Straight from the Horse's Mouth

Clarification

2009-01-22T10:58:00.001-06:00

Bryan alerted me to the fact that some of you may have used the link I gave you in the previous post to RSS my blog which will not work.

When RSSing please use:

http://yellowgin.elear.net/?feed=rss2

Moving - You Can Come Too!

2009-01-21T23:19:00.002-06:00

Well, I'm sure you already know that Bryan moved his blog. I also am now moving mine so please make sure to update your RSS feed so you don't miss out on a minute of my awesome life. :)

Here is the link to my new blog:
http://yellowgin.elear.net/

Too Many Good-byes...

2009-01-16T10:31:00.008-06:00

I don't want to bore you with a detailed list of all of the things I did last week. Since I've taken so long to post I have pretty much forgotten what all I did anyway. I went to both TKD and Kung Fu/Tai Chi several times this week though I did skip twice during the week thanks to feeling like crap. I was just wiped out on these nights. I couldn't fight my body. I subbed a couple of times including a 2nd grade class which was one of my favorite days to sub so far. They were a super sweet class, and days like this really show me that elementary is the place I want to be when I finally get to the point of job hunting. I also started the third and final section of my schoolwork. I only have a little more to do before I can start preparing (big time!) to take the teacher certification test which I hear is quite difficult.

Saturday was a horrible day. It started out bad and only got worse. The only good thing about the day was the open house at the Kung Fu school which was actually a lot of fun. I won't go into the thing that set it off, but I'll tell you the rest of the day. I tried to go to TKD/Jiu Jitsu but failed to remember it was board breaking clinic. So, I had to return home mad about wasting gas. I took Astoria for a walk and then headed to the Kung Fu school. I met Bryan and we went out for tea and a quick bite. Then we went back to the school for Kung Fu and Tai Chi class. I finally finished 24 - yay! I also am ready to test in Kung Fu. :D After class it was time for the open house. It was a lot of fun. The demos were cool, and it was awesome to see how many people came. Hopefully, we have several new students!

Pictures from the open house:
Master Joe speaking
Master Joe receiving his house warming gift

Here are the videos I took of the demos - not all of them because Blogger is being difficult:

In sad news:
I hate to report but we had to give away Astoria. Though we tried our best we soon realized that we were not a good fit for one another. We tried to walk her everyday and many days twice, but she still had energy to spare. She began to find outlets for her energy which I can't blame her for. However, she chose a destructive path. We had noticed she liked to chew, but the longer she was with us, the more it was apparent. This is most likely due to the fact that she went from being an outside dog to an indoor dog. The more days she spent inside the more she found to chew. On Saturday while Bryan and I were at the Kung Fu school for classes and the open house she destroyed half of the closet including a brand new pair of shoes Bryan had just purchased. Don't worry - I have already replaced them. Finally we had to sit down and discuss what to do. We both agreed we weren't able to provide the time she required. So, we posted her on craigslist and we were able to place her on Sunday. She is now living with a couple. The guy works at a dog friendly office which means Astoria will be able to go in and be with other dogs all day! I know this will be beneficial to her. I cried a little, but I'm glad that we did the right thing for her and us. Here are some videos I took of her on the day she proved to us she could indeed fetch. I love the leaps! :)

On a better note:
On Sunday after running errands galore, we went to the Williamson County Animal Shelter and found a dog that is hopefully much better suited to our needs. He is a terrier mix, and much smaller than Astoria. We learned a lot from Astoria, and I think we can do much better this time because if we can't I'm done with dogs for a long time. His name is Atley, and he is too damn cute! I'm going to pick him up this morning.

Last night's Kung Fu and Tai Chi class were awesome! Master Joe says I test on Saturday! Ahhhh! I better start hammering my material. I'm ready but not mentally. I need to review and review in order to feel confident. I'll probably be testing in Tai Chi during the first week of February. So that's 3 testings for the next 3 weeks...um, yay?

Bryan is gone on business for the week, and won't be back until next Monday! That is the longest we've ever been apart, and I already miss him like crazy.

Don't forget that this weekend is the Pancake Theater which we moved up one night to Friday the 23rd. It will be starting directly after Ryon's class so head on over as soon as your done. There will be pancakes so bring your appetite. We'll be making fun on Robin Hood so bring your wit and anything you want to drink. There will be some beer here, but I still encourage you to bring something you like. Ryon - will the fruit fucker be coming? It's always welcome. :D

You Have To Buck 'Em!

2009-01-09T10:19:00.004-06:00

So, Wednesday night I went to my first Jiu Jitsu Class followed by one of the best TKD classes I've ever attended. Jiu Jitsu was pretty good. My shoulders hurt thanks to some dumb exercise called a caterpillar roll. Not only did I look absolutely awkward doing this, but I was the slowest in the class - yay me! Once we got on the ground and started to do things though I really started to dig it. The only downside was being grouped with 2 girls who found the class way too funny. There is nothing worse than giggling girls sometimes. TKD was also great. We didn't even spar or work on our forms. All we did was KICK! Love it! We got to run at bags and do flying side kicks. Then we ran at them at did jump combos. It was so sweet. Lastly, we practiced our jump 360's on clapper targets which I failed at miserably as usual. I think I'm gonna have to get a private lesson just to get these down or up and around rather. However, if any of my black belt friends want to help me out say maybe for a meal or something well then, just speak up!

Thursday was kinda weird. I awoke early in the morning to finally cut off a horrible dream that felt all too real and left me feeling extremely sad. Then I slept and slept and slept. I couldn't seem to wake up, but finally did. Needless to say, I got nothing accomplished this day - nothing. I took Astoria out for a walk in what was NOT winter weather. Geez, it was so hot! She was panting something crazy, and I wasn't far from joining her. She loves her walks however. The leash training is coming along. She's great, but she just has a little problem with wanting to lead most likely because we don't go at the speed she'd prefer. Oh well, I have 2 less legs than her. She's also learned several new "tricks" since moving in. She's smart though stubborn at times. Bryan and I both stayed home for the night. He cooked a Granny recipe for the first time. He's good at them, and I get to eat food I love! Mmmmm.... Then we played Little Big Planet which Bryan bought after renting it. It is one of the coolest games I have ever played.

I'm not really sure what we are going to do tonight. I am going to my sword class at 6PM. After that, I suppose we'll hang out at home and play more Little Big Planet. Tomorrow I am going to Jiu Jitsu at 9AM followed by TKD at 10AM. Tomorrow afternoon we are getting a security system installed. The company came by yesterday and talked to us about their services. The price was very reasonable, and they were very nice. This will definitely make me feel better when Bryan is gone for business. I know that his mind will be more at ease also. There is nothing planned for the rest of the weekend, but I'm very okay with this.

Stephanie agreed to go to the Alamo's Pop Princess Sing-Along on the 22nd. I am sooo excited! I missed the Madonna Sing-Along which greatly depressed me. I think we'll have a lot of fun. All others interested should meet us there! Yay! (That's my Bubbles cheer!) :D

Photos of Astoria:

Songs I'm digging at the moment:
Fly on the Wall - Miley Cyrus

A Look Into January

2009-01-07T09:18:00.002-06:00

Today I went to Kung Fu class at 7:30 AM which was kinda blah. This afternoon I subbed at a middle school. It's not a full day's work, but I'll take it to not working at all. They did have a little screw up however. When I accepted the job it was for language arts, and then when I showed up it was an inclusion teacher. Inclusion is the worst job you can get as a sub because there is nothing for you to do in the class but sit there which I did. Ugh! I'm going to TKD class tonight where I'll be taking my first Jiu Jitsu class first! I'm a little nervous about that!

Here's what's coming up for the rest of the month:

January 9 - our 11 month anniversary!!
January 17 - open house at the Kung Fu school
January 18 - Astoria starts an 8 week obedience class at Petsmart
January 24 - pancake theater at our house (Robin Hood)
January 31 - TKD testing (testing senior blue to rank up to brown belt)
I should also test in Kung Fu this month to go from yellow to blue!

While The Rest Of The World Returns To Work...

2009-01-06T12:01:00.003-06:00

Friday:
Bryan worked while I tried to do certain things around the house. Then we had a furious cleaning session to prepare for Kevin and Sarah who stayed with us for the weekend. I hadn't met them yet since they live out of town, but they were super nice. The first night we just hung out around here. I even cooked! I know!!!! :O It was fun.

Saturday:
Saturday the 4 of us went out to lunch. Then Bryan attended my laser hair removal appointment with me. Ouch! That night we played Phase 10 and drank. I love that game. It's sooo much fun, and we did have a blast. Then we went to Kerby Lane for a late night dinner. Ah, good times! Kevin and Sarah, you are welcome back anytime...

Sunday:
Bryan with very little help from me managed to re-catproof the backyard. This time it is for real! There will be no more little "Lewis and Clark" adventures. I'm really glad this got completed because OC and Mallos were becoming quite annoying to be around without their "freedom".

That night Bryan, Sarah, Kevin, and Jason went way down to the Salt Lick for dinner. I'm not a big fan of BBQ anyway, but even so I still really did not like this place. They are real jerks and morons here. Yes, I'm being very opinionated. My conversation with the waitress:

Me: I'd like the turkey sandwich. Can I get the "special sauce" on the side and mayo on the sandwich.
Waitress: I'm not sure we have regular mayo. The sauce is mayo habanero.
Me: Ok, scratch the sauce all together (I don't do well with spicy). Do you make the sauce yourself?
Waitress: Yes
Me: Well, then go find the mayo they use to make the sauce.

Oh well, the sandwich turned out to be pretty good, but I mostly enjoyed the conversation and the stories which were all really funny!

Monday:
Monday was a hang around the house kind of day. It was so cold - crazy Texas weather! I got a little schoolwork done. Some is better than none I suppose. I took Astoria out for a jog/walk for about 30 minutes until my chin went numb. Bryan and I went to Kung Fu/Tai Chi. It was our first time in the new school. I definitely like some things about it, but I'm still not convinced it was the best option. There is tons of room, and yet, there is not room. Hmmm... I discovered that I have all of my yellow belt material. Now all I need to do is practice, practice, practice. I should be able to test sooner than expected - yay! After class we came home and caught some DVRed TV. Ahhh....

Tuesday (today):
It's yet another hang around the house kind of day. I can't seem to snag any jobs. I guess all the teachers are expected to work after their long break. Sigh. I watched a movie this morning. Then I got quite a bit of schoolwork done today - go me! Astoria didn't get to go out this morning thanks to the rain. I should probably keep her out for double time this afternoon or else she'll be off the wall. It's a TKD night. I look forward to being back in class after all this time off. It feels good to use my body again.

Meet Astoria

2009-01-05T11:25:00.009-06:00

While we were in Mississippi we somehow decided that we wanted a dog. So, on Sunday we scoured the Internet for the "right" dog. We had a lot of requirements. For example, no puppies or lap dogs. We sent emails and applications for several dogs. On Monday we went to one of the shelters in Austin. We found one dog that was okay, but none of the dogs really met our needs. That night we drove to Seguine, TX to look at a 1 year old boarder collie/lab mix that we found on craigslist. We took her home. She is sooo sweet. We renamed her Astoria. The cats are still getting used to her, but so far she has been doing great with everything. I think we got lucky and picked a superb pup.

Tuesday:

took Astoria to the vet to get vaccinated and enrolled her in obedience school (starts the 18th) - both a Petsmart

Pictures of Astoria:
me and the dog
astoria

first night home

on the couch hamming it up

Here is a video of Astoria and Mallos:

Wednesday (New Year's Eve):
Bryan had purchased tickets for us to ride the Twilight Flyer train for New Year's. I was pretty excited about this. We had a lot of fun. I have never been on a train like this before. The people around us were really friendly, and they made the event for me. There was a buffet and of course drinks. There was some entertainment, but it wasn't all that entertaining. Next year I want to maybe do something downtown. All in all, I had a great night. I can't think of a better way to start the new year off right than beside my sweetie. :P

Pictures from New Year's Eve:
about to board
me and bryan
bryan
cute couple
the entertainment
pimping
?
lucy and cher
lucy
marilyn
smokey
miss texas
smokey again
drinking
celebrating
no, I didn't
kiss

Videos from New Year's Eve:

Thursday (New Year's Day):

did stuff around house - mainly organize all the stuff from Mississippi :)

I do have a New Year's resolution to keep up with my blogging. I'd love to blog daily, but that ain't gonna happen. :) But I will try bi-weekly at the least. I hope everyone had a great New Year's, and I sincerely hope that everyone has a great 2009.

The SCARE!

2009-01-02T07:01:00.006-06:00

Happy New Year! Sorry I've been yet again such a bad blogger, but in this new year I really will try better. Given that it has been the holiday season and life has been more than a little busy maybe you'll let me slide this one last time? You're the best! Don't ever go changin'. ;)

Friday (um, last Friday) and Saturday (consider them one day, they were for us):
What a day!! We slept in...ahhh. Then we were off for Granny's house where she gave us a delicious breakfast of homemade biscuits. Yum! Bryan and I then left to go to Meridian, MS (1 hour away) and shop! Yeah, we shopped the day after Christmas. It wasn't bad though. I had to see the sales. Plus, the gift cards were burning a hole in my pocket. I also had to exchange some things. We did awesome, and walked away with some pretty cool looking threads. After arriving back in Philadelphia, we did more shopping...yay! Finally when there were no more stores and Bryan looked like he'd had all he could take ;) we went over to my dad's house for dinner. After dinner I took Bryan back out to Granny's where we simply stood and looked at the millions of stars. It's crazy how much you can see when there are no lights. It's breathtaking. Anyway, as we shared a little kiss under the stars, Bryan's phone ran, and it began...

Scott called to say that when he went in to check on the cats they could one find one, OC. Needless to say, I was in a panic and crying immediately. We had to wake up Granny, and figure out what to do. We decided that even though it was 10 PM, we had to leave ASAP. But first I needed to load the SUV down with crap that is still in storage at Granny's. I did it as fast as possible. I wasn't about to come home and not put the trip to good use.

We then left for Texas after being up all day. We took turns driving and sleeping. What really made the night special was that my cousin's husband gave half the family his stomach virus. It was about an hour into the trip when I discovered I had caught it. Great. I did the rest of the trip wondering if I was going to see my dinner again and fearful I might not see our cats again. My stomach made the entire trip miserable, but I never did throw up.

We finally made it home to OC. One of the cats, most likely Mallos, had pulled a part of the fencing down and then simply crawled under. I was terrified that they were lost forever. We started looking for them...animal shelters and driving though the neighborhood at a snail's pace...nothing. The longer it went the more frightened I became. Those poor kittahs! We decided that we'd make some fliers. While Bryan started to work on that, I went outside to look on foot.

I started with a weird part of the subdivision where the houses face each other and not the street, a part we couldn't drive. I saw a tree with a hole in the trunk. "I'd go there if I were a lost cat," I thought. So I had a look. Sure enough I could see Bella! It was just her back, but I'd know that fur anywhere. I called Bryan who came running. I couldn't tell if she were alive so I poked her with a stick. She jumped up and around like lightening. When she saw it was me, I swear I saw relief on that poor cat's face. She started meowing to me. We got her out and back to the house. She was perfectly fine, and glad to be home. I can't even begin to tell you how happy I was to see my baby!

We ditched the posters and started looking for Mallos on foot. Scott and Kelly even came by to help. We walked and walked and walked and called and called. Nothing! I have no idea where that stinker was hiding. Finally, we had to give up. Every muscle in my body was tired. We were exhausted. We'd been going for so long. I felt bad giving up, but the body was just too tired to continue. Bryan and I took a nap. I was gone before my head hit the pillow. When we awoke, we started trying to think of our next step when that damned cat just came through the cat door like "oh, hey...you're back." We immediately scooped him up and loved him. He ate, and then the rascal tried to go back outside.

Currently, the cats are not allowed outside except with supervision. They can't be trusted. We are going to work on getting their yard back and better than ever.

Before going to bed for good, we had to open the gifts that Bryan's family had sent that didn't make while they were here visiting. We again got some awesome gifts and got to extend Christmas a little. :D

That was a long day...2 days...it's a blur. We slept better than ever that night glad to be home with the family but a little sad to have had to leave early. Sometimes you just have to do what you have to do. :) I love my kitties!

The missing cats after their return:

Bryan opening gifts:

A Mississippi Christmas

2008-12-28T18:33:00.020-06:00

Tuesday:
We went shopping in downtown Philadelphia which is about 1 square. It's not much, but I think we had fun anyway. Then it was off to Granny's house for yummy food! That evening we went over to my dad's house and hung out for a while. It was great to see all of my close family....really great. I have missed them soooo much!

Wednesday:
We got to sleep in which was awesome and much appreciated. We met one of my old coworkers for lunch at a restaurant we used to eat at all the time when we worked together. It was fun to catch up with him. After eating we took my little brother out to shop for some last minute gifts. We took him back home and hung out there for a bit (my dad's house), and then it was finally time to go to Granny's house for the annual Christmas Eve celebration at her house. My whole family was there. We ate and ate and then we opened presents. There are always tons of presents, and I have somehow became the person who must always pass out all of these many gifts. All of the kids are growing up, and they were definitely entertaining. We both got some awesome gifts some much needed. I stayed and helped clean up which made for a later night so it was nice when we got in bed.

Pictures from Christmas Eve:
desserts
me in a hat
me in a hat 2
bryan in a hat
bryan in a hat 2
me and paisley
paisley in a hat
riley
mason
presents
riley and jessi
us and granny
bryan
opening gifts
grandparents' gifts
paisley
still opening gifts
so many gifts
paisley looking at a book
bryan will smell good

Videos that I took Christmas Eve:

Thursday:
The first thing we did was go over to my dad's to open presents and see what Kade (my little brother) got from Santa. We were again blessed with some nice gifts. I always enjoy exchanging presents with my family.

After we finished up at my dad's, it was time to drive to my grandparent's house (about 2 hours away). We always have Christmas over there. I sure am glad that both sides of my family don't do Christmas at the same time. :) I always look forward to getting there. It was a lot of fun with even more food and gifts. It was sooooo great to see the other side of my family; I have missed them immensely. I love hanging out with my family especially on Christmas! We had an awesome time. Bryan gets along with them so well, and they like him! Presley (my little sister) took to him in no time. She pretty much wore him out. After it got dark Bryan, my grandmother, my aunt, my cousin, and I drove to Canton to see their Christmas lights. Overall, it was a great day. I hated to leave and the drive home, but I was super happy to get into bed!

Pictures from Christmas:
me at my dad's
presley
carson and blocks
presley and blocks
me swinging
bryan tickles presley
grandmother
madison as a present
brennen
mom and daughter
us girls
us girls again
carson smiles
carson pouts
carson's cars
presley smiles
prelsey frowns
attempt 1
attempt 2
attempt 3
cartwheels
not going to make it
showoff
bryan drives
backseat
castle
bryan in canton
us
carousel
grandmother poses
maddie
me on a horse
bryan on a horse
al on a horse
girls on horses
madison and a tree
grandmother/white tree
maddie and grandmother
the girls
couple shot
bryan/white tree
lights
reindeer
waffle house

Video that Bryan took on Christmas (must watches!):

Blogging From Mississippi

2008-12-24T23:35:00.002-06:00

Wow, forgive me for being a bad blogger. I have simply been so busy. We are currently in Philadelphia, Mississippi (my hometown). I do want to catch you up so you will know every step I have taken, but I'll only be getting you to a few days ago...sorry. :D But just so you feel better...I am having lots of sweet tea and many delicious foods while here and am VERY happy. :D

Saturday:

Everyone including me :O cooked in preparation for our Christmas dinner which was just me and Bryan and his parents. We made a lot of food; I provided dessert (mock apple pie). It was a good dinner. After dinner we opened all of our presents. Bryan and our exchanged ours at this time. Unfortunately, Bryan's parents' packages didn't arrive in time for us to open while they were there. They sent them through the post office and were assured that they would arrive in time. Well, they didn't...thanks for ruining everything USPS! I know they felt bad, but I'm glad that we can extend Christmas even longer. The presents will be there to open when we finally make it back home.

