great time, and it was so great to see them as it had been way too long! When we got home Curt and I popped in a scary movie, but we were so tired we didn’t make it all the way through – but was a perfect night!

Tonight if it’s not raining we’re going to take the boat out for a spin – Kendyl may join us so we’ll see – and then tomorrow we’re going to go and spend time with Curt’s mom and sister, so that should be a blast as we haven’t been down there in awhile, too! We’re also going to a Blue October concert on Saturday if the weather cooperates, probably take the boat out if again, the weather cooperates, and oh, work on some mold in our bathroom – EWWW! I noticed the other day what looked like mold while Curt was gone, and sure enough it is! Let’s just hope it’s not serious like a leak or something, but that’s definitely on the list for this weekend, too, so we’ll probably do some major cleaning while we’re at it… Oh, and also have our haircuts scheduled, AND I’ve been dying for a pedicure so hopefully I’ll get that in, too! Haha…

Anyway, that’s about it – nothing really exciting except for Elizabeth’s belly! Yea – she only has two more weeks until her due date!! Doesn't she look great?

Enjoying summer...

Since I last wrote, things have been busy, and yet we’ve been enjoying the slow pace of things and really making an effort not to have our schedules jam-packed as usual!

Last week was same ol’ same ol’ with work – Curt made it back from Louisiana ok, heading out to California today but will be back tomorrow, so work stuff is going fine.

We took the boat out on Thursday evening and had a great time, then Friday we went to dinner with Vinny & Yvonne, walked around Market Street, and went to the store and watched TV and just relaxed, was great!

Saturday morning we took my dad out on the boat as he hadn’t had the chance to join us yet, so we had a great time hanging out with him, and though he didn’t get up on the skate or board, he really did a GREAT job b/c it is hard when you do these things at first! We had to drop him off around 11ish or so as he had a flight to Holland to catch, and we stayed out for a couple more hours as the sun was shining and we were doing great out there. For the rest of the day we cleaned the house, and then had a friend over for dinner on Friday which was great – yummy steak dinner (by Curt), salad (by Chelsea), and Old Fashioned Cola Cake made by yours truly, and watched The Illusionist in the media room, so that was fun, too!

Sunday I slept in (from Thursday and then Saturday, we were both sore!) and tended to Cottonwood (everyone is out of town – Dad in Holland, Mom in WV, Ken in East Texas on business, etc) and the mess she made (she’s been sick – very sad), then went out to work on our backyard which, with the rain, has just gotten out of hand! We can’t keep up with how fast everything is growing!! So that was exhausting, and then I went to Chelsea’s for a party, and then we had Domino’s and watched a movie…

So the theme for the weekend was try and get stuff done that needs to get done, but try and relax a lot in between which worked pretty well! My “slower life summer” is going as planned and I’m really proud of us for sticking with it!

Oh – and here’s a “It’s the Little Things” segment:

I bought a new hairdryer this weekend and I love it! It’s a Remington, and blows my hair dry in like less than 3 minutes – so incredible! I also picked a bouquet of wildflowers that had been growing in my backyard as WEEDS and they are just what summer is all about… sigh!

DC, Harry Potter, Boating - More Summer Fun!

Hey everyone!

I left off just having arrived in DC, and I had a great time! The work I was there for went great, and in our spare time in the evenings I got a chance to wander around downtown DC and do a little sightseeing! I’ve been there a ton before, but it’s been SO long since I’ve actually had the chance to walk around and take in the sights – and I love this city! Wednesday evening Andrew (coworker) and I went to dinner close to the hotel, and had a delicious Italian meal – I had lasagna that rivaled my great-grandmother’s – yum! Then chatted with Curt, and read some Harry Potter book 6, and then hit the sack. Did the work thing the next day, enjoyed seeing the people out of the Arlington office and hanging out with them, and then that evening Andrew wanted to go to his favorite restaurant there (another Italian place – geez! LOL, he tricked me!) so we walked probably a good 5 miles around the city, going around the white house, to the memorials and the monument, etc. ending up at DuPont Square to go to La Tomate. The weather was absolutely amazing – like 80 degrees and what every Texan envisions summer should be like – sigh! At the National Monument, they had a ton of adult-type intramural sports games going on, including KICKBALL!! I explained this sport to Andrew (as he’s British) and it was so fun to hang out, watch adults play kickball, softball, and all in the shadow of the setting sun and the towering National Monument – ugh – so cool! It seemed like the whole city was buzzing with laid back summer activity; I bet DC would be a fabulous place to live and work… so we made it to dinner many steps later, and it was great! A meal of Ravioli, lemon drop martinis, and a lovely crème brulee later, it was time to take the metro back, and oh was I tired! Talked to Curt again, read some Harry Potter, and to sleep I went, with Friday being the day I would get to see my grandparents and uncle!

