a quick peek

It's gonna take me awhile (& probably multiple posts) to catch you all up on the blissful wonderland of The Hunnymoon, so here's a sneak peek of what we've been up to. So far, we've spent a couple of days in Seattle, a few days in Ashford, WA (at the base of Mt. Rainier), and a few more days in Vancouver, Canuk-land. Now, we're enjoying a bit warmer weather in sunny Las Vegas, and will be here until Monday.

James lovingly & laughingly took this video of me playing in the snow outside our cabin in Ashford, but the picture can pretty much be transferred to everywhere we've been (except Vegas)- It's been snowing like CRAZY all over the place! In fact, the other day, I stepped into a drift that literally sunk all of me in snow up to my shoulders!



Love & miss you all!!!

Mr. & Mrs. Greenhaw (*teeheeheeheeheeheeheeheehee*)

quick random thoughts

1) I LOVE it when it rains fall leaves outside!

2) The one bright spot in the TTU/ OU game last night: one of the sports announcer guys was talking about some upcoming awards show, and he said "Bay-onse" (insead of "bee-on-say")was going to be performing...

Friday Night Date Night

I learned a couple of things last night:

First:
Friday Night, 9:45 + High School Musical 3 + Bolt (in Disney Digital 3D) = bad time to go to the movies. Like OMG, every preteen/ teenage girl & all their BFFs & all their boyfriends in like, Austin, like HAD to be there. Like totally.

Secondly, don't show up 5 minutes before the movie starts for the new James Bond move... it's a hard one to watch from the second row. True to Classic 007 style, there's LOTS of shoot-em-up-punch-em-in-the-face-drive-real-fast action, and it gets a bit dizzyfying from that close up. Like the first Daniel Craig-as-Bond movie, it has a different style & feel from all the older ones. It had a LOT of very striking symoblic social & political commentary in it, and there's not as much car-drooling to do as usual, but I really enjoyed it anyway. I never thought I'd like a BlondeBond better than Pierce Brosnan, but I must say, I do lurrrrve Mr. Craig.

James took me to dinner at one of my favorite Mexican food places (Chuy's), even though he's not particularly crazy about it. And he didn't complain once that the wait was an hour. Like a champ, he just waded through the hoardes of people at bar area, & snagged us a table as soon as he could, so we could stuff our faces on chips & salsa before we could be seated at our real table. Then, during the interlude between dinner & the movie, we went to Barnes & Noble to do a bit of research for our next NYC trip, WHICH IS IN JUST 15 DAYS!!!!

It was a fun, relaxing evening, and I think I'm still full of chips-n-salsa...

Overdue Catch-Up, Part I: My Birthday

I had a great one. I was treated to a fantastic date night the night before, because it was a tailgating weekend. Dinner at a really nice new place, and then he gave me my present over dessert and coffee at one of our favorite places. I was stunned by my present: I'd been kinda vaguely wishfully looking at a camera (the last one I owned was a Kodak Advantex), and I had mentioned that I thought it would be really cool to own a nice one someday- He gave me a Nikon Coolpix 80p!!!! It is amazing... I'm pretty sure I creeped out a few customers at the restaurant of all the pictures I was taking of the table, walls, lights, food, etc. WoW.

That night was chilly, and I had been pretty sick lately, so we ended the night earlyish... When we pulled up in the driveway, James said that if I hadn't been sick, he had planned to take me to a spot fairly far out of town to give me "the other part of my present"... I thought, "MORE???" He got out of the car, came around to my side of the car, and put a GIANT box in my lap. Before I tell you what was in the box, rewind a couple of weeks... While we were at the State Fair (see "Texas/ OU Weekend"), we visited the planetarium, and James learned what a dweeb I am about the stars. For years (probably 4th grade through about my sophomore year of high school), I wanted to be an astronomer. I've visited planetariums and observatories, taken classes, etc, and although I realized that a career in the area was not in the stars for me (hardyharhar...), I've never stopped loving them. I opened the box, and inside was an 80 x 800 mm (about 4"x 32") Galileo TELESCOPE!!! I haven't had a chance to really get to use it much yet (Austin is too bright to properly stargaze), but I am sooo incredibly excited about it. James is the best :) Actually, tonight would have been perfect: we're in Pleasanton, and we just watched the most spectacular moonrise, but I didn't know we'd be staying the night, so I didn't bring it. Poo.

The next day, my actual birthday, I got a manicure, pedicure, haircut/wash/blowdry, and took a nap. All in all, a great day. At the tailgate, my roommate Marcie brought me a cake! Saturday, Gameday, I had lunch with JR, and only had to be at the tailgate for a couple of hours! YaY!!!

Below are a few pictures taken with my supercool new camera :)

My Birthday cake, complete with poker chips... how apropos. :)


A nighttime view of the Texas State (Bob Bullock) Museum from the tailgate spot. ISN'T MY CAMERA AWESOME???


The birthday. You can't tell from the picture, but I'm COVERED in glitter :)

Bachelorette Weekend

I know, I know, it's been awhile since I posted, but I'll put up a few retroactive entries for the time between then and now.

Yesterday, I met my Jess in Salado for my wild-n-crazy bachelorette weekend! W00TW00T!! We ate dinner at The Range (YUM food, not great service), & spent the night at the sweetest little B&B (Alamo Cottage). This morning, we got up & partook of a homemade breakfast of biscuits & jelly, cinnamon rolls, quiche, fresh fruit, vanilla yogurt with granola, orange juice, & coffee. We drove around the little town- VERY picturesque- and "admired" all the men in skirts- there was some Scottish Festival in town, did a little antiquing, and ate (yes, again) lunch at THE cutest little tea room.

