With a Wink and a Smile

New Blog

2008-07-24T16:14:00.000-07:00

Since Travis and I are moving to North Chicago, I have created a new blog to talk about our adventures together. Please visit our new blog at:

thebodekers.blogspot.com

Thank you for reading!

The Countdown Continues

2008-07-16T09:35:00.000-07:00

As of today we are down to 2 weeks until we head up to Illinois. Early in the morning on July 30th (not sure how early yet) we will be driving the vehicles out, Travis in the Uhaul and me in the Toyota Matrix. We will first head to the Dallas area where we will pick up my parents and sisters. They will leave their car at the airport parking lot and then fly back the following Sunday. The plan is to make it to Springfield, MO the first night (about 700 miles) and then on to North Chicago the next day (about 500 miles).

We have packed quite a bit. On Monday we got almost the entire kitchen finished. In looking at everything, I realize we really don't have all that much to pack. It's coming down to deciding what do we need for the next two weeks and what can we go ahead and pack.

Last week the museum hired someone for my job. She will start next Wednesday, so I will have 4 days to help train her. My last day of work will be next Saturday. It's really weird to think of leaving the museum. I don't think it has fully hit me yet. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time there--I can't believe I have been there almost 3 years.

Along with packing we are busy spending time with friends and church member before we go. We have already been invited over for dinner by two couples in our church and I'm sure there will be others we need to see before we leave.

I am still looking for a job. I have submitted some more applications and am waiting to hear back. I'm sure once we get up there it will be a bit easier to locate something.

Packing

2008-07-04T10:59:00.000-07:00

The packing for North Chicago has begun. On Wednesday we went to Shoe Carnival, where Travis' brother works, and picked up a few boxes to start with. Thursday I put in a half day at work and then went home to start organizing/packing. The only good thing about packing is that it makes you analyze your possessions and decide if you really want to cart these things with you on a 1200 mile trip.

We've started in the guest/office room, mainly with all of our books and other little knick knacks. A friend of mine who has made the move from up north to down south told me about certain types of boxes that make packing a lot easier. The first is a wardrobe box. It looks like a miniature closet in a cardboard box. It's made so that you leave your clothes on the hanger and stuff as many as possible on the rod in this box. Then the bottom area of the box is available for anything else you want to stuff inside. Another item I think I want to get is a special dish box. We just got all of these wonderful dishes for our wedding and I would hate if they broke during the trip.

Packing for me has been put on a stand still for a few days because of work. Unlike other people, Travis and I do not get July 4th off. The hospital is open that day and the museum/park has a big celebration. We probably will not get back home tonight until 10:00/11:00ish. And then I go back to work the next day! It's a lot of fun but a little tiring.

First Birthday as a Bodeker

2008-06-30T09:15:00.000-07:00

Saturday was my 25th birthday. I did have to go to work on that day but I made the best out of it--besides I have plenty of things I need to get finished before my last day (July 26).

Throughout the week Travis kept playing little games on me, pretending he didn't remember which day my birthday was on or asking what we were doing this week. When I arrived home from work he was not in the living room. I figure he was at the computer in the guest room. So I went to put my purse down by the kitchen table, and then I saw on the table the most beautiful, homemade chocolate cake with candles! I let out a big "awe" and went to see him in the guest room. He told me it was the first cake he had ever baked and he hoped it turned out good. From the looks of it I knew it would be fantastic. If we didn't do anything else to celebrate my birthday I would have been content. The gesture of that cake was more than enough!

Travis had asked me earlier in the week what I would like for my birthday. I mentioned that I would like to have my favorite movie Life is Beautiful on dvd. I have it on VHS but don't watch it anymore. Next to my cake were two books on cd which we had talked about getting for our long trip up to Illinois. Travis told me he was unable to find the movie. I told him that was fine and I was happy to have the books.

Travis told me I had some time to unwind before we headed out to dinner. We have started a new tradition where we will go to Outback and choose two appetizers to split along with a fun drink. I love their bacon cheese fries...so unhealthy but so good! While at dinner Travis pulled something out of his wallet and placed it on the table. It was tickets to the 8:00 showing of Wall E!! He knows me so well--I love my Disney movies. I highly recommend this movie. It was hilarious.

When the movie was over we headed back to the apartment to have birthday cake. Travis asked me to pick out a DVD for us to watch for a little bit while we ate cake. I went over to the DVD stand and started at the bottom perusing the selection. When I got to the top shelf I let out a scream...there was my Life is Beautiful DVD!! Travis always knows how to surprise me--and I love it!

Another surprise that we both got came with the cake. Travis lit the candles and then I blew them out. A few seconds later the candles started to relight! Travis had no idea he had put trick candles on the cake. I think it just added to the evening.

All in all I had a wonderful 25th birthday!

A Special Dinner

2008-06-14T09:09:00.000-07:00

About a month ago a couple of sweet friends sent Travis and I a wonderful wedding present. It was some money to spend on a fancy meal. Lately we have been so busy that we haven't had a chance to use it but this past Thursday we went out on the town. I had heard from my bosses about this new place in town called The Republic Steakhouse. Travis called ahead of time to find out about the dress code and to make reservations. We dressed in our Sunday best (not too fancy) and head out at 7:30. From the outside it didn't look too different from any other place. It was on the back end of a shopping center. When you walked inside you were taken back by the remarkable ambiance. I felt like I was at a restaurant in New York.

We had a wonderful waiter who explained everything to us and also suggested we split an entree. We had a 4 course meal! I don't think I've ever done that before. The portions were a good size and we ate slow to enjoy every moment. Travis had a tomato salad--it was only tomatoes, 4 or 5 different types. The tomatoes were home grown by the chef so they were salmonella free. We shared an appetizer of fried calamari which was absolutely delicious. I even ate the parts with the tentacles! We shared a 14 oz. New York strip, some amazing potatoes, and some perfectly cooked asparagus. The waiter brought out 5 different sauces for the meat. We both chose our favorite. We ended with an amazing dessert--fresh made strawberry peach sorbet and a part key lime pie, part cheesecake brulee. It was one of the best desserts I have ever had!

We had such a wonderful time eating and talking that we didn't get home that night until 9:30. We went a little over our present but it was highly worth it. To end the night we played a rousing game of Life. All in all it was a marvelous and memorable evening.

Trip to Abilene

2008-06-14T08:54:00.000-07:00

I promise once we move to Chicago I will be much better at keeping this updated. It seems like lately I haven't had much to write about. A few weekends ago we took a trip down to Abilene for my sisters' graduation. I hadn't been home since Christmas, so it was fun to see what all had changed. Going to the graduation at the Expo Center brought back so many memories of when I graduated 7 years ago! Good grief--has it been that long? There were quite a few of the graduates I knew from the youth group at church, some of who I hadn't seen in years. It was a little weird seeing them all grown up.

It happened to work out that the same weekend of the graduation Christy was having her bridal shower. I was happy I was able to go since I'm highly certain I will not make it to the reception. We also had dinner (at Taco Bueno--oh how I've missed it) with my college gang. The group is getting smaller and smaller as people are moving away to other areas of the state or further away to Illinois and even New York. And I also got to see (and hold) Hannah's twins. They are so precious and tiny. Don't worry it has not awakened the mommy bug in me--that is a ways down the road...hopefully. Travis and I also got to see my dad's new place of work. He seems very happy and excited about this place which I am glad about. My mom just recently got a new job as well and she is much happier too. Everything seems to be falling into place. We also worked out the moving plan. My parents are going to help us drive the moving van and our car to North Chicago and then fly back. It's going to be a very long trip. I don't know if I have been in a car for that long of a time period.

I'm still in the process of looking for a job. So far no one has called me back which is a little disheartening. It would be wonderful if I could have a job already lined up before we get there. But perhaps it will be easier to look once we are all set up.

More Kids Say...

2008-05-20T12:40:00.000-07:00

Our tours have picked up quite a bit in the past few months, what with school almost being out. It is always a treat to hear what the kids will say or ask. Here are a few fun kid sayings from the past few weeks:

* 4th grader after seeing the picture of Chuck Norris, "Miss, you have a picture of that guy...what's his name...Bob Norris?"

* 4th grader passing the large statue of Sam Houston, "That's Sam Houston, isn't it? He's the one who is on the penny."

* 3rd grader looking at our animal display, "Look it's a Run Roader."

* 3rd grader after I told them how clothes were made, "When you were a little girl did you have to make clothes from cotton?"

* "This place (the museum) is like a history book and we jumped inside it."

* 4th grader looking at our video of faces: "Is that Susanna Dickinson? It sure sounds like her."

Update

2008-04-26T08:41:00.000-07:00

Well, since my last blog quite a bit has changed. Travis' interview went really well and he was accepted to the Dr. Scholl's School of Podiatry in North Chicago, Il. Since that moment we have been making plans about the next few months.

Travis' school starts August 18th, however he also has an orientation starting on August 12th. So our plan is to be up there with a week and a half to get situated before his life gets really crazy. We have set the moving day for July 29th. I have already submitted my letter of resignation to work and my job is already posted. It is hard to leave this wonderful job and these wonderful people but I am super excited about the adventure ahead of us.

We believe we have found an apartment. It is less than half a mile from his school which is very good. The price is pretty reasonable for up there. If we can, we are going to try to sign the lease without making a trip up to Chicago. We will see.

I have already put my application into 4 jobs and am still looking for others. The places I have applied so far include:

* A Children's Museum for the position of Educator

* A Science and Industry Museum for an educational position

* A small college for the position of Academic Advisor

* A publishing company for the position of Assistant Editor for Social Studies

Now I will have to wait to see if any of these come through. Everyday I am searching for other open opportunities. It kind of is a lot of pressure knowing you will be the provider for a few years.

Marital Bliss and Possible Change on the Horizon

2008-03-08T07:53:00.000-08:00

It has been awhile since I have updated my blog...so here goes:

As of today I have been married for 3 weeks and it has been wonderful! The wedding was absolutely perfect. I wasn't stressed at all nor was anyone else. It was a day full of happiness and fun--just as I wanted it.

The honeymoon in San Antonio was wonderful as well. The weather was nice and cool the entire time we were there. Our hotel was right on the river walk and we had a beautiful balcony view from the 6th floor. We visited the Alamo, ate one night at the Tower of Americas, and just took it easy. It was so nice knowing the wedding was over--it was as if a heavy weight had been lifted off of me.

Now we are in the midst of getting the apartment all put together which is taking a little more time than we thought.

Yesterday Travis received some wonderful news. He has applied for podiatry school at the Dr. Scholl's School of Podiatry in North Chicago, IL. Yesterday he was asked to come up for an interview! He is incredibly excited as am I. I am super proud of him! He is hoping to go for the interview at the end of March or the first week in April. So I will keep everyone posted with the results of that interview.

Wedding Dreams

2008-01-18T09:59:00.000-08:00

I started having dreams about the wedding all the way back in October. I had about 3 or 4 dreams all related to the same thing: it was the day of the wedding and we hadn't planned the ceremony at all. It was not a good feeling.

I've had two dreams this week that have been quite different from the previous dreams. In my first dream all the guests are seated, waiting for the wedding to begin and the bridesmaids are lined up at the front of the auditorium. The ceremony hasn't started but I am in there looking over things, I guess. I notice that two of the bridesmaids (who, in my dream are complete strangers but that doesn't seem to bother me) have "restyled" their dresses. The dresses are cut as short as they possibly can be without showing anything and there are many other holes cut out in the upper part of the dress. They are as hoochy as can be.

In my other dream the wedding ceremony has finished and everything went fine. It is time for the reception but apparently part of the food is late. So Travis tells the guests we need to wait just a little bit until the donuts (not really planning on having those at the wedding) arrive. Apparently my parents are the ones bringing the donuts. So I ask someone, "Were my parents at the ceremony?" No. "Was the wedding video tapped so they at least could watch it?" No. My parents missed me getting married?? Yup. And in the dream I started to cry.

I'm hoping soon I will have a happy wedding dream!

It Is Finished

2008-01-05T11:05:00.000-08:00

Travis called me at work around noon to tell me that he and 3 others had moved my stuff to the new apartment. It is going to be weird to see my apartment empty. And tomorrow I get to start another "fun" project--cleaning the old place.

As of today we are down to 5 weeks to the wedding. Part of me freaks out a little when I think of that because there is still a lot to do and the other part is ok with it being 6 weeks away. I think both of us are ready to have it done.

January is a very busy month for us and will go by extremely fast. Here's what all we have going on:

1. This weekend: moving
2. Next weekend: Travis' friend's wedding & our shower in Lufkin
3. The next weekend: Shower at our church in College Station
4. The next weekend: Me--Bachelorette Party; Travis--travel to Abilene to take the MCAT

And in between those events I will work on finalizing wedding stuff.

Moving

2007-12-30T21:28:00.000-08:00

Christmas went really well. I had one evening of stress when wedding stuff, Christmas shopping and packing to go to Abilene all crashed together. But I got through it with the help of Travis telling me to breathe. I had a wonderful time with my family and my extended family. I got to see my aunt, uncle and all of my cousins. This hasn't happened in a long time. I also got to see my cousin's 1 month old baby!

Tomorrow night (New Year's Eve) Travis and I are celebrating our Christmas. Because Travis had to be back to work the day after Christmas, we spent the holiday apart--he in Dallas and I in Abilene. Since we have the wedding coming up we decide instead of gifts we would have a nice date night where one person would pay for the dinner and the other for the movie.

I am off of work this week and it will be spent packing up the apartment. On Saturday my stuff will be moved into the apartment that Travis and I will live in. My apartment complex offered us a brand new, never been lived in apartment at a very resonable rent. We decided to move my stuff before things got too hectic with the wedding. Have I mentioned that I hate moving? I try my hardest to move as few times as possible. So it should be a very "fun" week!

Christmas...I have other things on my mind!

2007-12-05T14:07:00.000-08:00

The momentous Thanksgiving went very, very well! The Crawford clan arrived at Travis' house around 1:30 to meet the Bodeker clan. Between the time of arrival to the time of dinner (around 6:00) we casually cooked the different parts of the meal and conversed with one another. Everyone hit it off! At dinner time we had 11 people seated around the table--Travis' roommate joined us since he had to work that day. Everything tasted wonderful and of course everyone was pleasantly filled.

A big part of my wishes that this year we could skip Christmas. I truly love Christmas--it is one of my favorite times of the year. However, I already have a pretty big event that is taking a lot of my time...and also some stress. I decided to forgo putting up any of my Christmas decorations. I will be moving into a new apartment right after Christmas so I don't feel like having extra items to pack up. I tend to put Christmas shopping off until close to the last minute and then I also want to try and get the perfect gifts for everyone. I would love to not mess with all of that this year.

Momentous Thanksgiving

2007-11-21T07:06:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

Personally, it is very hard for me to believe it is Thanksgiving tomorrow. Something just doesn't seem right. I think a big part of it is the weather. I don't think it is suppose to be 80 degrees on the days leading up to turkey day. Also I have been so busy lately that I haven't been keeping track of the days.