Presents were awesome! Bryan got me the best stuff! He's super good! I know he liked everything that I got him also. We know each other. :)

Here are the pictures that were taken from that night:

Bryan eating rainbow cookies

all the presents under the tree plus Mallos

eating dinner

OC getting his stocking

cats and their cat nipped filled mouse

OC getting into the mouse

OC and mouse

Bryan's parents and their stockings

us and our stockings

Bryan's mat

Bryan's mean trick on me

present for the cats from Morgan

I got a diamond necklace!

showing off the goods

he got a GH guitar

the destruction

Sunday:

We had to say good-bye to Bryan's parents. :( We took them to the airport a little before noon. We talked ourselves out of conditioning class on the way home so we could get ready for the trip to Mississippi. Now that I've eaten so bad here I wish we would have. :) We went home, but we didn't get started on trip preparations for hours. Instead we tried to play Guitar Hero, and that's when we discovered that Bryan's new guitar wasn't compatible with anything we had. So, we had to make a trip to GameStop for some trading of old Guitar Hero games as well as buying Guitar Hero World Tour (just the game) and another Rock Band guitar. Now we have the whole setup. We played for a couple of hours before finally packing our stuff and then the car. We made sure the cats had plenty to eat and drink. We went to bed way too late...way too late!

Monday:

Driving day! We were out the door by 6 AM! It's a 10.5 hour drive. It's a long and boring drive...sigh. We stopped in Jackson, MS and met my grandparents and aunt at a favorite restaurant of ours. It was nice to break the trip up a little. When we arrived in Philadelphia, we headed straight for Granny's house for some more food. I did some more wrapping, and then we headed to where we were going to stay for our time here. It was good to finally sleep. It's good to be home, and so great to see my family. :)

Bryan took yet another sneaky photo of me:

me wrapping gifts

I'll try to write more soon so you can see what all we are up to here in the 'Sip'. I hope everyone is having a fabulous Christmas!

Here is a video I took of Bella playing with that damn cat nip mouse:

Dumb Video

2008-12-21T22:32:00.003-06:00

I have got to take Bryan's camera phone away...not only does he take unsuspecting shots of me napping (one of many!), but now he's taking videos (this is not the first)! He somehow got me at Kerby Lane...

He's getting good...too good!

Beware: I think he may have a YouTube channel in the works or something. ;)

We Have Visitors!

2008-12-21T21:32:00.003-06:00

Somehow I forgot to mention that I sold the pink kayak. I mention this only to say that this means that I have to add this back to my list of things to complete before 30. :) I managed to get what I paid for it which is quite nice. I want to get a smaller one when it warms up again.

Tuesday:
I didn't' work. I spent the day doing more Christmas stuff and getting ready for Bryan's parents to get here. We picked them up from the airport that afternoon. It was good to see them again. We ate out on the way home. I know Bryan was super happy to see them. We spent the night at the house. I did leave to go to TKD class. I hadn't been in awhile so I thought I better make an appearance.

Wednesday:
Bryan I went to 7:30 AM Kung Fu class since his parents were visiting. Wednesday was a long day of looking at houses and communities for Bryan's parents so they can see some potential places for when they move here to Austin. We looked at some pretty nice houses including one which I fell in love with...sigh. We went to the green community that is being developed in South Austin. I didn't like those houses at all; they were so cold feeling to me. I couldn't live in one. What is even worse is where they built this community...right in the middle of a very low economic part of Austin. How do I know? Easy - the worst school I have ever subbed at is located just down the street. Yikes! Seriously, you do not want to live near this place. Wednesday night we ate at home and hung out; it was nice.

Thursday:
Thursday morning Bryan and I made it to an open practice class at Shaolin-Do. Later in the day everyone went out for more house browsing while I stayed home to do some schoolwork. I then took a long nap while Bryan and his dad added some shelving to our garage in preparation to the junk I will be hauling back from my trip home. The shelves are much appreciated! I'm still not sure how I slept through the hammering and sawing, but I do have mad skills. :) We ate in that night. Bryan's mom cooked all week which was nice especially to Bryan who ends up doing 99% of all the cooking each week...poor guy.

Friday:
Bryan and I went to early morning conditioning classes (my legs are still sore). It was a little rough on me since I haven't been since I started working. It was nice to go back even if it did kill. Some of us went out for breakfast right after class (a tradition). The day was spent doing a few errands and more cooking. Bryan's mom made her famous rainbow cookies, and Bryan and I stuffed them into nice bags as gifts for our friends. That night I went to TKD sword class while Bryan and his parents had to wait on me in the car (sorry!). Then we all went downtown to see the Christmas Pancake Theater at the Alamo (hilarious!!). I think we all enjoyed that.

Songs I'm digging at the moment:
Love Story - Taylor Swift
In Color - Jamey Johnson
Love Lockdown - Kanye West
I'm Yours - Jason Mraz
I Don't Care - Apocalyptica

Christmas Pictures:
artwork from children that I subbed for proudly displayed as Christmas decorations

Sam The Man

2008-12-15T12:33:00.002-06:00

Taking today off again. I didn't want to, but as Christmas approaches, I find jobs harder to come by. That's ok though; there is always more school work to do as well as house stuff. Bryan's parents will be here tomorrow afternoon. I hope to snag a job for tomorrow (it may be my last before the schools let out for the holidays). I haven't decided if I will try to work while his parents are visiting. I will make that call each day. I want to spend time with them, but I definitely need the money. I'm not just loving the once a month paychecks, but money is money. :)

Austin ISD is having some Saturday training sessions in January - March. They are one Saturday a month which is nice. The training focuses on classroom management. What's really awesome (other than the vast amounts of knowledge I'm sure to gain) is that they pay you if it's your first time (and it is!). I plan to attend all of them because they will definitely help me out in subbing as well as when I have my own classroom.

I wanted to post the link to the shots that Sam took of me last weekend because they are AMAZING! I absolutely love them! Sam has major talent, and working with him was awesome. I always feel weird being on the other side of the camera, but he definitely made me feel at ease. I'm super happy with the way they turned out.

I am so ready to go to Mississippi. I feel like I haven't seen my family in ages...oh wait, I haven't! I also haven't had good Southern food or sweet tea. It will be good just to see everyone and familiar sights. I look forward to Bryan meeting the rest of the family...hmmm...maybe. ;) It will be an exhausting trip I'm sure, but I still can't wait to be back in the good ole 'sip'.

A Week Off

2008-12-14T23:49:00.006-06:00

I have been going nonstop this past week. However, I found myself skipping a lot of the regulars...blogging, for instance. I also went to no martial arts classes this week except for Saturday and today (conditioning).

Subbing:
I took Monday off and did some school work while I took care of Bryan who had caught the Shaolin stomach virus. Thankfully I didn't...whew! He had a pretty rough day, but while he napped I got shit loads done! I also took Tuesday off and did even more stuff. I was really proud of myself for getting so many things accomplished. I subbed the rest of the week. I had a great day subbing a 2nd grade class and another great day subbing for elementary art where my classes ranged from K-5th. A lot of the kids drew me Christmas pictures which I have decorated the house with. They really add a nice and unique touch - cheap too!

So what did I do if I wasn't doing martial arts every night? Easy - working my ass off doing chores and preparing for Christmas and all of the guests that we are having this month - oh, and being dead tired from subbing all day. Those children can take it out of you. I went to bed at like 6 one night...just sad. Christmas shopping is almost done though - yay!

The weekend:
Bryan's boss came to stay on Thursday. Friday night we all went over to Jose and Lucy's house for dinner which was very delicious! I got to see their baby finally. She was too cute. I even got to feed her. Saturday I slept in really late which was perfect. Those 4:45 mornings come early during the week. I did make it to class. When I got home we prepared for the Kung Fu school Christmas potluck. We went to the potluck and got our grub on...yummy! After stuffing our faces we came back home to get ready to host the second installment of pancake theater (the Christmas edition).

Pancake theater was fun though it wasn't quite as good as the first. Perhaps Miracle on 34th Street wasn't the best choice. Still we made fun of it, and I enjoyed myself. We had to drink each time some form of the name Santa was mentioned which was lots!

Sunday was nice. I went to conditioning class and then when I got home we went to out to eat and then to see what goods we could get at the Circuit City closing. We really racked up. I got several CD's because they were 50% off. Later Jason came over to exchange gifts. He got me volumes 1 & 2 of the Goo Goo Dolls greatest hits which I LOVED! The rest of the day was all TV - perfect!

Bryan's parents are coming on Tuesday and leaving on Sunday. We leave for Mississippi on Monday. I need lots of energy for the rest of this month! It will be fun though. I do love Christmas!

Pictures

me feeding miss Sofia

the potluck (this is all that was posted by others so far)

pancake theater (don't ask)

Hot Pockets!

2008-12-08T14:50:00.003-06:00

You'll only get that title if you know the work of Jim Gaffigan - more on that later.

Thursday and Friday I subbed (middle school then high). They were pretty good days I'm happy to report. I didn't go to any classes, this I'm sad to report. It was kind of a weird week as in I just felt kinda offish. I don't exactly know what that means, but there you go. :)

Friday night Bryan took me out to eat pizza. Then we came back home and caught a movie we had DVRed when all the movie channels were previewing for free (yay us!).

Saturday:
Wow, what a day! Saturday was one cool thing after another. First of all we went to the Kung Fu school to participate in 2 seminars. The first was to learn this really cool form, and the second was to learn to put out a candle with your hand. No, not like waving it out. It was so badass when Bryan and I finally achieved it. I wasn't surprised when Bryan did it, but when I did it I was simply blown away (hahaha...all puns intended).

We had to bolt from the candle seminar a little early because I had a photoshoot with Sam. He shot me in my TKD and Kung Fu uniform. My dad really wanted a pic of me in my TKD uniform with all my medals. While that is very cheesy, Sam still helped. We did the one shot and then moved onto some much cooler moves including getting to beat Bryan up. Ah, I love the way Sam's mind works...hehe. After the shoot we walked down to a bbq place for some late lunch with Sam.

Here is a photo that Bryan shot of me: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=30348072&l=33668&id=163200356.

After getting our grub on it was time for Jim Gaffigan! We bought these tickets so long ago that I didn't think it would ever come, but finally it was really time to go see his show. I love his last album which Bryan and I quote all the time. I can't tell you how excited I was to attend this. It was almost like seeing my favorite band. Even cooler was that Comedy Central filmed it for their channel. I doubt you'll see Bryan and me, but you never know.

We had 4 tickets (we met Tommy and Elizabeth). They were really sucky seats. No, really...last row in fact. I got dizzy just looking down. Then outta nowhere the producer of the show comes by upgrade our tickets. Apparently, there is some last row lottery. That was crazy cool and much appreciated. We got to move down to the bottom section. It wasn't front row, but at least I could actually see Jim who was hilarious by the way. He was everything I was expecting. He even did his Hot Pocket bit at the end. I seriously laughed the entire time.

Here are some pictures from the show:
the marquee
me n bryan
no hot pockets!
our first seats - ugh

After the show we stopped by Ben's house for a little bit before finally heading back home.

Sunday:
We decided to skip conditioning...so bad of us! Instead we did some more Christmas shopping. We shopped forever and only managed to knock a few more names off the list - lame! I wrapped some gifts and addressed our Christmas cards when we got home. It was definitely all about getting stuff done yesterday.

Monday (today):
I woke up early this morning to find that Bryan had threw up and was feeling very crappy. I was already planning on staying home. I sure picked the right day. I've been doing my best to help him feel better, but I think it's one of those things that just has to work its way through. He already feels better, but I don't think you'll be seeing him in class tonight. Please don't let me get it too. I've been trying to get more stuff done today as well as work on my next school lesson. I got my lesson plan grade back - 93! I was shocked but elated.

Songs I'm Digging at the Moment:
Power to Change - The Black and White Years

Also check out this link because it's a story that the Jackson, MS local news station did on my grandfather for their series on veterans for Veteran's Day. Be sure to watch the video if you don't like to read. ;)

Subbing Suuuucks! Sometimes...

2008-12-03T18:34:00.006-06:00

Is it only Wednesday? Ugh....

Tuesday:
I subbed middle school which in my opinion is the worst of the schools. Those kids think they know it all. It wasn't a bad day, more like boring. I was subbing for an inclusion teacher. I was more in the way than anything.

Last night I went to TKD. We have gotten a lot of new students here recently which is nice for a little change up. We mostly did target drills and sparring. We only touched on our forms for a few minutes. The instructor said we will focus on forms heavy after Christmas.

Wednesday (today):
I subbed middle school again. This is the WORST day of subbing I have ever experienced. I had multiple students leave the classroom against my protests. I did good just to keep them in the classroom and not running around doing anything they could think of. This school was just horrible. So bad, in fact, that I received a hug from the office staff upon leaving. They wanted to make sure that the students wouldn't keep me from coming back to sub again. The school was super easy to get to so that is a plus. However, I just checked the available jobs, and I can sub there again on Friday. I just can't bring myself to accept the position. I don't want to go back. Being in schools like this makes me very, very scared for our nation's future.

I had a stomach ache on the way home. I don't think it was induced by the children. :) Because of it I decided to take a night off. I've think I have had enough punishment for one day. I hate that I missed sparring though.

Tomorrow I'm subbing for a woman I subbed for about a week ago. She called me directly to come back and sub. I have no idea why she called me directly, but I definitely appreciate a job being thrown to me and not having to fight for it in the subbing system. It was my first direct request. It felt good. The downside? It's middle school! :) I think it's safe to say that while I might be getting my certification to include middle school there is no way in hell I'll teach it! Why do I feel like I'll eat those words?

Upcoming Events:

December 4 - happy hour with some of Bryan's friends
December 6 - Seminars at the Kung Fu school and then Jim Gaffigan show that night!
December 9 - our 10 month anniversary
December 13 - potluck dinner at the Kung Fu school and then pancake theater (Christmas edition) at our house (be there or be square)
December 16 - 21 - Bryan's parents will be here for Christmas
December 22 - 27 - we'll be in Mississippi for the Christmas (for real)
December 24 - Christmas Eve at Granny's
December 25 - Christmas Day at my Grandparent's house
there's talk of a party on the 6th as well but because of the show I don't know if we'll make it

The month looks full! It also looks like it will be a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to all of the festivities. I can't wait to go home to Mississippi. I can taste Granny's food already. I'm ready to see my family and just be back in the Hospitality state for a few. We have lots of stuff planned. It will definitely be a packed trip.

Christmas pictures:

our Christmas card picture

our attempt to have the cats on our Christmas card

Starting To Feel Like Christmas

2008-12-01T15:30:00.005-06:00

I love long weekends! I enjoyed the extra off time with Bryan. Thank goodness it finally got chilly outside. Now it's starting to feel like Christmas.

Thursday (Thanksgiving):
We met Nik at his grandmother's house for Thanksgiving dinner. We went there for Easter and had awesome food and a great time. I was really looking forward to eating there again. And just as I had anticipated, we had a fantastic time. There was great conversation and yummy food. We made a cranberry coffee cake that was moist and delicious even if the top was a little burnt. :) After we left there we went home and hung and watched TV/movies. It was a perfect day.

I am thankful for more this year than ever before and most of that is thanks to meeting Bryan. :) This has shaped up to be a great year even with the few bumps.

Friday:
Bryan was off work which just made the weekend perfect and super long. :) School was closed so no subbing. Bryan has caught what I had last week. He didn't feel up to conditioning class so we just slept in. We cleaned the house for hours because we had let it go soooo long. We did what I like to call a deep cleaning. I cleaned everything! It's super clean now though, and looking oh so nice! With cats the house never seems to stay clean for long. :) That night we spent more time taking in TV and movies.

Saturday:
Shaolin-Do day as usual. We ate out for lunch and did a little shopping (the best kind - no buying), and then headed back for my class which was great. I got some great review and even learned a few new things.

Saturday evening we put up the Christmas tree which looks so beautiful. I love the ambiance that a Christmas tree creates. The cats have really taking to it too. Mallos is constantly under there sleeping. I have some wrapped presents, but I can't seem to bring myself to put them under the tree for fear of their safety. We were going to have a date night, but we ended up feeling more like staying home. Instead we - you guessed it - watched TV and movies. Hey, I like these 2 activities!

Sunday:
I woke up just in time to get ready and leave for conditioning class. Class was great. We did kicking and lots of it! I'm a kicker at heart so this was like the funnest hour ever! After that we went for lunch with Sean. Then we stopped at Target on the way home where we got even more Christmas shopping done. The list is steadily getting smaller, but I won't be happy until all Christmas shopping is complete and wrapped. I also put up the stockings. I would love to go all out with Christmas decorations, but I'm feeling too strapped for cash working little and going to school. I hope next year is a lot less stressful in the finance sense. We finished the night up with a movie.

Monday (today):
I took off today in order to complete some school stuff. I finally turned in my first lesson plan. I can only imagine the criticism I will get back when this thing is graded. It was super hard, but I'm very happy with parts of it. I still feel like it was missing something. Oh well, for a first try, it was pretty good. I'm glad to have finally turned it in as I put it off for WAY too long. Now I can look forward to making more of them - yay.

We took our Christmas card photo today. I've never made photo cards before, but I have always wanted to. I think they turned out pretty good. I really wanted the 3 cats in the picture, but true to their nature they didn't cooperate. That's life with cats. :) We got them ordered and will pick them up tomorrow. Now for lots of addressing. I'll probably be asking for some of your addresses. Make sure to put our picture up on the fridge where you can see us everyday...hehe.

I'm looking forward to class tonight. It's a new week so we should start something new in Kung Fu and Tai Chi - sweet! I'm subbing middle school tomorrow so pray for me.

Christmas pictures:

Cats drawn to the tree

Our stockings (made by me)

The cats' stockings

Our tree

CoughCoughCough

2008-11-25T21:15:00.006-06:00

I am almost better thank goodness! I am so ready to stop coughing already. Bryan might be more ready than me. :)

Friday:
I didn't sub. I guess it's a good thing considering my condition - cough cough. I decided to do some Christmas shopping. I went to some places on my own and then called Jason. We met up and ate lunch and then hit up the outlet mall. It was getting late so I headed home so that Bryan and I could get ready for my TKD belt ceremony. The ceremony was just like all the previous ones. They aren't that exciting, but I still get excited knowing that I'm going to get to wear that new belt. Senior blue...it feels nice. The rest of the night was lazy night at the house; it was nice.

Here are the pictures that Bryan took of the ceremony:
new belt
the whole gang
new belt, old belt
i'm a senior blue

Saturday:
Saturday was just another Shaolin-Do day - just like I like 'em. :) Bryan did his 2 classes and then we ate. When we got back from eating I went to my class. I am still digging all of this new material. It's so much fun! The only down side of class was after we starting working out my throat felt like it was literally on fire - not fun! Finally, it was time to go back home. Good thing - those long Saturday mornings tire me out! The rest of the day was was get stuff at done at home. Bryan mounted the speakers to the wall so we could push the couch back for extra room. We also hung the belt racks (finally). They look awesome!

Sunday:
Sunday morning was all about being at home. I wanted to go to conditioning class, but after my throat on fire feeling from Saturday, I thought maybe a day off was better. At 1 PM Jason met us here, and we all headed to the mall to do some Christmas shopping. All we bought was some ribbon and gift tags for wrapping. However, we bought no presents. Oh well, it was fun hanging out and looking at all of the things that I can't buy. :) After the mall we all went to eat some Mexican food. It was good to stay in for the night and prepare for the short work week.

Here is a stupid video that Bryan started taking without my knowledge - thankfully he didn't catch me dancing to the American Eagle store music which is what he was aiming for:

Monday:
I didn't sub today. I didn't do much of anything today. Not sleeping well from coughing does not make for a productive day. I actually had to get up around midnight and move to the guest bed so that Bryan might actually get some sleep. My coughing is keeping us both up. The poor man is exhausted, and he isn't even the one sick! I did run to ToysRUs for a couple of presents.

Monday night was a Kung Fu class. I got the end of the form I started learning last week. It was a great class. My lungs didn't catch on fire which is always a plus. I also went to Tai Chi where I got to review the portion of the form that I have been learning for quite some time now. I got it on my own though so perhaps I'm finally ready for the next section...maybe. :)

Tuesday:
I didn't do much at all today. I slept in thanks to coughing all night. I think the cough is FINALLY starting to wear off - a little! I stopped taking medication for it. I did some more Christmas shopping, but this time from my seat at the computer. Ah, online shopping - it is truly wonderful. It appeals to my lazy side. Plus, there are no lines or crowds. :)

Tuesday night was a TKD night. We did some conditioning at the beginning of class which was different but cool. Then we practiced our forms and then finally sparred. My instructor put his gear on for the first time. I was crapping my pants! And for good reason I found out when I had to spar him. OMG! That guy was hitting hard! He was all over the place. I think I got one punch in. I think he tried to ax kick me. I'm not sure; it was all a big blur....too many punches to the head. While I was waiting for Bryan to get home from Kung Fu I got in some Gamecube (we got some new games the other day).