We had so so so so fun!!! :)

Below are some pics- see my cooool bridal wear that i wore the WHOLE time!

Dallas Weekend Omission of Very Impotant Evening

But I promise, it wasn't my fault!!!

I swear there was a whole big-ole paragraph about getting to eat dinner with my darling cousin/ MofH Jess & her boyfriend Michael on Sunday night! She left me a sad comment, so I went back & re-read it, and it was missing! I know that sometimes when I highlight all the text to change the color, some stuff gets deleted or moved around, but I usually catch it, because it usually does it in the middle of words or other paragraphs... All I can think is that it got deleted, but cleanly, so I didnt catch that something was missing... So here is the missing event:

Sunday night, James & I met up with my darling cousin/ MofH Jess, and her boyfriend Michael. We ended up being a bit late to her house because of my inability to pull James away from the attractions of Fair Park, so by the time we got there, the poor things were starved. They took us to a YUMMMMMY gourmet pizza place... you know it's going to be good if they refer to their pizzas as "Pies". It was so nice to get to be with them... particularly Michael, because we so rarely get to see him outside of Best-Behavior-ENTIRE-Family-Mode. Unfortunately (because we were so late, I'm afraid), by the time we got back to Jess' place, it was past Mikey's bedtime, and he had to go home, so we just went in for a quick looksey around... James had never been there before, and Jess has tons of pics from when we were kids & in college & stuff. I am so jealous of how cute her place is... She had it all decorated up for fall... cute little punkins & leaves & cute dishes & stuff. In fact, at her inspiration, I am going to Hobby Lobby tomorrow to get James' place all Fall'd up.

So, Jess, this one's for you... I'm sorry!!!! I promise, it was COMPLETELY inadvertant!!!

Texas/ OU Weekend

Last weekend, we traveled to James' Mecca: the State Fair for Texas- OU Weekend.

This was my first state fair experience, and I must say, it is definitely better than the Poteet
Strawberry Festival. Don't tell James I said this, but it was actually pretty much the same, except on a bit larger scale, and that it wasn't so dusty- everything was paved, and a lot of the exhibits (buy a hot-tub, get your teeth whitened, adopt a pet rock, etc) were indoors and air conditioned. I was incredibly grateful to one exhibit in particular: the Tempur-pedic Mattress Test Center. I laid down & had a 20 minute zzz.

All weekend, the weather was beautiful, and we both got pretty lobstered, so I actually had to push back my bridal portrait date, so I wouldn't be all red & peely. oops.

Friday night, we had dinner with a few tailgating friends that had also made the trip up to Dallas. They were originally from Dallas, so they took us to this GREAT Mexican restaurant on the South East side of Dallas... I knew it would be good, because all the businesses around had all their signs in Spanish. There were two 9-piece mariachi bands playing, and one of our friends (who had already consumed about 14 margaritas too many) knew ALL the words to EVERY song. And sang along LOUDLY. And he cannot carry a tune in a bucket. It was a bit embarrassing, but hilarious. Eventually, he called the band over to "honor" James & me with a few songs as an engagement present... They played 10 songs. At $15 a pop. It was a long night.

We stayed in a Westin, which was really nice (we got a great deal, courtesy of hotwire.com); there was a double shower head (yum!), valet parking, and the bedding in our room was FANTASTIC. A little card said that the "Heavenly Bed" was all for sale, and the cost of the feather bed, 400 thread count Egyptian Cotton sheets, feather comforter, duvet cover, and five pillows (a yummy combination of feathers & memory foam) for EACH of our full-sized beds was like $3500 ! The robe in the room was for sale too, but it wasn't as comfy as the one in the rooms at the Bellagio. Needless to say, I slept well.

The game on Saturday was a really close one, and even I actually enjoyed it. We were sitting in the end zone, and got to be a part of the "X" in a card stunt that spelled out "Texas Fight" or something. A HUGE B-52 flew directly over our heads just before the opening kickoff- it didn't matter that I was wearing orange... it all felt like a big game when I was in college. In fact, I had to keep reminding myself NOT to cheer for the red team...

Party Party Party

*whew* Big weekend!

Saturday, James and I drove alllllll the way down to Carrizo Springs for my Granddaddy's 80th birthday party at my Aunt Doris' house. Unfortunately, my mom didn't get to go, due to back problems, but that just meant Dad got to go. There were about 20 of my family there, including my cousins Jacob (works in Africa!) & Jay (lives in Atlanta), and a couple of old family friends I hadn't seen in years. I'd say the highlight of the party was when Jacob agreed to give me, Jess, & our 3 aunts a ride around town in his brand new, bright yellow H3T (nicknamed "The Short Bus"). Keep in mind that the truck is made to seat 5, there were 6 of us, and almost every woman in my family is... shall we say... bountifully blessed... in the posterior department... After hoisting each other in (my cheerleader pyramiding skills came in handy), we drove off, amidst peals of giggles, through the heart of downtown Carrizo Springs, honked and waved our way through the Sonic, and by the Mexican Rodeo (no kidding! a guy in a sombrero was riding a burro when we passed).

