Cooking Group Fun!

Tonight was our last cooking group for 2008. It was wonderful as always. We did a gift exchange and all brought appetizer-type food. We usually each bring a different course of the meal, so this was a change of pace for us. Here was the menu tonight:

Maradee - homemade crab dip with crackers
Erika - Ham & Cheese pinwheels and spinach dip with Hawaiian bread
Heather - Wassail
Rachel - Pepperoni and jalapeno bread
Cindy - Pork-on-pork : ) bacon wrapped little sausages covered with brown sugar...delish!
AnneMarie - Bris with apples, crackers, and walnuts
Me - Bacon and corn easy bake (kind of like a quiche)
Shannon - Buffalo chicken dip
Mandy - Homemade peppermint patty double chocolate cookies

I wish I could say that we don't always have this much food, but...we do. It's just usually an entree, appetizer, side dish, dessert, salad, drink, bread, and whatever else someone brings. I love cooking group! This is all of us in front of the Christmas tree at my house. Fun times!

Carter is Here! And other happenings...

My precious nephew, Carter Paul Allen, was born last Monday, December 8, 2008 at 5:01pm in Shreveport. He is ADORABLE!!! I can't wait to see him again soon. My sister did wonderful during labor, delivery, etc. Following my family's normal tradition of being silly in any situation, we had a contest to see who could guess the closest to the time, weight, and height. There were like 12 of us sitting around the waiting room, so it was a good way to pass the time. Another classic moment...I looked up and there were FIVE of us on laptops (free wi-fi at the hospital) and everyone else was texting or on their cell phones. We were all playing on Facebook when Carter was actually born and missed it by 2 or 3 minutes...very funny!

In other, less important news, Thanksgiving was fun with the fam. We went up to Laury's house because she couldn't travel (Carter wasn't quite here yet).

The next week, I got to go to a Texans game. It was very fun. I really like sporting events and I really like football...good combo! This was the first time the Texans had played on Monday Night Football, so there were lots of festivities. It was cold because they kept the roof of Reliant Stadium open (it's still damaged from Hurricane Ike). We left the game early because it was getting late. The Texans were winning 16-3 and there was only 12 minutes left in the game. After we left, there were four touchdowns scored...FOUR! There had only been one touchdown and four field goals scored in the whole first three and a half quarters...craziness. The Texans still won, but crazy that so much happened after we left.

The weekend before Carter got here, I had a wonderfully relaxing weekend doing not much of anything. I took the whole week off of work because I had a lot of vacation left (I'm only working 5 more days this year!!). I was in Louisiana for a few days and missed the snowstorm in Houston :(. I did have to drive through a Winter Wonderland to get back from Louisiana.

This past weekend, Heather and David hosted a poker night. It was so much fun that I decided to stay there until almost 4:00am...I know, I know...how old do I think I am??? There were nine players in the first game, so it lasted a LONG time. We took a break and five of us played a second cash game. I lost my money in the first game and broke even in the second game. The pics below were taken around 2:30am, so they're a little scary. David suddenly realized (after 6 hours of poker) that he wanted to wear his sunglasses. Also, I had four of a kind for the first time EVER! It was only 2's and I only won like $3, but still...four of a kind!!

Much Overdue Fall Update

Once again, it has been a whirl wind of activity in my world (is whirl wind one word or two?). Let's see, since I last updated you I have:

-Seen the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans
-Gone to a million parties (OK, maybe not a million!)
-Ran a few races
-Visited family in Louisiana and dear friends in Dallas
-Started going to a sign language class

So, details...

I went to Louisiana for Laury's baby shower. How can my baby sister be having a baby? I remember seeing her in the nursery at the hospital on the day she was born! What is the world coming to? Here is a picture of all 3 of us at the shower. We also celebrated Mom's birthday that weekend and watched LSU lose to Georgia (boo!). It's always so nice to go home. I just love my family. Mandy went with me and got to experience all the craziness of my family activities. We are constantly "doing" something...cleaning, celebrating, cheering, playing, reading...it's a never-ending roller coaster at our house. Well, until about 8:00 when we all tucker out and go to sleep watching TV : ).



The day after I got back from Louisiana, I headed to Los Angeles for a work meeting. It was actually a pretty good meeting. I got to meet a lot of people face-to-face that I had only talked to on the phone or emailed with. We went out to dinner at a couple of nice restaurants and went to the Santa Monica Pier one night to watch the sunset over the Pacific Ocean...gorgeous!




The next weekend, Cindy and I hosted a costume party (the day after Halloween). Unfortunately, I left my camera at home, so I'll let you imagine what it was like. If you know my friends here in Houston, you know that it was super fun! I dressed as an Environmentalist. Translation...I found a bag that said "Tree Hugger" for $2.50 and a shirt that said "Plant Flowers" that I bought with a gift certifcate...all about 3 hours before the party. There was a costume contest...we had two men in kilts/barbarian costumes (JB & Jim), a redneck with fake teeth (Dick), Sarah Palin (Jana), a devil with strangely realistic horns (Maradee), some pirates (Laura & Isaac), some farmer-type costumes (Tim & Ashley), WonderWoman (Cindy), Batman (Jeff) and lots of other costumes that I don't remember because I didn't have my camera with me! The night ended with Jeff, Cindy, Shannon, Maradee, and I talking while we snacked on what was left of the food (Cindy REALLY like the dip!)...fun times!

The next weekend, Mom, Dad, and I headed to the northeast for a racing trip. We ran in Rhode Island and Connecticut (states #18 & 19). We saw Plymouth Rock (it's disappointly small) and ate at Mystic Pizza (like the movie!). The races were fun. The one in Rhode Island was sponsored by a community club and they were cooking clam chowder to serve after the race (which started at 11:00). So, the place where we had to go to sign up smelled hideously of onions...not a good smell right before a race! There were only 25'ish people in that race and we were the last people to make it in. Our papparazzi (Mom) was there waiting at the end. The race in Connecticut was in Hartford and it was HILLY!!!! In case you've never noticed, there are no hills in Houston and not too many in all of Louisiana, so we did not do so well on the hills! We went to Mystic Seaport, which has lots of boat stuff, so Daddy was in heaven. We saw the Atlantic Ocean and took pictures (with Mom's camera, so I may never see them). It was a kind of exhausting, but fun trip!

This past weekend, I went up to Dallas to visit my dear friend Cara and her family. I go see them about once a year and it's always so fun. This was the first trip in a while that didn't involve some special event for their family or friends (I've been to engagement parties, wedding receptions, baby showers, all for people I don't know). The kids are adorable. Jacob is 6 and is sooo smart! Joel is just 18 months younger than him. Joel is such a sweet boy! Anna is the baby and she is 2. She has quite a personality and is beautiful! Here are some pictures from the weekend. Anna took the one of the boys!