Wednesday (today):
So far nothing to really report. Bryan had to go sleep in the guest bed last night thanks to...you guessed it - my coughing. Poor thing. I plan to spend the afternoon knocking out some school stuff that's way behind. Sigh.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. I hope everyone has a wonderful day. We are going to have dinner with Nik, his grandmother, and the rest of this family. Thanks for the invite, Nik! We went there for Easter and had the best time. I'm really looking forward to this.

Sick Sucks!

2008-11-21T03:22:00.003-06:00

Being sick sucks! I have slept great every night but tonight. However, Bryan on the other hand hasn't slept good in several days thanks to my constant tossing/turning, coughing, nose blowing, and whimpering. Yes, I whimper in my sleep when I don't feel good. Poor Bryan! Tonight was really bad. It's 3:23 AM as I am writing this if that gives you a clue how this night has gone. I finally woke up about 30 minutes ago and gave up on sleeping. I wasn't really sleeping, more like in between sleep and awake. Ever get stuck in that in between area? It sucks because you're not awake and not really resting. Plus, when I get stuck in this spot I grind my teeth pretty badly so I usually wake up with sore teeth. I feel bad that Bryan has to suffer along with me; it's not fair. I finally got out of bed because I could see sleeping tonight wasn't going to happen, and one of us should get some sleep. As I'm sure you guessed I'm not working tomorrow.

We are supposed to go to conditioning class in the morning. I'll see if I feel like it when the time approaches. We are also supposed to go get a Christmas tree tomorrow! Yay! It will be a fake one, but it will be a nice fake one (pre-lit, I hope). I can feel Christmas getting closer, and I am loving it! I have already begun to buy presents and wrap them. I have bought all the cats stockings (lame, I know). I think I'm going to make mine and Bryan's stockings. I'll let you know how that turns out. I have ideas, but haven't found the materials yet.

I can smell Christmas on the air at times. I'm getting excited. Bryan's parents will be coming down right before Christmas. We are planning a nice dinner to celebrate. It should be a lot of fun. I am already picking out the recipes that I want to try. On actual Christmas Eve and Day we will be in Mississippi with my family which I am looking forward to so badly. I haven't seen any of my family in months (since Bryan and I went there). It seems like it's been forever. I can't wait for Bryan to meet the ones he didn't get a chance to the first time. I look forward to Granny's food, all the traditions, and of course, presents!

I love buying presents. I really like trying my best to buy something that I know the recipient will really enjoy or use. I like to show people just how much I know about them. I really try my best to put an effort into picking out the right gift.

In other news:
My bo staff arrived yesterday in all of its awesome glory. It is perfect, and I love it! I can't wait to start using it. However, I think I only get to learn bo staff swings for this belt. I have been twirling it all over the house much to Bryan's dismay. I don't understand why he's convinced I'll break something. ;) I was a flag girl for 4 years so I do know how to twirl a stick, but I did often drop it so he's probably right. I should definitely leave the bo staff twirling outside, or I might just end up buying us a new TV for Christmas! :D

"I Love You Too, Cracker" - Bryan

2008-11-19T16:27:00.001-06:00

Saturday:
Bryan went to Kung Fu early in the morning, but I slept in so I'd be prepared for my TKD test. The testing started at 3:30 PM. I was pretty nervous because I didn't really feel all that prepared thanks to my new love of Kung Fu. However, my instructor was the main judge so that helped. I think I did pretty good considering the lack of practice.

Here are the pictures Bryan took of my testing:
lined up to warm up
warming up with blocks
hook blocks
sparring
blue vs. blue
round 2
bring it!
blue vs. green
sparring down a level

Here is the video Bryan took of my form:

After my testing was complete we went over to the Kung Fu school to catch the last few minutes of the open house and potluck. :) After hanging out there for awhile, we went over to Ben's where a lot of us met up to watch the UFC fight which was crazy and awesome! It was a lot of fun. I enjoy watching anything in our little group. The commentary is the best! Finally, it was time for home and bed.

Sunday:
We attended the sparring tournament being held at the school. Unfortunately, I was the only girl that showed up at least for white - brown. Since I couldn't spar in my class level, I had to spar up and with all boys which didn't bother me. Once I knew this though, I knew I couldn't win. I actually came in last, but it doesn't bother me because no one really beat me by too much. I think I held my own, and I'm proud of myself for that. The sparring wore me out, and I was very ready to go home.

We then went to do some grocery shopping and then out to eat. We were supposed to clean the house (it needs it sooo badly), but we were very lazy and didn't do much of anything.

Monday:
I subbed middle school and it sucked. I went to Kung Fu that night and started learning my yellow belt material which is awesome! I was feeling wiped out and took a nap on the couch at the school. Somehow I managed to wake myself up and drag my ass to Tai Chi which I'm super glad I did because I really needed the review.

Tuesday:
I woke up feeling a little sick which got worse that night. I subbed at a high school. It was very boring day - weird setup. I was glad to roll up outta that place when the final bell sounded. That night I went to the Kung Fu school and took a class I had never gone to before. It was pretty good, and I finally started learning my first long form which so far I love! I took another nap on the couch at the school. People are going to start wondering if I sleep at home.

Wednesday:
I didn't take any jobs and instead decided to stay home and rest in order to try and feel better. I was pretty much in bed for a majority of the day. I couldn't believe how much I slept. Against Bryan's judgement, I went to Kung Fu. First I sparred for almost an hour and, then I attended my regular class which I left about half way through. After that Bryan helped me go over all of my material which was a great review and much needed. It felt good to get back in bed even if I had been there all day.

Thursday (today):
I cancelled my sub job for today because I still feel like crap. I don't wanna sleep all day, but my brain is kinda foggy so I'm not good for much else.

In other news:
My Kung Fu Toe Hole is getting worse? I'm not sure if it is or not, but it looks worse. I've decided to post pictures after all. :) I expect to hear lots of comments for doing this.

Recent pictures of the cats:

O.C. on my schoolwork:

Blogs you should read:
My food blog and Bryan's food blog. RSS them!

Kung Fu Toe Hole (Ow!)

2008-11-13T22:28:00.001-06:00

What a week...

Wednesday:
We had to get up early so we could be at the DPS by 8 AM so that I could get my driving exam scheduled for the day. The slot that they had open for me? 10:45 AM. That's right we drove all the way there to schedule it (this is the ONLY way it can be done) and then we had to drive home then back at for the exam. Bryan of course had to drive me there because I can't drive myself...sigh. We came back at the appointed time, and I did the exam. I didn't do so hot (according to the instructor) at parallel parking though I made it between the poles so I was happy. However, despite the less than perfect parking and forgetting to look backwards when backing up (yeah) they still gave me my driver's license. The real one will be here in 2-3 weeks. It will no doubt have some very horrible picture of me printed on it so that I may see it for years and share it with all the strangers that I meet in life...yay!

The rest of the day was spent hanging around the house doing a little coursework and this and that.

That night it was Kung Fu time! We started with some sparring. I sparred with Ryon for a really long time, but he seriously gave me some awesome pointers and help that I will definitely be using from now moving forward. Then I did my class, and finally, I tested! And I passed. I'm now a yellow belt! I'm super happy because now they will start giving me weapons and forms!!! Yay!!!

Thursday:
I spent the day subbing at a high school (my first time). OMG! I don't think I could ever drag myself back to this high school if any high school. I have never witnessed such a disregard for authority in my entire life. It was me and another sub in the same room so at least I didn't have to face those brats all by my lonesome. We only had 3 classes - 9th and 10 graders, but they were so rude and BAD! One girl called me a bitch after I told her to be quiet for the second time. One boy was drumming on his desk loudly during a test, and when I told him to stop he simply looked at me stone faced and continued. It was a constant battle of wills which I'm proud to say I won every battle, but I was really thinking "Oh my God, what do I do if they don't stop?!?!?" I was never so glad to hear a final bell.

That night I was back to TKD - last class before testing on Saturday. It was a great class, lots of review. I was able to do my form several time and get in some sparring. I'm glad that I'm finally getting better at sparring and becoming better at holding my own in these classes. I got my uniform top back complete with patches and my name. It looks really awesome even if it did cost me a little much (it was a requirement). I'm still nervous about testing. I've had all my attention focused on Kung Fu that I'm not really prepared for this test.

Friday (today):
I took today off from subbing to finish a lot of schoolwork that has been building up. However, it's after 10 AM, and I haven't even started. The house is also very dirty and needs cleaning - BAD! I'm supposed to meet an old friend for a late lunch or early dinner, but we'll see.

In other news:
I have Kung Fu toe hole. That's were you get crater size holes in your feet from the mats. It is not a pleasant sight so I won't post pictures on here, but if your curious enough just tell me, and I'll be glad to show you. It's pretty gross yet I can't stop starring. :) It keeps getting worse, but it doesn't really hurt. I was wrapping it, but I gave up on that. I think it needs to just do it's thing.

Also in regards to Kung Fu - there is an open house tomorrow at the school. We won't be there because I have to test, but I urge you to go and check it out. And there is also a sparring tournament at the school on Sunday which I also urge you to come and check out. All the details are on the site.

And lastly, I opened up my own Cafe Press store, but please keep in mind that I'm still working on it so check on it often to see what's been added or changed. Also, please let me know if you have any suggestions because they are most definitely welcomed. I want to add other things to this shop as well as maybe open another with some non liberty things. :) Hope you check it out...

Testing and Teaching

2008-11-11T16:50:00.007-06:00

Why isn't it cold outside yet? I have so many sweaters, but I can't wear them in 70/80 degree weather! C'mon!

Friday:
What a day. This is my 2nd installment of why I loathe the TX DPS. I received my birth certificate so I headed back to the DPS to try and get my driver's license. Yeah, it went dismally. I think they love to make this process as excruciatingly painful as possible. Apparently if you let your license expire that means your driving skills also expire or become impaired. If you allow your license to expire even in the same week then you have to take a written and driving exam. Yes, you are reading this correctly. I took my written exam but was told I'd have to come the day I wanted to take the driving exam in order to make an appointment. There were no open spots for that afternoon. That's right, you have to drive down there and make an appointment even though you have no idea what slot you'll receive. You can't call in or do it online. Can I get a show of hands for how backasswards this is?

The rest of the day I just hung out at the house doing this and that. Bryan and I attended a short stick seminar taught by a 7th degree from Alabama. It was a pretty cool event. It was geared toward using any stick in a street type fighting...basically using a weapon you could commonly find in easy and logical ways.

After the stick seminar we met up with a few other's at Ben's house, and then we all went to see Zach and Miri Make a Porno. The movie was sooo hilarious! Then it was bedtime. :)

Saturday:
It was just another Shaolin-Do Saturday. We were there early for Bryan's class then lunch then back for my class.

That night we celebrated Jason's birthday by going out to eat at a Hibachi restaurant. It was a lot of fun. The food was good and the chef was great entertainment.

Here are the pictures from the dinner:
Dinner

Here are the videos from the dinner:

Sunday:
Sunday we got some much needed things done around the house and a few errands taken care of. We went to Game Over and traded in some things and got some new games for the Gamecube. We then worked on a Christmas project of mine and then finally played the games we purchased...good day indeed.

It was our 9 month anniversary! :)

Monday & Tuesday:
I spent both days at a school in Leander observing more classrooms. I'll just say again that observing is quite boring....quite. The school was nice and everyone is friendly, but I'd rather be standing at the front of the room than sitting in the back. I would like to teach here in Leander; it's close and the schools are very nice.

Monday night I went to Kung Fu. My material has really come along though my sparring was terrible. I was actually told I would be testing on Wednesday so we'll see. Tuesday night I went to TKD where my sparring was still terrible and my form has really suffered thanks to my new found love of Kung Fu. I have also come to really not like the TKD school that much. I'll be glad when my time there is done I think. I think that most of it has to do with the change of owners but some is credited to seeing it with new eyes after seeing what a real school can be like.

Upcoming Events:

Wednesday: Kung Fu Testing (?)
Thursday/Friday: High School Subbing (1st time! - scary!!)
Saturday @ 3PM: Shaolin-Do Open House (won't be there because....)
Saturday @ 3:30PM: TKD Testing (from blue belt to senior blue)

Recent pictures of the cats (a little photoshoot with Bryan/Mallos):
a kiss
face off
stretch
look this way
close up

Subbing - It's What I Do

2008-11-08T09:18:00.002-06:00

I really regret not posting more regularly. Will I ever get to present day without a posting the size of a small book?

Monday:
I subbed the special education class again. I like subbing. You get to meet tons of different kids and see all the school. It's also helping me see which grade I'm more leaning towards. It's also kinda cool to go to a new location every time you go to work - keeps things interesting. :) The kids for the most part are really sweet, and I really enjoy my time with them.

I received my present from Bryan's parents. It was Marry Poppins on DVD. It's like they know me or something. ;) They also mailed us lots of yummy food!

Monday night we went to class.

Tuesday (Election Day but more importantly my birthday!):
Tuesday I decided not to go into work so that I could go get my driver's license which expired on this day. Yeah, yeah...I know I waited until the very last minute, and believe me, I paid for it! I got up super early so I could be there when it opened so as not to spend all day there. Turns out I could have slept in on my birthday because I needed my birth certificate which was in Mississippi. I never even got a number. I was SUPER ticked off that I had wasted my time and that my license was going to expire before I could get a new one. The Texas DPS site did say that I needed it but only if you know to search really hard to find it. They could really make that site more dummy proof. I suppose the employees of the TX DPS must really enjoy hearing the same complaints and arguments day after day. Wonder what their breaking point is on getting things changed?

So, back home I went. I started watching a movie and Bryan went and got my a chicken biscuit for breakfast. He fed me all my favorite foods on my birthday. He's the best!

I convinced Bryan to take the rest of the day off and play hooky with me! He made an awesome lunch and later followed with an awesome dinner which wouldn't have been possible if not for the food that his mom mailed us. We watched a lot of House since they were running a marathon (great present from the TV!). I FINALLY received my present from Bryan which was too perfect. He found a place that will print paintings on canvas. He had them do a beautiful Munch painting. You can even see the brush strokes; it's crazy and beautiful. He knows me so well! I enjoyed hanging out with Bryan at home even if it did start out a little rough thanks to the TX DPS.

Pictures of me opening Bryan's gift:
It's so big!
What could it be?
But first the card
Will I ever get to it?
Almost there...
Who packaged this?
OMG!
Wow!
It's beautiful!

Wednesday:
Subbed again - my own class this time - a first! It was a fourth grade class - all Hispanic and I don't speak any Spanish. Luckily they were all very fluent in English or that would have been a major disaster. The kids were pretty good until last hour when talking became a problem. The talking out of turn started to get to me. I was relieved when it was time to leave. Overall, my first experience running a class was great. They listened to me, and I feel that I did a pretty good job reacting on my feet and making sure that we got all of the day's activities in found on the lesson plan.

Wednesday night we went to the sparring "class". I kicked someone's elbow with my foot again and boy did it smart! It's only just now feeling back to normal today. I love this class. I'm learning a lot and noticing that I'm reacting a lot quicker than I used to. I'm also able to see thing that are happening where they used to just be a blur. I do love to spar even if I'm not all that great at it. I tried to do the Kung Fu class after this but my foot was hurting so bad that I opted just to leave.

Thursday:
I FINALLY started my classroom observations. It was at this brand new elementary school really close to the house. It was kind of boring just observing and taking notes, but it was an opportunity to learn. Everyone was really nice and welcomed me into their classroom which was nice. It's always good to see what other teachers are doing so I can know not to do that or to pick up some great ideas.

Thursday night I went to TKD which was cool because a 7th degree senior master was there and taught class. I always love taking class under someone knew because they all focus on different things which is a great learning experience. I also realized that I had kinda forgotten my form thanks to spending all my time focusing on Kung Fu and almost none on TKD. I stayed after class and went over it till I had it down again. I better practice because testing is next Saturday! I also got a chance to converse with the senior master. He was really awesome!

Turning 26 (Surprise!)

2008-11-07T15:04:00.003-06:00

The last time I posted I had all my readers caught up on the events up to Halloween. Let me catch you up to speed to present day (but not in this post). After this is accomplished I take a vow to post more regularly so as not to bore you with lengthy posts. Consider it my New Year's resolution come early. :D

Saturday:
Saturday was spent like most of the Saturday's of the last month or so. It was a Shaolin-Do Saturday. We arrived at 9 AM for Bryan's class, grabbed lunch, then returned at 1 PM for my class. I went with Tai Chi this time instead of Kung Fu just because I have all of my Kung Fu material and wanted to get more of the Tai Chi form. I managed to get confused but possible retain a little more of the form at the same time.

Bryan had been telling me for a few days that we were going to go out for dinner on Saturday night but refused to tell me where. So, we came home and got ready then left for somewhere. It ended up being Dave and Buster's. I had never been here before so I was pretty excited when we pulled up. Little did I know that the surprises had just began. We walked in and quickly saw that a whole table of my friends were already there! I couldn't believe it. Bryan had managed to pull a surprise party together for me where almost everyone was there. I couldn't believe how many people showed up, and I appreciated each person being there. It mean more to me than any of them could know. Bryan wanted me to have a video game party even though I had canceled mine. He is too sweet! I love him! It was an awesome night. We had great food and there was even a cake - a VERY special cake. Bryan had Ligi make me a Facbook cake!

This cake was soooo amazing. It was perfect - perfect for me. Anyone who knows me knows that I am pretty much addicted to Facebook. I use it for everything and to keep up with everyone. I really do think it is the greatest site ever! Ligi did an amazing job on the cake, but then again her skills are insanely good! Everyone was oooohing and aaaahing over it. There were birthday wishes from some people as wall posts. It was just absolutely perfect. It was very hard to cut into, but it was chocolate! It was delicious too!

After devouring way too much food, most everyone hit the game floor where we played to our hearts content. It was sooo much fun. I played, and played, and played. Then I got to cash in all of my tickets for prizes. I decided to get some happies for my siblings' Christmas present. They will enjoy anything there more than I would. I still can't believe that Bryan managed to surprise me (no on has ever done that) and give me the best birthday of my life! Thanks B, I know I can always count on you.

Album of the birthday party: Surprise!

Sunday:
Sunday wasn't a very exciting day. We made it to conditioning class; this was a first for me. Then we came home and cleaned the house - much needed. Then we lounged - something we are very good at.

I'll catch you up to speed with all my school stuff in the next post.

Recap (Up To Halloween)

2008-11-03T16:59:00.002-06:00

Wow - almost a week without a post and even after I promised to do better. Tsk tsk. Well, it's because I've been busy and working! :O Let me tell you all about it...

Wednesday night:
Some of the Kung Fu people met up before class for a little impromptu sparring. It was really fun. It was cool to spar the black belts that I don't get to see in class usually. I only got 2 boo boos. :( I kicked Tommy's elbow - totally my fault. It hurt very much. Then Bryan kicked me in the eye! It only left a small mark. It was more of a shock than anything else. I had run before we left for the school so after running, sparring, and then regular class I thought I was going to die! Thanks to kicking Tommy my foot kept me up half the night tingling.

Thursday:
Thanks to being up half the night nursing my foot, I was dead asleep when SubFinder called me to come sub for the afternoon. I managed to wake myself up and get ready and to the school for my first subbing experience. I couldn't have picked a better one. I only had to preside over a learning lab. It was a peace of cake.

Thursday night:
It was finally time to go to the haunted house. We met everyone at Tommy's house and then on to the haunted house. It was in this strip mall...not so scary...that was until we got closer to the entrance. A zombie priest met me in the parking lot to "throw up" next to my feet...more disturbing than scary. But then a clown chased me with a chainsaw. I forget that its all pretend when they chase me especially when I'm running and screaming no! This automatically made my stomach start hurting, and I knew that I had made a grave error. Bryan didn't want to go in the first place, but now that we where there I felt compelled to go in. I tried, really I did. I made it to the entrance and quickly saw that this wasn't going to happen so I turned around and started for the car. A girl clown who had watched me standing outside for about 30 minutes still felt compelled to get one last scare in even though I had never gone inside. She ran up behind me in the parking lot and scared me to tears. I don't think I have ever screamed like that.