We spent a long night on the couches at my grandmother's house (I'll post a separate blog on that one).

Sunday afternoon was my bridal shower! I was honored that so many people came, and the hostesses did a beautiful job. The room was filled with ladies from my family, former bible class teachers, my babysitters, babysitting clients, friends parents, parents friends... it was basically a "This is Your Life" of female role models. I had been nervous about all eyes being on me, but it wasn't like that at all. Everyone was just sitting or walking around visiting, and I happened to be opening presents in the corner. Jess, Mom, & my aunt Mardi all helped with the present opening, & my cousins Carroll & Chloe acted the part of Vanna White with the presents very well. Oh yeah... and I got lotsa cool stuff.

We have a Marine!

It's been an exhausting weekend, but he's home!!!

I've known for quite some time that I've got this quality about me that seems to attract misbehaved kids, overly friendly dogs, and very strange people. Evidently, I inherited this from mom. One thing we've learned from the trip is that when you combine our magnetisms, you get to laugh at/ be annoyed by a lot of weirdo's. On the shuttle between the airport and our hotel, we met a couple of ladies that had a son and grandson in Tyler's company. Mom made the mistake of asking one of them a question, and she promptly proclaimed that she was "Aaaaarmed with knaaaaledge" in a nasal Wisconsin accent. This quickly became her nickname, and our first suspicions of doofus-ocity were quickly confirmed. And, true to our magnetism, on a base full of the family of the nearly 600 recruits, every time we turned around, there she was. EVERY. TIME. Anyway, she provided a lot of laughs...

We arrived on base a little after 7 on Thursday morning, only to find out that there was almost no shade, almost nowhere to sit, and we would not get to see Ty until 10:30, and would not get to talk to and hug him until 1. Also, the green flag was up, announcing that it was too hot for certain people to work out. After months of Ty's letters containing many brrrs & shivers, we arrive, and its about 90 & sunny. And what do we hear from James? Oh yeah, it's 65 in Austin. argh. Also, the base seems to be located in some sort of wormhole that makes time pass at half the speed of smell.

Ok, so enough whining... at 9:30, a drill sergeant came out to yell at us all the rules of the base. There are a LOT. For an hour. Finally, at 10:30, all the boys came out for their final run as recruits, a four mile run called the "MotoRun" (it stands for something about "Motiviation").
They came marching out in formation, and since they had us lined up by platoon, Ty ended up almost right in front of us. We knew they couldn't turn their heads, but you could see all the boys eyes scanning the cheering crowd for their families. I think this may have been my favorite part of the whole day. We finally spotted our boy in the back row and waved & cheered more than we ever did at any of his football games...Tyler's eyes landed on us, lit up, and it was so obviously all he could do to keep from breaking into a huge grin. We could actually see him biting his cheeks to keep from laughing. The boys took off for their run, and Mom said it was cruel to dangle them so close to us, but not let us have them. We were all herded into a theater to watch a film & get yelled some more rules, while the boys finished their run. We watched them run back up, and got to see them from afar for another minute before they had to hit the showers.

After what seemed like hours later, we headed to the parade deck for the noon drill parade whatsit, followed by the moment everyone bought the plane tickets for. They had base liberty time from 1-5:45, so immediately after the parade, they were finally released to our hungry arms.

After the whole day in the sun, I developed a fever, and fell into bed the minute we got back to the hotel, and stayed there until I was roused sometime in the 5s on friday morning. Again, we arrived on base in the early 7s (that was the latest the shuttle could take us), but this time we were a bit smarter about it & tried to hang out inside as much as possible. The graduation ceremony (during which a little girl sitting behind me kept standing on my rear...) started at 10:00, and lasted until about 11:30, and was very cool and all, but the result below was all we cared about.

Ok, sorry this took soooo long for you to read, but I was asked for the play-by-play, so.... you got it. It's sooooooo incredibly good to have him home.

PS: Out of all the almost 600 recruits, Tyler was the second best gun-shooter-person. :) cant you tell i learned all the terms?

helloooo from San Diego...

I could input a crude "Anchorman" joke here.... but I'll refrain... I am very mature that way...

My parents and I left Pleasanton in the 7s for the airport this morning. Got to see an amazing sunrise, & mom & dad treated me to a lively chorus of "Red Rubber Ball". We had some amazing stickybuns at this little bakery in San Antonio. Yes, I got icing down my shirt & in my hair. None on my elbows or feet though, so yay me.

We arrived in San Diego (via Houston), but I have no idea what time. Somehow this time change business does not register in my brain. After a bit of a "Clampetts go to Maui" type checkin, we got settled in our room for a big fat nap. Had dinner at a Yummm restaurant that was literally on the bay. We rolled back to our room, (not because we are hip & use cool lingo, but because we were so full, we actually had to be rolled) and since I am not a fan of waking up in the 5s, I decided to go ahead & wash my hair for tomorrow. After nearly an hour of trying to blowdry my hair, it still was not dry, and I was beyond frustrated. My sweet dad finished blowdrying it for me, just like he did when I was small! Dad really is a peach... a bit odd sometimes, but a complete peach.

I really am going to have to get a new blow dryer... although maybe all blowdryers get tired & smell like theyre burning after being on for that long...

anyway, who cares... I GEDDA HUG MY TYLER TOMORROW!!!!! I bet he'll be all pretty in his uniform...

you have a baby.... in a bar...