And now I'm back in Houston. I only have 16 more work days in 2008 because of all my vacation...yay!!!

My Encounter with Ike

I didn't ever write about my Hurrican Ike adventure. I feel bad because I escaped very unscathed after the storm and so many people lost so much. Recovery is ongoing and it's tough to think that my life is completely back to norman when so many people are still devastated and merely coping. Here is what I did during the Hurricane. Some of it is funny. You may think it's boring. But it's what I did.

On Wednesday before the hurricane, I was determined that I was not going anywhere. The thing that stresses me out most about the threat of a hurricane is the potential traffic jams. So, I really just wanted to watch the storm coverage in my PJ's in my house. However, by the time I left work on Wednesday I was in a panic. We had had 3or 4 meetings to try to decide what we were going to do at the plant and I became more and more frantic as the day went on. Our management team (which includes me!) decided that we had to meet at 5am on Thursday morning to make a final decision. Of course, I only had 1/4 tank of gas and there were gas lines everywhere.

So, Maradee, Mandy, and I decided we weren't going to evacuate. We're so far inland that it seems silly to leave. However, I got really stressed out and only slept 2 hours Wednesday night. At 2:45, I finally gave up and got out of bed. I decided that it would make me feel better if I had a full tank of gas and a bag of clothes just in case I couldn't go home after work on Thursday. So, I went to get gas. There are not many people at the gas station at 3:30am!! At work, we had our meeting and decided that we would stop all work for the hurricane. So, then we were in full preparation mode. I walked around the plant with a co-worker making a list of all the things that needed to be tied down or moved inside a structure. This is a surreal exercise. You are literally looking at things and saying, "That's heavy enough. 100 mph winds won't pick that up. OK, tie those other things to it now and they'll stay down, too." It's just weird!

Around 7:30 that morning, Maradee called me. Our house was in a mandatory evacuation zone due to potential storm surge from one of the bayous near us! I was totally not prepared for that. The house wasn't ready at all and I had only packed a few things. Fortunately, Maradee's school was already closed for the hurricane, so she was able to get things ready around the house and bring me some extra clothes. I was a basket case (mostly from not sleeping). Maradee planned to go to the Woodlands to stay with a family she knows from her time at Baylor. So, I invited myself along because I really did not want to drive to Louisiana! Since I was freaking out so much, I left work about 9:30 that morning and just drove up to the Woodlands. There was very little traffic and I got there around 11:00. So here I was in the Woodlands at 11:00 on a Thursday morning with nothing to do (Maradee wasn't there yet). So I went shopping at the mall. It's a really nice mall and it was very quiet. I bought some face stuff and a suitcase and some books. It was just funny that, in the middle of a hurricane evacuation, here I was at the mall!

The family we stayed with were wonderful. The dad is a chaplain at Hermann Memorial and had to go in for the hurricane ride-out crew at the hospital, so it was just Maradee & I with the mom and their 3 kids (18, 15, and 12). On Friday, we decided to go out into the traffic and get some necessities like brownies and milk (we had a pan-a-day brownie habit during the hurricane), but everywhere we went had closed just before we got there...very amusing/frustrating. We had a "last meal" at Raising Canes. We found a Target that was open and got what we needed. We also moved our cars to a parking garage so they'd at least be away from flying debris (thanks to Brent for that plan because our cars would have been toast if we'd left them on the street!). The storm hit the Woodlands around 1:00am Saturday morning. We were all staying in the living room downstairs. There wasn't an interior room in the house, so we covered the sliding glass doors with a mattress and hunkered down (a very popular term that week!). At 4:00am, we were all woken up by the transformer blowing (it sounds like a shotgun if you've never heard it). We all looked outside...it was crazy! The wind was so strong! When we laid back down, we could hear what sounded like more transformers blowing around the area. Every time, there would be a bluish light in the sky. It was eerie. And then it was very dark.

This is a crazy thing to say, but I'm kind of glad I stayed and rode out the hurricane. I've lived on the Gulf Coast for my entire life, but I've never really been through a hurricane. We were so blessed to not have been hurt, but it is crazy when the wind is blowing 90 mpg outside the window that is 4 feet away from where you are laying!

The storm didn't completely pass through the Woodlands until about noon on Saturday. The house we were at had minimal damage. One leak in the roof, fences down, and lots of branches on the ground. We discovered the leak because we were bored and flashing the flashlights onto the ceiling and noticed a tiny spot of water. We ventured into the attic and tried to stop it. Our efforts seemed to help. No one had any power. We had a radio to listen to and lots of flashlights (we were prepared!). We played cards and did a puzzle. The highlight of the day was when Karen (the mom) and Garrett (the 18-year-old) tried to get the dog to use the bathroom in the storm. Smoky (the dog) was too scared of the rain. So, Garrett pulled him outside in the rain by his leash while Karen held an umbrella over him. It took him forever to go. I took a picture because it was so funny! Anna, the 12-year-old, made a "flashlight chandelier" attached to the existing light fixture over the table so we could see the puzzle really well. After it got really dark outside, she did a show for all of us. It was kind of like charades. We mostly laughed a lot.

I got up early on Sunday morning and took a shower and headed out before anyone was awake. I ended up driving through lots of standing water (I am a complete moron, I know!) and made it home after a couple of hours of driving. There were lots of people on the road. I stopped at a Lowe's that was miraculously open, but left after a few minutes because the line to check out was wrapped around the inside of the store. I didn't need anything that badly! My house was basically untouched by the storm, but I didn't have any power. There were a couple houses of friends close by that had power. We went to one house with power, but as soon as we got there, the power went out again. So, we ended up staying at the house of some dear, sweet guys from church, along with 9 other people. It was a party! We ate all the food from everyone's refrigerator that was going to spoil. We had a good time, but I had to go to work the next day to help the plant get going again. I got power back on on Monday and have been enjoying it ever since! I was very fortunate. My house had zero damage. I think that it was protected by all of the 2-story houses down the street. They all had roof damage, but my little one-story was perfectly fine.

Well, that was really long. I though you might enjoy some random details.

Simple Sights

Today, I met a friend of mine for lunch. To get to the restaurant (which is worthy of it's own blog post), I had to drive about 12 miles on country roads. I wish I had a camera with me. Here is my description of some of the "simple" things I saw that made me smile:

+Two older gentlemen sitting in the side yard of a house, shaded by a portable metal building, with laundry drying on a line close by, whipping in the wind. I wanted to pull over and ask them what they were talking about. Here is what I think they were saying:

Man #1: "Weather sure is nice today."
Man #2: "Sure is. It's supposed to get hot this afternoon."
Man #1: "Yeah. Humid too."
Man #2: "MmHmm"
Silence for at least 5 minutes.