This is a very special and important Thanksgiving. We are celebrating in College Station mainly because Travis has to work on thanksgiving day (the hospital doesn't close). But even more importantly this is the first time for our families to meet! My parents, sisters, and grandmother are coming down from Abilene and his parents are coming from Lufkin. We thought it might be good for them to meet before the wedding takes place :)

The meal will take place at Travis' house and we are hoping to borrow a table from church that will seat all 10 of us plus the glorious food!

I am really excited to have everyone together--it should be a very fun and eventful holiday!

Update

2007-11-03T12:05:00.000-07:00

Here's what has been going on since my last post (ages ago--sorry):

* Last Monday I picked up my wedding dress--it is now in my closet and I look at it constantly.

* We have gone to 4 weeks of marriage prep class and we love it! We are learning so many wonderful ways to make a marriage last and grow.

* This next Sunday we have our first shower in Abilene--super exciting!

* The project for this month is ordering the invitations--whoo hoo!

Here We Go

2007-10-06T07:38:00.000-07:00

And once again I have slacked off on the blog updating. Things are getting a little busier around here so it has been harder to keep up with even posting on a weekly basis. Wedding plans are going well--I'm not getting stressed out...yet. I am however realizing that my time is slowly but steadily becoming less and less. And once the holidays roll around time is going to start whizzing by. Travis and I remain productive by trying to make lists of things to do each week. Since my last post we have: bought our wedding bands (and placed them in a safety deposit box til the wedding), registered at Sear for tools, started Marriage Prep class at our church, begun buying decoration items, scheduled two good friends to play in the ceremony, and made plans for a shower in Abilene.

Also our engagement announcement should be in the Abilene paper this Sunday. So all you Abilenians reading this should be on the lookout for that!

Along with wedding plans work has become extremely busy. This past week my boss and I gave presentations to the Texas History classes at Blinn College. This is the one program I fret most about because the audience is anywhere from 2-6 years younger than me. It's a little more nerve racking than speaking to kids. Of course being out of the office for two days I had massive amounts of work waiting for me. I practically was on the phone all day Thursday booking tours and scheduling families for our Home School Day program. Whew! At least it made the days go by quickly.

So as the months progress I am trying to balance work, wedding planning, and social events. I definately am not bored!

The Abilene Girls

2007-09-16T08:27:00.000-07:00

This weekend the Abilene girls (minus Anne) came down to College Station to hang out. We haven't all been together since Christmas so a get together was long over due. I got my boss to switch days with me so that I could hang out all day Saturday. Our time was mainly spent sitting around talking and catching up. Although we did enjoy some yummy food at Bennigins, Abuelos, and La Bodega (a local place I enjoy).

We also spent quality time playing the game Imagine If, watching Connie and Carla, and visiting some enjoyable stores. And at one of these said stores we found a little novelty that made the weekend unforgetable. At World Market Christy and I found this very odd cat figurine that was horrifying, amusing, and lovable all at the same time. We took some great pictues with Scary Cat. And I have decided to go back and buy him today after work and use him as my wedding mascot. I want to take him to showers (even if he is in concealment most of the time) and have someone take random pictures of him at the reception. Everytime I look at the picture of this cat I bust out laughing!

And here he is:

A Swatch...Is That Too Much To Ask?

2007-09-01T09:25:00.001-07:00

For the past week and a half I have had the worst time trying to get a swatch from the place I am ordering bridesmaid dresses from. The color of the dresses is Indigo so it's not a normal color that can easily be matched. My main problem was that I kept talking to employees who didn't know all of the stores policies.

The first time I called and asked for a swatch the girl told me they only give out swatches for in-store use. What? Why would I need a swatch when I can look at the color right there in the store? So the next time I called I asked for the manager. She told me once one of my bridesmaids had ordered a dress I could get a swatch. So once I knew a bridesmaid had ordered a dress I called once more. I made sure to say "may I speak to someone about ordering a swatch" so that I wouldn't get the same girl I had before. Well, this girl told me right away "oh we don't do that". Usually I am a very nice, pleasant person on the phone but I decided it was time to get gruff. I told her that I spoke with the manager and they do give out swatches. She then told me to hold. When she came back on she asked me what color I needed. I told her the color and she immediately asked me to repeate it. She put me on hold for a bit and then came back and asked me to spell the color! I was amazed. And then to top it off she said "and you need that little piece of fabric, right?" I don't think she even knew what a swatch was! So after all of that I found out they can't mail it out to me. I will have to go to Houston some day next week.

I had decided if it came down to it I was either going to sneak my camera into the store and take a picture of a dress in the same color or Plan B--sneak in a pair of scissors and nonchalantly snip off an unnoticably piece of the dress.

Horrible Day!

2007-08-23T07:25:00.000-07:00

Yesterday started and ended with things going wrong. For the past couple of nights I have had a hard time falling asleep--I toss and turn for at least 30 minutes. Well, I think it caught up with me yesterday morning. I usually snooze for 30 minutes, using my cell phone as my alarm. At one point I woke up and thought to myself, "It looks a little brighter in my room than normal." I looked at my phone and realized I sleeped 30 minutes longer than I should have. So then I went into crazy rush mode. Some how I got ready and was out the door at my normal time--I must have cut something out of my routine.

Everything went fine at work. I scheduled quite a few tours, talked with my co-workers, etc. No problems. Then it was time to go home. I was on the phone with my mom as I left Navasota and merged onto Highway 6. It was then that I felt the sluggishness of my car--I had a flat! So I quickly pulled over and got out to assess the damage. Of course it had to be the tire closest to the busy highway. I probably could have changed it myself but I was in a skirt and high heels and I was really afraid of getting hit by the whizzing cars. So I called Travis to help me--of course it was going to take him about 20 minutes to get out there. About 5 minutes after calling him a wonderful, nice man stopped and put my spare on for me. I was so grateful!

So I made my way back to College Station and planned to go to Wal-Mart to get the tire patched up. When I arrived the mechanic told me that they close at 7:00 but stop taking customers at 6:00--the guy in front of me was their last customer. I was so distrot. And nothing else was open. So I was going to have to wake up early and bring my car in at 7:00 the next morning. Grrr!

After all of that I was ready to get back to my apartment to cool of and relax. I got pretty nasty standing outside in the humid air. As I walk into the apartment I notice it's a little warm. The air conditioner was blowing but the thermometer read 80 degrees. That was the straw that broke the camel's back. I just started to cry--and it really made me feel better.

This morning I got the tire fixed and I have a call into my apartment to fix the air conditioner. Let's hope that this day is filled with less surprises.

The Dreams Begin...

2007-08-21T12:21:00.000-07:00

I remember back when I lived in RELM, my roommate Lauren began having dreams about her wedding a month or so before the big day. And not the best of dreams--dreams in which something went wrong. Well, Sunday night I had my first wedding dreams. I had two dreams that were very similar in that they both had to do with not being ready for the wedding. In one it was the day before the wedding and I was trying to get everything planned that day. In the other it was the day of the wedding and I was frantically calling to get flowers. I hadn't decided how the ceremony would go either. It was a huge mess!

My hope is that these dreams don't continue...they make me a little nervous.

Point and Shoot

2007-08-21T09:58:00.000-07:00

This past Sunday Travis and I started the registration mania! We were so excited. Of course we really didn't think about the day we picked--Tax Free Weekend in College Station with new freshman getting settled in the dorms. Actually it wasn't bad at all--I guess the majority of them did their shopping on Saturday.

We went to Bed, Bath and Beyond to begin. We filled out all of our information and then picked out our dinnerware and flatware. We then were given the gun or I should say Travis was given the gun. He was so excited about it and I let him do all of the shooting. At one point he said "look at this"--He had the gun in his short's pocket and whipped it out in the true old western gun showdown style.

It was so fun to go around deciding what things we would want...and to know people would get them for us! We still have to register at Target and probably make another trip to Bed, Bath, and Beyond to finish and possibly change some choices.

Photos and Dresses

2007-08-14T08:41:00.000-07:00

Robin came down this weekend to take our engagement pictures--quite exciting! Sunday after church and lunch we ventured out to 4 different spots for our well-posed pictures. I let Travis pick out the spots since he has been in College Station longer and I had no clue where to go. Of course all of our sights were outside and it was one of the hottest days we have had in awhile. I brought a towel along to dab the sweat inbetween pictures. We started off taking pictures at the Adminstration building on A&M campus. The front of this building has these huge white pillars. We then took some shots at the arches which have to do with the Corps--Travis really wanted to get some pictures there. The next place was the Century Tree which is this very old tree on campus. The branches have become so large that they droop to the ground. I love this tree and was really glad we used it for our pictures. The last place we went was the George Bush Museum. Behind the museum there is a pond--we took pictures on the bridge and under the trelaces. We also got a fun picture of Travis pretending to throw me in the pond. I'm really excited to see how the pictures turned out!

On Monday I traveled to the Houston area to check out some bridesmaid dresses. I have been looking online at all kinds of dresses and the only place I really liked was Alfred Angelo. I picked a really cute tea length dress in the color Indigo (darker blue). Now I have to tell my bridesmaids about it and figure out how to get the dresses ordered.

Sick of Being Sick

2007-08-14T07:47:00.000-07:00

Well, I am back at work after being out for a whole week due to illness. Two Saturdays ago (Aug. 4) I felt really funny at work. When I got home I just layed on the couch all evening feeling yucky. I had a horrible cough and drainage and Travis was pretty sure I had a fever. I decided to rest for Sunday and Monday, hoping the sickness would be gone by my Tuesday work day. But it didnt work. I still felt horrible and had a fever. On Sunday night I woke up twice during the night and dry heaved--not a fun experience.

On Tuesday Travis took me to the doctor. The doctor couldn't find any signs of sinus problems. When he listened to my chest he found the problem--I had bronchial pneumonia! So I was given an expensive medication and an expensive cough medicine (that tastes horrible). I was stuck on the couch for the rest of the week.

I think my body was trying to tell me that I have been trying to do too much too quickly for the wedding. For only being engaged 3 weeks I have quite a bit done. I'm just trying my hardest to have it all done so I'm not stressed right before the wedding.

So far I have:

* A date picked
* A place for the wedding/reception/rehersal dinner
* The officiant picked
* Attendents picked
* Colors and theme picked
* My dress purchased
* Photographer lined up
* Wedding cake person picked out
* Honeymoon spots narrowed down
* Engagement pictures taken
* Bridesmaid dresses picked out

I think I'm doing ok--since I have 6 months till the wedding.

The Dress

2007-07-30T09:51:00.001-07:00

I know some of you will think this is crazy but I already have my wedding dress!

Once I got engaged I began looking online at all the dresses. I looked all over and saw one at David's Bridal that I really loved over all the other I had seen. My family came into town on Thursday for a little vacation time. So on Saturday we dropped my dad and sisters off at the Woodland's Mall while my mom and I went to David's bridal.

I didn't know how things worked there and that it is better to set up an appointment to try on a dress. But we were fine with waiting because we knew we hadn't followed the correct procedure. I tried the dress on and loved it! I went ahead and had the alterations done and go back to try it on at the end of October!

It's nice to have that major choice taken care of...now to tackle the other 350!

The Proposal

2007-07-30T09:32:00.000-07:00

Over the next 7 months I believe my blog will be turned into Stories/Updates from Wedding Central. Most of you who read my blog already know that on July 22nd Travis and I got engaged. This first post will discuss how it happened and my reactions.

From Thursday through Monday Travis and I were on our vacation weekend. We had planned to visit his grandmother in Dallas, his grandparents in San Angelo, and then my parents in Abilene. On Sunday, the day of the proposal, Travis had an upset stomach from the moment he woke up. He thought it was because of his allergies but he came to find out it was from nervousness--it ended right before he proposed.

When we got to Abilene we had dinner with a friend who attends A&M but lives in Lubbock. The story I was told was that she and her mom were in visiting her brother but I found out later that she was only here to help with the engagement. At one point during dinner Travis had to go back to the car to get his wallet. He took quite awhile but said he was putting his camera in a safer place. In actuality he was putting stuff in Kim's car.

After dinner we had planned to go up to ACU to take pictures of the Jacob's Ladder sculpture. After the pictures we went for a little walk around campus. When we were behind the Science building Travis' phone beeped saying he had a text message. He told me it was a telemarketer which I believed and didn't think anything else of it. It actually was Kim telling Travis she had everything ready. He then said he wanted to try to get some other pictures of the statue with the sun setting so he started to walk faster. Before going back to the statue he wanted to stop off at the ampitheater. As we got closer I noticed there were rose petals leading to the ampitheater. I said to Travis "I wonder why those are there." He said I don't know. It never entered my mind that it was for me--I thought the camp kids had done something out there.

When we reached the front of the ampitheater I knew what was coming. I saw a ring of rose petals and little bags filled with sand and tea lights. Travis got down on one knee and proposed. I hardly remember what I was saying during it--but he told me that I kept saying "oh my goodness" over and over...and then I said yes! It was kind of like one of those out of body experiences or that I can't believe this is happening to me moments. While we were hugging the campus police drove by, flipped his siren, and said congrats--not a planned event but a very nice touch. Kim and her mom came out of hiding, hugged and congratulated us and then took some wonderful pictures of us.

The reason I didn't expect this at all was because for the past few weeks Travis has mentioned that once he had the money he would be buying me a ring. So I thought it wouldn't be for awhile. The truth was that he had had a ring for over a month and a half. Also the last time we were in Abilene (about 3 weeks ago) he had asked my parents permission while I was taking a nap!

The wedding will be February 16th at our church in College Station. And I have already begun the crazy planning!

One Year

2007-07-17T17:55:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was filled with a whole lot of fun--mainly girl time! On Friday Travis headed to Conroe to spend some time with his brother. So I hung out with some of the girls from our GAP class at church. The plan was to go to a place called Margarita Rocks for some free salsa dance lessons--who would pass that up? Beforehand we decided to watch some dance movies to get us in the mood. We watched some of Fame (a little slow so we stopped it) and Stomp the Yard (mainly just the cool dance segments). The lessons were very enjoyable. Since there were 4 of us girls we paired up--not really wanting the ackward random guy dance (also I promised Travis I wouldn't). After the lessons we sat back and watched the awesome couples and the women dancing on skinny stiletto heels. We did get asked twice to dance, once by a man who didn't speak english. My new plan is to take Travis there some Friday night and cut a rug!

On Sunday Travis and I celebrated our one year of dating! It is the weirdest feeling--it doesn't seem like it has been long enough to be a year and yet it feels like I have known Travis for much longer. This is the longest relationship I have ever been in and the most wonderful! We spent the day at the movie theater--something I have never done before. We first saw Harry Potter then went out and bought tickets for Transformers. Both were very enjoyable. And we finished it off with a nice dinner at Chili's. It was a wonderful day spent with a wonderful man!