Friday went well with work again, and then headed out in the early afternoon to take the metro to meet my uncle who was going to pick me up and take me to my grandpa. Turns out he had a meeting with the State’s Attorney, so he met me there, but then his friend (also a cop) took me to meet Grandpa, but not before I got a tour of my uncle’s office! It was really neat and weird to see the different departments – homicide (his), sexual assault, robbery, etc. Then he showed me his office, where he had a bulletin board of people’s faces and how they were connected, with important information – I noted that they were all younger than my little sister, and he said yeah, they start young and those people were responsible for about 8-10 murders in the area, but they just had to keep building a case in order to put them away. It was really strange because in just a picture of their faces, they looked to be nice looking kids, but I guess not so nice. The other really surreal thing was I saw a schedule type board that said At Bat, On Deck, and Next On Deck or something like that – I thought it was just for shifts so pointed it out, but Tony said it kind of is, but really it’s more for who gets the next murder. It struck me I guess because murder is on a schedule, they know it’s going to occur, and the next case that person has it will be because someone has killed someone. It was heavy stuff, I tell you… made me sad. Somewhere out there someone is walking with limited time, and someone’s family will be devastated, and that At Bat cop will be busy with work trying to build a case, and then they go through the “schedule” all over again… sigh.

Anyway, had a GREAT time with my family – hung out with my grandparents, went out to dinner with them and my uncle and his girlfriend, and just had a great time!! For dinner we went to a seafood restaurant where I had Imperial Crab, and Cream of Crab soup – I can’t tell you how ready I was for some great crab!! YUM! That evening we watched one of my Netflix movies, and then in the morning we just hung out until it was time for Grandpa to take me to the airport. We ate a nice relaxed lunch once we got there, and then I headed out on the plane for home! It was a really quick trip, but it was so fun and relaxing to hang out, and I loved it!

The Harry Potter book had come out the previous night, so I finished book 6 Saturday morning, ready to get my reserved copy when I got off the plane, but it was so torturous because the girl across the aisle from me already had her copy! It was all I could do to keep myself from glancing over and looking at the chapter titles – grr! She was about 2/3 the way through, so I asked how it was and of course she said great… it was going to be a long plane ride – especially since the girl sitting directly next to me was a trip in her own rite… ugh.

Anyway, so got home, we went to Borders and I happily picked up my copy, and Curt had to finish some work on the boat so I got a good 4 hours of reading in and got about halfway through… and oh my gosh, SO GOOD! I took a break for us to eat a late dinner, and then I choked on my chicken finger! I mean, real choke, reminiscent of what happened freshman year. I stood up choking, motioned to Curt who quickly got up, and I was just sucking so hard for air – what a nightmare it is to feel this kind of stress. After a few breaths I quickly threw up all over our bar, and we headed to the bathroom where for the next hour or so he had to sit with me while my body was recovering. I was SO BUMMED too because we were all ready to go out dancing, but just wasn’t meant to be so we watched a movie instead in between my interruptions. Ugh… at least I didn’t die, though! So thank heaven for that…

Sunday morning I read more Harry Potter for about 45 minutes in bed, then we took the boat out with a couple of friends (a loose potential match making session) and had a GREAT time wakeskating, wakeboarding, and our friend did the slalom ski (looks hard)! Curt finally nailed his 360 and we all were cheering, and I tried wakeboarding for the first time, which is much easier than wakeskating, so we had a great day! Curt and I both got sunburned, so we need to be more proactive next time with the sunscreen, but other than that, it was awesome – still a little sore though b/c my endurance was great, but I feel it at the moment!