+An American flag blowing in the breeze on what appeared to be a 2" PVC pipe in front of a kind of run-down house.

+A white picket fence in front of a long line of houses that were very clearly not part of any neighborhood development project...just neighbors who wanted a white picket fence.

Nothing exciting, just things that I like to see are still somewhere in the world, even if they're not really a part of my world.

It's Been Too Long...

Yet again, I have failed in my blogging. I can't begin to go into all the details since July, so I'll hit the hightlights.

Barb Got Married! One of my former roommates and dear friends got married in Houston on August 9th. It was a beautiful ceremony and a lovely reception at my favorite restaurant in Houston, Brennan's (which burned down during Hurricane Ike). The cake was the coolest thing ever! Barb's co-worker Devanshi made and decorated it and it was so neat. I'll try to add a picture later.

New Job. I got transferred to my company's Mont Belvieu Plastics Plant as the Maintenance Supervisor. I started on September 1 (just in time for Ike!) and am getting adjusted to a different site. I had been in Baytown for 6 years, so it's a change for me. It's going fine, though. My official title is Mont Belvieu Plastics Plant Maintenance Section Supervisor. I have 70 people reporting up to me...yikes!

College Football is Back!! In case you didn't know, I LOVE college football. It's second only to tennis in my list of sports that I love to watch. Since my team is LSU, it's been an uneventful season. This coming Saturday will be the biggest test so far this season. Unfortunately, I won't be able to watch it live (birthday party at the same time), so I'll DVR it and come home and watch it at midnight. If you know the score, don't call or text me before Sunday afternoon!!!

Hurricane Ike. As you may or may not have heard, there was a hurricane that hit Houston. It was very bad for some people, but not so bad for most of us. I was very fortunate and didn't have any damage to speak of, just no power for 2 days and a little fence damage (very minor...I haven't even touched it to fix it!). I'll write another blog later this week with the random details of my Ike adventure. In case you have never ridden out a hurricane or had to evacuate, it is more stressful than you might imagine. At least it was for me. More on that later.

Missy & Scott Got Married. My sister got married in September. It was a beautiful and sweet ceremony at their house in Hineston. My niece, Mia, was the flower girl (and only attendant). Missy was beautiful, as always, and the ceremony was short (always good!). We had a dinner reception there in the back yard and everyone had a good time. It was nice to meet some of Scott's family for the first time.

Luau Murder Mystery. The Young Adults ministry at my church had a fun party. It was a luau murder mystery. Everyone really got into their parts and hammed it up. I loved it! I was part of the "Mermaids of the Land". We were a "synchronized" "swimming" team. I use quotes (which would be air quotes if I were telling you this story in person) because we weren't so much synchronized and we weren't swimming. We just made up a cheesy routine to a song that I would hum for you if I were telling you this story in person and you would totally recognize. I was the murderer, by the way. Apparently I was embezzling money and killed my boss. Very exciting!

New Garage Door. Back in the summer, my garage door opener stopped working. Apparently, before I moved in, someone had run into the door and that knocked it of the tracks which, over time, burnt up the motor in the opener. So, since it hasn't been working, I have to get out of my car, open the door manually, and then drive in and close the door manually. Reverse for when I leave the house. There are just a couple things about this that annoy me: (1) wasting gas while my car is idling, (2) the whole personal safety aspect when I leave in the morning at 4:45am, and (3) there is a lizard that lives in the lip of my garage door and falls out every morning when I open it. I am OK with the lizard living there because he does not come into my house and lizards eat bugs. However, one day I wasn't thinking about it and opened the door and he fell into my hair. I FREAKED OUT, as you can imagine! So, all of that to say that I got a NEW door and opener on Saturday. The
door is insulated which will help the house not get so hot in the summer and the opener is crazy quiet...like almost silent! It's awesome.

OK, that's about all I have to report out. My next blog will be about Hurricane Ike (in case you haven't heard enough about it!).

What I Did on My Summer Vacation, Part Deux

Part Two of my summer vacation was a few days spent in Houston. I had planned for this to be a relaxing couple of days, but of course I crammed in as much as possible.

Sunday afternoon, I celebrated Kristy's birthday with her. Our entertainment was Kristy & Jess playing the Wii...very amusing! Nothing too exciting!

Monday, I had planned to meet Heather for a mani/pedi in Rice Village. However, her car broke down and I dropped my phone in the tub, so we had to scrap that plan. I did manage to make it into town for lunch with Shanna and Madelyn. We enjoyed a wonderful lunch at Chuy's (I love Tex Mex!) and then I got to see their new beautiful house. That was nice and relaxing. By the time I got back down to Clear Lake, it was time to get ready for cooking group. We had a great time at Cindy's...we think it was the best cooking group ever. I made cheddar garlic biscuits (kind of reminiscent of Red Lobster's). Cindy made chicken marsala, Shannon made risotto, Brittany brought veggies and dip, Maradee made a great black bean pizza for an appetizer, and Mandy brought salad. Then, to top all of that off, Kallae brought homemade ice cream sandwiches...soooooooo good!

Tuesday, Mandy and I headed downtown for a Vacation in Houston day. We started off at the Menil Collection. This is supposed to be a great museum. However, we didn't get to experience it because it was closed (you'd think I would have looked into that!). We still took some pictures of the art in the front of the museum. From there, we went to lunch in Midtown. Yummy burgers at Farago's. After that, we went to Hermann Park to go to the Japanese Garden. It was a little different than we expected...and it was really hot, so we didn't stay too long. The kids at the park were playing in the reflecting pool. We're not actually sure that you're supposed to play in the pool, but they were. From there, we did some drive-by sight-seeing, including some odd houses, giant presidents' heads, and a 50-foot saxophone. I found all this on www.roadsideamerica.com. I highly recommend this website if you're going on a roadtrip! After we got done with all of that, we headed to meet some more UBC folks for the Astros game. It was a great game. It was the first time I've ever seen a grand slam in person...really cool!

Well, that was about it for the Houston portion of my vaca. I have lots more pictures on my Picasa site, if you'd like to see them (look at the President's heads!). I'm in Louisiana now...more on part 3 of my summer vacation in a few days.

What I Did on My Summer Vacation, Part One

I know it's been forever since I posted and I know that you're all dying to hear what I've been up to. This summer has been really busy and I'd love to give you all the details, but there are too may. Instead, I'm just going to tell you what's going on now.