Summer Catch Up

2007-07-06T08:08:00.000-07:00

I use to be so good at this blog thing--everyday I would have a new post. Well, here is a quick update on things that have happened in the life of EC:

About two weekends ago Travis and I headed to Abilene to hang out with the gang, my family, and Robin! Travis was a real trooper that weekend. On Friday night he endured spending time at a house full of girls, jibber-jabbering about a lot of girl stuff. Saturday was filled with all kinds of wonderful enjoyments. We started off with a huge swim day. The hightlights included fantastic burgers, swimming pool baseball, and Travis, Stev, Mark, and Curtis doing crazy dives in the pool. That evening we had dinner at Los Arcos--a major Abilene favorite. We then played some fun Wii games and of course Catch Phrase at Hannah's. Sunday was more leisurly spent with the family. It included a home cooked lunch (haven't had that in awhile), birthday celebration, and a lovely Sunday nap. On Monday my sisters, Travis, and I ventured into the mini "flood" that hit Abilene to see the movie Ratatouille. And then after a few quick errands we were on our way back home.

Last Wednesday we had the big Fourth of July celebration at work. Everything went well. Thankfully it didn't rain too much that day so we were still able to have the fireworks. Travis came out after he finished work (we both have jobs that don't close on holidays). We had foot long corn dogs for supper and then picked up our free coke and blue bell ice cream! We didn't get back to College Station until 10:30--mainly because we helped pick up the chairs. I was very glad to have the next day off!

After this Saturday I will be off for 2 weeks! Travis and I have a trip planned for next weekend to meet his grandmother/Corp buddies in Dallas; then we will go to San Angelo to meet his other grandparents; then we will make a stop off in Abilene; and then head back to College Station.

VBS Mania

2007-06-21T14:09:00.000-07:00

Whew--the past three days have been a bit of a whirlwind what with work and then VBS until 9:00 at night. But I had so much fun! I knew the vast majority of the kids in my group which was very helpful. I'm pretty sure we had one of the largest classes--16 the first night. The first night our group went to see the drama skit that Travis was in--it was hilarious! I got great pictures and 2 video clips: one of Poptiphar's wife chasing Joseph around (the kids thought this was so funny) and the other of Joseph and Pharoah (our preacher) singing a song. I was so proud of him! By Wednesday night word had got around about the skit and quite a few church members came up just to see it.

At the end of the first evening Travis came to my classroom; I was still waiting for a few kids to be picked up. One of the boys starred at Travis and then he whispered to another boy "look it's Joseph." Then he covered his name tag and asked Travis what his name was. I snuck behind Travis and whispered his name. Travis then picked him up, did a little shake, and said his name. The little boy had a look of amazement. He asked Travis "how did you know that?" Travis told him that he dreamed it!

Coming Attractions

2007-06-14T13:08:00.000-07:00

The summer months are here and I have begun using up my crazy amount of vacation days. This week I took Tuesday, Wednesday, and will take Friday off--not for anything in particular just because I need to use the days. I'm really excited because next week is Vacation Bible School at our church. I am co-teaching the kindergarten class which will be the same kids I taught all year! I think I'm more excited to see the skits performed. The story this year is Joseph so 3 different groups will be performing the music from Joseph and the Amazing Technocolor Dreamcoat. And in one of the groups Joseph will be performed by non other that...Travis Bodeker! I can't wait to see him. I hope to get lots of fun pictures!

I have firmly decided to purchase a digital camera--this week actually. I have been researching and I think I have found the one I want: a Canon A570. This will be an early birthday present to myself. I'm getting a little tired of using throw away cameras and I would like to be able to stick the pictures easily on my computer. So it's time to take another step into technology!

Wednesday Happenings

2007-05-31T08:02:00.000-07:00

All afternoon yesterday I felt extremely tired--not just a normal tired but a weird, funny tired. When the end of the day came, I made plans to go home and lay down for a little bit. Those plans were irritatingly interrupted. As I drove out of the park, I thought my car felt a little sluggish as it drove down the pavement. My co-worker, who was driving behind me, called my cell phone to inform me that I had a flat tire. Rats--of all days! So I pulled over to the side of the rode--luckily one of the male park workers came by and he helped me get the spare on. Then I drove to Navasota to get my tire patched up. By the time I got back to College Station I was so worn out, I decided I couldn't make it to church. I ran through a drive-thru for dinner and then laid down for about an hour at home.

An interesting thing that occurred on Wednesday was an email I received. In the email I was asked to speak at a session at a museum conference. I was quite flattered but also confused. I have no idea why the chose me--I don't know either of the people in charge but they said that I was recommended. It is still uncertain if I will do it--for one we are unsure that our museum programs apply to the session topic. So we will see what happens. I actually wouldn't mind doing it. I think it would be a great experience and a wonderful addition to my resume.

Gone

2007-05-29T14:26:00.001-07:00

Saturday, at 4:00 in the morning, Travis and his brother, Cody, set out for their road trip to Denver, Colorado. They were going to spend a few days with their cousin who lives up there. They reached their destination around 8:30 pm. Personally, I don't know how well I would have lasted in a car for that long. So Travis is gone until Thursday--I'm trying to find things to do to keep my occupied until then.

Sometimes I get, I guess you could call them cravings. Usually it is a form of media--a tv show that I must watch many episodes of; or it could be a desire for Jane Austen movies; or the Anne of Green Gables saga. This weekend I was on a Lord of the Rings kick--not for the movies but for the appendices. I watched a whole bunch of the extra footage of how they made the extrodinary movies. I love listening to stories from the cast and crew and learning about how much work went into those movies. I truly can't imagine doing everything they did!

I think I stayed up a little too late reading last night. I am feeling it at work today. I usually have a bit of tiredness hit me in the afternoon, but today I am truly fighting to keep my eyes open. I only stayed up 30 extra minutes--it's amazing the affect it has on my body. I remember the days when I could stay up until 1:00 in the morning and wake up at 7:00. Those days are gone.

Time Off

2007-05-23T14:27:00.000-07:00

Well, I survived last week. By the end of everyday I was completely wiped out--so many kids, so many tours. I'm back on my normal schedule and on the last week of school tours, which begins the thought process on vacation time.

Adding up my vacation and holidays I have 19 days to use as I like. This doesn't include the 6 vacation days that I will hold over to next year. These 19 days will need to be used during June and July as my August is very busy booking school tours. At this moment I have no definate plans for the days. I plan to go home to Abilene during the summer. I also would like to take a vacation somewhere with Travis. Because of summer tours that are already booked, a lot of my time off will be random days throughout the week. I do have my own little projects I would like to get done this summer--one of which is organizing my apartment.

So hopefully I will come up with some ideas to keep my busy during my days off.

LIght at the End of the Tunnel

2007-05-18T14:19:00.000-07:00

My crazy 6 day week is coming closer to an end. When you give anywhere from 3-5 hour long tours a day it makes for a rather tiring work day. Any time I've had to sit has been well appreciated. This week I have had lots of evening things to attend or get done so I haven't had many nights of relaxation.

I have been going quite a few days without a day to sleep in (which I love and adore) which may explain what happened this morning. I awoke to the sound of my phone ringing, Travis calling to say good morning. So I woke up at 7:50--10 minutes before the time I'm suppose to leave to get to work. For the first 30 seconds I was running around like a chicken with it's head cut off. I got ready in about 30 minutes and headed to work. Thankfully we didn't have kids coming until 10:00.

We have one more group of kids coming at 3:30 and then the worst week of the year will be over! I plan to unwind tonight by going out to eat with some girls from church and then watching a movie. I'm super ready for my day off!

A New Post!

2007-05-12T07:26:00.000-07:00

Oy! Once again I fell into the blog slump and left all of my avid readers in the lurch. One reason for this would be it's May--the busiest month for me at work. The TAKS test is over and the kids are coming out for their fun, educational tour at Washington-on-the-Brazos. It hasn't been that bad this year. Last year I remember feeling wipped out each day after all the tours. This next week however might be a little rough. Because of the tours I scheduled, I will be working Monday through Saturday. So I only get one day off this weekend and let me tell you there will be a lot of sleeping going on that day.

Social life is going well. Travis has finished his finals in his classes and did very well. Last weekend was pretty busy. On Friday night we went to see the new Spiderman with his brother Cody and some others from the AFC. It was good although I think I like the other 2 a little better. We went to the 9:15 showing and we didn't leave the theater until midnight. I'm not use to staying up that late so work the next day was a bit of a blur.

Last Saturday our Gap class met with other Gap classes from around the city and had a swing dance lesson. I was excited to dance with Travis--we haven't ever had an opportunity to do that. The instructor had us make a large circle around her with our partners but because there were a few more girls than guys she made us switch partners after learning each new step. Travis and I were a little bummed about that. I learned the basic step with him and then for the rest of the night we had to dance with other people. Close to the end of the lesson, we were trying to talk to each other from across the circle (he needed to leave early to study). He asked his partner if she would switch with me so that we could dance together. So while the instructor was giving our instructions, I quickly ran to the other side of the gym to be with Travis. Travis is a very good swing dancer--we just need to find a place where we can go dancing.

Travis's Birthday

2007-04-24T14:19:00.000-07:00

On Sunday Travis turned 27 and so we threw him a little party. The party was held at Oaks Park where we could either play sand volleyball or disc golf. Beforehand we snacked on cheesecake (his favorite dessert) and ice cream. Unfortunately it was incredibly windy--so we had to pretend the candles were lit. There was one surprise Travis didn't know about. When I sent out the email to everyone about the party I asked them to bring a can of silly string. I had bought kiddy party favors for everyone to take--making it look like a kid's party. So when I told Travis we were going to play pin the tail on the donkey he thought it was part of the "kid theme". It actually was my decoy to blindfold him. While I situated the blindfold everyone else passed out the cans of silly string. As I spun him around the party goers formed a circle around him--some people with a can in each hand. I moved out of the way, counted to 3, and Travis was smothered in silly string of all colors! It was fantastic! We got him so good!

Here are a few pictures (courtesy of my friend David's facebook page):

Getting Travis ready for "pin the tail on the donkey"

Travis buried under silly string.

I did help clean him up...a little.

TAM Conference

2007-04-21T08:20:00.000-07:00

This past week I was in Austin with my fellow co-workers for the annual TAM conference. TAM stands for Texas Association of Museums. It's a time to meet others who work in the museum field, attend sessions on new information relating to museums, and in the evening visit museums within the city.

I was excited but also a little nervous. I had never been to a conference before and wasn't sure what to do. Alot of the time I hung around my boss, Anne, who introduced me to different people. As the week went on I started to met some people on my own--people who were close to my age. On Thursday evening there was a dance held at the Bob Bullock Museum. Of course being the Church of Christ girl that I am (meaning I'm not so good at dancing) I spent my time looking at the museum and watching my bosses and others cut a rug on the dance floor.

It was a highly enjoyable week. I truly enjoyed visiting the different museums in Austin--9 in all:

Blanton Art Museum
Harry Ransom Center Galleries
Texas Natural Science Center
Austin Museum of Art--Laguna Gloria (located at Travis Lake)
Lyndon B. Johnson Musuem
George Washington Carver Museum
Umlauf Statue Garden & Museum (Gorgeous!)
Austin Children's Museum (So fun!)
Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum

Christmas in April

2007-04-14T10:17:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday I received my fantastic Christmas present from Travis. For those who don't remember, Travis got me tickets to the musical Wicked which was showing in Houston. So at 2:00 Sunday afternoon we headed out, me in my semi-formal dress I had bought a couple months ago and he in his suave suit. We first stopped off in Conroe to see Travis's brother, Cody, for a bit. Then we headed to the Woodlands for an early dinner before the show. After a little bit of confusion (my fault--there are too many buildings out there!) we found our destination--The Cheescake Factory. I had eaten there once before for a bachlorette party and remembered it was pretty delicious. The food was absolutely exquisite! It was hard to make myself stop eating so I could save room for the cheesecake. We split a piece of tiramisu cheesecake which was heavenly!

Once we were nice and full we headed to downtown Houston. We arrived an hour before the show so we had some time to leisurely walk around. We were sitting in the balcony which I think is the best spot because you can see everything that is going on. I was amazed by how many kids were there--mainly middle school girls. As we were sitting we watched one family going up the stairs--the middle school aged daughter was saying to her mom, "I'm so excited. I'm going to die" while the high school aged daughter was telling her sister to shut up. Reminded me of times I had with my sisters.

The musical was absolutely amazing! The music and the story line were fantastic. I've decided I have to get that soundtrack. Travis and I both really wanted to go watch it again.

It was a very enjoyable day and the perfect gift!

Stress...It's a Killer

2007-04-07T07:14:00.000-07:00

I personally hate stress. I haven't experienced it in quite awhile--since I've been out of school. During my high school and college years I would push myself to the stress limit. Usually my stress came from having lots of projects all due at the same time. I would loose sleep working on them and also put alot of energy into worrying about each one.

All of these feelings came back to me on Thursday. This week I have been designing a Saturday program about wildflowers. My first time to give it is this Satureday (today). Things were going smoothly on Thursday until I started running into computer problems. I was scanning and printing pictures of the flowers but some were scanning with the wrong color shades or they had blotchy spots that I just couldn't fix. By the end of the day I was stressed to the max!

That evening I went over to Travis's to watch my shows (The Office and Grey's Anatomy) and to relax. I was quite miffed when I found out Grey's Anatomy was a rerun. I was feeling very worn out from the day, I had a major headache, and I still had that feeling of stress in me. It all finally reached the boiling point when Travis said one little innocent thing to me. He made a joking remark to me that for some reason pushed me to the edge...and I burst into tears. Poor Travis had no idea what he had done! I feel sorry for men who have to put up with us emotional women. I felt liberated after the tears--I had let go of the stress.

Thank goodness I don't have one of those jobs that has stress everyday. I'm highly sure it would be the death of me...or Travis :)

The People That You Meet

2007-04-04T07:04:00.000-07:00

At work we have descendant cards that visitors can fill out. These cards let us know of people who are descendants of Republic of Texas citizens. Yesterday the front desk lady brought for me to type into the database. As I was typing in the different fields, I noticed the email address ended with acu.edu. So I looked back at the last name and realized I had an education professor with the same name. So I ran up to the front to see if they were still there--and it was him! He retired right after I took his class and he has been living in Minnesota. He remembered me once I mentioned who my dad was and we had a nice little chat. I still am amazed by the people I see out here or the connections I have to others.

This week I am working on putting together a Saturday program. When I was hired the intent was that I would create and give programs on Saturday afternoons. Well, so far that hasn't happened because of other stuff I have been working on. But during the month of April I will be giving a short program about wildflowers. Since most of the people coming out to the park are looking at the bluebonnets, paintbrushes, etc, why not give them some interesting information? So we will see how it goes...

Never a Dull Day...

2007-03-24T11:22:00.000-07:00

Over the past 17 months working at the museum, I have come the conclusion that everyday is unique and filled with its surprises. These surprises can be enjoyable, such as visitors from another country; hectic, such as 287 visitors and only 3 people working that day; or down right aggrivating, such as the electricity cutting off.