I think the whole this was a little overkill. I mean what you subject yourself to by entering is one thing, but they should really tone it down in the parking lot. There were a lot of patrons of other stores merely trying to shop. I saw the priest chasing some girl through the parking lot. If she was as scared as I was, there is a good chance she forgot where she was. She could have ran in front of a car or something. Totally dangerous. I'm a big chicken. I'm pretty positive Bryan was relieved that I chickened out. We went home. Crisis averted.

Friday:
Halloween! I spent the day working at a school down south subbing for a special education teacher's assistant. It was very different. I was scared to take the position at first, but it was all I could get. Plus, I need both the money and experience. It turned out not to be bad at all. There was another teacher there. I actually enjoyed myself, and I managed to grab the same class for Monday.

I wasn't expecting to be working this week so I was very unprepared for the actual arrival of Halloween. We didn't have costumes nor had I carved the pumpkin we bought weeks ago. I immediately started carving it when I walked through the door so it would be out before the trick or treaters arrived. We chose to dress up as well ourselves (our Kung Fu uniforms). I also made some vampire cookies before the kids starting coming in full force. The kids were all super cute. We handed out flier for the Kung Fu school - a genius idea on my part. It was fun just hanging out on the front porch and greeting the children. We still have tons of candy if you are interested.

Video of Bella eating pumpkin (she loves the stuff):

Pictures of Halloween:
about to start carving
digging out the inside
it's pretty much finished
on the porch
bryan in costume
lit up!
cookies (halfway)
vampire cookies

I Voted!

2008-10-29T15:21:00.003-05:00

I voted today! It was the first time I ever had. Yeah, I know I shouldn't have waited so long to become interested in politics, but at least I finally did. It only took about 15 minutes. The line was moving pretty quickly thank goodness. I would have hated to stand in line forever for a 2 minute process. It was really easy too. I couldn't have asked for a less painful experience. I even got an "I Voted" sticker. And since I was already at the library I decided to go inside. I had never been to the Cedar Park library - pretty sad considering it is practically right across the road. All I checked out was a DVD (it's free and way cheaper than renting one :) ). But now I have my library card and can go whenever which I definitely plan to.

There are a lot of cool things coming up.

Tomorrow night some of us are going to this haunted house. I really don't like haunted houses, but I think maybe this year I can do this. However, after looking at the website, I am definitely already a little scared. The important thing to remember is that it's not real, and no one is really trying to harm me. We'll see how far that goes. :)

I've also been invited to go play bunco with some girls - some I know and some I will be meeting for the first time. I don't even know how to play this game. I better get started on my research. :)

Let's not forget the most important thing coming up - my birthday! Yay! It's also election day, but yeah, I'm more excited for my b-day! What can I say? I'm selfish like that. :) Kidding - I am anxious to find out how this whole election turns out even though I'm pretty sure I already know. However, it would be nice to not turn on the television until November 5, but I'm sure I will. I am positive that this birthday will go so much better than the previous years which sucked beyond belief. It's definitely time to break this streak of bad b-days.

There is a tactical short stick seminar coming up at the TKD school. It's open for anyone so feel free to come. Bryan and I will both be attending - at least that's the plan. It's being taught by a 7th degree master which I happen to think is pretty damn cool.

I will also be doing some of my classroom observations the first week in November. And I'm eligible to start substituting on November 1. Good times!

Oh, and don't forget that daylight savings time ends soon - very soon...sadly.

It's getting colder. It's still warm during the afternoon, but definitely a lot nippier during the night and morning hours. I can smell winter on the air which makes me excited for Christmas and the trip to Mississippi but not so much the cold weather. However, it's nice to start wearing some different clothes. I was getting tired of the summer ones.

A recent picture of the cats - one I have deemed synchronized napping:

Sites that I think you should check out:
MTV Music which has every video ever. It is really awesome and definitely a time waster, but it's pretty cool to pull up any video by a simple search. I still probably like Launch better because it gives you your own station that plays music or videos based on past ratings. It's nice to leave on and forget about.

Renaissance Fair!

2008-10-28T13:03:00.006-05:00

So it has been over a week since I posted. I'm a bad blogger!

There isn't much to note from last week. I missed a lot of classes in the latter part of the week and all weekend. I paid dearly for this last night. I did attend a sword class at TKD Friday night. That was just my second one. We started learning the form. I'm starting to collect a lot of martial arts stuff in my head. It's definitely time for me to review ALL of it until it sticks. I started Tai Chi last night so that's martial art number 3. Whew. I'm exhausted just thinking about all of it. It is definitely a balancing act. I can't really see doing Tae Kwon Do long term. Especially when you look at how much Kung Fu has to offer in the matter of material compared to TKD. I most likely will get my black belt and be done with TKD. I hope that doesn't make me sound like a loser. And no I'm not just getting my black to be a black belt; I actually am paid up until then so I should take advantage of what I paid for.

The only other thing that happened last week of note was Friday. I was finally able to attend the substitute orientation for Austin ISD. It was from 8 AM to 2:30 PM. I have to admit I was pretty worn out. I'm just not used to that whole work day mentality sadly. However, I hope this will change VERY soon. I can start subbing as soon as November 1! Yay! The Austin ISD substitute system is pretty advanced and cool. You can secure jobs just by logging on to the system. However, there will probably be a lot of early morning phone calls for a lot of the jobs. This means I have to be up and ready (or ready to get ready) every morning. This may be what I have to do until the summer time as finding a teaching job in the middle of the year while not impossible is going to difficult.

I have been emailing back and forth with a school in the Leander ISD and am scheduled to do 8 classroom observations there during the first week of November! Yay! I love advancement.

This weekend was super fun. After the sword class Bryan and I went out to eat and then over to Ben's to discuss the upcoming Kung Fu festival (ask me more if you're interested in starting a martial art!). It was fun to brainstorm with everyone, but eventually Bryan and I were too tired to think. We left and ran to Wal*Mart to purchase a few last minute camping must haves (sleeping bags, lantern).

Saturday morning's alarm clock came much, much too early, but it couldn't be ignored. We had to roll out to Amy and Jason's house to meet everyone and head out to Plantersville, TX for the Renaissance Fair. It was about a 3 hour drive - very scenic and nice. When we arrived at the camping grounds we chose to camp out in the normal a.k.a. "rowdy" section (bad idea!). I knew we should've chosen the quiet family campground when I saw a sign that was the definition for pandemonium. We set up all of the tents (a first for both Bryan and I). However, we did get it up, and it stayed up. We did have help from everyone else. I have been camping once before, but this was Bryan's first experience.

After everything was finally set up we got dressed in our costumes (4 out of 6 of us dressed up) and headed to the fair. That place was crazy! I couldn't believe how many people dressed up. There was sooo much to do and see and eat! They had shows galore, games, a garden, animal rides, a petting zoo...you name it, they had it! I was loving it. I wanted to see it all and do it all. I think we did about all you can do for one afternoon. We made sure to eat a lot. We also played a lot of the games which were things like knife throwing, ax throwing, bow and arrow shooting, etc. We saw 2 shows - ded bob which was hilarious and the jousting which was pretty cool too. I definitely want to return next year.

I just want to thank Amy again for sewing me that lovely and totally awesome costume. Without her I wouldn't have just worn jeans. It definitely made the experience that much better to get to dress the part.

Camping that night was fun up until sleeping time. It was fun just hanging out by the campfire talking with everyone and roasting stuff and eating it. By the way - roasted snickers = yum! I had my first s'mores - not that awesome actually. Oh well, I still ate 2! :D

It was cold, but thankfully the sleeping bags kept us pretty warm throughout the night. Unfortunately at 1:30 AM the douche nozzle next to us decided it was time to turn on his generator. It was sooo loud. I probably would've slept quite nicely through the night if this wouldn't have occurred. I couldn't go back to sleep for hours! It sucked. I wanted to go home at 2 AM - seriously! I was so miserable all of Sunday thanks to this lack of sleep. We got everything down and packed back up and back home in good time. I was glad to see the house again because I was anxious to sleep in our bed. Jason came over and gave me a birthday present (The Simpsons Movie). He didn't stay for long. And finally it was time to sleep...and sleep I did.

Here are the pictures from the Renaissance Fair:
Album 1
Album 2

Here are the videos that I took of the jousting:

"I Love It When You Sing Songs About Murder" - Bryan

2008-10-20T12:35:00.003-05:00

Saturday night Bryan and I ate dinner at Jason and Amy's. We hung out for quite a while. It was loads of fun. I hadn't been to their house yet so it was cool to see where they live finally. Amy showed us this hilarious video. Thanks Amy, it's been stuck in my head since. :)

Sunday was a take it easy kind of day. We walked around the outlet mall for a while just enjoying the people and the pleasant weather. What did we buy? Starbucks and a piece of chocolate to share of course. Why else would you go to the mall? :) After window shopping it was time to buy the real stuff - groceries. We came home, and I made one very delicious Dorito casserole. Jason stopped by for a little while.

Monday was a pretty good day indeed. Because we had to go to the Weezer concert that night we decided to go to the morning class where I was able to get the remainder of the white belt material. Now I just have to practice, practice, practice which I have been doing trust me. I think I'm finally getting the hang of this Kung Fu stuff. ;) After class it was breakfast time in Leander. When we got home for some odd reason I got the urge to run. Bryan had sent me a great article on sprinting, and I really wanted to try that. I have never really sprinted for exercise before. It was actually pretty cool. It was extremely demanding, and I felt it quickly. My legs aren't sore, but there are parts of my legs that are - parts that I have never really used before I suppose. I think I want to make this part of my workout. Actually I need to bring back my workout. :) I have definitely forsaken it. I'm just glad I do all this martial arts or I would be soooo lazy and out of shape.

At 5:30 PM we headed downtown for the concert. We arrived a lot earlier than we had expected to for rush hour so we made our way over to the nearest coffee. It was fun to walk around downtown. I always enjoy just being there. We still got in our seats with plenty of time to spare.

The opening bands (both of them) SUCKED!! Weezer was good. They sounded just like they do on the cd's. They played all of their hits which I loved. However, they just didn't really have anything going on stage. I can't say it was "fun" to watch. The lead singer is weird. He did some pretty crazy stuff that left us saying "huh?". Toward the end of the show they brought out a bunch of local musicians with every instrument imaginable to play 2 songs with them onstage. That was pretty cool, but perhaps they should've been a little more selective. :)

Here are the pictures that I took from the concert:
Bryan becomes a Weezer
Me n Bryan
Angels and Airwaves 1
Angels and Airwaves 2
Angels and Airwaves 3
Angles and Airwaves 4
Angles and Airwaves 5
Bryan
Weezer!
Weezer 2
Weezer 3
Weezer 4
Weezer 5
Weezer 6
Weezer 7
Weezer 8
Weezer 9

Here are the videos that I took from the concert (some of them are this crazy guy dancing):

Tuesday was a lazy day for me - surprise, surprise. Amy came over after she got off work. She made me an outfit to wear for the Renaissance Fair that we are camping out at this Saturday. It should be tons of fun. Several of our friends are going too. I can't wait. I have never been to anything like this before. I went to TKD and finally bought all my patches. Now I have to sew them on. Anyone willing to help? Pleeeeease??? Monday was Ravi's birthday so we met up with everybody to eat after classes were finished. It was a lot of fun. For some reason my side of the table got on the topic of ghosts, and we all shared our stories. Despite this I still slept like a big baby last night.

Today (Wednesday) there is nothing going on...at all. I like it this way. :) I did receive an email from Leander ISD saying that I passed my background check and they were working on setting me up for classroom observations in 2 schools. This is incredible news after all of the aggravation I have experienced in trying to get this set up. Tonight I'm going to Kung Fu and then doing my last online class for my certification!

Recent picture of the cats (OC and Mallos):

Almost 26..Aaaah!

2008-10-18T10:38:00.002-05:00

I can't believe that my 26th birthday is almost here. It's pretty scary. I'll console myself with presents...yay! I'm kidding. Every year I'm VERY aware of that 30 year old mark that is ever approaching. Remember that list I made? It's all the things I want to accomplish before I'm 30. I haven't forgotten this list. It drives me a lot when I'm making decisions. There are many things on this list that I have been working toward. There are some that I have completed. However, there are many that I haven't even tried yet. I'm not worried (yet) about completing the list at this point. I am aware, however, that I am getting closer to the deadline.

Despite the fact that I am going to be older and that I canceled that awesome party I had planned, I am still looking forward to my birthday. Bryan is paying me back for his birthday. I reminded him daily that his birthday present was so awesome. Poor guy! But now the tables have turned. He tells me it's awesome, but I have no clue what it could be. I do like the excitement.

Want to know what isn't cool about my birthday this year? It falls on election day. I don't want to share my birthday with the results of this crazy election. Ah, can't it ever just be all about me? :)

Well, you can call this shameless promotion if you want but....just in case you were worried about what to get me for my birthday, I went ahead and saved you the trouble. There's this really awesome site called Kaboodle.com. You can organize lists of all the things your heart desires. It's really easy to use. You might find it can come in handy as the holiday season approaches. Here is a my list: My Wishlist. Haha...yeah, my heart desires a lot! :)

The last few of my birthdays were pretty crummy...ok, very crummy. I'm extremely optimistic about this year. I really look forward to spending time with Bryan and downplaying the fact that I'm getting older. I really want to challenge myself in my next year. I've achieved a lot in this past year. I both want to grow these aspects as well as develop some new ones.

In unbirthday related news:

I FINALLY received a breakthrough in the classroom observation dilemma. Yesterday, I was able to receive the form that I needed to fill out to observe in the Leander ISD. Considering how difficult this was, I may just do all 20 in Leander. This is the district I'd prefer to teach in since this is where we live. I know that may be a far fetched dream for my first year, but well, that's what I want. I'm still willing to put my time in anywhere. I just want to teach and get my career rolling.

I was able to score 2 tickets to see Weezer this coming Monday for only $10.15 each. Granted they aren't in the front row, but they aren't in the nose bleed section either. This was a promotion for 101.5. Thanks - we will really enjoy the concert!!

That's all for today. I'll try to do better and post more often.

Granny Was Right.

2008-10-17T05:39:00.002-05:00

Ugh, what a week! This week has really been trying my patience in a serious way.

The first sucky thing about this week was that Bryan was out of town until late Wednesday night. It really stinks when he has to go away on business. I completely understand and am fine with this, but the house just feels so empty when he's not here. Even the cats miss him. It was nice to get have him home. We ate at Kerby Lane on the way home from the airport. That was the one good thing about the trip. :D

Next up was Tuesday. Tuesday I was supposed to go to an all day orientation thingy in order to start subbing for Austin ISD. Well, going does not mean you will actually get to sub, but you can't sub without going. It's weird - I know. Anyway, I woke up at 5:15 AM and was ready to leave at 6:20. I wanted to get all the proper paperwork together before I left. This is when I discovered that I had lost both my driver's license and my debit card. Brilliant. So, after spending all this time getting ready and making my lunch, I had to stay home. I turned the house upside down, looked in both vehicles, and called Bryan in NYC like he could help me. The stupid things were nowhere to be found. Yay me. So, instead of finally getting the opportunity I had been craving I spent the morning in a huge pity party. I felt so dumb and mad for losing these cards. And Granny was right - I would lose my head if it wasn't hooked on. Ah, Granny and her wisdom.

The good news is that there are 2 more opportunities for me to attend this orientation. I can go next Friday. It sucks, but at least there is the option. And Thursday morning after barely being home, Bryan went into my car and found both missing cards which made me feel even more dumb. How could I have not seen them? I had already had my debit card canceled so I'll just have to wait for the new one to come. Luckily, they let me keep my Batman design (score!). I still need to get a new license before my birthday on November 4, but at least I don't have to try to get it before Friday.

And the last thing that's been going on this week is classroom observations. I STILL can't get any answers from any of the 3 school districts that I'm trying to observe. NOTHING! No one answers their phone or can seem to help me. I am at my breaking point over this issue. The only thing I can thing to do is actually go to the office. At least this way they can't just ignore my call or not return my messages. I really don't have the time to play around with these people. I have a deadline to meet. I don't want anything holding me up from receiving my certificate in a timely manner. I am doing several lessons a week and am slowly but steadily creeping towards the finish line. I can't believe how frustrating this is become. Trust me, you do not want to be around when I make the calls - a rant almost always follows.

With the crazy week Bryan and I decided to have a lazy night at home last night. It was much need and very nice. But that is over, and today is conditioning class. I can only pray it's not quite as brutal as last week. That shit was crazy! And tonight is sword class....oooooooh! I look forward to it. I rather enjoyed myself last week minus the barely being able to walk from conditioning class part. :)

I gave the cats a bath last night so everyone is currently clean and smelling very nice. Also I was able to clean the house from top to bottom on Wednesday before picking up Bryan. Currently everything in the house is super clean, and I'm loving it. Too bad with 3 cats it doesn't stay for long.

Weekly Roundup (Because You Care)

2008-10-11T10:51:00.004-05:00

I think this week has been about getting back into the swing of things after our trip to NYC. It feels good to be back in both of my martial arts classes, but it has also been apparent how much you can loose in as little as a week.

Monday:

It was time to hit the books again. I missed a lot of time to advance in my teaching certification curriculum. It felt good to back to learning. Doing these classes has reminded me how much I enjoy learning. I should do more of it in my own time and not just when I need to. We should NEVER stop trying to learn. I'm sure when I'm a teacher I'll learn a lot I didn't know. My students will surely teach me things as I try to teach them. :)

Bryan and I decided that perhaps Kung Fu classes was better skipped in order to gain a night to just rest. It was probably best though it did nothing to help us get back into the swing of things.

Tuesday-Thursday:
The middle of the week was nothing exciting. I just worked on my classes and hung out here at the house. I went back and forth to both schools. So far I seem to be juggling my martial arts okay. I even got 2 stripes in one class at TKD (for form and target drills). I was surprised to get my form stripe since I only just got my belt. Perhaps things are finally starting to come a little easier to me now that I've spent several months doing this. Easier but not easy! It should never be easy. TKD and Kung Fu both keep me on my toes. I have to keep my brain sharp to remember double the material as well as do the right thing at the right school.

Bryan and I did celebrate 8 months which is exciting. I can't believe how close we are to a year. It still seems like yesterday that I met him.

Friday:

Friday was a good day. It started early. Bryan and I were both up and ready for our conditioning class. That was the hardest workout I have ever done. Seriously, that was crazy. We both had wobbly legs directly after class was finished. We then went to breakfast with some other students and then finally back home. I tried to start setting up my classroom observations again but found it difficult. I can't seem to ever get a hold of the right person or get the right answers or instructions. Sigh. I'm feeling anxious about these because they are due by a certain period. It's not necessarily close, but I don't want to take any chances.

Friday night I started the sword class at TKD followed by Han Mu Do (self defense) and finally a forms class. OMG! This was so hard after going to conditioning class that morning. Sword class was super fun though. I got to spar with it in the first class - super cool! Han Mu Do was okay. I don't really like self defense even if it is the most practical thing that martial arts can teach me. I just really suck at wrist locks. Since it falls in between 2 classes that I do like it would be kinda silly not to attend. Besides, I'm paying for it! :)

Saturday:
Saturday was a long day. Bryan had black belt class at 9 AM. At the same time I had to do another online class for my teaching certification. I then read material for my next teaching activity while I waited for Bryan to finish up. When he was done, we went out for lunch and then for tea. Mmmm... With our tummies full, we had to make it back to the school so I could do my class. Finally after all of that we were finally ready to go home.

We hung around the house and then met Jason and Amy at the movies to watch An American Carol (the worst movie ever made...seriously). Then we ate at out (again!). Finally it was bed time.

Bryan at tea:

Sunday (today):
Today was a VERY lazy day up until I had to take Bryan to the airport. He's off on another business trip to NYC/Maryland. Now I'm sitting at home bored and a little lonely.

By the way, Bryan and I are still limping around complaining about our sore muscles induced from conditioning class on Friday.

Taking A Bite Of The Big Apple

2008-10-10T11:32:00.004-05:00

The last of the installment of our New York trip has arrived my friends. Rejoice!

Saturday:
Saturday was a day of food...soooo much food! I had to start the day with the second online class for my teaching certification. It was a good class, but I was glad to get back to the trip. :) First off was a lunch with all of Bryan's family and a couple that was friends with Bryan's dad. It was a full table and the conversation was great. We sat around talking and eating food and drinking coffee for quite a while. Finally it was time to eat again...yay! I was excited because we were going to New Jersey to eat at Red Lobster. I love fish, but I wasn't hungry yet. Somehow I still managed to put away over half of my food. Ugh! I was so stuffed when we left the restaurant that I could barely walk to the car.