I decided to take a week off after the project at work finally finished and this is the week. This past weekend, my first phase of summer vacation was a weekend trip to Charlotte, NC. I went to visit Ann & Eddie to cheer them on while they biked in 24 Hours of Booty (that's them in the red jerseys). This is a cool event where they block off a popular 3-mile biking loop in the city for 24 hours. Cyclists can ride as much as they would like. It was to benefit cancer (I think?). Anyway, I decided to take Air Tran for the first time because it was a lot cheaper than the other options. I got to Hobby in plenty of time (a little over an hour ahead of time) and got in line to check bags (I always check bags...I'm a high maintenance packer!). There was only one person checking people in and she was NOT fast and kept answering the phone. By the time I got checked in and through security, I had to RUN through the airport to get on the plane...run! Can you believe it? Craziness, that's what it is to me! Anyway, I made the plane and the connection in Atlanta and got to Charlotte without much more fanfare.

The weekend was very relaxed. Once I got there, I met up with Ann & Eddie and cheered them on at the starting line. Matt drove up from Clemson to hang out, so we watched them go by on their loop a few times (3 miles go by quickly on a bike) and tried to take some pictures, but they were mostly very blurry! After a great dinner and staying up late to watch a movie (Good Will Hunting has lots of bad language in it!), I was tired and ended up sleeping in late, so we got a late start to the day. That afternoon we went to the Billy Graham Library. I don't know what you would personally expect there, but I was very impressed. It is such a wonderful tribute to Dr. Graham's ministry, including his wife who passed away last year. I highly recommend it if you're in Charlotte. Back at the house, among other things, we were entertained by Shadow, Ann & Eddie's dog. Shadow is a 2-year old lab/boxer mix and is very hyper. She jumps ALL the time. Matt was able to actually hold her, which even Ann & Eddie were amazed by. I was very fortunate and only had to watch her through the windows while everyone else managed her. I'm terrified of dogs, you know. There wasn't much else exciting...we ate some great pizza and ice cream and played Mexican train dominoes late into the night. Dominoes was a little loosey-goosey...we kind of made up some extra rules as the game went on. I won even though it was the first time I'd ever played. Sunday morning, we ran...in North Carolina...yay!! The weather was awesome. We had a good 3-mile run. As we were leaving, a man was getting ready to run on the trail and said, "How'd you like that sauna?" Sauna?? Really? It was like 75 degrees and <75%>

So, now I'm back in Houston for Part Two of my summer vacation...more on that later this week!

Fun vs Productive

I got back to work this morning only to find a Post-it note still stuck on my desk. I wrote it Saturday afternoon before leaving...my list of things to do on my one day off (yesterday). It's not a very helpful list if you don't have it with you : ) !

Here is what was on the list of things I needed to do yesterday:
-laundry
-shop for groceries
-work on the lock on the garage door
-download my bank transactions to Quicken on my computer at home.
I really did need to do all of those things and none of them were too terribly taxing on me. They just weren't very fun things to do.

Here is what I actually did on Sunday (after going out to eat with friends Saturday night):
-awakened at 5:00am by my pager from work...crisis managed after 3 or 4 phone calls
-go ahead and get up for a short run
-go to church
-lunch at Tiera Luna (yummy tortilla soup that I was treated to by someone who is nicer to me than I deserve!)
-play Ultimate Frisbee (two hours...great workout, so much fun, and such a sunburn!)
-dinner at Cafe Express
-ice cream at Ben & Jerry's (I am in love with the Chocolate/Peanut Butter Swirl)
Somewhere in there, I did manage to do laundry. But the only motivation for that was to have clean clothes to wear to Ultimate Frisbee (my motivation should have been to have clean coveralls for work this week, but I bet I wouldn't have done laundry if it hadn't been for Ultimate Frisbee).

So, fun vs productive...I wonder which I was supposed to do, in the grand scheme of things? I can go to the grocery store tonight, download to Quicken tonight or tomorrow night. And the garage door lock...it's just something annoying I need to take care of. I'll get to it soon enough. I am never good at balancing between fun and productive. It's either one or the other for me. This weekend, I think I needed some fun. Work is...not fun. I just needed a break. I am so thankful for my dear friends who made it a fun 24 hours away from work!

Quote of the Day(s)

To liven up this project, a friend of mine and I send each other quotes of the day each day on our pagers. Some of them are only funny if you work here, but I'll share a few that we've gotten a laugh out of:

"He's got the prettiest mullett you've ever seen." I really overheard someone say this. I don't know what the conversation was about or if they were serious or not, but I almost started laughing out loud right there in the hallway.

"I've been hornswaggled." This is mostly funny because of who said it, but it's still amusing to the outside world, I think. Who uses the word hornswaggled?

On being put on a different type of job (bus duty), "I'd just as soon have somebody kick my ***." This one is funny because it was said in a meeting of 30-40 people. And because that's kind of how everyone feels about bus duty.

"There's probably going to be a yelling match at the 10:00 meeting." To which I responded, "Awesome!" This is mostly funny because, well (1) I crack myself up more than anyone else and (2) it reminds me of a scene from The Office (remember when Dwight showed up to Michael's awkward dinner party and Pam said, "Awesome"?).

This is a geeky one..."This number can't be accurate to 2 decimal places...after the integer." First of all, "to 2 decimal places" implies that it's after the integer. Second of all, the person who said this paused before explaining, which means they thought about it. And third, who uses the word integer??

Well, that's all I've got so far. Hope that some of them make you laugh!

All I Do is Work

That's pretty much all that I do these days. We've started the project and it's going OK, but it makes me tired to work so much. One thing that is my fault is that I go to the gym before coming in to work. I have to or I would never work out, since I leave work so late every night. To get to the gym before work, I have to get up at 4:15, which means I have to go to bed around 8:00 every night...putting a major cramp in my social life, but that's the way life is, I guess. It will be over soon enough (early July), so I'll get through it. Today is just really tough to be at work. I really want to be hanging out with friends for Memorial Day. Oh well.

On the bright side, I did get to have a great day off yesterday! I went for a 4-mile run. It was a little hot, but I got through it without stopping. A good running route close to my house, which makes me happy! Then church, lunch and a trip to Target. Then I went home and sat in the backyard and read a book...it was wonderful. The only way it could have been better was if I had gotten my car washed (that's one of my favorite things to do on Sunday), but I decided that I'd rather go home and chill than sit at the car wash...I'll get it done next Sunday instead...something to look forward to : ) !

One of the things that I'm missing by having to work so much is that I can't schedule a pedicure. I haven't had one for 5 months because I injured my toenails back in December (it's pretty gross, so I'll spare you the details), so I haven't gone to get a pedicure for fear of doing more damage. Well, my injured toenails finally healed up a little over a week ago, but now I'm working on Saturdays, so no time for a pedicure. I guess it's not important since I can't actually go anywhere that would require wearing open-toed shoes. But I really like my toenails to be pretty...I'm a silly girl, I guess!