This past Friday turned out to be on the of the aggrivating days. It started out running smooth with one tour of 4th graders, lunch, and working on booking other tours. Then came my 3:00 tour. Things went fine on the first floor as they worked on their scavenger hunts. Upstairs I spend the whole 30 minutes talking to them about the exhibits and rely on the teacher and parents to help keep them in line. Well the teacher and the parents decided to go off and look at everything on their own leaving me with around 16 students. I kept them together as well as one person could. On the way back down the ramp I had one little boy who was pushing the other children in front of him. I have never had that happen before. I had to stop the line and sturnly command him to come to the front of the line. Once we were down the ramp the students took a restroom break. When the teacher was done she walked outside and sat on the bench--leaving the students inside the museum!! It was unbelievable.

Today I walked into the museum to find out we had partial power--a brown out. I had to call in the problem to the electric company who said it would be back on between 10:20 and 11:00. That meant we couldn't open until all power was restored. The power finally came on at 11:15; eveything worked except the elevator. The doors on the bottom floor didn't open at all and the doors on the top floor wouldn't shut. So I found some stantions and a rope to block off the open doors. And as of now the chiller on the air conditioning is not turning on which means it is beginning to be a little stuffy inside.

Never a dull moment here.

Blarney Good Day

2007-03-17T11:26:00.000-07:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Even though it is not one of the most famous of holidays, I really enjoy St. Patrick's Day. Who doesn't like a holiday when it is ok to cause a little bit of bodily harm to those not adhering to the rules? Luckily this morning I remembered to don my green attire. There have been many years in the past when I have made the cardinal sin of forget my green, thus leaving myself wide open for pinch attacks all day. I have found through personal experience that green eyes do not count as your splash of green, nor does it count if you are Irish. There are no privileged people on this day...anyone is game!

Remember back when beanie babies were all the rage? For me it was during middle school. All of my girlfriends were collecting them--buying the new one of the week and making sure they had those plastic tag protectors. I didn't really get into it. I wasn't enthralled with any of the animals...until the Erin bear came out. And why wouldn't I want it? It's name is Erin (just like me) and it's Irish (just like me). Of course when it first came out it cost a pretty penny which I wasn't about to spend for something stuffed with beans. But perhaps now I could find for pretty cheap on the old Ebay and then one of my lifetime goals will be fulfilled (incredibly kidding).

Icey Memories

2007-03-09T14:03:00.000-08:00

Yesterday evening I watched Unwrapped, the episode about Hawaian/tropical food. One of the items discussed was shaved ice aka snow cones. Watching the ice being shaved, the syrup being poured, and the happy consumers faces made me think back on all my fond memories working for 3 years at a snow cone stand. At times it could get hectic to the point that you wanted to throw the syrup bottles against the wall or shove your head in the ice machine, but once you got past those moments it was a really fun job. Over the course of the 3 years I had regular customers who I knew by flavor. As soon as I saw them walking up I would begin making their order. There was the family who wanted Strawberry Daiquiri with very little syrup, the lady who liked lots of cream on any flavor she ordered, and then there was the lady who ordered the largest size of just ice...then when she got to her car, would pour some alcoholic drink on top.

I would have to give the snow cone stand some credit in helping me out of my "bubble". The stand I started working at was in the parking lot of Big Lots which was the hang out for the Cooper High kids. And I met quite an interesting slue of people...quite different from the Highland C of C and ACU crowds I was use to. I honestly think it was a good experience for me to realize what people in the "real world" are like.

Sadly, since my last day at the snow cone stand (about 2 1/2 years ago) I have lost my appetite for the cold siren. But back in the day my favorite flavors included:

* Silver Fox
* Lucky Charms (tasted just like the marshmellows from the cereal)
* Banana Daiquiri
* Watermelon with margarita salt (tasted like real watermelon)
* Black Cherry Cola

Stuff

2007-03-07T13:09:00.000-08:00

I don't feel like writing my experiences in paragraphs today (especially after having 150 kids come throught the museum). So here are some nuggets of fun to chew on:

* Next week I (and hopefully Travis) am taking a couple of days off and heading up to Abilene! I will get in late Monday and stay until Wednesday. Whoo-hoo!

* A little girl in one of my tours today said "You look like a Barbie doll." Nice self-esteem booster.

* Monday I watched the movie "Mommie Dearest" which is the story of the movie actress Joan Crawford. Wow--what a psycho. For some reason I am entranced by this movie and thoroughly enjoy watching it.

* Monday evening there was a show commeorating the life of Gene Kelly which made my heart smile--he dances, he sings...what more could you want?

* I have fallen in love with the old church songs. Growing up I always went to churches where the newest songs were sung over and over. Our group that sings at a nursing home on Monday nights has brought new appreciation for songs I either heard long ago or never even learned.

* In about a month I will receive my Christmas present--watching the musical Wicked performed with Travis. I'm so excited!

* Is anyone else ready for the new season of Project Runway to begin?

Another One Bites the Dust

2007-03-06T13:53:00.000-08:00

(Wow it's been awhile since I posted!)

This past weekend was Texas Independence Day Celebration which means I had to work both Saturday and Sunday along with all of the other staff. Friday night we had a special reception which I bought a special new dress for. Travis came and met all of the people I work with. As soon as he walked in the door the ladies swarmed at him. My family came down for the festivities. Travis spent alot of time with them without me: he rode to the park with them and he took them to church since I had to work. He really gets along well with them!

Today I gave a tour to a wonderful group of 7th graders. Everything was going well until I lead them into the boat. I told the first two girls to spin the wheel. I thought it was weird that one of the girls was right next to the other one. Then all of a sudden she fell backwards, hit her head on the wall behind her, and laid on the floor. She was out for at least 30 seconds. I tried to keep the other kids back while the teachers came to help her. Thankfully she didn't start siezing. One little girl was crying because it was her cousin who passed out. It is unsure what made her faint; the teacher said she was sick last week. My guesses are: 1. she was still sick 2. she got clausterphobic or 3. she has low blood sugar.

The fact that this is my second student to faint on one of my tours is a little disheartening. Either I'm doing something wrong or these kids need to eat more protein.

Valentine's Day

2007-02-16T07:35:00.000-08:00

My Valentine's Day was absolutely wonderful! The morning was a little crazy with running late to work and having some unexpected surprises with our tours. After work I rushed home and gathered up my stuff to teach my kindergarteners at church. I am absolutely positive that each one of them had 10 lbs. of sugar at school. They were all over the place! While waiting for their parents to pick them up, about 4 of the kids were playing tag in the classroom. I quickly averted their desire for rambunctious activity by involving them in the quiet game. They immediately became enthused with playing this low-keyed game. They had no idea my ulterior motive.

I returned home a little after 8:00 where I waited for Travis to meet me. He called as he was parking outside the apartment and told me to wait in my room while he got some stuff ready. When he told me to come out there on my chair were two beautiful canvas paintings of flowers. In between the paintings was a single red rose. Travis told me that the rose was from my dad. My dad has always given my a rose for Valentine's day since I was a little girl. He had emailed Travis and asked him if he would get one to give me. Travis then told me the paintings were his flowers to me--flowers that would always last. The first painting was of some type of red flower and the other was of some white flowers--I think they are lilies (I'm not good with identifying flowers). What is absolutely fantastic is the paintings match my living room decor perfectly!

Travis then gave me my card--a dvd. It started out with pictures of the two of us including Halloween, homecoming, New Years, and other events. The song "Only God Could Love You More" played while the pictures scrolled through. That song has become one of my new favorites! At the end of the pictures came the messages that took my breath away and caused some tears to fall:

"I give this not in celebration of Valentine's but in celebration of You! This one day is no different from the 364 that follow. My heart and my soul anxiously await the events that have yet to transpire. May the Author and Prefector of our love continue to draw us closer together."

Let me just say that I have watched this dvd many times now! By the time we finished this it was about 8:45 and neither of us had eaten so we ran to Sonic and then watched the movie Pillow Talk. It was a perfect Valentine's.

I took the dvd up to work and quite a few of my coworkers were jealous. One lady asked if her husband could watch it as a hint for next year!

Thank you so much, Travis. I love you!

History Fair

2007-02-10T09:31:00.000-08:00

This week has completely flown by! We have been so incredibly busy this week getting ready for History Fair which occurred on Friday. Every night I have come home so incredibly exhausted and hardly any energy to do anything. On Thursday night I didn't leave work until 6:00--we were quickly finishing up stuffing packets for everyone. Than night I went to bed at 9:30 in order to get up early enough to be at work by 7:30.

We had a small problem arise in that we were unable to use a building for check in. This meant we had to redirect 163 students, plus teachers, and about 50 judges to a much smaller area. Luckily it all worked out well. I spent the first part of the morning helping out at the Judges Table along with Amanda who came out at the crack of dawn to help--as did Aaron (fellow A&M Church of Christers that I recruited).

At 9:00 I joined up with my other two judges and we began judging the Junior Individual Exhibits. We had 10 minutes on each exhibit to look at the display, glance over the students process paper, and conduct an interview with the student. The kids were so cute and also nervous. One little boy (the first place winner) wore a suit and in his interviewed used the phrase "cost-balance analysis"...in the right context!

After judging I mainly stayed in the conference center in case any volunteers didn't show up or something happened that needed fixing. From 1-3 I hung out with Sonya (another A&M Church person) at the Judges Table. We also helped set up more chairs for the awards ceremony which started at 3:00. There were these two older men who were representing an organization which donated money to the fair. They asked Sonya how old she was and then stated that they thought she was 13 and that I looked about that same age. Sheesh! I suppose it is nice to know I look younger--but I'd rather hear it when I'm in my 30's.

Once the awards ceremony was over it was time to relax. We set about taking down signs and gathering up all the paper and packets we needed to take back to the museum. I drove back to the museum to pick up the Blinn van so we could load everything in one trip. Before taking the van up to the conference center I went to take down the signs on the visitor center door. After taking the signs down I started a slight jog back to the van which did not end well. Somehow I tripped on my shoe and fell on the concrete. I ate it hardcore. Thankfully the two busses full of students had left moments before. From what I could deduce only one car with a family inside witnessed the humiliating event. I left the scene with some scrapes on my palms and a very nice strawberry on my knee.

All in all the day was a lot of fun and very rewarding!

Monday

2007-02-10T07:48:00.000-08:00

I had a rather unenjoyable Monday this past week. Monday is my day off from work and usually a time when I sleep in and get things I have put off done. This Monday was unbelievably tiring and frustrating. It really all started on Sunday night at 11:00. I was watching t.v. when I heard a dripping noise. I went in the kitchen to investigate and I found both sides of my sink full of brown water...and it was slowly overflowing onto the floor! My initial reaction was to call Travis and have him come help. My next move was to call the 24-hour help line for my apartment complex who said they would send over the maintenance guy. By the time I finished both phone calls the overflow had stopped but it had completely covered my kitchen floor with nasty water. It took me 5 rolls of paper towels to clean it all up. The maintenance guy was able to get the water back down but anytime he flipped the disposal on the water came back up. He said he would have to wait until the morning to get it fixed. That meant I had to be up early on my day off. So at 8:00 I rolled out of bed, put my glasses on, and slept on the couch until I heard a knock. It took the maintanece people from 8:30-11:00 to fix the sink. By that time it was pointless to catch a few more hours of sleep.

I then got ready and went to get my oil changed at Walmart which took an hour and a half. When I picked the car up they told me I needed 2 new tires. So I went to Discount Tire Co. with took over 2 hours. By the time I got back home it was after 5:30 and I was so tired. It was such a frustrating day--grrr!

You Know You Can Handle Anything When...

2007-02-01T08:20:00.000-08:00

Last night I taught my little kindergarteners about Jesus cleansing the temple. I started off with them singing the "Hallelu, Praise Ye the Lord Song"--they had a blast with that. Anything that involves fast singing and standing is always a hit. To lead into the story I had the kids clean the tables. I had cut up some old shirts for them to use as rags. Then we went over what items were correct for cleaning the tables. I held up sponges, a bag of dirt, glue, water, and markers. After cleaning the tables I told them the story of Jesus in the temple and then we discussed how God lives in our hearts.

Then came the fun part of the night:

While the kids were working on their craft activity, one of the little boys, Sam, cut his finger with the scissors. It wasn't a bad cut, but he was bleeding a little bit. I located the first aid and got down on my knees to put a band-aid on his finger. While putting the band-aid on he was crying a bit so I tried to calm him down. Through his sobs I heard him say "My tummy feels bad." Right after I figured out what he said it happened. He threw up. And because I was on my knees, right next to him it went all over my sleeve and on my pants. Luckily, I kept it together. I was thinking more about getting him cleaned up and near the toilet in case it happened again. While I cleaned him up one of the other teachers went to find his dad and the other started cleaning up the mess. I wasn't able to get it off of me--there was quite a bit.

As I left the classroom when church was over I saw Travis coming down the hall. I immediately told him not to hug me because of the throw up. As we walked down the hall he said he could smell it. So I rushed home to shower and throw the clothes in the wash before he came over for our study. As I drove home I had the car window rolled down and I was literally holding my nose because of the contained smell.

I figure if I can handle having someone else's kid throw-up on me then it will be no sweat when my own kids do it.

*I hope none of you were eating while reading this. :)

Cake

2007-01-25T06:50:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we celebrated a co-workers birthday with cake, a card, and the same candle we have been using for ages (it's a really long candle). The cake was a swedish pineapple cake. I am known around work as the picky one and I agree to it. I have lots of foods that I don't like to eat. When it comes to desserts I like sugar--unadulterated sugar. I don't like nuts, coconut, or fruit in my dessert product. This means I don't like apple pie, peach cobbler, cherry cobbler, and when it comes to banana pudding I pick out the bananas.

I put forth an effort and tried a bite of the cake. It might have been different if it was a fruit I actually liked but I really don't like pineapple. I did like the cream cheese icing! I felt really bad when Effie, the lady who made the cake, pulled out a chocolate pie she bought in case I didn't like the cake. I was happily content to not indulge in cake. I felt like the spoiled brat of the office. As she cut the pie I could feel my cheeks becoming warm and I knew my face was bright red. Oy!

On a lighter note I learned yesterday how to manually flush a toilet. Our water pressure was very low and in order to make the toilets flush you had to hold down the handle. Well, when I used it the water pressure was even lower and nothing was happening. I asked Effie what to do. She told me to fill up the huge bucket in the back hall with about a foot of water. It was an interesting sight--lugging a huge bucket in a skirt and high heels. I was told to pour the water in the toilet quickly (but not so quick that it made a mess). I was astonished as it all went down the toilet! That's a handy little trick to know...for later emergencies.

Back to School...Sort of

2007-01-20T09:26:00.000-08:00

My employer, Blinn College, sent out an email about a month ago advertising a discount on online courses. I thought I might peruse the courses that were being offered. I happened to find one that I had always regreted not taking at ACU--Personal Finance. This week I signed up to take the 6 week course and learn all about how to take care of my money. I figure now that I am out on my own it would be good to know how to create a working budget and also how and where to invest. I'm actually quite excited about my class. I've never had an online course so this should be interesting.