Sunday:
There wasn't much to do on Sunday but get pack and get ready for the trip home. Thankfully for the trip home I was able to score 4 Xanax. I took one about 45 minutes before we left for the airport. This is the first time I have walked into an airport without feeling queasy. Bryan did some research before we left and found this site. One of the suggestions was to ask to meet the pilot. Bryan asked, and he came over to talk to us. He was super nice and from Texas. It really did help to meet him. Now at least I had a face to the voice on the intercom. It helped to see that he didn't look tired or drunk. I took another pill about a half hour before the flight. I was asleep before everyone got settled in. Unfortunately some little girl screaming woke me up for the takeoff so I took another...hehe. I ended up taking them all, but I slept for the entire flight! This was so awesome for me and just what I had dreamed of.

Jason picked us up from the airport and drove us home. It was soooo good to be home. I was ecstatic to see all of my cats. I began to take pictures of them because they were so cute and obviously happy to see us return.

After we got settled in Bryan suggested we have one last bad meal at the newly opened Buffalo Wild Wings by our house. It was delicious!

Here is the last album of pictures from New York and our arrival home:

Album 4

Here is a video I took of Bryan's parents' cat - too cute!!

In A New York Minute

2008-10-09T10:52:00.005-05:00

As promised here is all the juicy details about our trip to NYC (minus the trip home - separate post).

Wednesday:
Wednesday was our first full day in the Big Apple. We had to wake up super early to get into the city at to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I got to ride the ferry and subway for the first time. Ah, little country girl in the big ole city. :) The Met was very cool. We basically stayed to the modern art section. It is always exciting to see the artist's works that I studied for so many years. Bryan even discovered some artists that he like as well as many that he didn't. :) We both decided that we love Klee and Close. We had to make pretty quick passes through each room just to get in that 1 section! However, we did take some time to sit and reflect on one very awesome Pollock.

From there we went through Central Park stopping here and there to get some pictures in. We grabbed a hot dog (yummy!). We discovered a castle which we climbed to the top of and got some awesome pictures. Upon coming out the other side of the park it was time for lunch! We met Morgan and Anthony at a nearby restaurant. After stuffing our faces we headed to the The American Museum of Natural History for 3 exhibits. We started at the planetarium for a show called Cosmic Collisions (very cool!). It was narrated by Robert Redford (ooooooh!!). :) Then we went to the IMAX they had to watch a movie on ancient sea monsters. Finally we caught the Snakes/Lizards exhibit. We were soooo exhausted at this point, but we weren't done.

I had arranged to meet an old friend of mine that I went to high school with who currently resides in NYC. He met us, and we went to an awesome dinner. It was great to see him. It was the great way to end an awesome day in Manhattan. Finally, it was time to take the Xpress bus back to Staten Island and bed!

Thursday:
Thursday was a good slow day hanging out in Staten Island. Bryan took me for a little driving tour of where he grew up. We stopped at a pier and walked out of the water. It was really cool to see where he grew up. I love learning about his past. We grabbed some coffee and headed back to the house. We had an awesome family dinner, and then we all went our for dessert and coffee.

Friday:
Friday it was time to go back into the city. We were up early to make the trek back into the city. We got off at Times Square. That was pretty awesome. There was so much going on, but I liked it. We grabbed some breakfast (pizza for Bryan and a gyro for me) which we ate on the bus that took us to a cruise. That's right, a cruise! It was a 3 hour cruise that took us all the way around Manhattan. It was kinda long but very interesting. I saw the Statue of Liberty (very beautiful) among many, many buildings....hehe. There were tons of awesome sights along this cruise. There's probably no better way to see a little bit of everything.

After the long, cold, and windy cruise we headed to Chinatown (crazy place! but very cool). The whole gang at dinner here, and then we split up. We were able to get in a little shopping here. I snagged a very cool NYC t-shirt. We went to a martial arts store; they had some super crazy stuff. Bryan and I then headed to a jewelry store owned by a guy he used to know. Finally it was time to go back to Staten Island.

I'll tell you about the rest of the trip including the ride home in the next post. :) Here are the pictures that cover this portion of our trip:

Album 1
Album 2
Album 3

Getting to NYC

2008-10-07T17:41:00.003-05:00

So as not to overload all of my readers with a huge post, I've decided to divide up the NYC trip into more than one post. Enjoy!

As many of you know I was not looking forward to flying to New York. I was definitely excited for the trip, but I had been in an ever increasing state of anxiety in regards to flying there. Every day that the scheduled flight grew nearer, the worse my anxiety got. By the actual day of the flight, I wasn't sure I could actually board the plane. The entire day I was nervous to the point of puking. I made myself eat lunch so that I wouldn't get sick when I took the Benedryl.

Wendy picked us up right on time and dropped us off at the airport. After we got seated at the gate I took 3 Benedyls. I ended up take 3 more later during the flight. Although I felt lightheaded, I never did sleep. My adrenaline pretty much pumped for the entire flight.

As the plane started to make its way to the runway for takeoff, I wanted off BAD - so bad in fact I started crying! Yes, I cried. I'm not even ashamed to admit it because if they would've given me the option, I would have gotten off. I hate takeoff. It feels weird and is completely terrifying.

I didn't do much better for the rest of the trip. I really wanted to be asleep, but I just couldn't relax enough to do so. I was so nervous I was shaking for a large part of the flight. I also like to rock back and forth and move my leg up and down at a ridiculous speed. I partly do it because I hope if the plane shakes a little I'll trick myself into thinking it was just me. I also do it because I can control it.

We went over a storm at one point, and therefore, encountered some turbulence. I lost it. I hyperventilated. I know that's bad, but again, I'm not ashamed. I was scared out of my mind! And Bryan was so good to me. He did his best to calm me down. And though he probably thought it didn't make a difference, having him there made all the difference in the world. I know I got us quite a few funny and annoyed looks. I can't believe he was so nice and comforting about the situation. He must really love me! :)

FINALLY after a little over 3 hours we reached our destination. I know this is odd, but I actually enjoy landing. At the point where you can tell what cars are, I get pretty excited. All of the anxiety melts away, and I am able to enjoy myself and the landing. It was awesome to see all of the lights; there were soooo many! It was quite breathtaking, and I'm glad I got to witness it. Landing is actually kind of fun. I've never experience a bad landing so I still enjoy it.

I have decided that flying is a form of cruel and unusual punishment. However, it really was worth it (I can say this because I'm alive!) because we had an awesome trip. I probably would never have gotten to experience the things I did if I hadn't boarded the plane. I also am convinced that I have a true phobia. I have already looked into some options to getting over it, but more on that later.

In the next post I'll tell you all about our adventures in NYC. :) There are tons of pictures.

Aerophobia

2008-09-30T01:25:00.003-05:00

So later today Bryan and I will be boarding a flight for NYC. Bryan is super excited. He's excited to show me where he grew up and to see his family that he misses greatly. Bryan is excited, and I'm well...quite the opposite. Don't get me wrong - I'm VERY excited to see Bryan's family again and also the Big Apple for the first time. Going to NYC has been something I have only dreamed of up until this point. I really look forward to being around all of Bryan's family at the same time and also seeing where he grew up. I love learning about his past. I'm also going to meet up with some people that I graduated high school with which will be awesome.

The only problem is in order to get to all this great things I have to fly. I HATE flying. I'm scared shitless to fly. I know its all irrational. I know I'm being silly or just paranoid. It's all in my head. I know! And still I'm terrified. Allow me to illustrate. The first time Bryan mentioned the idea of us going to New York I got nervous. When the flight was booked that nervousness kicked into overdrive. Every time the trip has been brought up I have gotten super nervous causing me to sweat, get an upset stomach, lose my appetite...you name it! The closer the inevitable date came the worse the experience. I finally decided that in order for me, Bryan, and the passengers/workers to enjoy this flight was for me to be completely knocked out. We batted around several ideas before finally landing (a little pun humor) on one today. The plan: I have to stay up for over 24 hours and 30 minutes before the flight I'm taking 4 Benadryls. I am really praying that this plan works. My hope is that I wake up in New York completely unaware of how I arrived there. I don't care if Bryan has to drag me off the plane, but for his sake I really do hope I can walk off in some fashion on my own.

You know what would make me feel immensely better about plane rides? It's so simply. All I want is a parachute. Do you think they would allow one as my carry on? I did some research on buying one just now. It doesn't appear to be something you can run down to the local outdoor store and pick up. The only good site I found was really expensive. Dammit!

Here is what Wikipedia.com had to say about Aerophobia (fear of flying):

The fear of flying may be created by various other phobias and fears:^[2]

a fear of closed in spaces (claustrophobia), such as that of an aircraft cabin NOT ME
a fear of heights (acrophobia) TOTALLY ME
a feeling of not being in control TOTALLY ME
fear of having panic attacks in certain places, where escape would be difficult and/or embarrassing (agoraphobia) NOT ME
fear of hijacking or terrorism NOT ME
fear of turbulence TOTALLY ME
fear of flying over water or night flying EH
fear of crashing resulting in injury or death YES, YES, YES!!!!!

Okay focusing on the time spent between flights - I am really excited about all the fun things we have planned while we are in New York. I know that I will truly enjoy my time there. I can't wait to blog about all of the fun things we did. But first we still need to pack!

Off the subject - Here is a picture I took of Bella today (in her cave):

Also in other news - I went to Kung Fu for my 2nd class tonight. It was a lot of fun, and I learned more of the material. Between Kung Fu and TKD I have a lot to practice. I hope the mind is as great as I hear it is because I will definitely be taking it to its limits as I try to learn all 4 martial arts. Seriously though, this is a dream come true! :D

Reflection

2008-09-29T00:23:00.003-05:00

Roughly a couple of weeks ago my father had a wreck in his work 18 wheeler. I didn't even know it had occurred until he was already safe at home. He called to tell me himself which helped to not alarm me so much. He sounded a little beaten but otherwise fine. He didn't really go into much detail only saying that he had some bruises and cuts but was going to be just fine. I was concerned, but since the accident had occurred many hours prior to him calling there wasn't any real reason to get upset.

About a week later my dad called me again. This time he had much more to tell me regarding the accident. He still doesn't really know what happened - some wrong move perhaps or an unforeseen road condition. My dad has been driving these gigantic monster trucks for as long as I can remember. He's been all over the country in them. He currently travels much of the Eastern United States. He's often caught in terrible weather conditions. My family basically only sees him on the weekend. He is definitely a seasoned driver. I have always worried about him, but I try to take comfort in the fact that he knows what he is doing.

As my dad told me the whole story or what he could remember which is really nothing, I was more afraid than the first time he called. He had spoken to the people first on the scene and was armed with lots more information. No one saw the accident so that portion will always remain a mystery. Hearing the details of how he was found unconscious really got to me. He wasn't wearing his seat belt. My dad has a very bad back due to several injuries most recently one on a dirt bike. He doesn't wear the seat belt because it aggravates his back. The truck flipped on its side and collided with a metal pole which my dad's face was resting on with they found him. He was laying on the window of the passenger side with his feet tangled up in the steering wheel. That pole could have been his death. He's very lucky to be walking around so soon and even just to be alive.

I found this picture on one of the local newspaper's website. My Grandmother said that the other newspaper's picture was much better (scarier I'm sure), but they don't have it on their site. It's probably a good thing that I'm unable to view it.

It appears as if this were not shot directly after it happened.

I'm really glad that my father is okay. It really makes me feel bad to be so far from all of my family. I know someday something will happen to someone, and here I'll be, all the way in Austin. I'll be a good 10.5 hour drive getting to anyone. If something happens I won't be there, and by the time I do get there, there's a good chance it will be too late. My Grandmother is getting older. I hate knowing that I'm so far from her. I know that the whole family is all there and able to be with one another, but still, I hate being helpless and out of range. This is just a reflection. I don't want to live in Mississippi. It's boring and behind the times. I love Austin, and this is my home. I know that my family would love for me to be there with them, but I also know that they want me to be happy above all else. Austin and all the people I know here make me very happy. I am positive that I will be here for the majority of my life.

You never know what each day holds. It is very important to remember that and cherish each day, each moment, and each person.

Your Mom's A Blog!

2008-09-28T18:07:00.002-05:00

I can't believe I haven't posted since Wednesday especially since so much as been going on. I kept telling myself to sit down and do it.

Teaching:
I have been going at my teaching certification classes. It's all pretty much go at your own pace. I've been trying to make sure my pace is about one lesson a day. I did the first of my 5 online chat session classes Saturday morning at the Kung Fu school while Bryan did his class. I am really liking all the material so far. I learn new things with each article I read. Most of the material covers a lot of psychology and teaching strategies that were definitely not in play when I was in school. This excites me. I'm really excited to get finished and get started on my new career.

Martial Arts:
I dunno if it was a good idea, but Bryan convinced me to go to the conditioning class on Friday morning. Was this really the best way to be introduced to Shaolin-Do? Well, it certainly made for an interesting experience and a sore second day. It was super early, but I managed to drag myself from bed. I have to admit it was odd to be going with him. I'm used to his Friday ritual just not as a participator. The class was hard but a lot of fun. And it really did make me feel accomplished. I have been sitting on my lazy ass way too much lately. It's definitely time to step things up. After the class I joined in the weekly ritual of going out for breakfast. It was nice to meet some of the students that I had not yet met through Bryan as well as see some familiar faces. I suppose everyone will get used to seeing me around the school.

Bryan and I spent practically the whole day at Kung Fu on Saturday. He had class in the morning. When he was finished we grabbed lunch and came right back. At 1 PM I took my first class. I have to say that while I'm excited to learn a new martial art, I wasn't all that anxious to be a white belt yet again. It is really creepy to have all of our friends hanging around watching me. At least I feel like they are watching me. It doesn't really matter if they are because I'm convinced they are so damage done. I've gotta stop getting into my own head so much.

On the TaeKwonDo side of things - I received my blue belt during the belt ceremony held on Friday evening. Bryan was there to document as usual. I hate that almost none of the adults show up for this event. I end up feeling way outta place, but I must admit that I do love seeing all of the children. They are so enthusiastic about ranking up. It's pretty damn cute!

Here are the pictures that Bryan took of the belt ceremony:
Start of the ceremony
View of everyone there
Getting my new belt tied on
I'm a blue belt!
Waiting on the others
All the new ranks
Showing off the belts

Other news:

I met Jason for lunch on Friday. It was nice to hang out with him some.

On Friday after my ceremony, Bryan and I met up with Ryon, Jason, and Amy to watch the presidential debates at the Alamo. It was definitely the best way to watch the showdown. We were able to stuff our faces with lots of yummies while the candidates clawed each others eyes out. I was pretty disappointed with the debate from both sides. Neither did a super job at explaining things. Mostly they just threw out numbers, quotes, and attacks I have no way of validating. At least they had this awesome bingo cards for us to play with. Check them out:

Today (Sunday) Bryan and I have been SUPER lazy. Finally in the late afternoon we managed to finally get down some sort of game plan for the New York trip (we leave on Tuesday). I still need to go find some stuff to knock me out. Hmmm...I wonder if it would be easier to have someone knock me out? Any takers? Only serious inquires please. Must be able to do a 3 hour knock out - anything less is useless to me. I'm excited to see the Big Apple just sooo nervous for this damn flight...ugh!

Video I took of OC's new trick (he's a wheelbarrow):

Songs I've been digging lately:
Let It Rock - Kevin Rudolf (feat. Lil Wayne)

Happy Birthday To Bryan!!

2008-09-24T21:50:00.008-05:00

What a week, and it's only Wednesday. Still it feels longer, and I am pretty give out.

Today is Bryan's birthday (in case you weren't tipped off by the post title). I wish that I could report all of the awesome things we did today in celebration, but alas I can not. Truth is he's a pretty sick boy. His throat started to hurt Saturday shortly before the party. On Sunday it was really hurting. On Monday we went to the doctor.

Bryan at the doctor:

Poor thing. He tested negative for strep throat which is good. However, it's Wednesday, and he is STILL complaining of a very sore throat. The doctor prescribed him some antibiotics, but it's still too early to see if they are working. Last night he decided it was best to let his fever run it's course. I'm a very big believer in letting your body do it's own thing, but it does make for a pretty shitty night. Needless to say, I haven't slept well since he got sick. But that's okay...nursing him back to health at least makes me feel like I'm earning my keep here at the homestead while unemployed.

Speaking of working or the lack of, I started my teaching certifications. Just another thing that distracted me from celebrating sicko's birthday all day. I'm pretty excited about this endeavor. I quickly noted that just because this is an online program, it will be no walk in the park. There are tons of lessons to do. I will also have to do 20 in classroom observations. Nothing worth doing is ever easy, and I really do enjoy a challenge which is not something I was used to getting at any job. I think that will change with this career though. I also like the idea that every year will change, and each child will learn differently. This means that things will be the same and yet different, and it will force me to always stay on my toes.

Back to the big day. Bryan spent most of the day on the couch. He was feeling much better this afternoon after finally taking some fever reducers so we decided to go out for dinner. The dinner sucked...seriously sucked. We tried a newer restaurant that had received great reviews. We were tricked!! We didn't want to risk a terrible desert too so we headed to Amy's Ice Cream. Great choice! Despite feeling bad and crappy food, I hope that Bryan enjoyed his birthday or at least the days leading up to it which included a surprise party and lots of great gifts.

Bryan's gift from me (currently on the bed but with belts added!):

Pictures of our dinner tonight for Bryan's birthday:

Here is a pic of the backyard where we created the little garden. It's not complete yet, but it's on it's way. I love it.

In other news:

Bella finally learned to use the kitty door we installed in the window. I'm super proud of my little girl! Now all of our cats can come and go as they please. Nice.

We leave for New York City on Tuesday, and we still haven't come up with a way to knock me out for the duration of the flight. I'm seriously terrified by flying. Nothing you say will convince me to be otherwise. Therefore, for me and all the other passengers to enjoy the flight, I need to be pretty much unconscious or as close as possible. Seriously, I don't want to even know I was on a plane. Soooo...if you have some ideas or suggestions or even the good stuff...give it up!

And lastly, it looks like I'll be infiltrating Bryan's last haven - his martial arts school. Yep, I've decided to come take Kung Fu/Tai Chi. I'm pretty excited. :D This is in part to the sparring issues at my school as of late. This does not mean that I will not be attending TKD though. I paid for 2 years when I started which will get me through my black belt. And since I bought that nice belt rack for TKD, I plan on filling it up. I think I can manage to do both. I only need 12 classes per testing cycle in order to test. Cycles are about 2 1/2 months. This shouldn't be too difficult. I'll probably eat those words. :)

Songs I'm digging at the moment:
Going On - Gnarls Barlkey
Whatever You Like - T.I.

Surprise!

2008-09-22T03:26:00.005-05:00

Wow what an awesome weekend. Let's recap shall we?

I can FINALLY discuss Bryan's birthday surprise now that it has occurred. It has been so difficult not to breathe a word of it to Bryan. I have wanted to blog about it so bad but for obvious reasons couldn't. It has been something I have been planning since we moved the date back from its original time in August. Bryan chose the new date. Once I realized how close it was to his actual birthday I knew something must happen. Bryan would never say what he wanted to do for his birthday so I just decided for him. :D I want to thank everyone who helped especially Wendy, Ligi, and Jason. He never suspected a thing, and the whole affair was too awesome! :)

Friday:
Friday started early. While Bryan was gone to class I had to pull my lazy ass out of bed to go to Ligi's house to deliver some things for her to make Bryan's birthday cake. She lives in Pflugerville. Wow, that was a long ride. Thank goodness for my iPhone GPS! On the way back I stopped by Jason's for a few minutes. Finally around noon I arrived back home. I was supposed to clean that afternoon but....well, I didn't feel good and took a nap. Yes, here comes the picture:

I swear that the next time I take a nap that I am hiding Bryan's iPhone first. Bryan, documenting my cat naps are cute, but I think we all get the point which is that I am lazy and worthless while jobless. Good thing those teaching certification classes start on Wednesday. I hope all my books and stuff arrive in time.

After a very long nap, it really was time to tackle the house to get ready for the party on Saturday. We tackled so much though most of it wasn't on the to do list for the night. However, it was a lot of things I had wanted to see happen. We got the other 2 plants planted in the front yard. The garage is now 95% cleaned/organized. We tried to hang the kayak which even included Bryan running to Lowes, but we were unsuccessfully. Sigh. It's good to have the garage in usable condition again. We did a lot more, but we left plenty to do for Saturday. Bryan was out quickly, and lucky me I couldn't sleep at all.