Curt’s been in Louisiana since Sunday night, he gets home tonight so I’m excited about that… I dropped him off to drive with a coworker Sunday night, went and had dinner at my folks’ place and hung out with them, and then snuggled up to read the last of the Harry Potter book – had 200 pages left, and finished in about 1.5 hours, just in time for bed. I laughed, I cried, and it was fantastic, so now just really sad that that is the end of it. Curt and I are going to go through all of the books from the beginning starting in September, because Fall and Harry Potter are synonymous to me, so I can’t wait as Curt hasn’t read past book 2, I think! Yea!

Tonight I am going to dinner with my Young Life girls which I’m so excited about, and we may take the boat out tomorrow night if we can get off work at decent times to get an hour or so in before dark… I’m sure Curt will attempt his 360 again, so I’ll try to get a video of him if possible!

I miss Kendyl – she’s on business for one more week….then when she gets back we’re going to go house hunting (just to look, and maybe act if there’s something good out there)!! Did get some GREAT news this morning though – our netflix membership is getting *cheaper* AND we get 17 hours of on demand movies per month – how cool is that?!

Enjoy the video - haha... we got a new boat tower so the music is awesome! I noticed that on the site it doesn't look like I have a bathing suit on, but I promise I do -it's just pink! LOL And notice I'm just a beginner, and I'm ok with this - I'm getting better all the time!



Hope everyone is well!

Love,
Tasha xx

Miscellaneous Business

I know it has been awhile, but things have been pretty hectic AND I got sick again, so my apologies!

Here is what has been going on since my birthday post:

That night, Mom, Curt and myself went to see Harry Potter as the movie was released that day and it was SO great! I loved it! Then we celebrated AGAIN on the weekend by all of us minus Dad (he was still out of the country) going to the museum to see the Frogs exhibit and then the Deep Sea 3D Imax movie! I was sick and my neck was huge b/c of my swollen glands, but it was a really fun day and the frogs were so cool! My favorites were the poison dart frogs – their colors are truly amazing and they are so small! The Imax movie was also really cool with being 3D – they have really improved this kind of technology because they had jellyfish, squid, and turtles (and more) all coming out to play… haha! We then went to Marco’s (YUM) for dinner, and then Mom, Curt and I watched Roman Holiday and it was all happy times…

Thursday, Curt and I got off work as normal, but hurried, and took the boat out just the two of us for a nice evening of wakeskating and cruising. It was a really nice night and the water was so smooth as many people don’t go out so late and during the week, but we got an hour or so in before it got too dark, and we really had a great time, though we ended up tearing ourselves up a bit! I took two hard falls in the beginning that TOTALLY rattled my brain as I fell in the water on my head (I was a little rusty and was not letting go of the rope as I was falling – ugh!) so that *REALLY* hurt, and then as I was falling another time my knee skidded the skate so I had a nice skate rash all over my knee and leg… Curt also pulled a muscle or strained one in his arm, so we went home a couple of gimps! Later that evening my sore throat set in, and I felt SURE it was because of my two falls that set my head/ear fluid/everything out of whack!

Then Friday Kendyl got her Harley! It is white, and I will post pictures when I get back into town and on my other laptop, but she looks pretty sharp on it! The night she got it she and Mom rode their Harley’s up to see Mam and they had a good time… Kendyl has wanted one for a long time so check that one off the list! Next time you see her ask her how many pairs of boots she bought to “match” her bike and her many outfits… I love her – LOL!

Then on Sunday Dad was getting in at 7:30 p.m. or so, so because Kendyl and Dad had been out of town earlier, and I still hadn’t had an all together get together, we went out to the Cheesecake factory for dessert, did presents, sang and the whole bit, so that was awesome, too! So it was really a different kind of birthday with a bunch of activities that only a few people at a time were a part of, but I guess that’s how it goes when your birthday falls on hump day? It seems like my birthday has fallen on a weekday FOREVER now!

Tuesday was Mom’s Birthday and we went to Fogo de Chao which is a churrascaria much like Texas de Brazil so I was in heaven! I actually didn’t eat myself silly so that was good, but oh what a carnivore’s paradise! We had a great time, and I got a massage for Mom so hopefully I’ll get to go with her when she goes – I love massages!!

Wednesday I flew to DC for work, so am here now, and tomorrow I’m going to see my Grandpa, Grandma, and Uncle who are up here in this area – so fun! I’m staying the night with them then heading home Saturday, so a really quick trip but you take what you can get, right? Anyway, heading off soon so gotta wrap it up. I have a few pics that I want to post and will when I get home. I got a new laptop though (against my wishes) from work and all of my programs are wiped, so I’m going to have to spend some time getting it back to normal… ugh! The laptop is nice and all, but I had a great system, and had everything like I wanted it!!