Sunday, James & I went to Pleasanton for a poker tournament. It was held in the local dance hall, which I had never been to. Even though it was in the afternoon, and hardly anyone was there, the whole place was hazy with years of heavy cigarette smoke & smelled of sweaty cologne & stale alcohol. Blegh.

The front of the building is small, just a bar with a few tables & a jukebox, then, you have to go through a hallway to the main dancehall/ stage in the back. Evidently, they rent out the space for parties and such, because the remains of the most recent shindig were still there during the poker tournament.

Hanging from the ceiling, there were bright pink, heart shaped signs declaring, "Baby's First Birthday!!!"

Updated Date!!!!

Change your calendars everyone, the New Official Date is:

December 27th, 2008!

We really wanted to have the wedding in my parents backyard, so we pushed back the date to accommodate for the repairs from the vandalism.

how can people be so ugly?

sometimes, i just don't understand people.

ok, well, a lot of times, but particularly about things like this.

Last night, some stupid kids broke into the house my parents are building, and destroyed everything. Took a sledge hammer to all the windows, the fireplace, the roof, the wall beams... everything. They didn't steal anything, and there were a number of expensive tools and copper wiring in the electrical work they ripped out, so evidently, it was all just for fun.

I'm sure my parents are more devastated than they're letting on... they're acting like they're just sad we can't have the wedding at home now. I know they're just dying for a house of their own again, since they've been in limbo for practically a year. This setback is so heartbreaking for them; this house is their (or at least my mom's) baby and light at the end of the tunnel. Sure, they'll fix everything, but who knows how much longer it will take now, what with insurance drama and a police investigation.


pooooooo. big doodoo heads.

so, i know i promised this wouldnt become wedding central...

but i have to gush...


I HAVE A DRESS!!!!!

It's PERFECT. Everything I wanted, two sizes smaller than I expected, needs NO alterations, and on sale, 40% off!!!


Gleeeeeeeeee!!!!

Blast From the Past

This morning, James & I went to the Methodist Church with his family to tell them the news, and I had a moment that made me laugh out loud.

Usually, when we go to church with his family, I know more than half the songs they sing there, but today, I thought I only knew two. In the middle of the service, the choir started up a lively song that I have not thought about in YEARS...

Anyone remember the "See Your Mama Cooking Quaker Oats" song???

The presentation was a bit different (IE: tambourines & maraca gourds), but the jubilant feeling of the song took me straight back to Camp Blue Haven.

For those of you unfamiliar with the Quaker Oats song, it's an African song meaning "We are Marching in the Light of God".

I lol'd :)

We've Set the Date!

Ok, I promise I'll try not to let this blog become Wedding Central, but just to let everyone know, We've Set the Date! (in case you didnt gather that from the title...)

December 6th, 2008

In a tent in the backyard of my parents new house!



Let the Diets
Begin!

GUESS WHAT ELSE?????

Here's where:

And here's what:

I can't stop giggling. :)

and i may or may not have bought a bride's magazine at a newsstand on the subway...

GUESS WHERE I AM???

Today for lunch, We are going to have Philly Cheese Steak Sammiches. I have never had one before, so I figure, if I'm ever going to, now's the time. Why, you ask? BECAUSE I'M IN PHILADELPHIA!!!!

That's right, Pennsylvania. Last night, around 12:30, James said, "Let's go to New York tomorrow!" So, here we are, been up all night packing, left austin (after a "randomly selected" delay) at 5:30 this morning, swapped planes in Atlanta at 9:45, and here we are, driving down Broad Street headed for my very first Philly Cheesesteak!

YAY!!!!!

**Update: I had a "Whiz wid" (a cheesesteak sammich w/ cheesewhiz & onions), and james had a "Prov Widout" (cheesesteak sammich w/ provalone, without onions), we shared some YUM "freedom fries", and some Birch Beer (INCREDIBLE rootbeer). YUMMMMStuffed.

It's been awhile...

So the living room & kitchen are mostly done... they just need to be cleaned & accessorized a bit. I'm waiting to photograph until all the stuff for the bathroom is out of the floor. The dining room is mostly done, except that I haven't finished putting up the new baseboards, and the chandelier doesn't work yet. The entryway needs one last coat of paint, and the front door hasn't been painted yet. Haven't replaced any door knobs yet. The bathroom has been gutted, and now has 2 new pieces of sheetrock up (thank you JR!!!), but still has a looooong way to go.

Mom came up & stayed with me for a few days last week, & helped me make the new living room curtains.... THEY'RE GORGEOUS. There was a poker tournament in Pleasanton on Saturday as part of the "Cowboy Homecoming" festivities, so I went home with Mom so I could play with Dad. We've played in this tournament before, and if you can get even a leeeetle bit lucky, you can really clean up. Unfortunately, neither of us did.

Mom & Dad are living with my grandmother & great aunt now, and I was evidently allergic to something at their house, because i spent the whole weekend in a fog of sneezing, stuffiness, itchiness, & without oxygen.

Sunday night, I got to spend some time with Caleb, Daniel, Jamie, Jennifer, & Mike, so that was really nice. I hadn't gotten to be with them much in several months. Jenn & Mike's new house is lovely, and I loved their new small kitteh, Macchiato, and am anxious to see whether my annual baby will be a pink or a blue. (I only hold one a year... will it be Jenn's or Erin's Miss Liz or Jenn Tolbiert's little blue one???) Sheesh, girls, good thing that stuff's not catching...