Saturday:
I finally managed to get a few hours of sleep. This is not how I wanted to start this particular day. I wasn't quite sure how I was going to get through my TKD testing and a party without a nap. My brain pretty much wouldn't let me. All I could think of was surprising Bryan. Plus there was too much to do.

Testing went okay. I wasn't all that pleased with my form. I am always super hard on myself. Bryan took a video of me doing my form. It's okay, but by far not my best. I wasn't as nervous as I have been previously, but I was still somewhat nervous and it got to me.

Here is the video:

Here are the pictures that Bryan took:
Lining up for testing
Warming up
The Judges
Getting Ready for Sparring
Sparring Round 1
Senior Green vs. Senior Green
Always keep your guard up!
Sparring Round 2
Circling my opponent
Senior Green vs. Green
End of testing

After testing was complete we stopped by Costco for party supplies. Once home we set about making sure the house was all ready for the spades tournament. Bryan cooked for the party (much appreciated!) I cleaned everything. Bryan helped me set up all the playing stations. I was totally counting down the hours. I was getting nervous that something bad would happen in regards to Bryan's surprise.

FINALLY 7 PM arrived! People started to show up (not as many as said they would - I was a little disappointed at the turnout), and the night went as planned. After everyone had a chance to eat, I managed to get everyone to sit down for the rules (and the surprise). After everyone was seated, I said I had a little something we had to do first. Bryan definitely looked confused...hehe. Wendy helped me by bringing in the cake that Ligi had made. Everyone sang him "Happy Birthday." Next I gave him the present I have had wrapped and sitting right under his nose for weeks. He totally loved his present which made me happy. And he loved his cake which also made me happy. I knew making a motherboard cake was the way to go. :) You wouldn't want to know what this cake would have looked like if I had made it.

Pictures of the surprise:
Surprise!
Gift time!
What's in the box?
Bryan opening his gift
Just what he wanted!
Showing off the goods
Bryan with the cake
The motherboard cake

Finally it was time to actually play Spades which was fun. Congrats to the winners! They took home all of our cash. Don't go spending it all in one place. ;) I hope everyone enjoyed themselves. Thanks for coming and bringing nourishment.

Pictures of the tournament:
Bubbles loves Spades
Jason eating cake
The tournament - Round 1
Us
Round 2
The results
The winners!
Bryan and Bubbles
Bubbles!

Video of Bubbles:

Sunday:
Nothing. Really - we did nothing but lay around watching television and eating party leftovers. Bryan's throat has been sore all day and night. I would be asleep right now but at about 1 AM he woke me up moaning with his throat in his sleep. I found a home remedy online and made him try it. Hopefully it worked because he's sleeping. I was unable to return to sleep so looks like I'll be taking one of those "cat naps" today.

Bryan's actual birthday is Wednesday - the same day I'm scheduled to start classes. I'm not really sure what we are doing for the special occasion, but I think we are going to go out to eat with whoever wants to join.

More proof that Bryan loves me:

Accepted!

2008-09-18T10:13:00.003-05:00

I hate to post that, but there you go - the truth to how I spend some of my afternoons while unemployed. Good news though! I FINALLY received an acceptance email from the school where I'll be getting my teaching certification. Yay! They will be mailing it out also for that oh so special feeling of opening up an acceptance letter old school style. Ah, nostalgia. So, I start classes on the 24th. I look forward to finally having something to do even if it doesn't bring in a check. Grades 4-8 look out!

It is with great pleasure that we write to inform you that you have been accepted for admission into the State Board of Educator Certification (SBEC) approved Web-Centric Alternative Certification Program.

The certification areas that you qualify for are:

Generalist 4-8
English as a Second Language (ESL) Supplemental

Bryan recently purchased me a copy of Ron Paul's book The Revolution. I'm only in Chapter 2 right now, but so far it has been an amazing and informative book which I highly recommend. I think I have a grandpa crush on Ron Paul. He's just so damn cute. I want him to be my grandfather. Haha! I'm just kidding. Old people are cute. :) But it looks like I better be getting used to the younger generation. :)

The week is almost over which is great as far as I can tell. Saturday is a big day. I've been waiting for this day for a long time, and it can't get here quick enough. First of all my testing. I'll be testing for my blue belt which will be held at 11 AM in South Austin. I look forward to ranking up once again. :) I really do look forward to learning a new form. I also better really start working on getting all the 360 jumps down. I will definitely be expected to be doing them in class. I also must step up my sparring. I think my main problem isn't the actual sparring, but being able to have the energy to complete even one round. Yes, even one! I have to start working out outside of class - this much is apparent. Lots to do but I'm ready.

Saturday is also that long awaited Spades Tournament. I'm so looking forward to this event. I really hope that most everyone shows up. I know a few people have this and that to do, but I really would appreciate everyone else showing up. Pleeeeeeease. See, I'm begging. :) It really will be a lot of fun. There will be food and fun galore. There will be cards of course with the possibility of winning some cash! There will also be lots of conversation and other things going on. To miss this event would really be a travesty. Really!

There is tons of cleaning that must occur before the tournament. Also Bryan must cook something and the tables have to be arranged. Whew...I'm tired just thinking about it. I might just need a nap (reference the beginning)...hehe.

So, on one last note. I have not been back to my TKD school since the little altercation with the "crazy" lady. I'm not afraid to go back. I'm just not excited to go back. I really don't know what this means....sigh.

Bruises Bruises Everywhere

2008-09-16T09:28:00.005-05:00

The weekend was nice and fun filled - Yay!

Friday night:
I was at Wal*Mart trying to purchase some more decks of cards for the Spades Tournament (this Saturday!!) when I received a voicemail from my old co-worker at Lott Brothers. She was inviting me to come and hang out with all of the girls from LBCC. I was excited to see some of the girls and not really looking forward to a few. However, the thought of Happy Hour got to me, and I quickly finished up my shopping to hurry to the restaurant. Unfortunately Wal*Mart didn't want to lose me so quickly.

I bought 4 decks of cards. One pack was priced at $1 and the other at $1.97. They only had one pack for a dollar, and the $1.97 packs actually rang up at $2.95. I was so not paying that much for a pack of cards. Therefore, I spent many minutes at customer service getting my cards repriced...sigh.

I finally made it to happy hour! It was awesome to see Destiny, Melanie, and Tala. I met a really cool girl who had started working there since I left. After we were all pretty saucy, I called Bryan to come and join us. I felt bad leaving him at home all night.

Me and Destiny at happy hour(s):

Tala has the rest of the photos so I'm not sure if I'll ever get all of those.

Saturday:
At about 2:30 AM in the morning my uterus awoke me for menstrual cramps. I would really appreciate if my body would start adding these things to my Google calender. So that lasted until 6 AM, and I finally managed to get in another hour of sleep when Bryan woke me up. I stayed in bed desperately trying to sleep until it was time to get ready for Lucy/Jose's baby shower.

The shower was really fun. All of her gifts were so cute! The women played some games which were all in Spanish unfortunately. I couldn't play them all, but it didn't stop me from winning the baby word search. I managed to snag a big box of chocolate truffles for that one. :D We are still enjoying them. Mmmmmm.....

After we arrived back home, we tried to watch a movie, but I passed out about 20 minutes in. Bryan said it was good though. :)

Sunday:
Sunday Bryan and I got up early so that we could start enjoying all the free museums in the city. We attended Umlauf Sculpture Garden where we were able to meet about 20 sculptors and see their work. We also got to make our own sculptures. It was a weak attempt on my part, but Bryan made me a sweet keepsake. :) Then we went to Austin Museum of Art which was great but much smaller than I had expected. Then it was Mexic-Arte Museum. Nik met us at this point where we enjoyed some lunch downtown. He then attended one museum with us. It was the Arthouse where they were having a show based on video games. We were all excited to see the exhibit, and we were all greatly disappointed. It was horrible! Finally we were off to another shitty exhibit at the Texas Music Museum. They only had pictures, maybe 2 actual items. Pssst...get some artifacts or something! It was a nice long day of culture with perfect weather, but it was good to finally go home.

We spent the rest of the night laying around the house.

Monday:
I'm still awaiting to hear from the school for acceptance into their program, but they are based in Houston soooo who knows when I may hear from them. It is definitely making me nervous. In the mean time I have applied to a few more things but changing industries has definitely proven to be quite difficult.

Bryan finally got our jasmine plants planted in the back yard. They can now make their way happily up the trellises. They look awesome and still smell great. I imagine they will look really great in a year.

Bryan came to watch my TKD class. It was definitely an interesting class. Testing is this Saturday so the class is geared toward making sure we are ready and prepared for that. We sparred 4 rounds last night which easily kicked my ass. I also had a little altercation with the highest rank student. She very rarely comes to class. I'm not sure what her deal was, but whatever...I've decided to let it go. My legs are covered in bruises from sparring all the black belts all the time. They never spar down to my rank, and I'm still trying desperately to spar up to there level. I'm not against a little rough sparring, but some of those kids are kicking like it's a real fight. I suppose it's learn to not get hit or get the shit beat out of me at this point. So, would anyone like to teach me there sparring secrets? :) I'm definitely up for hints and secrets of the trade.

Proof that Bryan loves me:

Lastly I'd like to talk about my disappointment in Hurricane Ike. WTF? I know that Ike didn't come in like a lamb, but how is it Cedar Park managed to not get one drop of rain. Look at this:

Major fail!

New Car Smell

2008-09-12T06:02:00.006-05:00

Yesterday was a long day, a long day indeed, but it was a great day too. Okay, I got absolutely nothing done toward a job, but I still felt it was a day well spent.

Yesterday Bryan and I spent pretty much the entire day at Capital Kia. Bryan wanted to trade in his car for something else. I think we got the best thing on the lot. :) It's pre-owned, but barely! It's a 2004 Kia Sorento. I love it! It only has 30,000 miles on it. Whoever owned it first must have used it only to get around town. It's completely loaded included heated leather seats (which I'll use and Bryan most likely will not). They even threw in free window tinting which we are scheduled to get done on Tuesday. We also went to Circuit City and bought a new CD receiver (this link may or may not be our model, but very close). They had to order the right kit for it. As soon as it comes in that will get installed, and the new ride will be all set. I think we are really going to enjoy all the extra room this SUV has to offer. Now we can haul stuff, people can ride easily in the back, and Bryan can haul all of his crazy kung fu weapons with ease. :)

Pictures of the car:

Loooves it!

After a super long day at the dealership, we piled up on the couch for several episodes or Arrested Development and then bed! I was so tired; I crashed within minutes of settling in which makes me wonder why at 2:18 AM I was wide awake. I have yet to grow tired. I know this means I'll want a nap this afternoon which I hate because they leave me all groggy, and I want to go to TKD tonight.

Today I need to mail off the stuff for the Leander ISD substitute teaching application. It's the only one I have fully completed. Then I'll need to cross my fingers and pray. Speaking of teaching, I received an email from the school that I'll be doing my certification through saying they had to push back classes from the 17th to the 24th because of the hurricane! ARGH! I swear that life is really working against me lately. Sigh...

Tomorrow should be fun though with the board breaking clinic I'm supposed to help with and then Lucy/Jose's baby shower. I'm looking forward to both. It will be pretty cool to see the kids break boards. I'm sure many will easily show me that their skills are far superior to mine. :) I just hope I don't get it in the face with a board - Ouch! I've seen it happen. I'm not really worried about breaking boards at the moment. For now I'm focused on the 20th and testing! I can't wait to wear that nice new belt. I finally break them in only to get a new one.

I'm ready to get this weekend started. Oh hell, what am I talking about? I'm on constant vacation. Sigh, again...

Artists I think you should know:
Dolk - His imagery is amazing and hard to ignore. His images are fairly simple in design/color- usually stencils on walls - but his imagery speaks volumes - a lot of social commentary.

Argh!

2008-09-10T12:40:00.000-05:00

The week drones on - more of the same. I'm currently still working on applying to the local school districts to become a substitute. I still need 2 more letters of reference - anyone? Don't all jump up at once. I am also still waiting to hear from the school for acceptance. I don't believe all of the paperwork has made it into there office which worries me because classes start on the 17th (eek!) In my mass amounts of spare time I have been trying to keep the house clean while tackling a few things around the house when I have time.

Example:

Okay, bad example! But I do love naps and my kitties especially when they are combined.

I just finished editing all of the pictures I took on Saturday (the kid's shoot). They turned out really well. My friend is scheduled to pick them up tomorrow. I'm really looking forward to what she thinks of them. I think she'll really love them, and hopefully the rest of her family as well.

What else have I been doing with myself? I've been going to class pretty much every night. Testing for my blue belt is on the 20th. I have really been enjoying the new schedule and having the older kids joining the adults. It makes the class a lot bigger while keeping things interesting. My form is looking pretty good. I'm confident on this, but my sparring could use a little something...more combination attacks perhaps. I finally got all 3 of my stripes so I am prepared to test. I hope I don't get as nervous this time, but somehow I almost imagine I will. I think I'll let Bryan sit on the floor this time! :O

I have also been getting ready for the Spades tournament the same day as my testing. We have invited so many people, but I am still unsure as to just how many will show up. However, many of our usual gang have given confirmation of their attendance which makes me super happy. I wonder what all yummies people will bring over. I love a potluck. :)

This weekend is equally as full as the next weekend. Saturday Bryan has training, and I have offered up my assistance helping with the child board breaking clinic. I have chose not to go to the adult on (better to save my $20 me thinks). But the instructor did say he'd let me try after the kid's clinic is over. I dunno about this...kinda scary! I think I'd like to put of board breaking for a little longer. Hell, I haven't even gotten down a single 360 jump yet. Sigh...

Saturday afternoon is Jose and Lucy's baby shower. I have my gift wrapped and ready to go. I love being ahead of the game for once. :) Sunday The Austin Museum Partnership will hold the 11th annual Museum Day (all museums are FREE!). You know how I love free stuff. I have picked 4 places I really want to see, but there are sooo many to choose from.

Well, Bryan and I are having dinner at Kerby Lane....mmmm...pancakes! So, I better be off...

Songs I'm digging at the moment:
Addicted - Saving Able
So What - Pink

Closer - Ne-Yo

The Search Continues...

2008-09-08T08:59:00.005-05:00

Wow, so I haven't posted since Wednesday. Sorry for being away so long. I really can't claim to be so busy that I can't post; I just kept putting it off.

The rest of the week I spent filling out lots of paperwork. I applied for school. I'm just waiting for all the correct papers to get to them for final review. Assuming all the paperwork arrives, I should be getting my acceptance letter any day. I'm already completely registered with the site and have my email set up. This is all good signs as I see it. :) I have also started the process to applying to substitute teach in some of the close school districts around me. This is proving to be a lot of work. I have to provide so many personal recommendations. I think people are going to get tired of doing these for me. I really hope that something gives soon because this being in limbo is not giving me peace of mind.

This weekend was a lot of fun. Friday night Bryan and I went out for dinner which was nice. Saturday I had a photoshoot with my friend's 2 kids. I have shot them once before, but thankfully this time they were much more willing. :) I got several awesome shots, but I plan on editing them today or tomorrow so that I can see what I really have and get them back to her. I am anxious to see how she likes them. After they left Bryan and I had to do major cleaning to the house. Late Friday night Bryan decided we were going to host UFC at our house.

Here is a couple of pictures that I took (I'll try to post more when I'm finished editing):

UFC was a lot of fun, and I thank everyone who came. It was just the right amount of people. Everyone brought food which is always nice. Bryan made fajitas which were very good. We set up a table for them buffet style. There were some really good fights including the big one (in case you need to see it again)! Elizabeth brought a very small kitten with her which quickly became the favorite of the party (according to the people anyway, our cats didn't like her so much). See picture below for proof:

I'm still waiting for Amy to upload the pictures that she took.

Sunday we didn't really do much. We were pretty lazy. We watched National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets which was pretty good. That night we went to a free showing at Coldtowne Theater for some improv/sketch comedy. It was pretty good especially since it was FREE! We even managed to snag a couple of 2 for 1 admission coupons for later usage. :) If you've never been there, I highly suggest going sometime. It's a very small and intimate theater where they actually teach improv classes. You never quite know what you're going to get which is half the fun. They are quite talented people.

Well, today is Monday and the start of yet another week unemployed...sigh. I have some errands to run so I should probably get into the shower. Wow, its 10 already. Time passes much quicker when you don't have to work. Hmmm... I need to go pick up a baby shower gift which should be fun because I LOVE to shop. :D

Have a great week!

Missed Da Bats Again!

2008-09-03T09:43:00.010-05:00

This weekend seemed super long. Then again, being unemployed is like a BIG and constant weekend. Monday was Labor Day, and Bryan took Tuesday off. We've done a lot of playing, but Bryan finally had to go to work leaving me feeling more useless than I already did. Don't get me wrong, he's been more supportive than I could ever have hoped for and this is all me and my pity for me, but still, I do feel very worthless at the moment. On to the weekend recap...

Saturday:
Bryan slept in big time, but who could blame him after the almost sleepless week he had experienced. I was up at 6 am (dunno why)! Bryan took me out for a late breakfast and then we ran a few errands as well as picked up some movies and games. Then we chilled all night watching our movies. It was good to spend some quality time with Bryan after his long week away.

Sunday:
It was another lazy day. After finally waking up and watching another movie, we poked around the house till it was time to go to Bat Fest. We mainly went to see the Flobots, but we also saw Alpha Rev (pretty good) and Ludo (ugh!) as well as made a loop through the vendors. The Flobots were soooo awesome! The energy and passion they had was amazing and easy to get swept up in. They definitely know how to give a performance.

Here are the pictures that I took at Bat Fest:
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2011345&l=c3784&id=163200356

Here are the videos that I took of the Flobots at Bat Fest:

Monday:
Labor Day - a day off for the masses, just another day for the unemployed. We were lazy - very lazy. We bathed the cats - no easy feat let me tell you!

Tuesday:
The last day with Bryan before he had to go back to work. We were pretty lazy but not completely. We both went to noon classes at our schools. It was the first time that I've ever had the opportunity to go to class during the day. It was pretty nice. That afternoon, Bryan helped me go through all the kitchen cabinets to clean out and organize them. We managed it in one hour. Now the cabinets have lots more room and are looking oh so nice. :) Bryan went to his night class, and I watched yet another movie. When he got home we watched the last episode of the season of my new television obsession The Secret Life of an American Teenager.

Wednesday (today):
I spent most of the morning interneting. Then Bryan and I met a couple of this friends for lunch. Once home again, I finally started tackling my job search. This weekend we talked about a few options. It didn't last long before I broke down in tears. Later I was talking with my Grandmother and I finally talked myself into some sort of plan.

The Plan:
I was thinking about getting my teaching certification back when I was working for LGI. I wanted something else to do. I definitely like that the summers are free. I like this because it will give me time to do art every year. However, I'm really attracted to it for the future. When I have children, this schedule will allow me time to spend with them as well as travel back to Mississippi. I found a teaching certification site that will allow me to do all my coursework online. Normally, I'd be like no, but it's accredited by the state of Texas. I like the way the site lays out the coursework and options. The next class starts September 17. This will allow me to work towards something while I search for a job. If I find a job I love then I can stick with the job and know that I always have teaching to fall back on. If I don't like the job then I can quit as soon as I can find a teaching position. God forbid, but if I don't find a job at least I'm working towards getting one. I currently have the company looking over my transcript to see what I'm eligible to get certified in. Once they get back to me, I'll be able to apply and move forward.

Good news is that I have a job interview tomorrow. I can't say I'm terribly excited about this position or company, but I'd like to do the interview and see how it plays out. I never want to terminate an opportunity too quickly. Hopefully something will work out soon on both accounts.

The Cats in recent pictures:

Bella

OC

He's Back!!

2008-08-30T06:56:00.003-05:00

Yay! Bryan's back! Finally! I was so friggin' happy to see him. I couldn't stop smiling...ear to ear. Poor thing was exhausted. He worked so hard while he was in Miami; he barely got to sleep. He was pulling 18 hour shifts!! He works so hard.

Instantly upon seeing him my funk lifted. It was good to talk to him face to face. We went to Kerby Lane for dinner and then on home. When his head hit the pillow he was out. He's still out, but I could sleep no longer. No time like the present to get started on all the laundry he brought home. :)

I'm going to do my best to enjoy this weekend as if I were still getting a 3 day weekend. There's not anyone who is interviewing over their holiday anyway. However, I find it hard to be passive. I feel like I must do something...anything...towards getting employed. However, I know that it's important that I figure out what I want to do first. Bryan keeps saying this, but I just can't get past the fact that I'm jobless. I have to do something. I am not comfortable bringing in my portion.