Work is getting very busy. January to the end of May goes very fast and is packed full of events. Right now I am still taking tours but I'm quickly running out of room. I am also starting work on the Art Contest for area-wide 4th graders. History Fair is in 3 weeks! I am helping Anne a little bit with that. I think during the fair I am going to be judging the Individual Exhibits--exciting! Our Texas Independence Day Celebration weekend is March 3-4. We also have a reception the evening of the 2nd. Lots of things need to be put together for both of these events. And then March, April, and May are chalked full of tours. It will be quite busy the next 4 months.

It Actually Feels Like Winter

2007-01-17T14:04:00.000-08:00

Yes even down in College Station the artic blast has brought a lovely layer of ice. I don't believe we have had it as bad as Abilene--the ice hasn't been sticking to the roads. A&M closed yesterday and today--a nice surprise for the students. And my work decided to close yesterday! So I stayed inside as much as possible and did quite a bit of reading. Today we had to go in but not until 10:00. Thankfully I thought to get up a little early to have time to de-ice my car. Goodness gracious that ice would not budge! The fun part was watching big chunks fly off and crash into tiny pieces as I drove down the highway.

When I arrived at work I found out that the heat strip in the office was not working. So our office area if full of 60 degree air. My boss found me a space heater to warm my little body--I get cold when the heat strip is working! Needless to say I have yet to take my coat off and at times have donned my gloves.

I'm sure all the people up north are laughing at us crazy Texans for closing schools and businesses for a little bit of ice.

I hope everyone enjoys the ice/snow days!

Travis Receives Major Brownie Points!

2007-01-07T21:33:00.000-08:00

So far I have known that Travis is more fantastic than most guys I know...but today he blew all other guys out of the water! After church we ate lunch at his apartment and then spent the rest of the day watching--Pride and Prejudice! I'm not talking about that horrible new movie that was made with Kiera what's her face. We watched the best one out there--the A&E 5 hour version with Colin Firth.

He stayed awake during the entire thing. We didn't take any breaks and he never asked to have it turned off. I think he did get a little jealous when I drooled a bit over Mr. Darcy :). There are not many guys that would sit through that whole movie. I have found a truly fantastic guy! But of course I knew that long before today!

I love him so much!

Catch Up

2007-01-06T08:51:00.000-08:00

* I had a very enjoyable New Year's Eve. Robin came down Saturday night after shooting pictures at a wedding. We spent New Year's Eve at Travis's apartment with his brother, Sarah, and Kendra. We watched movies, made Robin's famous puppy chow (man, I miss that), and played lots of Nerts.

* I've been off work this entire week. In theory it sounds wonderful to get 2 weeks off from work but when you don't have much planned to do you can get bored really easily. On Tuesday night Travis's coworker gave him tickets to the men and women's basketball games. I really enjoyed it. I really like sporting events. I get more into them when I'm actually at them than watching them on tv. It's too bad there isn't a hockey team here.

* I am back at work today--my first day back in two weeks. I realized yesterday that I forgot to put a phone message saying I would be out of the office. When I came in today there was a note on my desk from the secretary saying "have fun with your voicemail." How many did I have? 17.

* I received an email today from my employer (Blinn College) saying that Blinn employees will have a discount on online courses run through ed2go.com. I have always regretted that I didn't take a personal finance class in college. So I think I am going to sign up for this class to learn more about budgeting, saving, and investments.

Pictures/Christmas

2007-01-01T21:34:00.000-08:00

Here are the pictures from my special project:

Christmas was very enjoyable. I spent a leisurly week with my family in Abilene. I also spent some time with the Abilene girls and with some of the gang from college. But by the end I was really ready to get back home and see Travis.

Saturday Travis and I had our Christmas together. Travis got me the most wonderful gift! He told me he didn't have the gift with him but he had a picture of it on my computer. When I opened it up I found out my present was tickets to see the musical Wicked in Houston in April!!! I'm so excited! He knew exactly what to get me!

He is Home!

2006-12-21T07:00:00.000-08:00

Travis left last Friday morning with 4 other guys on a back packing trip in the Wachita (sp?) Mountain area in Oklahoma. It has been an interesting week for me. On Friday I came home and remembered he wasn't in town and truly was unsure what to do. The weekend went by fine; I had things to do. On Saturday night I had some people over to watch It's a Wonderful Life. On Sunday there was church, lunch with Sarah and Kendra, evening church and a fellowship meal. I passed the rest of the evening by watching March of the Penguins--such a cute movie!

Monday was much harder. I had plenty of Christmas related things to do but by 4:00 I was done for the day. So from 4:00 til my bedtime I just sat and watched t.v.--oy. Each day got harder and harder. Funny that my lesson to my kindergarten class Wednesday night was about patience--possibly a lesson I needed to hear as well. What was even hard was that I didn't get to talk to Travis on the phone. He called Friday night to let me know they got in but since then all I had to go on was a phone message he left me right before they left.

But this morning he called while I was getting ready for work to tell me they were about an hour away from home! They left earlier than expected. It was so good to hear his voice and to know he was safe.

So we will have tonight and tomorrow together and then I leave Saturday for Abilene for a week stay.

Special Project

2006-12-16T08:26:00.000-08:00

Ok so I don't have the pictures yet but I will explain what occurred last Monday.

Over the course of our relationship Travis has thought up wonderful ways to surprise me and to show that he cares. I wanted to do the same thing. So for awhile I had been thinking about what I could do for him. I know that I wanted it to involve me sneaking into his apartment.

I decided that I wanted to list reasons why I liked him. But the dilema came up of how many to write. I wanted the number to have some type of meaning--so I decided to count how many days it had been since we first met. From June 30th to December 11th it was 165 days. I then began to write 165 reasons why I liked him. I wrote the reasons on 165 sticky notes (green, pink, and yellow).

I made plans with Travis' roommate, Tong, to borrow his keys and sneak into the apartment early Monday morning. I arrived at the apartment at 8:00 as Tong was leaving for work. I then set out to cover the wall above Travis' bed in a pattern of pink, yellow, and green sticky notes. It took me an hour and a half to cover that wall--and they covered the entire area of wall. I also brought him a small bunch of miniture roses, a picture frame with a picture of us, and a card explaining the sticky notes.

After finishing up I went back home to sleep for a little while. Travis called me at 11:00 to say he was leaving the hospital to go up to campus to talk to a teacher and then he would be at his apartment for lunch. I then waited for him to call again. After an hour of waiting I thought that he would never call but he did and was excited by my sneakiness. So far the sticky notes are still decorating his wall.

Christmas Celebrations Galore

2006-12-12T13:36:00.000-08:00

This weekend was filled with so many fun Christmas activities. On Friday we had the Christmas Carnival at the Lincoln Center. The GAP class helped with the "Fill the Sleigh" game. The kids would come through bean bag animals through the holes of a piece of wood painted like a sleigh. I was part of the prize team. I tried to "sell" the prizes no one wanted. I sported a hat for quite awhile and blew up a balloon (which I blew up too far and it popped really loud). Travis and Aaron helped with the bowling game. We had a blast with all of the kids and I know they enjoyed it as well.

Saturday Travis came up to the museum and once we were closed we ventured down to the farm for the special Christmas celebration. When we first got there we got some hot cider to keep us warm in the cool night air. We toured Anson Jones home where a little band was playing music and visitors were singing along to the Christmas carols. Inside the house the fires were lit in the fireplaces and crafts were being made in the rooms. After touring the ox pen and the slave cabins we went to the chuck wagon. We received a bowl of rice and beans, some sausage and a biscuit. All of the food was made over an open fire. It was some very fine food.

After touring the farm Travis and I met his roommate Tong and his girlfriend Leigh at Central Park in College Station. The park has all kinds of Christmas lights to look at. And this weekend was open house so we could get free cookies and hot chocolate! We made sure to go by the huge Christmas tree made of lights. One of my co workers said the fun thing to do is look up and spin around. It made you incredibly dizzy but for some reason I couldn't stop doing it!

On Sunday we had our GAP class Christmas party at Sarah and Kim's. And what a feast we had! There was turkey, mashed potatoes, green bean casserol, chile soup, broccoli cheese soup, cranberry dressing, homemade rolls with homemade cinnamon butter, strawberry salad, broccoli salad. And for dessert we had tiramesu, pumpkin cake with orange glaze and fudge. It was an amazing meal! Because of all the food we each got to take a take home plate. So I was able to enjoy the meal again for lunch the next day!

My next post will be about my special project on Monday but I need to wait for the pictures...until then everyone must wait in suspense!

A New Delight

2006-12-07T12:52:00.000-08:00

I have a new favorite dessert--chocolate rum cake. We had it today for my boss's birthday. Just imagine sheer happiness wrapped in chocolate. Purrr.

My next few evenings are filled with all kinds of enjoyable and entertaining events:
* Tonight we have a going away part for Mandy--I'm so sad she is leaving!
* Tomorrow night we are helping out with the Christmas Carnival at the Lincoln Center (children from low income families)
* Saturday Travis is coming up to work so we can go to the special Christmas program at the farm
* Sunday Kim and Sarah are having a Christmas party for a few of us--I'm excited about a turkey dinner and a fun game at Wal-mart!

P. U.

2006-12-06T12:21:00.000-08:00

Rats! Once again I have fallen into the blog slump. If I get off of my blog rhythm it's very hard for me to get back on. But today something happened at work that was pretty fun. After giving a tour to a school group Judy and I were sitting at our desks when Virgie came in from up front telling us to look out the window quick. We looked and we saw it--a skunk scampering around outside the entrance of the museum. We called the maintenance people to get rid of it--pretty sure it had rabies. So Effie followed it from a safe distance to see where it went while Judy and I stayed way far away.

The prisoners who help out at the park came to get it out of the colvert where it was hiding. The plan was to throw a rock to scare it out and one of the guys would grab it by the tail (apparently skunks need to push off their back legs in order to spray). When the skunk came out the guy who was suppose to grab it went running in the other direction! So at this moment they are out in the park trying to find the skunk!

Happy Thanksgiving

2006-11-21T11:45:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow after Travis gets off work we are heading to Lufkin to have Thanksgiving with his family. I'm really excited! This will be my first Thanksgiving without my family so it will be a little different but also a new adventure!

Safe travels to everyone else and have a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Humbling/Humiliating Experience

2006-11-20T11:12:00.000-08:00

Through our relationship Travis has learned that I am a little clumsy. On one of our first "outings" (tour of A&M) I kept tripping over my feet. I have on occassion accidently hurt Travis because of my clumsiness--knitting needle to the head, fork to the arm, elbow to the eye, etc. And last night was another clumsy blunder--actually a pretty big one.

Travis came over after evening church service to do his laundry. Before heading to the laundry area I had to put money on my laundry card. Travis waited in the truck while I ran up to the machine near the main office. Once I was done I thought it would be fun to Make a graceful leap off the curb. Well, I think I leaped a little too high because when I came down I completely wipped out! I lost my footing, fell on the road and rolled into Travis's truck. Travis jumped out of his truck so quick to make sure I was ok. I felt bad for making him worry. I was laughing as he came around to help me. I had a few little red spots but nothing serious. The main thing that was injured was my pride--I was so embarrassed!

___________________

Saturday Travis brought me flowers! They are pink with yellow tips and they are so beautiful! I was so surprised and excited!

Worst Service

2006-11-18T12:29:00.000-08:00

Thursday night as everyone was leaving the museum, Virginia noticed that I had a flat tire. I hate when that happens! There was a big, fat screw stuck in the middle of my tire. So my boss, Houston, put my spare tire on for me. I had to drive 50 on the highway as I traveled back to College Station. The only place I thought of for tires was Wal-Mart but I found out it would be a 2 1/2 hour wait. I opted to come back at 7:00 in the morning.

I arrived at 10 minutes after 7:00 to give them time to open everything up. Well, apparently that was not enought time because all of the garage doors were locked. So I left my car and walked all the way to the front of the store (this was the morning it was in the high 30's/low 40's. By the time I got to the automotive section the manager was there to open the doors--sheesh! They told me it would take 20 minutes. After looking at the store for awhile, mainly getting a warm feeling from looking at the Christmas items, I ventured back at the allotted time. The two mechanics were inside talking and laughing with the cashier lady. When they saw me they went back outside. I asked the lady if any cars were ready and she said no. So those guys were having a little break after being at work for maybe 30 minutes! A few minutes later I heard my name and I went to pay for the patchwork on my tire. As I exited I noticed my car was still in the work station dock. I stood there expecting the mechanic to back it up for me. Then he said "Oh, you can come and back it out." I was floored--I had never even seen another customer have to back their own car up. While in my work clothes, I stepped over the different items on the ground and proceeded to back my car up. I made sure not to thank the mechanic or even look at him. I don't think I will be using Wal-Mart any more for my car needs.

_________________________________________

Wednesday I gave a Native American Program to a group of kindergarteners. This program is always fun because the kids always say something funny. I pointed to a map of Texas and asked the kids what type of food the Indians who lived on the coast would eat. One little boy said buffalo. I then iterated the fact that they lived near the water. The same little boy then said water buffalo!

Happy Feet

2006-11-15T14:34:00.000-08:00

Is anyone else as excited as I am to see this movie?? (In theaters this Friday!)

Weekend in Disney World

2006-11-14T14:01:00.000-08:00

I arrived home safe and sound from a quick but fun trip to Disney World. On Friday I had all of my maps and easily found the parking lot for the airport. I got through security just fine--I guess I don't have one of those faces that screams terrorist. I had about 2 hours to wait so I looked at some shops, ate some Wendy's, and did a few Sudoku puzzles. The flight was on schedule and went very well. I sat next to 12 year old girl who was going on a cruise with her family.

On Saturday we made it out of our resort by 10:30ish (The Crawfords are not early birds...scratch that: the Crawford girls are not early birds...scratch that: My mom and I are not early birds). We spent the day at Magic Kingdom. Our first ride was Pirates of the Carribbean. While waiting in line we took our picture with Captain Jack Sparrow! We climbed up the Swiss Family Robinson house, saw a really fun 3-D show with Donald Duck, and rode space mountain and big thunder mountain.
That evening we went to Downtown Disney which is a big strip of stores and also clubs. We ate at Planet Hollywood--I had never been in one before.

Sunday we headed off to MGM Studios for the day. Our first stop was the Muppets 3-D show--we are a muppet-lovin family! After that we rode the Star Wars ride which was very enjoyable. We watched the Indiana Jones stunt show which had Harrison Ford's stunt double! My mom and sister bought some very nice looking postcards of Harrison. We rode The Great Movie Ride which we thought was going to be really neat but was actually kind of cheesy. The ride takes you through scenes from famous movies which was enjoyable. The part we didn't enjoy was we had this perky, annoying tour guide who came along with us and made really cheesy jokes. We spent quite a bit of time in the Animation Studio. My sisters are both into art and were very excited to visit this part. Inside there were lots of little interactive item. One of the computers allowed you to record your voice singing or acting out part of a disney movie. Jennifer and I spoke for Jafar and Iagoo and all three of us sang Hakuna Matata. Another computer had a questionaire to see which Disney character you were. I was Tinker Bell, Traci was Ursela, and Jennifer was Nala. My dad and sisters rode Tower of Terror while my mom and I snuck off to get some chocolate. I can do roller coasters just not the ones that go up and down--my tummy can't take that. My sisters and I also rode Aerosmith's Rockin Coller Coaster which was quite thrilling.

