Travis's Birthday

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

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

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

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

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...

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

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

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

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

(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

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

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

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...

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

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

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

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!

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

* 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

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!