Dad drove me back home on Monday, played in my poker game Monday night, then woke up early with us to help me drag James to the acupuncturist yesterday morning (his foot has been bothering him). Had lunch with dad, then came home, took a nap, & made supper (see previous post).

That's about all I've been up to lately. How about you?

PS: HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY, KLUB!!!

There's a Grasshopper in the Ham!!!

Tonight, I made us a lovely supper of homemade chicken cordon bleu with fondue sauce & asparagus wrapped in pancetta. Unfortunately, somehow a little friend got into the ham while I was cooking, and when I yelled, "There's A GRASSHOPPER in the HAM!!!", nobody understood what i was talking about. I had to yell it a bunch of times before James came to take care of it for me... Anyway, Aspen got a little treat tonight.

Kids: Gotta love em!

I was at Ikea the other day, when a little kid actually made my day.

A little boy that looked to be about 2, was kinda wandering around behind his shopping parents, eating an ice cream cone. All of a sudden, the ice cream fell off his cone. I prepared myself for total meltdown, but the kid was totally unconcerned. Rather than freak out or tell his parents, he simply reached down, picked up the blob of ice cream, & stuffed it into the pocket of his cargo shorts.


I just kept walking, laughing my head off.

You may call me June Cleaver.

Today, I cleaned & cooked, wearing heels & pearls. JK on the heels & pearls part...

I cleaned up the kitchen & living room, & decided to surprise James with a nice meal :)

I made Engagement Chicken, something I've made several times before, but for the side dish & dessert, I decided to branch out a bit.

LOOKIT!

Engagement Chicken

RATATOUILLE!!!
I had this for the first time in Vegas, and LOVED it, but it didn't look like Remy's Ratatouille. I did some searching, & found the recipe used by the people at Pixar!

And for dessert: I decided to try a new-to-me twist on an old favorite... Peach Pie!
(I've never done the latticed crust before.)

Ohps.

So when we got back yesterday (around 5:30 pm), we decided a nap was in order...

I crashed on the couch, and when I woke up, the clock said it was a little before 6, & it was dark. Since it is totally not unreasonable for me to sleep more than 12 hours even when I'm not completely sleep deprived, I assumed it was morning, & got up. I was all proud of myself for getting up so early... I made coffee, and thought I'd maybe write my brother, maybe go to the grocery store when it opened...

By the time I realized the clock was broken, and it was actually about 1:30 in the morning, I had already consumed the entire pot of coffee, so there was no way I could go back to sleep any time soon. I ended up playing poker til almost 5.

FAIL.

Viva Las Vegas! :)

I LOVE that town!!

We are on our way back to Austin from San Antonio (it was cheaper to fly from there), and we are completely exhausted. We have been awake since about 11:30 yesterday morning.

When we arrived in Vegas on Friday night, it was 105 degrees at 10:30 at night!!! It was soooo hot the whole time we were there... go figure... it is sorta in the middle of the desert...

We ate some fantastic food, did some shopping, & even won some money. I actually hit Quad Aces in a poker game, but The highlight of my trip was Phantom. It was an absolutely spectacular performance. Even James loved it. We thought we were gonna get slightly cheaper tickets at the Tix 4 Tonite booth, but we got an even better deal! James found a ticket broker on Craigslist, and we ended up with 8th row center floor tickets, for HALF PRICE.

Various pics:


Lookit! My toenail polish matches our rental car!
















I found my dream car in a parking garage at a mall... yes, the license plate says, "BARBIE".















All dressed up at the Palms















Can you believe we're indoors here??















Cruisin the Strip




















Sheesh, it's hot.















Haha... i steeled ur car.

GUESS WHAT???

JAMES SURPRISED ME WITH A LAST MINUTE TRIP TO VEGAS!!!!

We leave tomorrow, and won't be back until Tuesday afternoon!


So, today, i went & got a manicure, pedicure, a new pair of sunglasses, & two new pairs of shoes (for a grand total of less than $100)!

:) gleeeeee :)

Dark Knight

Remember, have no fear of spoilers from me.

EXCELLENT movie.

Whatever money saving magical combos they tempt you with, do not, I repeat, DO NOT give in and purchase the large drink... the movie is nearly 3 hours long.

Again, I'm reminded of what a phenomenal actor the world lost in Heath Ledger... and I'm not just saying that because everyone will feel like they should...

BUT... lots of scaries in it... and clowns... scary scary clowns (you already knew that from the previews!)... am currently surrounded by pillows, and am positioned in a way to see the door to my bedroom, the door to the closet, and my window. Eric (my body pillow) is protecting me from the scaries...

Getting There

THE HOUSE IS LOOKING SOOOOO GOOD!!!!

We are exhausted, but the house is finally starting to look great. The Living Room, Kitchen, & Entryway are almost complete! We hired a couple of friends that do this sort of thing as part time work to come help out, and they were AMAZING. Watching them work was like watching a show on HGTV where they give someone a job & put em on fast forward. Plus, having them there kept James and I from "taking 5" every 15 minutes. THANK YOU SOOO MUCH JR & KC!!! I promise, I will put pics up soon, but I don't want to take any until this part is completely done.

Today I ordered the fabric for my curtains!!! This pic is kinda hard to see, but they're a rich taffeta in gunmetal grey, with caramel colored flocking. I think the caramel color will really bring the room together. eeeeee I'm soooo excited!