Oh, and REALLY excited about the new Harry Potter book - will be reading it this weekend so please no one spoil it for me, ok?? I started book 6 yesterday to make sure I'm all fresh and ready to go, and am about half way through so with the plane ride back I should finish it. I was kind of bummed b/c I'm missing the release party at Borders on Friday night, but they'll hold my reserved copy til Saturday evening so you know the first place we'll be going when Curt grabs me from the airport!

Anyway, until next time!

Love,
Tasha xx

More candles, please...

You gotta love birthdays...

My morning started out perfectly - the alarm went off and instantly started playing my summer theme song, "Nothing Left to Lose" by Mat Kearney, had a great lunch and wonderful tres leches cake for lunch with my coworkers, avoided being t-boned by a crazy bmw that ran a red light - hello? Thanks to Corbitt driving like a grandma we hadn't started going yet and this guy hit he truck that was on our right, but had we been there it would have been an entire lane LESS and surely would have hit us much harder… oh and by the way, it was a hit and run, he ended up hitting the truck lightly, but kept going, and the truck didn’t bother to chase him?! Crazy… Anyway, oh and forgot to say that while on the way to lunch heard my summer theme song AGAIN AND willed a front row spot at Ruggles which is pretty much impossible, so I’m on *fire*!! Tonight is Harry Potter with Curt and my mom which should be fantastic, and it’s been a good day so far with lots of calls from friends and family. The only thing that is missing is Savannah, which I cried about last night, but am holding it together to make it a happy day today… and oh yeah, no rain! I think it has only ever rained on my birthday once, if even, so how about that?

Can’t wait to see the movie, will let all of you know how it is!

Love,
Tasha xx

Young Life Camp at Crooked Creek!

Young Life Camp was AMAZING!

Last week was great in pretty much every way… it’s almost too much to go through b/c we were so unbelievably busy, but to nutshell it to avoid the longest blog posting ever, I rode horses, mountain biked (omg so hard), did a ropes course (I’ve done these before, but have never zip-lined which was so fast!), did an obstacle course in the mud, in the dark (and it was freezing by the way and people were coming out of the bushes with water balloons and super soakers), square danced, ate amazing food, had fun in dune buggy’s on a course, human rodeo, volleyball tournament, pool games tournament, BLOBBED, slid down a huge water slide, played dodge ball, and laughed a ton at Club every night.

We had 14 girls total in our cabin, 3 leaders and 11 girls. The other leaders were Rachel and Cori, and the girls were: Mikey, Tia, Brittney, Meara, Christina, Shelby, Heather, Evie, Alex, Laura Ann, and Jenie. They were from both Woodlands and College Park as we’re a mixed club for the moment, and most of them going into their Junior or Sophomore year. We took our trip with another local (and rival) high school, Oak Ridge, who for this trip we termed “Smoke Ridge” b/c they had so many smokers – yuck!, and then a group of Woodlands/CP boys as well, so in total there were about 55 of us. We road the bus up on Saturday afternoon, got there Sunday afternoon, and then began our week of fun in the Rockies at Crooked Creek! All of the activities listed above were jam packed in there, and there was usually some free time in the afternoons but we always seemed so busy! The camp is amazing – not to mention just gorgeous in layout and scenery – but had every amenity imaginable. The pool was huge and was so great, they had a hot tub that sat about 30 kids at a time, and had so many games and things to do, snack bar with WONDERFUL milkshakes and ice cream, and of course the YL store which I spent a small fortune in… I just love that we do this!

The girls were incredible to get to know, too. As Curt and I have one year under our belt with this group it really solidified my relationship with a lot of the girls, and I can’t wait to see the fruits of that this next year! The message was really incredible too – mostly at YL camp it centers around God’s love for you no matter where you are, what you’ve done, etc. and just walks through Jesus’ death, resurrection and really where we fit in so that was so good to hear again and even better, have the time to reflect on this as life is usually so busy! I loved it…the only bummer was that Curt couldn’t be there to share in this, but hopefully next year! Anyway, going to post a bunch of pictures to make up for what I’m lacking in words…

Love,
Tasha xx