Well, that's all for now. Happy Memorial Day to you!

It's a Small World After All...

Admit it. That song is running through your head now, isn't it? Sorry about that. In the past month, I have run across the following "coincidences" or "small world examples" or whatever you would call them:

-Jeff, one of the ministers at my new church who is also one of my Sunday School teachers, went to seminary with my uncle in San Francisco in the early '80's. They knew each other and my uncle helped talk Jeff into Journeyman ministry.

-Jacob, who is in my Sunday School class now, was also in the same Sunday School class as me around 2001-02 at FBC Houston. It was Beth Moore's Sunday School class, which has about 500 people, so it's not unusual that we didn't know each other, but still...random!

-Mandy's best friend, Jenn Poe, was in town last weekend. We started talking about where we were from, etc. When I told her that I had gone to Louisiana Tech, she mentioned the only 2 people she knows who went there, a couple who she knew at Texas A&M while they were there for grad school. The wife was one of my college roommates, Chrissie! Now that is crazy!

Not Much Going On

Sunday started off wonderful. It was cool outside and I sat in the back yard doing my Bible Study for 45 minutes and got really chilly even though I had a sweatshirt on...I love it! After church, a few of us went to the chocolate bar and had dessert for lunch...it was heavenly!!! I got my car washed on Sunday (it desparately needed a good washing).

Monday, Cooking Group was at my house. I made yummy chicken cream cheese puffs...they were delish! Anne bought a blow torch for the occasion (we were celebrating lots of things in our Cooking Group!) and made creme brulee.

Work has been fun this week because it's getting closer to the project and so I'm busier and I like to feel like I'm actually doing something. Today I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off...and I LOVED it! Tomorrow promises to be just as busy and I can't wait!

Unfortunately, one of my co-workers had a death in the family this week. Even though I didn't know the guy that passed away, it still makes me sad to think about all the people whose lives are sadder because he's gone. He was only 22...too young!

Whirlwind

I realize I'm like a broken record, but I have been, yet again, ridiculously busy, so I haven't taken the time to blog. Here is a kind of brief (as brief as I can be!) recap of the last month and a half:

House - I moved into my house! Maradee moved in, too. We've had fun trying to organize things. I heart my house. It is so fun. Yesterday I realized that I still don't feel like I live here. I do really enjoy coming home to it and fixing it up and having people over. But it still feels like I'm giving tours of someone else's house. Oh well, I guess that will come with time.

Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo!!! I went to six Rodeo concerts this year...Alan Jackson, Martina McBride, Sugarland, Rascal Flatts, Clay Walker, and Brad Paisley. Alan Jackson was the best (mostly because I knew all his music and he didn't waste any time talking between songs!). Sugarland and Rascal Flatts were very entertaining, but I didn't know their music as well and they were on a Monday and Tuesday night, so I was worried about being out too late. Clay Walker was the most like a real "cowboy" (he rode in on a horse) and Brad Paisley really likes to play guitar...I think he played on over 10 of them during an hour and fifteen minute concert! Mandy went to every concert with me and Kristin was there for four of the six. We were very exhausted by the end of it all, but it was some good memories. We even got to ride some of the rides at the fair part of the Rodeo...I loved those!

Easter and Spring Break - I went home to Alexandria for Easter and had a great weekend with my family, as usual. I don't remember doing anything particularly special, just a lot of hanging out. We did Easter a little early (Friday) with Mia. She loved all the attention and egg hunts and presents. Dad and I started building a set of bookshelves for my house. We didn't get to finish before the weekend was over. I'm really looking forward to getting them finished! For Spring Break, Missy, Laury, and I went on a road trip to the Texas Hill Country. We seemed to mostly shop, eat, walk around, and watch Lost on DVD (Missy is catching up...she hasn't watched since Season One). It was beautiful (as it tends to be in the Hill Country) and relaxing.

Decorating - My grandmother (Maw) and two cousins came to visit for a few days to shop and fix up my house. Maw is a decorator, so she was very helpful. Here are some of the things I bought: bed, mattress, box springs, 2 tables, end tables, lamps, curtains, bookcases, pillows, paintings, CD towers, rolling drawer organizer...the list goes on and on. I am very happy with the results, but still have a list that is a page long of things left to do and buy!

Church - I joined a different church. It is University Baptist in the Clear Lake area. I really like the church. It's mission-focused and has a great Young Adults ministry. I already knew almost everyone in my Sunday school class before I started going there, which made it easy to go to.

Work - Getting busy, busy, busy, in preparation for our upcoming project installation. I also have been doing performance reviews the past couple of weeks. These are almost physically painful for me. I hate having to confront people with their weaknesses, which are called "areas for improvement" which we soften even more and call "development opportunities." I'm done with the slightly painful part (and got a compliment from someone I really respect on how I handled them!) and now on to the really painful part...rating and ranking. There's not much else I can say about it except it sucks, but it's a part of my job. That's what they pay me for : ) !

Big news - My baby sister is having a baby!!! She's not very far along, so I'm probably not supposed to broadcast it, but it is so surreal...I remember the day she was born and now she's going to have a baby. I don't know what she'll be like as a mom...she'll be a great one, there's no question about that. I just can't picture her with a baby. I guess it will seem more real when I see her pregnant.

This weekend - Mom and Dad came to visit to see all that I'd done in the house. It happened to be the same weekend as the annual community garage sale in my neighborhood, so I had a garage sale on Saturday. It was very successful...I made a little $$, but more importantly I got rid of tons of stuff. Michelle and I had fun setting things up and making faces about the people that came. Ours was the bargain basement garage sale. There were really only about 10 items over $4 in the whole garage sale (and 3 of them didn't sell)!!! What we didn't sell went straight to the Goodwill. I was very relieved to have gotten it all out of my "world"! Mom and I went to The Container Store while Daddy went to a woodworking store. I found a few other things for the house, then I came home and crashed.

Today the ladies in my Sunday school class are going to the Chocolate Bar for lunch...yum!

Goings On and Such

I'm in Detroit for work. It is very cold here. We finished up all we needed to do today around 2:00, but my flight back home isn't until noon tomorrow, so I'm kind of stuck in Detroit. Not too bad, since I'm on an expense account and have a rental car. But I'd rather be home. Since I have some time on my hands, I thought I'd bring you up to speed on my goings-on. Here's a blow-by-blow of the last few days...

Thursday, I left work early to close on my house. The closing was so smooth...only 20 minutes! I took over two carloads of stuff and couldn't resist ordering a pizza. Since there was no furniture, I sat on the island in my brand new kitchen and ate. I think I also hollered "Woohoo" a few times, just to hear it echo throughout the whole house and not care if anyone heard. I couldn't hang out too long because I already had plans to attend a class that night.