What we didn't know was that the weekend we were at MGM Studios it was Soap Opera Weekend. There were all these parades with soap opera stars--of course we had no idea who these people were. But women were going nuts as they came down the street. The only one I recognized was Susan Lucci. Also when I was right outside of the animation studio I happened to see Rosie O-Donnell. I was a good distance away from her but my sister Jennifer was about 5-10 feet from her.

And before I left Disney World I had to get my own Mickey Mouse ears with my name embroidered on the back :)

For our trip home we had to get up at 5:45 a.m.--blech! My plane was scheduled to leave at 9:25 but it then got bumped to 9:45. Once we all got on the plane and were situated the pilot came on and told us the reason we were delayed was because they were waiting for a part. Well, the brought the wrong part and it would take an hour and a half for the new part to come. They gave food vouchers for everyone but I just stayed on the plane and slept. We finally left the airport at noon and arrived in Houston (with the time change) at 1:00. It then took me an hour and a half to get my luggage and get to my car. Then I had a two hour drive back to College Station. I arrived at my apartment at 4:30--I was pooped. Needless to say I went to bed last night at 8:45.

It was a great trip but I'm also happy to be home.

A Little Bit of This...

2006-11-09T09:49:00.000-08:00

Tours never go as planned. Yesterday the farm called me wondering if the morning group (who was 30 minutes late) had called in. I hadn't heard from them but I was sure the buses with 100 kids would be late. A little later I received a call to tell me the kids were fine...they were in class in Houston! The secretary said their trip wasn't until November 14th. I got a little frantic after hearing that--I was afraid I had said the wrong date but all of my paperwork said the 8th. Later that day I found out the teacher has been out for 3 weeks with a family emergency and forgot to cancel the tour with us. Sheesh. My afternoon was a lot quieter.

Last night was my turn to teach the kindergarten class at church. There are some days when I just don't feel like going through with teaching. But it is amazing how that feeling goes away as soon as I am in the classroom with the kids. One of the little girls brought a picture she drew for me! I was so excited--I have to figure out where to hang it...on the refrigerator or on the wall next to my desk.

Tonight I have to pack for my trip to Orlando. I will leave work after lunch and head down to Houston. This is my first time ever to go to the airport and ride on a plane all by myself! It's going to be a fun adventure! My flight doesn't leave until 7:00ish and I should be at the airport around 3:00. I want to give myself plenty of time in case something should happen that is not in my plan. I'll probably bring a book...maybe some sudoku puzzles!

Trick or Treating

2006-11-01T10:01:00.000-08:00

Last night Travis and I went Trick or Treating for Cans with the Aggies For Christ. We went from door to door asking for canned food donations for the Brazos Church Pantry. And...there was a contest to see which group could collect the most cans.

I had already planned to dress up like a cat. I enjoy dressing up...as can be seen from the numerous late night trips to Whataburger when everyone dressed up crazy. One time I wore a raincoat and had a dustpan tied to my head! Travis was unsure what to dress up as but after an email I sent him and a discussion with Leigh on IM I had an idea. And so he showed up at the church dressed in all black with a piece of paper attached to the front. The paper read "Catnip." And may I say that he was some of the best looking catnip I've ever seen!

We teamed up with Whitney and Katie (dressed as ketchup and mustard bottles) and hit the road! We split up to cover more ground. Travis and I received many odd looks when people opened their doors expecting to see little kids. Some of our favorite experiences were:

* One college-aged guy opened his door and said "Tell me you aren't Trick or Treating." When we said no he said "Good because I don't have candy, anyway." It didn't come as a shock to us that he didn't have canned goods either.

* After giving us some cans one lady gave us a ziplock bag full of different types of gum!

* There was one apartment we went to that reaked of cigarette smoke. I think I might be in danger of lung cancer just from standing outside.

* As we walked down the road 3 people came out of their apartment and said to come trick or treat. So we yelled from the street that we were trick or treating for cans. One of the girls said "Oh I have a can" and poured out the remaining beer in her can. Hmmm....

* Whitney and Katie brought us rice krispie treats from one of the houses they visited--yummm.

Our group ended up tying for first place! We collected 142 cans in about an hour. But truth be told we really won: our group only had 4 people and the other group had at least 7. Take a look at the winning group!

Halloweeny-ness

2006-10-31T12:51:00.000-08:00

Happy Halloween!

I've been very excited to participate in Halloween activities this year. Last year I didn't get to do anything for Halloween. On that day I was driving back from a trip to Abilene and I didn't really know people to join in on any festivities. But this year I have made up for my lack of thrills and chills.

I suppose the halloween fun started on Friday. Travis went to Austin with some guy friends to look at equipment for their upcoming backpacking trip. So I had a leisurly evening with Sarah and Kim. After dinner (pepperoni pizza with black olives) and dessert (cream cheese wraps) at Boston's and a quick trip to World Market, we headed back to Kim and Sarah's for a movie. With Halloween so close, we decided to watch something fitting to the holiday. So we chose The Ring. I truly forgot how scary that movie is!

On Sunday afternoon our church had a Trunk or treat for the kids. Our GAP class had two games set up for the kids to play: a candy walk and a golf game. The kids loved our games! They kept coming back for more. We had lots of regulars that would play over and over again. When we first started we had a huge mound of candy and I thought there was no way we would get rid of it all. At the end of 2 hours we had maybe 3 handfuls left. It was so much fun!

Last night after nursing home singing Kendra, Sonya, Sarah and I ventured out to Wicked Woods. It was a haunted house set up by one of the fraternities at A&M. The frat house is located out towards the airport on about 4 acres of land--so the rooms you went through were all outside. All the money collected was going to a children's organization (I thought that was a really good gesture). So the 4 of us girls remained huddled up in a ball as we traveled through the different rooms. Sonya, Sarah, and I were the screamers/jumpers and Kendra was our rock that we held on to. The only part we really didn't like were the guys with chainsaws. They didn't have the blades on but they still made a lot of noise. Also the guys encircled us and had the chainsaws really close to our bodies--I was very close to kicking someone. It was a great bonding experience for us!

Tonight the AFC (Aggies For Christ) is going Trick or Treating for cans. We get to dress up and help stock the Brazos Valley Food Bank. Then afterwards we will have goodies and prizes for the best costumes.

Happy Birthday!

2006-10-27T13:18:00.000-07:00

Today my sisters, Jennifer and Traci, are 17 years old!

Happy Birthday Girls!

This Week

2006-10-27T09:36:00.000-07:00

Monday

My day off was very enjoyable. I slept in (what a shock). Travis was having trouble with his back at work; so, after seeing a physical therapist, he had the rest of the day off! We went to lunch and then ventured off to the fabulous CS mall where I needed to pick up a present for my sister. And Travis picked up some stuff as well: a new wallet, a gift box of colognes (thankfully I like all of them--just kidding!), and a free gift--a bag with speakers in it (made for an ipod).

Tuesday

Hmmm...nothing much happened on this day. We went to our men/women's bible studies where we found out we will be helping out with the Trick or Treat for cans on Halloween! I have to figure out a costume and make a dessert.

Wednesday

This was our last day of the Home School program--yeah! Because of the weather we were expecting alot of no-shows but almost all of the groups came. The children were very attentive and behaved. That evening I taught my 5-year-olds at church about Elijah and Elisha. I had a dry erase board and had the kids come draw a picture for a certain part of the story. To help the kids remember which person we were talking about, I made up some hand motions. For Elijah we did the letter j in sign language. For Elisha we made a swishing motion with our hands. We also had one for Jezabel--we shook our hips and held out the z sound: Jezzzzzzabel! What was fun is the kids would always tell me when I forgot to do one of the signs for the people.

Thursday

Last night after work Travis picked me up at my apartment and we headed to Conroe to visit his brother, Cody. Cody cooked us a wonderful dinner! We had crab, broccoli, pasta with shrimp, and bread with tomatoes and melted cheese. I tell you what those Bodeker men and their cooking skills really amaze me. We went down the road to see the new Shoe Carnival store where Cody is the manager. It was very nice; I hadn't been in that store in awhile--they had some nice shoes. The rest of the evening was spent talking, hearing some fun stories about both of the boys from back in the day :) The whole evening was very enjoyable!

Music and Dance

2006-10-20T07:44:00.000-07:00

Last night when Travis and I returned from devo up on campus (I made sure I was nice and bundled up--it also helped having a special warm body next to me) there was a wonderful suprise awaiting at his apartment. Tong was playing a video game, not sure of the name, but you had a guitar that you played and the notes would come on the screen. While watching I didn't think it would be that fun. Tong let me give it a try and wow! After switching the control to left handed player and a quick tutorial I was rocking out to the song "I Love Rock and Roll". I started to really get into it--I missed quite a few of the notes but that's ok. When you do badly the audience will boo or leave and if you do well they start crazy dancing. I think it would be fun if they threw food at you if you were horrible. After playing my song I mentioned to Tong and Leigh that I also enjoy playing the game Dance Dance Revolution. Tong calmly mentioned that he had that game too. Well, you can imagine that I got very very excited. So once the guitar was done we got our groove on. And I forgot how bad I am at that game. All those arrows were coming so fast and my brain and feet couldn't connect. So I just started jumping all around, hoping that once and awhile I would hit the right arrow. It was so much fun! We definately have to play that more.

----------

As of Monday I have lived in College Station for a year and Wednesday marked my year at work. Isn't that crazy? I can't believe I've been here a year. I can still remember when I pulled out of my parent's driveway. My mom was out of town so I didn't get to see her and there were my dad and sisters waving good bye. I cried the majority of the trip. I remember sitting in my empty apartment wondering what to do. Over the course of the year I have thoroughly enjoyed my work at the museum, enjoyed becoming closer to my co-workers, fallen in love and become involved with my church, found some fantastic and loving friends, and found a wonderful boyfriend who I thank God everyday for bringing hm into my life!

New Song

2006-10-19T11:21:00.000-07:00

Last night I learned a new verse to the song "Lord's Army"

I may never march down to Mexico
Eat a greasy taco
Wear a sombrero
I may never speak a little espanol
But I'm in the Lord's army--si senor!

How cute is that?!?!

Tutoring

2006-10-19T08:36:00.000-07:00

Last night after church Travis came over so we could finish watching Runaway Bride and to do our study. We went without watching the final episode of Project Runway. We usually watch the show at Sarah and Kim's house. Sarah is out of town until Saturday night so we are going to fight the urge to find out the winner until Sunday.

At about 9:30 there was a knock on my door. I immediately tensed up because the only one who knocks on my door is Travis and he was already inside. Travis went to look out the peep hole and said it was one of the neighbor boys. It happened to be the little boy (he has told me his name and I don't remember) who always says hello to me. We was standing there with a piece of paper. I assumed he was doing a fundraiser for school, but I was pleasantly surprised when he asked if I would help him with his homework!

His little sister and mom were there too. The homework was over different vowel sounds. The family is either Pakistani or Indian so I'm sure this type of homework is rather difficult--heck it's difficult for people who speak English as their native tongue. So Travis and I helped him figure out which word went with which sentence. My co-workers said that I should start a tutoring business for the neighbor kids.

Highlights of Homecoming

2006-10-17T14:06:00.000-07:00

We had such a wonderful weekend! I enjoyed seeing and spending time with everyone. Saturday we were going non stop from 9:30 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. Here are some highlights of the eventful weekend.

* Travis making fun of me for thinking the gray farm road on the map was faster than the red highway. (The gray road went straight across, the red one went down and then back up--sheesh)

* Seeing everyone at the ACU parade and Travis's mentor standing right next to the SPF group.

* Fantastic game of Ultimate at 10:30 in the morning. We still got it. Thankfully no momentous injuries--just a few cuts and bruises.

* Lunch with the Abilene girls at Chili's. It was so fun to have almost all of us back together.

* The musical was fantastic! It definately made up for Sussical last year. Singing in the Rain is one of my favorite movies so I was ecstatic to see ACU perform it. And I always enjoy an excuse to get all gussied up :)

* Knowing our group we had to have special picture time after the musical. Which moreso equates to 1 large group picture then 50 pictures of just the girls!

* It was great to attend Highland Sunday morning and see alot of people I have missed. I realize that I have grown out of Highland. I love A&M Church of Christ so much! It has the same family/college feel to it but I feel like there are more opportunities to get involved--especially in the college group.

* After church Travis met the grandmothers at Lytle Land and Cattle for lunch. My mom told me late that he received "rave reviews" from both grandmothers--as I knew he would!

* Alright--here comes the favorite story of the weekend:
I mentioned that Travis saw his mentor at the parade. When I was introduced to him I mentioned that he looked familiar. He told me that for years he has lead groups at the ACU camps. I then remembered that I was in his group back in the day. One year he brought Travis along to help teach. As the weekend went on Travis and I kept thinking about this. I tried to find my group picture from camp but was unable to. I did find pictures I took during that week. When Travis looked at them he started recognizing alot of the kids. When we got back to his apartment in College Station he found his camp picture. And there it was--Travis was my teacher in 1996! I was in 7th grade and he was in 10th grade. It is pretty amazing!

Info

2006-10-13T11:54:00.000-07:00

* In about 3 hours Travis and I will be leaving for Abilene! I'm still trying to decide if I want to take my usual path down highway 6 or mix it up a little and try highway 36...hmmm.

* Last night I drove home in a stinking crazy rain storm. I literally could not see the road and a lot of the time wasn't sure I was on the road. Thankfully I made it home in one piece.

* Today we had a tour of 4th and 5th graders. Anne and I had to sit a moment and remember how to give a tour. Once we started it all came back to us. These kids were so wonderful--very polite, attentive, and inquisitive. My favorite question: Could someone ride a horse inbetween the shooting (asking about the Battle of the Alamo)? Answer: Well, they might get shot.

* I love that cooler weather is here! Last night at our devo I was nice and bundled up in my comfy sweatshirt. This morning I bought instant hot choclate (with baby marshmellows) for work.

* My dad has a conference in Orlando in early November. So he is using his flier miles to bring all of us out there for the weekend. We will get to spend 2 days in Disney World! I'm pretty excited! I do have to fly by myself though. It should be interesting but also thrilling at the same time. I think I've been on a plane 3 times in my life so I get excited when I ride them.

No Title

2006-10-12T07:34:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a day filled with children. We had our Home School Days program at the museum. Over the course of the day we had about 60 children filtered through for us to talk to about chores in the 1830's and help them make toys from the time period. I did the morning session and my kids were so cute! The majority of them dressed up in clothes from the time period. Most of the little girls had on long dresses and cute little bonnets. One little boy had the complete Davy Crockett get-up on--including moccasins and a coon skin hat. At one point in the program I choose a little girl to dress up in the clothes of the time period. This time was hard because they were already dressed up. Both the morning and the afternoon sessions went well. All of the kids were very well behavied and listened intently.