AND, i just ordered my kitchen cabinet hardware! Including shipping, I paid about $24 for 18, as opposed to over $60 for uglier ones from Home Depot!.

In other news, Max got a catcussion last night... he bonked his nog sooo hard on the (newly painted!) coffee table, that he still has a big bump on the top of his little pin head. Poor Kitteh... maybe it knocked him normal...

She Sells Sea Shells...

Guess where I've been the past few days!!!






Nope, not the jungle... Port Aransas! If you look closely at the top picture, you can see the Marina in the background.

We (yes, i did help some!!) installed DTV for a lady that has 3 rental properties on the beach, so we got to stay in one of them while we were in town! The pics are views of & from the house we stayed in. I hadn't spent much time in Port A before, so I never knew this, but it is such a quaint little town! I don't think the island has a single chain store/ restaurant, apart from gas stations.

My favorite was this little "Bow-Teek" (as spelled on the sign) called Gratitude. The building caught my eye, because it was BRIGHT Barbie pink, complete with matching car out front. I went in the store, and HOLY MOLY... the floors, walls, lighting, & vast majority of their merchandise was the same shade of pink. Every square inch of the place was covered with stuff, & the floors were covered with an inch deep layer of glitter, sequins, & confetti. The only thing in the whole store that wasn't pink was a blue painted Adirondack chair that had a sign on stating that it was "The Husband Chair". The owner behind the counter was probably in her 60's, and was wearing a pink mini-skirt, a glittery pink belt, a pink tye-dyed tank top, pink flamingo sunglasses, and had snow white hair, with a big section dyed SHOCKING PINK! Somehow, it ended up being cute, rather than tacky... see below:



Yesterday, we went to the beach for about three hours, and I ACTUALLY HAD FUN SWIMMING!!! It wasn't too crowded, almost no garbage or tar, and there was a good breeze going so it wasn't so so hot. AND, I got a little bit of a TAN!!!

The only thing I'm sad about is that James wouldn't let us have hermit crabs for pets :(.


Anyway, we're bringin back almost 3 lbs of caught-this-morning "colossal" shrimp (seriously, these suckers are HUGE), stopping in P-town on the way back, and mom's making shrimp fettuccine for our supper. mmmmmmm.

W A N T !!!!!!!

i neeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeed this!!!!!!


and then, of course, i'll need this....

Wanted

So, the other night, James & I went to see Wanted.

I reeeeally liked this movie. If you go see it, be prepared for tons of blood-n-guts, heaps of pretty impressively foul language, and a couple of fairly graphic sex scenes, but other than that, it was a coool movie. I won't give any spoilers any time I write a movie review for you, so I can't say too much, but the music was great, and the plotline was pretty original (it's theme, not so much, but it had plenty of surprises throughout the movie). The special effects were SPECTACULAR.

One comment? I'd like to give Ms. Jolie about 50 lbs from each of my thighs...

I think Max is high...

The remodeling is slow going, but we're all in a much better humor than the first day of work. The ceiling is done, and we have a beautiful ceiling fan up & working. The retexturing of the walls is done, and we've repainted the silver trim around the sliding glass door/windows, so that it's all fresh & clean. We used spray paint to do it, and SHEESH, it's smelly. I am allergic to spray paint,
but I found this superduty SARS mask that is specifically for paint fumes, so I didnt get ded. BOY did I look sexy... Unfortunately, they did not have a kitteh-sized mask, so Max has been acting a bit loopy since yesterday afternoon. We covered EVERYTHING in plastic, newspapers, & tape, and so far, it doesnt look like we got any paint anywhere by accident. Anyway, today I get to start on the Color!!! :) I'm excited. Gotta run... will post my movie review of Wanted later.

Dashed are the dreams of the ambitious...

ZZZZZZZZZ

I am EXHAUSTED from my wideawake night followed by DIY day. We worked & worked & worked & worked & worked, and after 4 more trips to Home Depot/ Lowes, we have 1 1/2 installed fans, no light at all in the kitchen, 1/2 of the bedroom ceiling painted, 1/4 of the living room ceiling painted, and two very short tempers.

We bought this to help paint, and it works well, but it's pretty heavy when it's full of paint... I just read one tip to *duh* only fill it halfway, so I'll be trying that tomorrow. I don't have the upper body strength to paint the vaulted ceiling with it while I'm halfway up a ladder. We got one the other day, used one tube full, dropped it & broke it, then went back (trip #2 of the day) to HD to replace it.

Anyway, Max thinks we've built him his very own jungle to play in, what with all the plastic drapings & oddly placed furniture. OH... and... about that plasticwrap... yah, the camera is buried somewhere beneath it all... if I find it, I'll take a few pics, but I just couldn't be bothered with it today...

*sips lemonade* here's to better luck tomorrow.

Hancock

I've been meaning to post about this for a few days now, but I keep forgetting... did you see what all we have going on over here???

We went to see Hancock on opening night. Has anyone else seen it? I'd love to know what you thought... James hated it... I can't decide whether or not I liked it... I definitely think it was poorly marketed... for MONTHS, everyone's been excited to see this movie... from the previews, it looked fantastic and, more importantly, hilarious. (I've said this a bunch, but I've always thought Tyler looked a lot like Will Smith, minus the whole Black thing... I totally thought from the previews that this is what Ty would be like if he had superpowers.)