I really would like to do something in art. I'm not really sure what all my options are, and it is an industry where who you knows gives you the breaks. I know no one. Ok, enough of the pity party. I'll try to look at it like this: I'll do my very best to get a job (once I figure out a path), but until then, I can actually get a lot of things done that I've wanted to. For example, I have a list of painting ideas. I could get started on some of those. There's still A LOT of scrapbooking that needs to be done before I'm 30. I haven't forgotten that list. :) There is now plenty of time to get into shape. Oh, and I can finally go to TKD in the daytime if I choose. I like some of these ideas. ;)

You Might Be A Loser If...

2008-08-29T00:02:00.003-05:00

Ok, this week sucks. No joke. First of all, what a week for Bryan to be gone. It's bad enough that he is gone for the week (back tomorrow evening), but he just happened to pick the week when the shit hit the fan.

I can't say much...not on here anyway. I wouldn't want to. It doesn't seem right to blast certain people on your blog...especially when you know they're reading it. Hi!

Anyway, to make a long story short, I quit my job yesterday. I didn't have much choice. I'd love to tell the whole demented tale on here, but unfortunately you'll have to ask if you want to know. Don't worry though, I've got it down at this point. So, yeah...this week has been hell, and I currently find myself jobless yet again. This sucks because I really thought I had found my niche - at least for a while. I was happy there, but I guess there must be something else out there needing me more. I really am looking for a career. I'm 25, and I'd like to start working toward something meaningful and substantial in this area of my life. Perhaps I am being presented with an opportunity here. I do have a degree in photography (that I rarely use). But, ugh...I don't even know where to begin. I have no connections, no anything. I guess the question is: Do I want it bad enough to achieve it at all costs? Probably not, I like the security of a 8 to 5. I also like the construction industry and wouldn't mind staying in it at all. I don't know what I want to do. I think I could be happy in a few places, but where do I focus my attention? There's A LOT to think about, and I've decided to just take this weekend to try and figure some things out. Everything will be better when Bryan gets back because I need my best friend more than ever. He always had great advice and is a super listener.

Speaking of friends...I know I've whined about my lack of girl friends. I am never amazed at the amount of flaky people in this world (though I do take it to heart each time they flake), but every now and then I'm amazed by someone who steps up and is a true friend. That happened this week, and I have a lot of gratitude to this person for doing the right thing. I'm also amazed at myself a little. I stood up for myself when I needed to. I don't really like confrontation, but I did what I had to do when I needed to do it. I'm glad I was able to speak my peace. It's not nice to be used; it's not nice at all. Ok, the sentences are starting to sound random though they actually all tie in together.

I'm officially in a funk. Bryan please come home!

Wendy met me for coffee last night. Thank you! I needed to talk, and I always enjoy our conversations. Thanks for buying, but more importantly, thanks for being there for me. :) Yesterday was Wendy's birthday!! She stopped by for a few minutes along with Nicky. I love seeing them both. Sorry if I seemed out of it or down (the funk...sorry!). I hope she had a nice dinner. I feel you on that string of bad birthdays. That's why this year I'm planning my own. :D

It's Labor Day weekend. I was looking forward to the day off...not so much anymore. Bryan and I are planning on going to Batfest because the Flobots are going to be playing, and I must see!

September has a lot of things planned:

September 9 - 7 months for us (I really promise to stop counting months after a year)
September 20 - I test for blue belt; this also the night of the spades tournament (please come!)
September 24 - Bryan's birthday (I've already got his present - have you?)
September 30 - Bryan and I leave for NYC for a few days (really looking forward to that though it will make interviews somewhat harder)

The Deed Is Done (Inked!)

2008-08-23T22:46:00.010-05:00

Thursday:

Videos of Bella early Thursday evening - this cat is CRAZY!!:

Thursday night I rode with Wendy to Bryan's school to watch him test for his black belt. It was truly exciting. I was both excited and nervous for him. However, just as I figured I had no reason to be worried, Bryan "tore it up" as always. He never fails to deliver an awesome performance. I am super proud of him. I was glad Wendy was there to keep me company too. It was impossible to use my camera without the flash so I ended up just taking video during the actual test.

Here are some of the the videos I took at testing (I would have posted them all, but Blogger is acting buggy):

Bryan's forms:

Here are the pictures I took of Bryan's testing:

Bryan about to test
Bryan awaiting his new black belt
Bryan getting his black belt
Bryan showing off his belt/certificate
Bryan taken off guard by my picture taking
Bryan and Troy
All the new black belts
Another group shot
Bryan and friends
Black belts with their instructor
Bryan getting his belt signed

After the testing a few of us met at the new and may I say improved Kerby Lane.

Friday:
I was super glad that Friday finally came. I worked some extra hours at work, so I was ready to relax.

Bryan went to watch the black belt testing. Jason went to TKD class with me to watch, and then we rented Funny Games to watch while we ate Bryan's chicken spaghetti (mmm). That movie was just...weird!

Saturday:
First thing we had to do was get up...a little to early for my taste. I had promised a coworker I would watch his 2 year old daughter for a couple of hours. I drug Bryan along. No reason I should be the only one awake! It was a good move; the kid liked him better.

Here are some pictures I snapped while babysitting:

Bryan and his dolly
Bryan and his dolly again

After a job well done, it was time to head downtown to consult with my tattoo artist. He had some suggestions to make about the design. I really wanted to get it done before I could chicken out so I made an appointment for 6 PM that night. I was pretty much nervous all day! I had to come home and rework the design a little.

On the way back home we went shopping, and I crashed (literally) upon walking in the door. Naps are the best. We lounged around all afternoon and then headed back to the tattoo place so I could finally get my ink. Yes, it hurt, but it was nothing I wouldn't do again. I love the ink! I think he did an awesome job. It took about 1.5 hours. I was super still and did it one sitting. I'm still getting used to having this dark thing on my back. However, I am really starting to love it.

Here are the pictures Bryan took of me getting inked:

It hurts!
Smiling because it's almost done
Thumbs up for a job well done
The finished product

After getting back home, Bryan made this crazy home dinner for us. It was delicious and romantic. We tried to watch a movie, but I didn't make it 5 minutes, and Bryan wasn't far behind me.

Sunday:
We got to sleep in a little, but finally after waking we started our busy day. Bryan went to buy the iPhone 3G because he got an offer to buy my old one. Then we had to get him packed and ready to board his plane that afternoon. He is currently in Miami for work....all week. He'll be back on Friday at 6.

Driving back from the airport, I dropped by Jason's. We then went to check out the kayaking possibilities at Brushy Creek (awesome), and then we rented a couple of movies. Hollywood Video is currently letting anyone rent Blu-Rays for FREE! We got Saw IV to watch, and I got Cars. Saw IV was scary and gross! Still, it was pretty good. After Jason left, I HAD to watch Cars to get all the scenes out of my head. After all, I'm staying at the house alone!

Monday (today):
I miss Bryan bunches, and it's only Monday! I can't believe he's gone for the entire week!

I went to class tonight. They are putting in carpet in the lobby so after class, we all helped move EVERYTHING into the main room. I think the place will look awesome one all the work is complete. We also got the new schedule which starts September 2. There are a lot of good changes included moving all super juniors into the adult class. This will make our class a lot bigger and better. I look forward to sparring new people and losing to them also. :)

Bryan Goes For The Black - One Night Only!

2008-08-21T06:13:00.002-05:00

Ah, the weekend is within sight. Yay! Good, I could use one. I don't really have much to report from the week so far. I didn't get to go to the Madonna Sing Along. Boo! However, Wendy has promised to make it up to me by creating a home version. Wendy, I can't wait! Tell me when I need to kick Bryan out of the house. :D

Tonight is a VERY important day. Bryan is testing for his black belt. I can't wait to see him do his stuff. I happen to think he's very good. I love watching him. He makes it look kinda easy, but I know it's not. This is something that he's been working on for years so I'm both excited for him and very proud. I can only imagine what he is feeling. I'm still in the lower ranks, but I dream of that day. I know that martial arts is best when it's a life long goal. However, it must be pretty rewarding to finally wear the black belt. Good luck to Bryan and all the other Kung Fu people testing! I'll be there with my cameras so say Cheese! I'm also looking forward to eating afterward with everyone.

I am definitely ready for the weekend. Friday night Jason is supposed to come over for dinner and movie. Saturday I'm going to the tattoo place to see what transpires. Other than that though, nothing is planned.

Music I'm diggin' at the moment:
Paper Planes - M.I.A
No Deliverance - Toadies
In My Arms Instead - Randy Rogers Band
All I Want To Do - Sugarland
Lolli Lolli (Pop That Body) - Three 6 Mafia

Yet Another Start To Another Week...

2008-08-18T21:35:00.004-05:00

Monday. Ugh! But hey, it's almost over.

Sunday night (things done after my Sunday afternoon post):
We cleaned - big time! The place is all spiffy again. Bryan got me distracted in the middle of vacuuming, but we have now rearranged living room furniture. You gotta mix it up every now and then. Maybe we shouldn't have though. Now we have to purchase another piece to our couch. It's ok because it will look awesome and make watching movies wickedly cool.

Here's Bella trying to get me off track during laundry:

She's such a stinker!

After we cleaned Nik came over and brought the new Futurama movie which was super good! There was definitely a lot of laughing taking place. It was a pretty good day, and I crashed - hard.

Monday (today):
Bryan is currently in Houston for work. Sucks...but he'll be back tomorrow night. That's not so bad I know. And I'm sure I should be enjoying my "freedom", but I just don't know what to do with myself. I would try to pile all the cats in the bed with me tonight if they didn't have this "thing" about being in the same space as each other most of the time. Oh well....perhaps one of them will keep me company.

I don't have much planned in the way of upcoming events. This weekend looks pretty clear so far. All I have planned as of now is the consultation with the tattoo artist on Saturday. I am really looking forward to this. Hell, I might be getting inked on Saturday! That's crazy! I'm excited though. And I know Bryan will be glad when it finally occurs because I'm positive he's tired of hearing me say "I want a tattoo!"

I wanted to go to the Madonna Sing Along at the Alamo tomorrow night. Is there a chance anyone would go with me? Wendy? Pleeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaasssssssssseeeee? Eh, who am I kidding? I know no one wants to go see that.

Ben did send out an email today to gauge interest in going camping. I'd be down for that. Hey, is this somewhere where I can bring my kayak along? Hmmm?

Sites I dig:
I found this cool site today. Check it out. Austin Green Art They have some pretty cool things on there in the way of art. Awareness and beauty - I like it!

Texas Flag And A Fish Bag

2008-08-17T14:19:00.007-05:00

I have learned this week that most things are usually not as they appear. This is a lesson I've been taught many times before, but this time I think it just might stick. I've got to stop being so damn naive! Enough Victoria bashing...moving on...

Thursday:
Girls night was awesome! I really enjoyed myself. I can't thank Wendy enough for inviting me over and Danielle for having me over to her home. It was awesome to meet some new people as well as get my mind off the week which pretty much sucked. The food was good, but I really loved being around some girls!

Here are the pics that were taken that night:
about to enjoy dinner
dinner time
moving on from wine
sake bombs - my first and only
group shot
girls, girls, girls
Wendy and her peeps
me n Wendy
sexy shot time

Friday:
What a day...no, what a week! I was glad to wrap up a very hard work week. I'm getting a crash course in closing out a job, and though you won't understand, it is quite a task. Please send me encouragement as I am still going to be laboring through this in the upcoming week.

After spending the evening being very lazy (if you don't count that sparring Bryan and I did), we headed over to Dan's going away party. Dan, I'm gonna miss you! The party was fun and BIG. However, I was emotionally drained and feeling lethargic. We stayed for quite awhile but eventually went home (way before the party was over). I hope Dan enjoyed his party.

Here are the party pics:
Bryan and I look on as they play a drinking game
Holly's cake for Dan
Dan about to murder his cake
cake cutting onlookers

Saturday:
We slept in which is no surprise. Bryan was begging to eat so I finally dragged my ass in the shower. We ate at a Cedar Park treasure we recently discovered. After that we went to Academy so we could purchase an exercise station that we had been eying. It's still in the garage unopened. There was a VERY nice employee that helped Bryan get it in the car. It's so rare to see someone who will go out of there way to ensure customer satisfaction. It was awesome that he did because we'd been to Academy several times in an attempt to purchase this, and I was most displeased about the customer service. We stepped over to the new department store but found NOTHING we wanted. Finally we went back home.

We hung out at the house for the rest of day. As night approached we debated over several things to do. It seems like this day's activities were doomed. The spades tournament was supposed to be held this night, but it failed due to no one being able to come. Then we had other options planned that were knocked out one by one. After finally deciding neither of us really wanted to leave the house anyway, Wendy said Danielle was hosting again. So, Bryan and I changed our tune and got ready. It's a good thing we did because it was another good time at Danielle's. There were quite a few people over talking, eating, watching football...hanging out. It wasn't anything special, but it was a good time. Danielle set Nicky up his own personal rigged up slip n slide. He didn't quite get the concept, but he had fun playing in the water anyway. He had us in stitches as he struggled to keep his wet shorts up...hehe.

After Bryan and I left and arrived back home we watched Fight Club. I had never seen it before, and it was really good! It was sooo late when we went to bed.

Sunday (today):
No surprise we slept in again (almost till 12!). Bryan left to go somewhere with Ryon, and I'm at home currently feeling a little weakish (blood sugar). We are scheduled to clean house and work on house projects for the remainder of the day/night. I am supposed to be getting a start on it now, but since I was feeling weak, I thought that blogging was a good activity since it requires no standing. :D

Here is a picture of OC doing his thing this weekend. Good for nothing cat...

One last thing...
Bryan helped me rework my tattoo design because the 2 artists that I talked to said the original one I wanted wouldn't work. It took some time for me to pick a location as well as a design, but I finally got it figured out. I contacted a guy at Southside Tattoos about setting up a meeting to discuss the design. I sent him an email of what I wanted, and he said we could meet up on Saturday morning. Yay! I'm finally moving forward with this thing. I'm not sure I'll actually be getting the tattoo on Saturday. I need to see how the meeting goes and if the guy needs to make changes to the design for any reason.

Here is what I currently have in mind.

Please let me know what you think about this or if you have suggestions. I am definitely up for hearing what you think. Share - stories, photos, ideas...whatever! This is a HUGE and permanent decision, and I want to hear anything that might help in making up my mind one way or the other. I am almost positive this is something I want to do, but it's important to weigh in every factor.

Wanted: A Girlfriend (Silly Giggling Is A Must)

2008-08-13T18:25:00.005-05:00

Ok, I'll admit it...right out here for the world to see. I need a girlfriend(s). I need to associate with the female population.

I have lots of friends. I even have some really close friends. And then I have Bryan, my best friend in the whole world. But most of these friends are males, and the ones that aren't are not close friends. I used to have girlfriends. Then at about my 4th year in college they all fizzled out, and I never found another one. Who knew it was easier to find "the one" in a city where you know no one that it is to find a BFF? I certainly didn't expect it to be so hard to find some girls to be friends with. I miss silly girl giggling, shoe shopping, and all the other "girly" things that only girls do. I know a lot of girls, and I like most of them, but unfortunately they are already spoken for. If you already have a best friend then you probably don't want another. If there is a girl in Austin currently in the same predicament then please call me.

Wendy did invite me to a girl's night out with a bunch of girls that she knows tomorrow night. I look forward to meeting some new girls and being in the presence of only girls. It should be a fun night. There better be silly girl giggling! I need to figure out what I'm going to make.

On a lighter side...

Here is a list of all of the things that Bryan and I accomplished at the house this weekend and since:

flower beds de-shrubbed and dug up - replaced by gravel (all Bryan)
ceiling fan hung (again, all Bryan)
we bought stuff to plant in the backyard...currently still sitting in garage but it's a start
bought stuff to hang kayak in garage (bought but not hung - still, it's a start)

Work has been killer this week. Seriously. I took Monday night off to be lazy with Bryan. It was nice even though I missed class. Last night (Tuesday) I passed out sometime around 6 PM and slept through class. Tonight, however, Bryan is already at class, and I'll be there shortly. I guess my body needed the rest last night; I couldn't fight it. After class, we are meeting up to eat at Kerby Lane...yum!

We have already fasted once this week - one more to go.

I'm still waiting on those replacement pieces to put my new computer desk together...sigh.

Uh oh...more complaining...

Bryan and I have decided to push back the spades tournament that was scheduled to take place Saturday night. We invited almost 50 people, and only about 15 have responded. Most people can't come which I understand. It seems this was like the perfect weekend for heading out of town or either having family come in. Most of the people who said they would be there didn't want to actually play cards. I hope that by pushing it back till next month it will give people the time to learn to play spades and be more excited about attending. We are playing for money after all. I'm a little bummed that so many people flaked on me, but I'm trying not to take it personally.

I'll be glad for this work week to be over. I'm mentally drained.

Friday night we are attending the going away party for Dan. You will be missed. Good luck on your endeavours. I know you'll do great things.

Here are some pictures taken since my last post:

Before leaving Lowe's - how many things you can put in a Scion tc - it's all how you pack it

Bryan and Mallos - my favorite men

We Celebrate 6 VERY Happy Months

2008-08-10T11:37:00.004-05:00

Trying to get in the weekend cap a little early this weekend.

Friday:
After ending a very long week at work, I settled in to a nice night in with Bryan. Shortly after getting home we decided to try a place in Cedar Park we hadn't eaten at yet. It was a good meal as well as our last for 24 hours. We are still fasting twice a week. It is getting easier, but it's not always a walk in the park.

With full bellies, we headed over to the new Academy that was recently built close to our house and celebrating their first day in business. We walked all around the place and looked at just about everything. I bought some gloves for the bag.

We finally arrived home for the night. We were very lazy. We watched the opening ceremonies for the Olympics and then rented Bee Movie on the T.V. It was a cute movie. Finally we passed out.

Saturday:
Saturday marked 6 months since the day Bryan and I became a couple. It doesn't seem like it's been 6 months. I guess time really does fly by when you're having fun. :) We planned out a very nice day out to celebrate. First we went to the Austin Nature & Science Center. It was fun, but I really loved the botanical gardens in Zilker Park, which is where we headed next. Finally, we headed to the Splash! Exhibit in Zilker Park. It was a very informative exhibit, and I learned a lot. We were supposed to go to a sculpture garden, but it appeared closed for the day. I was disappointed; I wanted to see some art. Oh well. It was sooo hot and humid that I was just as happy to sit in the air conditioned car. Next, we went to pick up the coffee mugs that we painted last weekend. They are so cute and perfect! On the way home we stopped at Whole Foods to get some stuff to make chocolate covered strawberries (Yum!). Finally, we arrived home. Bryan took a nap, and I piddled around the house. At 5 we left for dinner at this awesome place called The Grove. It was sooo delicious. You have to try it!

After a long eventful day, we finally settled in at home for the night. Bryan bought some wine, and we made the strawberries then devoured them. We played a PS3 game we had rented, watched some television, and finally passed out. It was an awesome day and a great way to celebrate the happiest 6 months of my life. :)

Here are the pictures we took from Saturday:
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2011059&l=82b19&id=163200356

Here is a video I took:

Sunday:
Well, today is Sunday and the end of the weekend. Bryan is currently outside working in the front yard. He was moved dirt and is currently putting down that free gravel. He is amazing, and I am blessed. The flowerbeds are going to look awesome! It's so hot outside. I just don't know how he does it, but I'm super happy that he does. :D

Bryan Sweats His Ass Off - I Stay Indoors

2008-08-07T21:55:00.006-05:00

Long week, long week indeed. However, tomorrow is Friday and the end of the work week! Work has been quite hectic because we are bidding projects like crazy, and I have one job closing. I know this doesn't mean anything to any of you who read this, but trust me, this makes for a crazy long week! It's been even harder to endure because Bryan and I have an awesome Saturday planned, but before I get into that - a quick week wrap up.

I've been to TKD every night this week. I'm still adjusting to the new guy, but several conversations with him have me very excited about some upcoming things. On September 2 he is starting a new schedule. Some classes will remain the same, but some will change; many classes will be added too. I'm very excited about having more options for taking classes. I'm most excited that Saturday classes will return to normal, and I will start attending those for sure.