Back in January, Rachel, Heather, and I signed up for some different Leisure Learning classes (Rachel has really gotten into them). So, I had signed up for this class before I even found my house. The class was "How to Write a Book in Three Weeks or Less." It interested me because my dad wants me to write a book about our running trips. Well, this was not the place to learn how to do that. The concept isn't actually a bad one and the formula for fiction writing is kind of neat. But the teacher wasn't my kind of person. She has written several books and they all seem a little crass for my taste. It wasn't miserable. I just would have rather been at my house. I did use the time (3 hours!) to write a two-page list of things I want done around my new house.

Friday, I left work a little early and managed to fill my car to the brim with stuff before meeting up with the UBC girls for dinner then went to my new house (are you detecting a theme?) and it was the first time I'd been there after dark. I was a little scared...it's got so many windows and it seems like someone could totally be watching you. I got it fixed up a little bit to make it feel a little more like mine. I kept thinking "I wonder if I can put this here." Then I'd stop myself and say (out loud), "Of course I can put it here...it's my house!"

Saturday, I loaded up another car load of stuff. But before I could bring it to the house, I had to go downtown and run a 5K (I signed up for this also before I found my house!). This is the second-largest road race in Houston. There were 8,000 runners in the 5K and 10K combined. I've run this 3 times now. It's a fun race because they have it immediately before the Rodeo parade, so there is a huge crowd and they cheer, which is encouraging. They're also all dressed up, which is entertaining.

After the race, I brought more stuff to the new house. Barb came over and helped me figure out things I can do around my house. I also had someone come to set up an alarm and the cable hooked up. There's still more stuff than furniture there, so there are a lot of knick knacks sitting on the bar in the kitchen (nothing else to put them on!).

Saturday night, I had an impromptu housewarming party. Everyone brought their own chairs. There were beach chairs mostly, but some brought other chairs. The most unique was a 100-year-old chair from JB's house. I don't know if it's really 100 years old, but it was quite funny to see him carry in a huge chair. We had fun playing Mafia and Outburst (I suck at Mafia, but I love Outburst). After cleaning things up, I headed home and crashed...it was quite an exhausting day!

Sunday, I went to church, then flew up to Detroit. So, here I am. I think that's enough for today...Daddy is coming to Houston for a couple of days to help me get some stuff done. Yay!

I am Now a Homeowner!

Not much else to say except Yippee!!!!!

This is a Fun Game!

Cara tagged me…http://vontress5.wordpress.com/

6 Quirks About You

Rules: 1: Link to the person that tagged you 2: Post the rules on your blog 3: Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself 4: Tag at least 3 people at the end of your post and link to their blogs 5: Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog 6: Let the fun begin!

Here goes:

1. I count my steps in multiples of 4. "1,2,3,4" runs through my head as I walk all the time. Sometimes I have to stutter step to get "back on beat". Stairs are quite a challenge when they are not in multiples of 4. I have a pattern memorized for all the stair cases in my office building. I realize that this is odd...but we're revealing quirks, right?

2. I still sleep best at my parents' house. I think it's because I feel safe there. I'm practically narcoleptic when I'm home!

3. I eat an apple every weekday morning. As soon as I wake up, I go into the kitchen and cut an apple with my favorite kitchen gadget, the Pampered Chef apple wedger. I eat one slice and bag the rest in a Ziploc bag. Then I eat the rest of it when I get to work.

4. I am compiling a list of 100 things to do before I die. I have somewhere around 40. Here are some examples: Learn to cook. Be a good sister. Go to the Super Bowl. Spend a year in Europe. It's quite a challenging list. The hardest one I've got on there so far is to qualify for the Boston Marathon. I think I might have to rethink it. We'll see.

5. I love names that are one syllable. I think that they are classic and elegant and beautiful.

6. I love to watch tennis, but am a terrible tennis player. Pete Sampras is my favorite player of all times. Djokovic is growing on me, but mostly just because he can beat Federer. I try to play about once a month, but usually end the "game" early because I'm so frustrated that I'm so terrible at it.

So that’s some of my long list of quirks…I tag Stacy (http://lovinthebraves.blogspot.com/), Maradee (http://www.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=maradeekay), and Mitzi(http://www.ourjourneyforjustice.blogspot.com/). I like this game and can't wait to here about your quirks!

I'm Going to Be a Homeowner!

I put in an offer on a house and it was accepted by the seller. Here is a picture of the front of the house. We close on February 28th...yikes!

It's a Beatuful Day in the Neighborhood

In my new neighborhood, that is. I think I found a house to buy and I am super excited about it. Once everything is finalized, I'll post pictures and details.

Today was a beautiful day for several reasons.

One, I found a house.

Two, Daddy and I ran a 5K and he ran the whole thing, which he hasn't done in a while. It was a smallish race at the Kemah Boardwalk to benefit the Galloway School. To be honest, I'm not too sure what the Galloway School is. I hope it's not something weird like a school of witchcraft : ) ! Oh well. It was a good race around Kemah and we had a good time.

The third reason it's a beautiful day is because it is, in fact, a beautiful day. I was sitting outside at the carwash waiting on my car to get done and I looked up and saw this flag fluttering in the wind. Since I had my camera with me, I decided to take a picture. I think it's pretty.

I love the weekends!

A Day of Extremes

I started the day pretty stressed out. I had to go to a funeral in the middle of the day, so I had to dress for it. For some reason, I waited until this morning to decide what to wear, which took me 30 minutes. This may be typical for a lot of people, but not for me. I have clothes that all match each other, for the most part, so I don't have to do a lot of deciding in the morning. But, alas, that was not the case this morning. I had to wear something that was (1) good for a funeral , (2) appropriate for work, (3) comfortable, and (4) looked good. Not a simple task. I finally settled on a black dress with a button-down shirt under it and a suit jacket. The fun part of it is that I didn't realize that this particular suit jacket matched this dress. So, I get a prize for my 30 minutes of dedicated clothes-trying-on...a new matching outfit!

The weather was mild and cloudy when I finally left for work. Then, mid-morning, there was a tornado watch. I was a little concerned for my safety in my office with two walls of windows. It was very dark outside. But I survived. The weather decided to settle in on cloudy and I left in the middle of the day to go to the funeral.

The funeral was, in itself, a case of extremes. The deceased was the mother of a man I work with. The service was in a Catholic church, but part of the family is Jehovah's Witness. I apparently sat on the Jehovah's Witness side because, when they had communion, no one on my side of the church (including me) got up to receive it. There were several interesting things about the ceremony. I'm way too observant sometimes and way too critical all the time, so I won't say anything else.