Once work was over I had to rush home and get everything ready to teach my kindergarten class at church. Somehow it has worked out to where everytime we have Home School program I also have to teach that evening. It leads to a very tiring day (but enjoyable). We had 15 kids in class and I think they all had caffinee and sugar for dinner. By the end of class they were running all around, one girl was all over the floor pretending to be a sheep, and glue was all over the tables. Whoo! I was very happy to relax with Travis, Sarah, and Kim watching Project Runway.

Tomorrow after work Travis and I are leaving for Abilene! I am so excited. I think I have been ready for this since September. Plans for ultimate, dinners with friends, the musical, seeing my family, seeing the changes at ACU and Abilene have me so excited!

Wake Me Up Before You Go

2006-10-06T08:29:00.000-07:00

Last night I helped take care of Travis who apparently now has the same stuff I had/still have. I didn't do as great of a job as he did with taking care of me--he was wonderful!

I also had to make a cake last night for a coworker's birthday. After baking the cake I had a wave of tiredness come over me. It was only 9:00 but I could not stay awake. I defiantly argued that I was not tired at all--how could I be after licking the remains in the batter bowl and in the icing cup? I should have been bouncing off the walls after consuming so much sugar. Once I got home I was in bed by the reasonable time of 10:30.

I heard my alarm go off at 6:20 and quickly hit the snooze button--I typically snooze until 6:50. The next time I woke up a feeling of panic went through my body. There was a lot more light coming into my room than there typically is at 7:00 in the morning. I then looked at my clock and saw the problem--It was 8:05! I was suppose to be on the road headed to work so I could be there by 8:30. I took one of the fastest showers known to man or woman. I was ready within 30 minutes and made it to work a little after 9:00. Sheesh! I almost made it a year without missing my alarm.

____

This morning I had a lady call inquiring about one of our programs. She wanted to only come to half of the program which was a rather odd request. So I put her on hold while I asked my boss about it. Apparently this lady had something more important to do or just did not like being put on hold. When I came back she didn't hear my click back on because I heard her say in a rather mean tone, "Come on lady. Why am I on hold for so long?" I waited about 2 seconds and in my sugary sweet voice said, "Hello Ms. Moody." Of course her tone of voice changed completely once she knew I was back on the phone, but little does she know I caught her true colors shining through.

Fog and Black Outs

2006-10-04T09:50:00.000-07:00

On Monday, against my will, I went to the doctor to have things checked out--even though I felt super better than the previous days. Someone pushed me to visit the doctor--like calling me at my appointment time to make sure I was there. But I admit that it was in my best interest to go see the doctor and get all this stuff taken care of (are you happy--I put it in writing).

The medicine I was prescribed was one of the biggest pills I have ever seen. I took the pill right after my shower and didn't start feeling the strange effects until I had already started driving to work. The medicine made me incredibly dizzy and loopy--it felt like the room was spinnng. This is not good when you have to drive on a very busy highway. It also doesn't help when on that particular day there is fog thick enough to cut with a knife. My drive to work on Tuesday was very exciting to say the least. My dizzy/loopy state did not get under control until about 2:00 that afternoon. Once I got home I noticed the label on my pills: Medication may impair your ability to drive or operate machinery--oops!

When I returned home yesterday I went to pick up my contacts. I noticed that the traffic lights were acting a little screwy. At one moment they would be blinking red, then they would turn solid green, but then 5 seconds later turn back to blinking red. No one knew what to do or whose turn it was to go. Knowing this town and some of the crazy drivers, I wanted to get home before I got stuck in an accident. From what I heard a generator had gone out causing black outs all over the city. Travis was without electricity in his apartment and had tried calling me to see if I had electricity. The black outs must have affected the cell phones as well because he says he called 4 or 5 times and I never heard my phone ring. Because of the messed up traffic lights, his drive to my house, which usually takes 10-15 minutes, was about 30 minutes. Luckily our church had electricity for our bible studies but before we were finished all of the lights went out. Thankfully some of the girls brought flashlights as a precaution. By the time our bible study was over both of our apartments had full electrical capacity, but some parts of town were without electricity for quite awhile.

I enjoyed the evening events--I find it exciting when the electricity or some other mishap occurs!

Stressful Week

2006-09-30T08:20:00.000-07:00

This week was very busy and stressful at work. Actually my work wasn't all that stressful but because I had so many things to do each day it caused me a lot of stress. I believe this stress, busyness, and lack of sleep has caused me to contract a bit of a cold. I feel very lousy today as I sit at my work desk. I have to keep telling myself that my weekend is almost here.

This week Anne and I spent two days at Blinn College in Bryan giving a special program to the Texas History classes. I had never given this program or seen it. I have become very use to speaking in front of a group of elementary or middle school aged children but this was different. These were people who were 2-5 years younger than me--not much of an age difference. Monday we had 6 classes to present to. Anne did the first 2 classes to allow me to watch and drink in the information. I gave the next 2 and did a pretty good job. Once I got going I wasn't nervous at all. That day we did not leave campus until 7:00. I was exhausted.

Wednesday was another long and tiring day. We had our program for home school children--again a program I have never given but have seen a couple times. I did the morning session and Judy did the afternoon session. This lasted until about 3:00. I was completely wiped out. But I couldn't relax after work--It was my week to teach the kindergarten class at church. By the end of the evening I was almost delirious.

Then the very next day I had to go to Blinn again to make presentations in 4 more classes. Luckily that day Anne and I ended at 4:00. During the presentations on this day my throat was starting to clog a bit and I had a rather annoying cough. Friday I was able to just sit all day at my desk and catch up on everything I had missed this week. My allergy/cold symptoms became a bit worse that morning. I took some Clariton at lunch and felt a lot better as the afternoon went on. That evening a group of us were going to the Woodlands to hear the Houston Symphony. I almost told Travis I couldn't make it but I felt so much better I was sure I could make it. Well, I slept on the way there. At the concert we sat on blankets on a grassy knoll. Symphonic music has a very relaxing feel and when you are already tired it is not a good combination. I laid down the entire time, listening to the music but also sleeping. I felt so weird afterwards--I was tired, weak, and phlegmy. We ate at Bennigan's after the concert. I ordered potato soup and after eating slept while everyone else finished. Again on the way home I slept. It got to the point that I felt so tired and weird that I wanted to start crying.

This morning I didn't feel the tired weird feeling but I still have some allergy problems. I'm just trying to make it through the work day now.

*Travis has been so wonderful this week (not that he isn't every week). He has been there every night to help me destress and relax. He also has been taking care of me in my sick state. I don't know what I would have done without him.

Road Trip

2006-09-30T07:59:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday Travis and I took a little road trip to Conroe. I was super excited about this mainly because I enjoy spending time with him! Our mission that day was to take a couch to his brother, Cody. I met his brother 3 or so weeks ago when he came through College Station. Their old roommate Scott was there too, who I also had met before. But the special guest of the day was going to be Travis's dad who I had not met yet. Was I little nervous about that? Truth be told yes, but after spending an hour or so with Travis, Cody, and Scott the nervousness went away. I probably was a little quieter than usual when his dad came--I think I was trying to give a good first impression. I'm just not use to the cold turkey meeting the parents. But it went very well and I like his dad alot! I really enjoyed watching the interaction between Travis, Cody and their dad. I come from a family of girls and don't experience male bonding much. The Bodeker men are a wonderful bunch and I look forward to getting to know them better!

Update

2006-09-21T08:16:00.000-07:00

Once again I have slacked off from my blog. So here are some updates:

Saturday

I worked and helped with a small teacher workshop. That evening wonderful Travis cooked chicken alfredo--it was so good. I seriously think I could have eaten all of it by myself. After eating we watched the intense A&M vs. Army game. During the last 4 minutes of the last quarter my entire body was completely tensed up. I didn't watch the last 19 seconds because I was so nervous. But we won--yeah!

Sunday

We had an interesting time at church Sunday. Right at the end of class the electricity in the entire building went out. Everyone made there way to the auditorium. Our preacher was yelling as loud as possible (no microphones) the instructions for the morning: sing a few songs, take communion, and leave. Of course that day I wore a longer sleeved shirt because it is usually cold.

Monday

I had to go to the dentist. It's been way too long. One of the new things they had (or new since I've been to the dentist) was a small camera that took pictures of my teeth and then projected them on a tv screen. Truth be told I could have lived a happy life without seeing my teeth. Apparently part of my filling has come out and I have to get it replaced next week--not looking forward to that.

Tuesday

We had a reception for a group of Chinese people--I think they might have been professors. The reception was from 4-6 and we had to stay the whole time. We ended up leaving the museum at 6:30 which meant I got home close to 7:00. I then changed, ate a little something and headed off to my girl's bible study.
Fun Story: Travis picked my up for bible study (he attends men's bible study). Our study finished before the guys-way before. Our GAP class was meeting for coffee at 9:00. So instead of waiting I wrote a fun little note and left it on Travis's truck (my purse was held captive inside the vehicle along with my phone). I then rode with Amanda Scott to coffee. Travis showed up 5 or so minutes later. He enjoyed the note--you know you liked it, Travis!

Stuck

2006-09-16T10:37:00.000-07:00

Yesterday from 3:30 to closing I sat at the front desk with Virgie and Leigh Ellen. Leigh Ellen is one of the 3 interns we have this semester who are helping label artifacts found at San Felipe. While doing their main task they will also learn about the other areas of the museum. This week it was the front desk. While talking with her, Houston came out asking for the big Texas map. He told me that we had to find an alternate route to get back to College Station. Our usual route is to go down Highway 6. Apparently earlier that afternoon there had been a major accident involving 3 semi-trucks and 3-4 cars. I believe on the news they reported there were 5 deaths. The traffic on 6 was at a complete standstill. Accidents are quite common on this highway so we have a back country road we take that bipasses the highway 6 problems. Well, it just so happened that on this road there was a train derailment. We ended up having to go up to Anderson and catch highway 30 back to town. This added an extra 30 minutes to our route...which is better than an extra hour and a half.

Bullets

2006-09-15T09:06:00.000-07:00

I don't really feel like writing a paragraph form blog today. So enjoy the bullets of random stuff!

* Heard on the news today that cases of e coli have been linked to bagged spinach leaves. I immediately threw mine out. (Not that I have eaten any in awhile)

* This morning I woke up 20 minutes early with unbelievable stomach cramps. It was a little unnerving when I saw that was one of the symptoms of e coli. But my pains stopped quickly after my Malox kicked in.

* It's possible those stomach pains came from eating lots of sugary items for dinner. We had a knit out with finger foods. Well the majority of the foods were cookies and cakes.

* I'm so excited about Hey Day tonight! Hot Dogs, Hamburgers, and drive-in movie: The Sandlot. What more could you want?

* I am also getting excited about ACU Homecoming and seeing lots of my old college friends...even though it is still a month away.

* Saw Matthew Perry on the Today Show. I think he has recently been added to my favorite celebs list. He seems so nice and funny. I really want to watch his new tv show.

* Travis is so wonderful! Almost every day I receive a text message or an email from him which makes my day! He is so sweet and considerate. But he also can crank out the sass (which I enjoy) and I can crank it right back at him. We really have a lot of fun together. I'm very happy!

*

Close Call

2006-09-14T07:07:00.000-07:00

Sometimes on my 30 minute drive home from work I talk with my mom on my cell phone. On some weeks this is my best opportunity to talk with her because my evenings tend to get jam packed with stuff. There is a part of the highway that is under construction and traffic is directed off the highway onto the feeder road. While on this road the speed limit is 55. While talking with my mom I didn't really take in my surroundings. I was on the 55 mph road when I happened to look in my rearview mirror and see a highway patrolman on my bumper. I then looked down to see that I was going 65. I told my mom, in a frantic hurry, that I had to get off. So I quickly slow down and try to look as innocent as possibly. When I moved over for the patrolman to pass I realize it wasn't just one patrol car but 4 behind me!!! It looked like they were on a mission to get somewhere...otherwise I'm pretty sure they would have pulled me over. Once they passed I called my mom back and told her what happened. She laughed and was very glad I wasn't in a car accident. As I talked with her for the second time I exited the highway into College Station. As I neared the red light I suddenly was behind the same 4 patrolmen. So, out of fear, I told my mom I would call her tomorrow. Sheesh!

I am in lament today for Kayne who was sadly kicked off Project Runway last night. A moment of silence in reverence...

More Adult Experiences

2006-09-12T09:38:00.000-07:00

(This is my 200th post--whoop!)

Yesterday I experienced something new as an on-my-own adult. I had my first doctor's appointment that I set up and I paid for. My contacts were on their last legs--and I had stretched their use way beyond what it should be. So it was time to bite the bullet and see the eye doctor. The first problem was who do I go to? The secretary at work mentioned a place so I called Monday morningish. I expected to have to schedule a time later in the week but the lady said they could see me at 11:30. I was amazed at how much it cost just for a routine checkup--even with insurance! And I go back next Tuesday to get my contacts--I have no idea how much that will be. And next week I have a dentist appointment. It never ends.

Tonight: Girl's Bible Study (super excited!)
Wednesday: Teach my little kindergarteners about the Plagues (also Project Runway)
Thursday: Knit Out (going up to church to spend time knitting with other ladies)
Friday: Hey Day with the GAP class (dinner and drive-in movie)
Saturday: rest?

Pellet Guns, Bites, and Blood

2006-09-11T07:43:00.000-07:00

Last night I went over to Travis's after church. We ate sandwhiches for dinner and then he read Plato's Republic for his class while I read The Screwtape Letters. It was calm and serene but that was going to change...

We heard Tong and Leigh from the other room and went to see what was happening. In the comotion I noticed Travis grabbing the pellet gun and getting ready to shoot Leight. Well, of course I had to protect her so while he still had the gun down, pointed at his leg, I pulled the trigger. He was so shocked that I had shot him. As I was leaving the room, I soon felt this quick, sharp pain on my backside. He shot me in the butt! The craziness died down and we went back to reading.

Then we heard Leigh yelling for help. When I heard her I said I would come help but someone decided to keep that from happening. Travis threw me over his shoulder and started to take me out to the living room (on the way down the hall he happened to hit my head on the wall). Tong was trying to keep Leigh pinned down on the couch. To keep me from helping Travis did the same with me. It's not fair that boys are stronger than girls. I fought as hard as I could but he kept tickling. He finally got me by sitting on my legs and holding my arms in a crossed position. I was stuck.

Things got even more fun when Leigh and I started to play dirty. It started when Leigh bit Tong really hard--she left teeth marks! So Travis got some ice for the injury and kept a piece for himself. He then put the ice down my pant leg and it traveled quite a ways up my leg. I got it out and was trying my hardest to get it down his shirt but he is just to strong! So I got creative. I started coughing in a way that it sounded like I was choking and he immediatly had me stand up. I was free and quickly stuck the ice down his shirt. But apparently when my hand went to put the ice down I accidently hit him in the the face causing him to bite the inside of his lip, drawing some blood.

What a great night!