I don't think this movie will do well, simply because of poor marketing. EVERYONE expected a comedy from the previews. Pretty much every funny part in the entire movie was in the previews. I hate it when they do that. This movie was NOT a comedy... It was a lot more of a psychological profile... not quite a Drama though... it kinda reminded me a bit of Neil Gaiman's "American Gods"... but not NEARLY as complicated, obviously.

thoughts?

It's 2:30 in the morning...

... and I can't sleep.

Musta been that pot o' coffee I had before bedtime...

oh well...

now my brain is spinning with everything I need to get done.

We are remodeling! The living room is in a TOTAL shambles. Everything is pushed to the center of the room & draped with plastic (which Max LOVES). So far, we've ripped up all the old baseboards, re-textured 2 walls (one of which was the lovely 70's dark wood paneling), taken down those awful vertical blinds hiding our 12 feet of sliding glass doors/ windows, and ripped off the old vertical moulding on another wall. AND spent a retarded amount of time & money at Home Depot... I think they must put Eau de Ambition in the air vents there... something about the smell of places like that makes me think I can build/ fix anything, if only I were to purchase all the most complicated equipment I can find.

Today, we bought wall paint (Cliff Rock), Trim paint (Ultra Pure White), more rollers, brushes, tarps, & tape than we can ever use, a new ceiling fan for the living room, a chandelier for the dining room, cool track lighting for the kitchen, heat resistant brushed nickel paint for the fire box & old ceiling fan, & new plates for all the switches & plugs in the house.

Tomorrow, I'm painting the ceiling, finishing up the 2nd coat of texture on the Wall Formerly Known as Ugly Wood Paneling, and hopefully *crossing fingers* gonna start putting up some color. All this white is soooo boring.

Then, we get to go pick out new baseboards & crown molding. Unfortunately, I didn't get a good "Before" picture, but tomorrow, I'll take a couple of "During" pictures, so you can see how bad it reeeeeeally is.

Of course, the longest wall in the living room passes through the kitchen, entryway, and dining room, so they'll all have to be redone soon too... I'm thinking a nice green for the kitchen... there's really not much wall space in there, so that can really be an accent color for the living room... I'm not sure yet about a color for the dining room... any ideas? It's a VERY small area, but it's got a big bay window, so it's pretty well lit.


Anyway... sorry... thanks for listening to (IE: reading) the rantings of a caffeined up, overly sleepy, whirring brain... it's now officially The Threes, & sleep is nowhere in sight... oh well... could YOU sleep with all this on your mind???

Tubing was....

...not as bad as it was the last time I went... (although it would be nearly impossible to be that bad)... I only got one comment from a stranger regarding my level of white-ocity, and I didn't almost pass out from sunstroke this time.

It was about as hot as The Bad Place, and there were a MILLION people there. Thank you, JR, for warning me about the "Tube Chute"... If he hadn't warned me, nobody would have... All James said was "Oh, it's nothing, just a gradual slope from one part to another"... LIAR. This is me, the person that doesn't like elevators because they fall down too quickly... IT WAS TERRIFYING and I scraped my foot on the wall. When I came out, James let go of me by accident, and I shot right into a group of random strangers... that might have been my favorite part... that, or the weeds that appeared to be magnetized to my butt...

Also, I slathered the SPF a hundred on about an inch thick, from head to toe, and it worked wonders. Except that evidently, I missed my knees. Now, my knees are both BRIGHT red, except for a single thumbprint directly in the center of my right knee. Very fashionable.

Anyway.... back to the positive side... it was NOT as bad as last time... I *almost* enjoyed sporting the oh-so-sexy "Leg-And-Arm-Fat-Squashed-Up-By-Hot-Rubber" look all day.

Whee.

We are going tubing today. I cannot wait. I'm sure this will be the best monthaversary yet.

WHAT DO I DO????

HELP!!!

We've known for awhile now that we've got a family of birds (grackles, I think) living in our chimney. Today, I was sitting in the livingroom, working on Ebay stuff, I heard a *thunk*, and chirping like mad.

It's a baby bird friend!!! what do I do??? I think his wing's broken :( If I touch him, his mom might not take him back... and even if I did, what on earth would I do with him?!! Any suggestions?

He's gone.

My liddle brudder is no longer My TyTy... He is now Tyler Bryan, Private First Class, United States Marine Corps.

I think that's his title, anyway. This weekend, James & I went home for Ty's last weekend. Saturday, we took him & his girlfriend to San Antonio for some shopping & a sushi bar for lunch. Then, for dinner, mom made his favorite, Chicken & Dumplings, and since he couldn't decide whether he'd rather have pumpkin crisp or peach cobbler for dessert, she made both.

Last night, the whole family went to drop him off with his recruiting officer for Basic Training. Before dropping him off, we had dinner at Morton's Steakhouse. We all had some form of steak, and we all shared pretty much everything. We had Caesar salad, French bread, sauteed mushrooms, oysters on the half-shell, baked five onion soup, grilled asparagus, Lyonnaise potatoes, lump crab meat, steamed asparagus in Bearnaise sauce, hot -chocolate cake, and cheesecake (imported from a bakery in The Bronx). Everything was fantastic. YUM. Holy Moly, I'm still full from it. Anyway, Tyler's goal for the evening was to be in need of a wheelbarrow to get him to the hotel to meet with his recruiter, and I believe his mission was accomplished. We were all in need of said wheelbarrow.