So, the weather cleared up and, by the end of the day, was crisp and clear and gorgeous and sunny and beautiful. I was very surprised when I walked outside and it was really cold. I was racing out of the office to get to my class at the gym. But it was so beautiful that I went running instead. This was a bonus...I would never have left the office at this time except to go to my class. Once I walked outside, I had to go run! Such a blessing.

I started the day stressed and with clouds in the sky, had some stormy weather in the middle, and ended it crisp and clear and feeling so refreshed. What a great day!

January Fun

Whew...it has been quite a month and I got so busy I didn't get around to blogging (big surprise, huh?). Well, I'll hit the highlights...

I finished the Houston Half-Marathon in 2:19:21, which is my best time in a half-marathon. I ran the whole thing...didn't stop at all to walk or stand, which makes it the longest I've ever run without stopping or walking. It was a perfect day and I was very blessed to have my friends Jill and Mandy there to cheer me on. They ran the 5K and did awesome in it! The night before the marathon, my sweet friends Heather and David cooked us dinner to "carb up" for the race. It was the nicest thing! And dinner was fantastic...David cooked us giant steaks on the grill and Heather made veggies and we had a lovely salad and some delicious bread. It was great!

Also that weekend, I got to go wedding dress shopping with Barb (Barb is engaged!!) and it was great. I'm not much help because, for every dress she tried on, I said "That's beautiful." She managed to find the perfect dress at a different store : ). Rachel and I took a beading class through leisure learning that same weekend...it was so cool! I really like doing crafty stuff! I also managed to fit in a birthday party for 4 friends and going to an open house. Speaking of open house, I am searching for a house to buy. It is quite stressful for me because I have lots of constraints (all of which I put on myself, of course). I have "fallen in love" with 2 houses and they both immediately went under contract to someone else. So, I am trying to wait patiently for the perfect house. The crazy part is that I don't want to buy a house until April, so I don't know why I'm suddenly so determined to find and purchase one now. But, that's the mystery that is Jenny : ) !

The weekend after the marathon, I had a somewhat low-key (although busy) weekend. We did Friday night dinner at Tookies (best hamburgers in the whole wide world!) and I watched Out of Africa for the first time. It is a very scenic, romantic movie and it's one of Maradee's favorites. Since I had never seen it, we watched it together. It was pretty good, but I'm more of a romantic comedy kind of person, you know? Anyway, I also got to catch up with Liz that weekend. We scrapbooked together all day at her apartment (aren't we geeks?) and it was great. I made lots of progress on one of my scrapbooks and had a lovely time catching up on what's going on with she and Heath. That same day, I also squeezed in salsa lesson and the symphony. This was a great symphony performance. It opened with a Beethoven piece, which I think was my favorite of the night. They had a visiting cellist for a cello concerto. After intermission, they did a "Music plus Vision" piece where there was a photo montage along with the music. It was very beautiful. Although I must admit that it was so relaxing the my eyes were drooping quite a bit. A few of us braved the cold to go to Hard Rock for dessert afterwards, too...yummy!

This weekend has been equally low-key, but busy. Friday night, I hung out with Barb. I helped her make a dessert that was kind of complicated. Fun times catching up and seeing how much she has gotten done on sprucing up the townhouse...it looks so different than when I lived there! Saturday we celebrated Maradee's birthday with one of her favorite things...dim sum. Even though Houston is so diverse, we had to drive across town to find a place that served real dim sum (with the carts). There was a small group of Maradee's close friends and we had a wonderful time...figuring out what all the food was and trying new things. Maradee had a good time, which is the important part : ) !

I also managed to go to another salsa lesson yesterday afternoon and then met up with a group to see Jersey Boys, which is part of the Broadway in Houston series. It was awesome. Erika and I were the only ones in the group that loved it, but we did. It had all this 50's style music and I loved it. I didn't realize how many great songs The Four Seasons had sung!

Today was church and lunch and then I (miracles will never cease) took an actual nap!!! It was heavenly!

OK, that's probably more details than any of you wanted to know. So, farewell for now. If you'd like to see pictures of my escapads, check out my Picasa albums at: http://picasaweb.google.com/jenzu2417

What a Week of New Things!

Not intentionally, I have started 2 new things this week...salsa lessons and world affairs.

On Tuesday night, I went to my first salsa lesson. I think I might actually be able to do this. It's at a cool dance studio on the other side of town. They have lessons 7 days a week. I'm signed up for 4 weeks of Beginning Salsa. My friend Jana is going, too. The first night was uneventful, but neat. We spent over half the time learning the moves kind of in place. The rest of the time, we rotated through dancing with partners. This was a good thing because quite a few of the guys aren't all that great and a lot of them have bad breath. Hello...they provide peppermints for us for a reason. Oh well, I still had a great time.

Then, Wednesday night, I went to a presentation and reception at the Houston World Affairs Council. I've been a member of this organization for about 6 months, but haven't made it to an event, yet. They have speakers about 3 times a week, but my schedule has been crazy. Anyway, I made time this week because I was very interested in the topic. It was "The Putin Generation: How Russian Youth See Their World". The speakers were experts on Russia. It was sooo interesting. After the main session (which had over 500 people), there was a reception at another location for the Young Professional Group of the council. The speakers came and had a less formal discussion about it. It was so neat! Of course, I knew nothing about anything they were saying. I think next time I go, I'll try to read up on the topic before I go so I can at least ask intelligent questions.

Apparently, I'm expanding my horizons and I didn't even plan on it! Tomorrow is a jewelry-making class in the Heights!

LSU Wins!!!!

Geauxxxxx Tigers!!!!!!!!! That's all I have to say about that.

New Year, New Blog Resolution

My plan for this year is to actually blog more. I tried in 2007 and did a lot better than in years past, but still not good enough. I am committed to bringing the people what they want (all 3 of you!) and write more about my life. To catch you up, here is a piece of work I like call "Jenny's Year in Pictures (and Words)" Enjoy!

January
I started the year at a wonderful wedding on New Year's Eve. We rang in the New Year, then celebrated Brian and Alyssa's nuptials at the Science Place in Dallas. It was a fantastic party and pretty neat place for a wedding. The rest of January is kind of a blur...at the end of the month, I got to go to a gala for the Challenger Education Foundation. If you don't know, I'm kind of a space geek. I am very in awe of the whole space program, which makes living in southeast Houston pretty cool for me! The gala was a fun, black-tie affair filled with astronauts, cool ice sculptures, and awesome music by the World Class Rockers (including the guitarist from Lynard Skynard). We danced until they shut down. I was in awe of getting to talk to Barbara Morgan, who went up on the Discovery in August.