I ordered a desk for my computer. It's one of the last elements needed to complete the home office. Well, I'm thinking about painting some sort of stripe or accent on all or one of the walls just to jazz it up a little, but at this point we are both quite stumped as to what to do exactly. However, we'll figure it out, and it will be awesome (just like the rest of our house). :) The desk came in record time which was quite the surprise. I'm used to waiting forever to get something I ordered on the internet. I guess the speedy delivery was just to tease me. The first pieces (step 1) didn't fit together (see the picture below). I had to call customer service (which was amazingly still open and even more amazing - they were super nice and said that the manufacturer would mail me replacement pieces). It was almost too simple. Most likely, it will take the pieces a month to arrive. This is just my luck.

Just look at this! This is just one of many holes that just don't line up. I wonder if the replacement will actually be drilled differently. I have my doubts.

Bryan spent pretty much all evening outside working on our flower beds. It was sooo hot. I have no idea how he managed to do all he did with out passing out. So, I'm pretty sure I've mentioned that we finally came up with a game plan for the flower beds. Since we are so bad at keeping up with our shrubs and weeds, we decided to plant something that required almost no attention from us. We decided that some cacti and/or succulents would look awesome and give us the independence we crave from yard work. We want to put gravel around the plants to complete the look. This brings me to earlier in the week.

Last weekend we had gone to have a looky at the landscaping place close to our house. We priced out their gravel and came up with $150 minimum. Luckily, I RSS craigslist.com Austin freebie section. Early this week I saw an ad posted for free gravel from someone in Cedar Park, and I put Bryan on the case immediately. Thanks to Scott and his truck, Bryan was able to transport enough gravel to fill our beds. FREE! I love it.

So, Bryan pulled up all of the shrubs today. He transplanted 3 of them behind our fence in the backyard. It just adds a little something to our yard. We gave the other 5 to my coworker who recently moved just down the street from us. No plants were killed in this makeover. Ok, that's not entirely true. Lots of weeds are dying as I type this. Bryan just put down some sort of weed killer. He'll be putting the gravel out on Sunday most likely.

Oh, and the bed suit finally sold!!!! Our garage is almost ours again! I'm sooo happy. Oh, and craiglist.com will bring about some very major weirdos. Don't say I didn't warn you!

This Saturday is our 6 month anniversary. We have a big day planned. I'll just wait and tell you all about it afterwards.

I Feel Famousy

2008-08-05T12:27:00.006-05:00

Monday:
Wow, TKD class was weird. Even before I walked in the door, I could tell that the entire entrance had been redone. Everything has been rearranged. The new guy was teaching class. I guess there's no use in wasting time getting started. He was really nice, and I like him...a lot, but he's just not what we're used to. It will take awhile to get used to his teaching style. I'm sure he's still trying to get used to us and the school. I suppose the next few months will be a major adjustment for everyone involved, but TKD marches on. While some things are just weird, there are a lot of things that he's planning on doing that are going to be awesome to say the least. First, he's going to remodel the place. But even better...he's going to offer Jiu-Jitsu around Christmas! I'm super excited about this and will take it as soon as its offered. He's also going to keep the sword and add the short stick. This means I'll get everything I need in one school.

I ran after class. I'm trying.

Moving on...our cat OC started this weird thing last night. He has never done this before, but if he was trying to get our attention, it worked! He's so damn cute!

Why is our cat in the sink? I don't know, and he's not talking. Fell free to give me your best LOLcats though.

Tuesday (today):
Bryan totally made my day when he found this.

Blogging to the Fair
Folks are blogging about the Fair.

Straight from the Horse's Mouth won't be making the drive from Austin to Philadelphia this year, but she writes about the Fair, her cabin, and a great list of suggestions of things to do at her blog: Red Clay Hills Are Calling My Name

That's right...my blog was mentioned in another blog. I'm not sure how famous that makes me, but um, yeah, I'll take it. :D It makes what I do feel worthwhile. "Hello, all you random readers!"

It's Tuesday, and that means a new episode of my current television craze (please see previous post - there's no reason to embarrass myself twice on here).

It Is Hot In Texas!

2008-08-03T23:07:00.005-05:00

The weekend is almost over. Well, it pretty much is over. I plan on hitting the sack very shortly, but first, let's recap!

Thursday Night:
We met Wendy for a little coffee and a game of Scrabble. It is hard to know what's going on in Scrabble when you don't keep score, but hopefully I proved to Wendy that I'm not all competitive. ;)

Friday:
I worked. It was a long day. Jason and I did go out for lunch which made it somewhat better.

Shortly after arriving home from work, Bryan and I headed to my belt ceremony...finally! It was short and to the point, but still it was awesome to finally get to wear that senior green! I can't stop staring at it and talking about it. I love it! I'm so happy to be moving up in the ranks. I learned some very strange news at the end of the ceremony. Our school was sold to someone else so it will now be under different management. I'm not sure what this means...about anything. It will simply be a wait and see game. I have no real information at this point. I am both excited and nervous. Things may only change slightly or dramatically. I really don't know. It will still be an ITA school so, it can't change that much. I will let you know when I know more. I'll definitely be anxious to go to class tomorrow though I doubt much will have changed over the weekend.

Thanks to the little boy sitting beside me at the ceremony - He kindly pointed out that I didn't have a yellow stripe on my belt (he is the same rank as me). Yeah well, they don't give that one out to adults. Thanks for reminding me of how old I am.

Bryan offered to take me out for dinner in celebration, but I was still feeling pretty full from lunch so, I opted out. Instead we spent an awesome night in drinking mimosas and watching movies/television.

Here are the pictures that Bryan took of the belt ceremony:
Bowing In
Removing Our Belts
Getting My New Belt
Back To My Seat
Top Belt Awarded
Sporting The New Belt

Saturday:
We slept in which was awesome! We finally managed to drag our asses out of bed to hit downtown for the farmer's market. It was soo hot which caused Bryan to be irritable quickly. :) We bought a few things, but we had to escape the heat pretty quickly. We headed for lunch - Greek - yum! After engulfing some very awesome gyros, we went the Buffalo Exchange. I had never been there before and wanted to at least see what it was about. I bought some jeans and a shirt.

After all of that, I suggested that we go paint pottery! Haha..yeah, I know, but it was a lot of fun. It was something we'd been talking about for awhile. I quickly googled and found this place on Bee Caves. It was a pretty cool little place. We decided to paint coffee mugs for one another. We each picked out a mug we'd like, and then the other one painted it. I was surprised to see Bryan choose colors and a design that I loved. Who knew he knew me so well? We can pick them up as soon as Wednesday. I know we are both super anxious/excited to see how they turned out. Plus, it's time we started sippin' in style. :)

We were exhausted by all the activities and the sun so, we took a great nap upon returning home. We didn't leave the house all Saturday night, but instead opted for another great night in. We watched Atlantis and ate then slept.

Here is what Bella did that night:

Sunday:
We slept in again. We hung out around the house doing nothing until it was time to leave for Ryon's birthday lunch in South Austin. The whole gang was there, and we devoured much pizza and desert. It was awesome to see everybody; it's been awhile since I've seen everyone. After leaving the pizza place, we ran by Wal-Mart for a few essentials.

Here is a funny picture Bryan snapped of me there:

Basically we've been lounging ever since coming home. Bryan's been helping me work on my tattoo design. Think I might be getting close to locking in on something. :) We are currently fasting.

Here is the rest of Bella's weekend in pictures:

That's A Real Bummer

2008-07-31T12:45:00.002-05:00

You won't be seeing me online during work hours any longer. Gone are the remote desktop days at work. So if I seem to have just disappeared today...well, get used to it. It sucks, but that's life for you.

Another update:

Awhile back I mentioned in my blog that my friend and old roommate Jason were on the outs. I also wrote about us having a big heart to heart one day. Well, Jason went on vacation for a couple of weeks shortly after us having that conversation. I would just like to report that we have managed to work out our differences and get rid of all the grievances that were between us. I feel more like the "team" we were such a long time ago before I ever moved to Texas.

Speaking of moving to Texas....I have now lived here for a full year (this week to be exact). Yep, I moved here the Saturday after the fair this time last year. Wow...it's already been an entire year and an eventful one at that. So, just what have I done in this year?

I have lived in 1 apartment, 1 duplex, and now a house.
I have worked for 3 companies (including my current position)
I have been unemployed twice (that sucked!)
I have met the man of my dreams
I have adopted this man's two cats (wow - I have 3 cats!!!)
I have made awesome friends (and lost some along the way)
I have met a lot of people!
I have experienced a lot of Austin (and loved every bit of it)
I have registered to vote in Texas and gotten Texas license plates
I have eaten more Mexican food than I had ever imagined possible
I have been back to Mississippi 3 times (that's a 10.5 hour drive one way!!)
I have proven to myself that I can really do anything I want, that I'm stronger than I ever thought

I truly do love Austin and all the people here. I can't imagine living anywhere else. That's a pretty big deal considering that I had never even been to Austin until I drove in with my car loaded down.

But just because I love it here in Austin doesn't mean that I don't miss home. For everything I've done here, I feel like I have missed 3 things at home. I'm not just talking about the Neshoba County Fair either. I have 3 siblings (12, 7, and 3), and every time they do anything, I miss it.

One day while Bryan and I were driving around this song came on. I was so taken by the first few lines of the lyrics.

ZZ Top My Heads In Mississippi Lyrics

I'm shufflin' thru the Texas sand,
But my head's in Mississippi.
I'm shufflin' thru the Texas sand,
But my head's in Mississippi.
The blues has got a hold of me.
I believe I'm gettin' dizzy. (Spoken: Help me now.)

Tomorrow's Friday! Thank goodness! I really need it. What a week! Plus, I have been awaiting this senior green belt for too long! Please give it to me already!

Yesterday Hungry - Today Sooo Full

2008-07-30T14:36:00.002-05:00

I am so friggin' full after lunch. I met Jason and Bryan for lunch at this seafood place close to where I work. It was ok food. I ate way too much; this is apparent. I'm currently sitting at work stuffed to the gills and miserable. I might note that it is 3:02 PM and we at around 12:15 PM. Yes, I am STILL full! I am declaring myself back on my low fat diet. I have strayed far, far away thanks to the weekend and PMS. It was nice to see Bryan in the middle of a work day. :)

I'm also a little bummed. A lot of people keeping saying that they can't come to the spades tournament I have all planned out! So, I'm thinking about pushing the event back one weekend. Hopefully, those who currently can't attend will let me know if this is a better option. However, for now know that it is still on for August 16. Maybe enough people will come. Every time I plan an event everyone is busy. I'm a curse to an event. Do not ask me to plan yours! If it helps, there will be more to do than just play spades. We now have a awesome dart board in the garage. We can play other games. And of course eat because I know our group loves to eat! :)

I'm ready to be done with work for today. Trying to get in correct insurance from subcontractors is like pulling teeth! It wears on you after awhile.

I'm really looking forward to Friday night. Bring forth my senior green belt. I am worthy. :) And I'm obviously being silly at work.

FYI - I'm ready for the weekend!

Bring Your Game Face He Says

2008-07-29T12:13:00.006-05:00

Oh Tuesday...you are a rough one. I feel crappy. Not sick crappy...PMS crappy. And well, that's enough on that subject. Except...OMG...can someone please get me something to eat. I ate, and I'm still starving! PMS, you suck!

Our house just keeps getting better and better. It is just so exciting and awesome. Yesterday the cushions for the outdoor futon on the front porch arrived. They are such a pretty green which just sort of brings the porch to life. Now we can sit out there and enjoy being outside. Our house looks very welcoming from the outside now. :) Bryan had some yard work done yesterday also. We now have no flower beds around our trees. This is awesome because me nor Bryan know anything about flowers or shrubbery. We can't keep up a flower bed. This has led us to rethink the flower beds currently in front of the house. These can't be removed - so says our HOA - blah! We are going to try to remove all of the current bushes and put down some rocks and cacti instead. This way we have something pretty yet something we can actually keep alive...at least that is the goal. I am just not a garden type of person, no green thumb here.

I'd also like to see some stuff happen in the backyard as well. I would love to entertain out there more. We both have some ideas though they seem a little larger than flowerbeds. :)

This weekend for some odd reason, I decided that a spades tournament must occur. I have a bad tendency of getting an idea and running with it. Soooo...now one is set.

Date: August 16
Time: 7 PM
Place: our house

Come with a partner - one will not be provided for you (I don't want anyone to show up and be left out).
$5 to enter per team - winning team takes the pot (split how you see fit)

I'm excited about this event! It should be a lot of fun. I'll definitely have to work on getting some more tables. Anyone coming that might have a fold up table they can bring? Well, we will figure something out. Everyone has a couple of weeks to practice so, in the words of Ryon, "bring your game face!"

This weekend Bryan and I talked about taking the train to Burnet, TX. I'm excited about doing this. I have never ridden a train before, and I love going to new places. It will be like a fun little adventure! I know - I get so excited about the smallest things. :D Well, at least I'm never bored!

I'm so ready for Friday night. I can't wait to get a new belt. Senior green, oh yeah! And on September 20 I'll be testing for blue belt, and blue belt means weapons!! I am very excited to start working with and learning to use weapons. There are only 2, but I'll take them.

Tommy pointed out to me yesterday that while it was great that Bryan was finally able to view my testing, when was everyone else going to be allowed to watch? Well, I'm sure none of you will actually show up, but you're all invited to watch my blue belt testing (Sept. 20). It lasts about an hour, it's all the way down south, and it's not very exciting. Have I deterred you from wanting to come yet? :)

Has anyone watched this new show on ABC Family called The Secret Life of an American Teenager? I know, I know...this is dorky television, but I love it. I have this one DVRed, and can't wait for the next episode (tonight!!). Please make fun of me now...

Well, I'm going to go so I can get back to the rest of my crappy day.

She's Gotta Mean Hook Kick To The Head!

2008-07-28T10:22:00.002-05:00

Thursday night:
Bryan suggested that we go out for coffee. I suggested that we bring Uno. Together we come up with some smashing ideas. :) After we had been at the coffee shop for awhile, Wendy came and joined us. I was currently killing Bryan hand after hand at Uno. After Wendy got her coffee, we dealt her in. After playing with Wendy, I learned that I'm competitive and a little crazy. This is true perhaps, but she's gotta work on her delivery. I will try to relax a little Wendy. :D

Friday:
I went to TKD - my last class before my testing. I left half way through, because I forgot that Friday night classes are twice as long. Bryan and I had planned on going out for dinner so I didn't want to be out to late. Class was great and so was dinner. We ended up deciding on Trudy's after much internet searching and debating. I hadn't been there in awhile so, it was quite a nice treat. I love a mexican martini from there. Thanks for that Bryan! After arriving back home, we crashed...I crashed hard - thanks mexican martini...hehe.

Saturday:
We couldn't sleep in too long because it was testing day! I finally decided to let Bryan come with me. I had always thought him being there would make me more nervous, but it actually gave me a confidence booster. I was happy to not have to go alone. It's nice to know he's always there to cheer me on and support me in all I do. I am a lucky girl.

We got to testing a little early; it's always a nice to be a little early. I made Bryan sit up in the balcony section to watch my testing. I thought if I could see him easily it might throw me for a loop, but I think next time he can sit on the floor. I'm so silly...I know!

Testing always makes me nervous, but after my form blanking at tournament, I was even more nervous. When I got up to do my form, all I could thing was, "Don't throw up, don't throw up." Yeah, I know - gross! My heart was pounding so hard. I managed to actually do my form. It wasn't the best, but still I thought it went well. I was too nervous to remember all the little things, but overall I am happy with my performance. Finally, it was time to spar. There were 2 rounds, each 1 minute, 30 seconds, and you get a different partner for each. My first round was against a blue belt. Both of my rounds went excellently. I was happy with my delivered kicks/punches. I made sure to do a few combinations as well as some jump kicks. I have been working lately to try to include those when I spar. Here is what Bryan had to say on my testing:

I thought that her form went really well. She did a really good job on it. I was really proud of her b/c I know she was very nervous. Her sparring was even better to watch. Not only were there numerous hook and roundhouses delivered to other people's heads, but straight up sucker punches to their stomachs. Now, I guess you can't really call it a sucker punch b/c you are sparring. It's funny to watch how people will just leave themselves open and get it. Needless to say that was also really good to watch. I was very proud of what I saw. Hopefully, I can sit closer next time =).

Here are some pictures that Bryan snapped of the testing:
testing pic 1
testing pic 2
testing pic 3
testing pic 4

Testing complete we headed home. Bryan wasn't feeling all to well so we stayed at home for the remainder of the day/night. We started working on the home office. We put up a temporary desk and hooked up the other computer for me to use. We also moved around the furniture putting Bryan's computer desk facing the windows. We went and purchased some wire for Bryan to run. I'm glad he's so smart. If it depended on my...well...doomed. The home office now looks so much better, and I think Bryan will enjoy working in there a lot more. We still need to hang some art work in there plus a few other touches, but for the most part, it is finished.

Sunday:
We slept in a little, but not too long. I didn't leave the house the entire day. Bryan and I worked on even more house organization/improvements. We really focused our efforts on the garage. We managed to get it about 90% complete. Everything is mostly put away and organized on the shelves. It looks so awesome. Plus, everything is so easy to find. There are still a few more things to put away, but it has come such a long way.

We also weather-proofed Bryan's futon that was already outside. It is now front porch ready! Our custom cushions are scheduled to arrive today. Now we can really start working on getting the front porch looking more "welcoming". It will be nice to be able to sit out there and enjoy the weather/neighborhood/yard while talking/eating/drinking. Yay!

We did soooo much this weekend. I couldn't believe how much we were able to accomplish. I am very excited about all of the things we have done, and even more excited about the things/plans/ideas we have planned for the near future. Our home is going to be so awesome. :D

Monday:
Well, we are both back at work. My boss is back from vacation. Life is normal. :)

Tonight there is no TKD class (reviewing testing results) so, I've decided to stay at home and clean the house. I'm also going to cook the crustless quiches I made a few weeks ago, freeze them, and eat them for breakfast over the next couple of weeks.

In care you cared - I'm making it through the week with out the fair, but it's hard! :(

Upcoming Events:

TKD Belt Ceremony - Friday night
my parents anniversary - August 1
6 months! - August 9
a party (I have emails saying one is in the works)
lots of work deadlines

I'd like to have another event at our house soon...I'm thinking spades tournament. I'm probably going to be a little competitive at this Wendy, sorry, but it is a tournament. Let me know if anyone that reads this would be interested in a silly thing like that. :)

Artists I think you should know:

Stella Im Hultberg - beautiful, eloquent, seductive, sensual prints (mostly on tea stained paper) of women

Wowzers...What A Day...

2008-07-24T17:56:00.004-05:00

Wow...this has been quite the day, and I am exhausted!

Nothing much to really mention prior to today. I have mostly been working and going to TKD class in preparation for my testing on Saturday. Monday night after class I ran and then pounded on the bag in the garage for about 20 minutes. It was a pretty awesome workout. I was in mid fasting hours and must have just gotten in the zone. Oh, Tuesday Bryan hung the shelf and peg board we bought for the garage. That night I helped him hang up all of the tools. The garage looks much nicer and is really coming along.

Today was such a hard day at work. I'm not complaining, but it was the most work I think I have every shoved into a work day. I even had to work through lunch. In fact the only time I ate all day was in the afternoon...munching on some grapes...a handful at most. Currently I am mentally exhausted and awaiting some delicious food cooked by man very sweet man. I have decided to skip class for tonight. I am simply too tired. I just want an night at home to recover from a day filled with change orders (52 to be exact). One of my jobs is closing which means that the workload isn't scheduled to let up for the next couple of weeks. Even so, I love how everyday at Lott Brothers is something slightly different. It keeps working exciting.

I stole this idea from Sarah's blog. Sorry, but it was a great website. I just had to try it out. I let this website read the first page of my blog, and this is what it came up with.

It is apparent that I talk about Bryan a lot. Haha..that's ok. He is the most important thing in the world to me. :) This site has also shown me that I spend way too much time thinking about the weekend. I also use the work probably a little too often.

Well, the fair starts tomorrow night, and I'll be here...in Austin...sigh. That's ok. I'll be testing, and I'm excited to rank up. Ben is also having some sort of drinking game/pool party. That sounds like a lot of fun. Maybe I can stay distracted enough not to think about all the fun my fellow Philadelphians are having at home without me. Will some of you please have a drink for me?