The Game

2006-09-11T07:35:00.000-07:00

The game Saturday was incredibly amazing! I have never been to a football game like that before. Our tickets were in the zone, which is the section that is on the north side of the field, and we were on the 3rd deck--the highest one! Thankfully the section we sat in was for Alumni which meant we got to sit during the game whereas the students stand for the whole time. With all the walking and climbing stairs that we did my calves have been very tight for the past 2 days--but the pain is worth it!

By Myself

2006-09-08T12:32:00.000-07:00

Yesterday afternoon I received an IM message from Travis telling me he was packing up for Dallas. His job requires him to travel to other hospitals and take notes on their program. I have to admit I was a little sad when he said he wouldn't be here. I spent the evening going to stores I hadn't been to in awhile--just trying to pass the time. I then drove to the 9:00 devo the AFC has on campus. Travis usually drives and I guess I have never noticed how he goes because once I reached campus I had no idea how to get to the parking garage...or how to get to the Academic building from the garage. So I had to call him and get directions. And then I found out I was one building away from the garage--grrr! But he comes back today...yeah!

I talked with my sister, Traci, last night and found out that Monday evening around 11:30 she had to take a trip to the emergency room. She was working on a book cover for a contest at the fair. She was using an exacto knife and somehow sliced her leg. From the way she was talking, it sounded like there was a lot of blood. I'm so glad I wasn't there--I don't do well in those situations. She had to get some stitches and as of last night her foot was swelling a little.

Game Time

2006-09-06T08:59:00.000-07:00

Yesterday afternoon at work I just happened to glance at my cell phone to see if anyone had called. Usually at my desk I don't receive service but there was a text message waiting for me. The message, from Travis, read "What would you say if I told you I had tickets to the next game?" My reply back was "AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!" Apparently he wasn't sure what that meant: his next text said "Is that a yes?" The whole rest of the day I was so excited! So before Saturday I need to learn the yells and get me a maroon shirt!

I'm so excited--I'm going to an A&M football game!!!!

Super Good!

2006-09-05T14:42:00.000-07:00

This weekend went wonderfully! I was so nervous about Travis meeting my parents but everything was great. I had him come over to my apartment at 6:45 so we could head to dinner. At 6:40 I positioned myself in front of my door, looking out the peephole. I wanted to go meet him outside and walk with him so he didn't have to come in alone. He was perfectly fine about the whole thing. We went to eat at Cheddars and he told stories about A&M and my parents and sisters told stories about me (thankfully not anything bad). After dinner we went back to my apartment and talked for awhile.

Sunday my family came to the GAP (Graduates and Young Professionals) class. Travis was teaching and I was afraid my family would make him nervous but he said it was fine for them to come. He has taught our class twice before but I have always been out of town. So this was my first time to hear him and he did an absolutely wonderful job!

We all went to Sunday lunch at On the Border. Then that evening after church we all went to Freebirds. On Sunday anytime we drove anywhere my sisters jumped in the back seat of Travis's truck. He introduced them to some Weird Al Yankovich songs which they loved. Automatically he started joking and bantering them which is exactly what they like.

He told me he really enjoyed meeting my family and liked them. And in return my family really liked him. My mom was the only one to voice the acceptance (at dinner on Saturday Travis went to the bathroom and my mom said "I like him")but I could tell from the other family members' actions that they approved.

A Great Surprise!

2006-09-02T11:54:00.000-07:00

My Saturday work day started out as they usually do. This morning I was immersed in a new project--I have been asked to create a program for Boy Scouts to earn their Texas Badge. As it got close to lunch time, Ketra, who works the front desk, came in to tell me someone upstairs needed help. My first thought was someone was hurt, but she said someone had a question about something in a case. (I have mixed feelings when this happens because often times I don't know the answer to their question and I feel bad). So I made my way up the ramp. When I got to the top I didn't see any one up there. I heard someone in the boat and was about to walk over there when someone else came from behind one of the exhibits. It was Travis! He brought a picnic lunch for us and then got Ketra to help him surprise me. It was the best! Over the past 2 weeks he has been figuring out what I like so he would know what to bring. He made me a plain chicken sandwhich on wheat bread with Chex Mix, grapes, and oatmeal cookies. He has definatly earned many points for this!!

Tonight he is eating dinner with my family--exciting!

Friday Stuff

2006-09-01T07:48:00.000-07:00

So the girl who use to have my job got married in November and moved to California. Her mother works the front desk part time so we get to hear all that is going on with her. We were some of the first to find out she was pregnant and due in October. Yesterday we received an email that she had been admitted to the hospital, 6 weeks early. The baby boy was born healthy at 5 pounds 3 ounces.

The women in the office began telling stories of their pregnancies (the one male at the museum was gone for the day). After hearing those stories I am perfectly fine with not having children for quite awhile.

Last night we had our first 9:00 devo on campus. I've really missed these over the summer. As we were walking to the devo, Travis and I walked past Kyle Field. We saw all the lights lit up and the big screen on, getting ready for the game tomorrow. I HAVE to go to a game sometime this semester!

Camel Humps

2006-08-30T09:00:00.000-07:00

Tonight I am teaching the Kindergarten class at church the story of Isaac and Rebecca. I am planning to have the kids dress up and act out the story. There is a camel (minor role) in the story and I really wanted some way to have a kid dress up. So I asked the secretary at work, Effie, how I might go about making a camel hump. She thought for a moment and then told me to follow her. We found some brown cloth and cotton stuffing material. Effie then made a large circle out of mat board. We proceeded to place the material around the circle, stuff the stuffing inside and then staple the material around the circle. We also attached two pieces of material on either side to tie the hump on. (P.S. Our bosses are out this week so we were able to do this). I'm really excited to see the little kids wear the hump!

*Very, Very Random Thought: When you load a stapler with new staples do you ever feel like you are loading a large bullet into a rifle?

The Meeting

2006-08-29T10:06:00.000-07:00

During a call with my mom last night I found out that my family is thinking about coming down to visit me this weekend for Labor Day. So I guess Travis is going to meet the family--I have to admit I'm a little nervous about this. It's not that I think they won't get along. Travis is one of those people who, at least from what I've experienced, can get along with anyone. And my family is friendly...sometimes maybe a little too friendly. I think my nervousness comes from the fact that this is new to me. The very few relationships I've been in were friends beforehand so they already had met and knew my parents. I've never had the "cold turkey" experience. But I also am excited to have them meet Travis and my friends at church. I guess this also means I have to clean my apartment or rather find time to clean my apartment :)

A Good Movie

2006-08-27T22:34:00.000-07:00

Tonight I watched The Ron Clark Story on TNT. Matthew Perry stars in this made for tv movie which is about a real teacher who taught inner city kids in New York. I LOVED this movie!!! I love true stories about teachers who change students lives--teachers who take the time and patience to reach these kids and really care about them. He saw their potential not their economic status. I must admit there were parts I teared up at.

Speaking of crying at movies...I also watched Man on Fire this weekend. First of all I didn't know about some of the gruesome scenes in this movie. I thought it would be all action and violence. But then came the end of the movie--the waterworks started. And what's worse was I watched it with Travis. So I was trying my hardest not to cry. I failed miserably. Stupid female sensitivity!

SOAR

2006-08-25T07:20:00.000-07:00

My church puts on a retreat called SOAR for the incoming freshman. It's sort of like Welcome Week but not at all--if that helps the ACUers who read this blog. They spend Wednesday through Friday out at Messiah Ranch which is about 20 miles from town. On Thursday night there is a special dinner and devo time where the old aggs (and aggies by association) come out to mingle with the new freshmen. We had to meet at the church at 4:45 to get on the church bus (I can't remember the last time I rode on a bus) to take us to the ranch. So I asked my boss if I could get off at 4:15 to be at the church on time and, the gracious person that she is, she let me go.

I had no time to change so I rode on the no air conditioned bus in my casual work clothes. There were quite a few of us that headed on out there. We had a great spaghetti dinner followed by WARM chocolate brownies. While eating this one guy jumped up and made this hand motion and shouted EY, EY, EY and immediately after got on the floor and did pushups. I had no idea what had happened--everyone else was use to it. Sarah and Kim explained to me that each class has a yell and if you do an upperclass yell without permission you are out of rank--I think that's what they called it.

A group of 4 guys most of whom were apart of a group called Under His Wings sang a few songs. Then came the Aggie tradition--Yell Practice. 5 guys in overalls were walking back in forth in this pattern. Then everyone was following their lead doing motions, bending down, singing songs, "passing it back"--I just followed Travis's lead. I had no idea what I was doing. Then came the foot/swaying thing. I had done this once when I went to the Hall. You stick your left foot in front of the person on your left, then you put your arms on the people next to you and sway. Travis said he is going to have to put me through training before I go to an Aggie game.

When it was time for us to go back I really thought it was 10:00 or later but it was only 8:30! You could tell in the bus who had full time jobs and who was still in school--the job people were very quiet/sleeping and the collegers were singing songs as loud as possible. I got home around 9:45 and went straight to bed. It was a very fun experience.

Tonight we are having a back to school back with...blow-up games! I'm so excited!

Breaking News

2006-08-24T09:13:00.000-07:00

Lately I have become very interested in watching/listening to the news--another sign I am getting older. In the mornings I watch the Today Show and on my drive to work I listen to AM radio--something I have never done.

Some interesting things I heard today:

Astronomers have either decided or are deciding that Pluto is no longer considered a planet. Also there may be 3 new planets added to the solar system. Everything we learned in grade school is about to change.

On a talk news show the subject being discussed was the Mexico border and illegal immigrants. One of the ladies that called in was apart of Code Pink which, I found out later via internet, is a women's peace organization. She was highly against military involvement along the border. She also stated that these people are coming over here starving and to escape poverty. One of the hosts stated if they are in poverty how are they paying individuals thousands of dollars to help them over the border? At one point in the conversation the host stated these people are coming over illegally. The woman's answer to this was "well, that's your opinion". To counter attack the host said "no, that's a law!" The lady then stated how different is this from when our ancestors came here from England, Ireland, Germany, etc. Uh, they came legally! For some reason she could not get that point through her head!

Rude Awakening

2006-08-22T07:23:00.000-07:00

Last night while peacefully sleeping a received a rather rude awakening. Not once but twice my cell phone rang at 3:00 am. I use my phone as my alarm so it was sitting inches from my head. I did not recognize the number so I didn't answer. The second time this person called they left a message. This made me think I might know this person so I should listen to what they had to say. Here was the message:

"Hey Jason. Just wanted to see if you wanted to go do something. Give me a call." (Male voice)

Wouldn't this person realize he does not have Jason when the voicemail comes on with a girly voice saying "Hi this is Erin". Needless to say I was a little perturbed.

A Bad Morning

2006-08-19T07:59:00.000-07:00

This morning started out alright but then one little thing happened and then another and another which quickly turned it into a very frustrating time. I decided I was in need of a mocha frappacino from Starbucks before I made my trek to work. So I made sure I had about 15 minutes extra to get there. I was a couple minutes past that leaving my apartment. I was almost to the main street when i realized I left my lovely salad I made for lunch on the table. **Incident #1**

So I had to go back and get it. So running 5 minutes behind not too much of a problem. As I'm going down the road I happen to glance down at the car gauges. I forgot I was almost out of gas--rats! **Incident #2**

So I stopped at a gas stationto fill up and use my debit card. There are some gas pumps now that ask for you zip code and if it doesn't match up it won't let you use it. Well, for some reason my debit card and zip code never match up. I had to cancel the transaction and grab my credit card. **Incident #3**

When I finally got to Starbucks there were 3 people in front of me. Of course every other time I have gone before work noone else was there. It's like they knew I was late and came out of the nooks and cranys to beat me. **Incident #4**

Though it's not a big deal if I am a little late to work, I still drove about 5 miles over the speed limit to get there at a "fashionably late" time. I was less than 10 minutes late and saw that one of the desk workers was already here. As I walk towards the door I hear someone call my name. Ketra was sitting in her car eating her breakfast. She told me she had trouble getting the door unlocked. So I went to try it. The lock would not turn at all and sometimes my key would get stuck in the lock. I was getting so frustrated because it wouldn't open and because it was really hot outside (and I was sweating...no glistening in my work clothes). The solution was to walk around to the front, enter, and run like the dickens to turn off the alarm. **Incident #5**

We were finally in the building and I could relax and try to make the day better. But then the phone rang. It was the alarm company saying they had a warning from our building and had dispatched someone to come out there. I guess in trying to open the door we set off the alarm. They asked if they should cancel the dispatch and I told them yes. Then they asked for the password. What password??? I put them on hold while Ketra and I ran around like chickens with their heads cut off. After a few minutes I remembed I had the card with the code in my wallet. **Incident #6**

Oy! I'm really hoping the rest of today is not as insane as this morning!

"It Was an Accident"

2006-08-17T14:05:00.000-07:00

So I tend to beat up on Travis just in play. He takes it now as normality--he says he is in an abusive relationship. But the past couple of days some things have happened that I didn't mean to happen.

Tuesday night I cooked one of the few things I know how to cook: tostada pie. Abilene people you should remember this because anytime we had the group over for dinner at the Relm I cooked it. Anyway, while trying to cut it into pieces I made a motion with the fork and accidently stabbed Travis in the arm! It wasn't hard or deep but still I felt terrible. Then Wednesday night he came over to watch Project Runway. I was knitting my I-cord for my baby blanket. I was taking a break from knitting and he made some snide comment (I don't remember what). So I was going to hit him with the end of my cord. Well...I grabbed the wrong end and hit him in the forehead with the needle! I felt really, really bad about that one! So now he enjoys bring these two incidents up.

Slacked Off

2006-08-17T07:17:00.000-07:00

I can't believe how much I have slacked off on my blogging responsibility. I usually crank out my posts at work but the past few days have been kind of nuts. Yesterday my phone just kept ringing--I was very close to throwing it out the window!

This past weekend I went to Dallas to help my family pack up my grandmother's house. Saturday it was just my dad, my sisters, my mom, and I moving things. I was very impressed with what we accomplished: two couches (one was a sleeper), two large bookcase shelves, big huge dresser. It was hard though knowing I wouldn't be coming to this house anymore. I'm not even sure how long my grandparents lived in this house--I know they were in it before my mom went to college. Sunday was my grandmother's last time at her church. There was a special tribute to her--someone had put together a little slideshow of pictures of her and my granddad. And let's just say my grandmother, my mom, Traci, and I were letting the tears fall as they may. It was a very emotional weekend but I'm glad my grandmother will be closer to my mom and I will be able to see her more often.

This week I have started a new regimine (spelling?). I use to do my workouts on my Gazelle at night then take a shower before I went to bed. Well, lately my nights have been full of activities and I haven't had time for my workouts. So Tuesday I started getting up at 6:20 to workout and take a shower. This is a big deal because I hate getting up early. If I can sleep in I will. So far I have kept to this schedule for 3 days--the main thing that helps me get up is knowing I have to take a shower so I might as well get sweaty beforehand. I also have started watching the Today Show in the morning. So now I am abreast of pertinant news.