I didn't think I'd be sad about him leaving, but I was pretty upset about it last night. I know a big part of it is that I know my mom will be sad without him around, and my parents having empty nest syndrome & all, but I think another part of it is that I'm scared they'll change him in a bad way. I'm definitely hoping they'll help him grow up a bit, but what if they change his personality or his sense of humor? I'm scared he won't be my brother anymore.

Alright... off to find the Prozac.

Wheeee!!!!!

OH. MY. WORD.

Everybody. If you haven't already, drop whatever it is you're doing, and GO SEE KUNG FU PANDA!!! Even if you're at work, take your boss- you won't get in trouble, I promise. YOU WILL NOT BELIEVE IT'S BODACITY!!! (PS: that's a fantastic new word i learned from the movie.)


I knew we we're in for it from the very first line:

"Legend tells of a legendary warrior whose kung fu skills were the stuff of legend."

This movie was billed as just another great Jack Black movie... but it also stars Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie, Seth Rogan, Lucy Liu, Ian McShane, and Jackie Chan!!!

FANTASTIC movie, and I want to go see it again, but this time at the IMAX.


Wheeeee!!!!

ack!!

Ok, remember how I was sick for a week a couple of weeks ago??

I TOTALLY THINK I HAD SALMONELLA!!!

I heard about the Tomato drama in New Mexico, and started thinking about when I got sick, and that James didn't, so I looked it up, and all the symptoms & timing fit!

YUKKYeeeewwwwww.

Another one for the poker players...

Dontcha love it when people insist on blabbing on & on when they obviously have no idea what they're talking about?

Last night, Dad, James, & I were at a poker game in South Austin, and I got a straight flush (YaY!!!). A little later on, this drunk, obnoxious, foul-mouth caught quads against me. He kept saying he should get something for having the high hand of the night. I knew he was incorrect, but Dad insisted on pointing it out to him. He kept going on & on, quite loudly, that we were dumb, and that 4 of a kind beats a straight flush. Of course, dad kept arguing, other people got in on it, & the more people disagreed w/ him, the louder he yelled about it. This one guy that looks & acts a lot like Hurley on Lost said, "dude... yah... three pair is a good hand too..." Anyway, he kept obsessing about it long after everyone else had written him off as an idiot, until his buddy bet him on it, & then proved him wrong on his phone.

What type of person feels the need to be so argumentative, when they obviously dont know?? Even if he was totally positive, why would he feel that strong a need to prove everyone else wrong? Maybe I am just super passive, or not that confident in my own knowledge, but if it were me, and EVERYONE was saying I was wrong, I would keep my mouth shut! I just don't understand this whole "human interaction" thing...

a butt-broadening experience

I just got home from my lil brudder's graduation. Holy. Moly. It started at 7:30, and we just got home. It is past 10. TWO AND A HALF HOURS of listening to every little kid's accomplishments. Of course, I babysat or went to school with the siblings of half the kids, but sheesh. Thankfully, there was a breeze, so the football stadium wasn't too unbearable.

PS: My brudder's Marines scholarship was the highest single scholarship amount. So there.

The Loooong Way Home

We have now been on the road for approx. 8.5 hrs, and I think we have about another hour to go. Max has, again, slept the entire trip. I am afraid I may be getting sick- I've had a fever pretty much all day. Hopefully, I'm just allergic to long car trips, because I've got wayyy too much to do to be sick this week. Anyway, since I dont feel well, I'm allowing myself to do a "picture dump", a la Benson (iwastetoomuchtimeatwork blog).


THIS was AMAZING. This pic is not a closeup, and has not been modified. We were driving along and came across this. I stuck my arm out the window & snapped.











We just thought we were excited to see a few deer on the road... There were sixteen of them!!!
They seemed completely unafraid, just meandering down the road. I think they were just whitetails, mostly doe & yearlings.







This pic was taken on the lake right next to the Inn of the Mountain Gods resort & casino. From inside, there's an enormous window looking out onto this scene... minus the blonde dude & chubby girl...

and... my glasses are HUGE!








This is a view of the cabin. I was standing on a rock by the river when I took this. Beautiful, huh?











This is us on the other side of the cabin. We're wearing our Smittens!! Thanks, Auntie M & fam!!!













This was one of Max' many many adventures... He had a BALL!!!













"YIPES, dis water am ccccold!!!"














Max, all tired out, curled up about a foot from the fire.

more cheerful now

Sorry for that last post, guys... had to get it out of my system, so I relegated it to the one post. This one will be much more cheerful, I promise.

Last night, on our way home from the stupid casino, we saw two elk(s?) in two different places!!
They were massive. It was night, and they ran off pretty quickly, so we couldn't get pics, but they both looked like this:
Their bodies seemed like the same size as the car, plus their antlers. I think I counted 12 points on the smaller one, but I couldnt see the points of the bigger one. They were both in velvet like this one was, so they'll probably get even more huge later on. They were amazing. Both were probably about 10-15 feet from the car when we discovered them... the first one was just chillin, walking down the middle of the road, totally unconcerned, and the other ran right across in front of us. Where we saw the first one was just down the road from where we stopped to take these pics:















Also, it's been snowing!!! Just a few random snows here and there down in town where we are, but you can see up at the top of the mountain (Sierra Blanca) it's practically a blizzard.

Today, I had possibly the BEST White Chocolate Macadamia Nut cookie I've ever had... Do I look happy, or what??