February
The highlight of February was a weekend road trip to Austin. I ran the half-marathon with two of my running buddies. The rest of the weekend was lots of fun, too. We stayed with my dear friend, Ta, who opened up her home to us and we kind of took over. We enjoyed a great visit with Ta, her brother Pat, and his girlfriend, Ai. Saturday afternoon, we ended up on a random tour of northwest Austin, looking at super-expensive houses and stopping for random scenery pictures along the way. The race was pretty tough...there is no way to train for Austin hills in Houston! But we all finished, just not together. It was my best half-marathon time yet (2:25:16), so I was pretty happy.

March
In March, Mom, Missy, and Mia visited one weekend and we had a fun afternoon at Clear Lake Park...such a great park for kids! The next day we took an afternoon drive to Galveston and ran around on the beach...in the wind. Here is a windy picture of Missy, Mia, and I. Mia gave me two shells from the beach to keep for her until she comes back to visit. March was also Houston Rodeo time. I got to go to 2 concerts this year...Sheryl Crow and Josh Turner and they were quite entertaining! The Rodeo, as always, was a blast.

April
What a fun month full of travel and celebrations. I started the month in Charlotte, NC on a recruiting trip for work. Just a few days later, I went home for Easter and enjoyed the weekend with the fam. The following weekend, I met Mom and Dad in St. Louis for a running trip. We ran in Columbia, Missouri and Lawrence, Kansas. Very fun weekend…we got to see the Lewis and Clark Museum and Harry Truman’s home. We randomly ran into some college friends of my parents, one of whom was my junior high English teacher…life is so full of fun coincidences. Also in April, we had a birthday party for Matt and celebrated Tommy and Kinsey's wedding.

May
Missy graduated from nursing school. We celebrated by taking a week long trip to New York City, just the three of us sisters. I had been there for an afternoon once, but Missy and Laury had never been. We had such a great time. We saw just about everything there is to see there, including the top of the Empire State Building, a Broadway show (Chicago starring Joey Lawrence), and running in Central Park (OK, I was the only one that was running, but it was awesome!). The best part was that we all have the same tolerance for touristy things...we want to see them, but we don't feel the need to spend a lifetime poring over them. For example, we spent only one hour and fifteen minutes in the Museum of Modern Art and all had our iPods on the whole time.

June
June is my birthday and I LOVE MY BIRTHDAY. I turned 32 this year and had a great birthday party at Maradee's house, hosted by Maradee, Heather, David, and Matt. It was so much fun! We had a rigged-up version of a drive-in movie...we watched Ferris Bueller's Day Off on a screen set up in Maradee's garage, complete with a projection and sound system. I got lots of presents and just had so much fun. My friends rock!

July
July was full of fun! I got to visit the Johnson Space Center for a behind-the-scenes tour with a friend who worked there. The highlights were that I got to sit in the simulator where the astronauts train for ascent and entry (take-off and landing) and I got to listen in on the loops in the REAL MISSION CONTROL while they did a simulation of a landing at KSC. It was so cool! Later in July, I went on a shopping adventure and bought not one, but two, flat screen TV's. It's a long story, but I'm very happy with my purchase. They are both so cool and I love them!

August
In August, I took a weekend trip to Portland to run a race with Dad, who was there with Maw (my grandmother) for her 80th birthday. It just so happened that Maradee was there, too. We ended up hanging out with Maradee and her grad school friend, Judy, on Saturday and had a great time. We went to a bookstore that is four stories tall and takes up an entire city block...I was in heaven. I restrained myself and only bought four books. We also went to Mount Hood, which is the tallest something or another (I forget all of those records) and very beautiful. We finished the day by watching an Iron Chef competition at the Bite of Oregon festival...so neat! The weather in Portland is awesome in August and it was a welcome respite from the Houston summer.

September
Wedding, wedding, and more wedding! My dear friends Heather and David got married in September and the month was full of preparations leading up to the big day, including a girls' weekend in the Texas Hill country and a lovely bridal brunch at the Hotel Galvez in Galveston (they had a whole room of just desserts!). The big day was perfect...an outdoor wedding at sunset on the lake and a fun reception afterwards full of well-wishes from everyone. The last weekend of September, I took a trip up to Dallas to visit the Von Tress family. Cara and I were roommates in college and I just love visiting their family. Their three children are beautiful and amazing and we had such a good time hanging out! We ended up at the Texas State Fair participating in a Chili cook-off while I was there. We wandered around a bit and got a shot of Cara and I with Big Tex, a large (and kind of disturbing) mechanical man that has a voice reminiscent of the Wizard of Oz!

October
I was very proud of myself to finish the USA Space City 10-Miler at just over a 10-minute pace. It was a good race although it warmed up quite a bit for the second half of the race...ahh, the joys of living in Houston. I got to take my annual recruiting trip to Louisiana Tech for a week and enjoy the quiet, slow-moving pace in Ruston. It's such a beautiful campus. We also celebrated Mom's birthday and I got to see Mia play in a soccer game. Later in the month, my roommates and I hosted a Halloween party at our house that was ridiculously fun. Everyone that came dressed up and (I think) had a great time. We partied till the wee hours of the night.

November
Whew...November was a whirlwind! I took a trip to Baton Rouge for an LSU football game (Geaux Tigers!) and had a great visit with friends and family. The game was a blowout of my alma mater, Louisiana Tech, but a good time anyway. I met up with Mom and Dad again for a running trip, this time in Alabama and Georgia. It was a pretty uneventful trip. We did stop by the Talladega Speedway and got to see Turner Field (where the Atlanta Braves play). After running our races in Alabama and Georgia, Dad and I have run in 17 states...just 33 to go! Thanksgiving was pretty mellow, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Lots of good food and some of it was even healthy!

December
As usual, December was full of festivities. I would list them all, but that would make this obnoxiously long (as if it isn't already), so I'll just hit some of the highlights. Jamie, Rachel, Maradee, and I watched the Kemah Christmas Boat Parade from under the Kemah bridge. This is so much fun...people decorate their boats like you would a float in a parade, then they parade up and down between Clear Lake and Galveston Bay. Our spot was close enough to the turnaround point to see most of the boats twice. I also went to a Third Day/Jars of Clay Christmas concert and it was fantastic! It really got me in the Christmas spirit. There were two work Christmas parties, a cookie exchange, and, then, thankfully, Christmas at home with my family. We opened presents until 2:28am on Christmas Eve. I think it's a record for us. I got great gifts and really enjoyed my family opening the gifts I got for them, too.

These are some of the highlights...there was way too much going on to tell you (i.e. bore you with) all of the details. I hope that you have had a blessed year this year. I look forward to hearing from you soon!

In Christ,
Jenny