The Holidays...

I was robbed this year. Not literally, well, kind of. Let me splain...

The great OK/TX blizzard of 09 ruined my Christmas plans. I stayed in town on the 23rd to have dinner with some friends, and when I woke up on Christmas Eve there was a lovely blanket of snow covering the ground. It worked out perfectly for a photoshoot I had that morning, but it ruined any chances of being home for Christmas. In Abilene, we had lots of rain and then snow, but further north they had a few hours of sleet before the snow hit. So...Roxie and I spent the afternoon wrapping presents and watching Christmas movies on TV. It was my first Christmas sans family!

I was determined to get home, so I packed the car and left town just after lunch on Christmas Day. It was smooth sailing once I passed the Abilene city limits, the roads were clear and dry for the first 70 miles or so. But as I neared Olney, the roads got a little icier, and about 10 miles or so from Wichita Falls they were absolutely awful. It took me almost an hour to go 10 miles. Yeah. And I was even driving behind a truck that was scraping the roads, and it was still horrible. Now, granted, I do NOT drive a very weather-friendly vehicle. Hey, it's made for it's stunning good looks and speed, OK?

I got stuck twice, but luckily there were lots of people out on the roads and a few were kind enough to stop and help push me out of the ice and snow. I managed to make it to my Aunt's house, completely exhausted and stressed out. I was SO thankful to have a place to stop and get out of the craziness. The next morning Roxie and I took off for Oklahoma, and after a slow-going 20 miles or so, the roads cleared and all was well. I made it home Saturday afternoon, we had a fast and furious Christmas celebration, and I got back in the car and headed back to Abilene on the 27th.

Last week was spent packing and moving. My parents (God bless them) came down on Tuesday and were a tremendous help. I would not have been able to do it without them. Heck, they mostly did it all without me (I only had Friday off of work). If you look closely, I'm back there in the middle...I'm looking happy because we were nearing the end. I have WAY too much stuff.


I'm staying with a friend for now (while most of my stuff is in storage). I'm not sure where I'll be going next, which is exciting and scary at the same time. Do I stay in Abilene, do I move somewhere entirely new and different? The possibilities!

So a blizzard robbed me of Christmas, and packing/moving robbed me of New Year's. Fun, right?

29, flirty, and thriving

Doesn't quite have the same ring to it, but hey, I'm not 30 yet!

I had a good birthday week. I contemplated taking my actual birthday off of work (a company I used to work for gave us a paid holiday on our birthdays, awesome!) but decided that taking Friday was a much better plan. Went out for sushi with a few girlfriends on Thursday night and then trekked across the parking lot to the Mule to see Reckless Kelly. It was a great night (free drinks!), made even better by sleeping late the next morning.

My parents drove down on Friday and we spent the weekend looking at houses. I now have just over two weeks to figure out where the heck I'm moving to, and yes, the stress is starting to get to me. There are some very nice homes (from the outside, anyway) here, but many of the ones in my price range have some problems – like cracked foundations, wavy floors, or trashy neighbors. I've narrowed it down to two houses, and *should* be making an offer this week. So…I may need to crash on somebody's couch for a few weeks. If you have the need for a spare roommate for a bit, do let me know.

I am really looking forward to having my own home. No more roommate drama to deal with, free reign in designing each and every room, cleaning up after my own messes, and designing each and every room. Did I say that already? Cause yeah, that's what I'm really looking forward to the mostest (spellcheck just changed 'mostest' to 'moistest' – ha, not quite). Oh, and no more roommate drama. That too.

On a different note, I have a bit of Christmas shopping left to do. Usually I've already made my gift lists and know exactly who is getting what, but with the house hunting this year, I'm entering into present-crisis-mode. It's strange and unfamiliar territory, and I don't like it. Luckily I still have 9 days to figure it all out. 9 days.

9 times? 9 times…

Christmas!

I had a wonderful time at home for Christmas. It was so nice to be able to spend more than just a weekend with my family.

After opening presents on Christmas morning, the family headed off to the Stephens County fairgrounds to volunteer and serve Christmas lunch. We did it last year for the first time and really enjoyed it. It was definitely more organized this year, which was nice. =)

That afternoon we opened a few more presents and then played Dirty Santa with the extended family. There's usually some drama involved with the stealing of the gifts, but I think everybody ended up with something they wanted. I got a pocket knife, it's awesome! The cousins played Apples to Apples for awhile (I LOVE that game), we even went through all of the red cards before we called it a night.

Friday brought a tainted cheeseburger at lunch (ick) and a trip to Norman in the afternoon. We almost got to see Stoney LaRue, who just happened to be playing at the Riverwind casino, but it was sold out. Danggone it. Shop, shop, shopped for LCD TVs, dinner at Ted's--drool--and then home. We finally found the right price on the right TV on Saturday at Sam's in Lawton. I got a 42" Philips, 1080p, 120Hz, full HD. It's awesome!!!

Stay tuned for our fantastic family portrait session on Saturday. Shine your boots and pack your ammo...

I elfed myself! Hehe.

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Veteran's Day

My sincerest thanks go out to all of those that have served in order to keep our nation free. A special thank you to all of those at Dyess and my air force boys. Love you guys!

The weekend…

The Halloween party was a blast! Rab totally surprised me and drove up from Houston for the party. He apparently told everyone he was coming, except for me! I was SO excited to see him. Here he is being creepy in his creepy mask (he was a streaker). We hung out around the firepit, watched The Changeling, and had a great time! We even had some trick-or-treaters: "whoa…you're house is haunted!!" Lots of great costumes too! Have I said how much I love Halloween?

I drove up to Duncan on Saturday and then on up to Norman for the OU/Nebraska game at 7. There is seriously nothing better than sitting in a stadium full of 85,000+ screaming fans and watching your team lay it down on their opponent. It's amazing. There were, however, a few glitches in the weekend.

1. Texas losing to Tech—I freakin hate Tech. The last two games we've played in Lubbock were total crap. We were absolutely cheated out of the first one, and in the 2^nd one they knocked out our QB in the first half. I will never go back to a game in Lubbock. The Texas loss does help us in the Big 12 race as well as the National Title hunt. They play OState this weekend (in Lubbock though), so that will be a huge game. We play A&M, so that should be an easy game for us. We luckily have a bye the next week, as we'll need it for the next two games, Tech at home (thank the LORD for that) on the 22^nd and OState in Stillwater (UGH) on the 29^th. It works to our advantage though, playing two highly ranked teams. As long as our defense does its job, we may come out of those on top.
   
2. The Cowboys suck. Seriously disappointing. I wanted to watch them play at 3, so I didn't leave OK until 6:15. What a freakin waste of time.
   

On Sunday we had a giant birthday party for everybody in my family who has birthdays from Oct-Dec. There were 5 of us. I got some fantastic homemade gifts from everybody. What a crazy artistic family I have! It's awesome.

I'm tired, and looking forward to a weekend home (my first in awhile). Hopefully the week will fly by…

One more thing. Only in the BCS can you beat the hell out of your opponent and drop 2 spots in the polls. $*#@!(*&#($^@#)$.

It's HALLOWEEN!!

My favoritest holiday of the year. I love the spooky decorations, the costumes, the candy, and of course, the scary movies.

Today for work I'm dressed as a hippie (Mom always said I was born in the wrong era), and tonight I'll be a Sooner football player. I'm throwing a big party at my casa, complete with beer, jello shots, and food, fog machine, black lights, and an outdoor screening of The Changeling. If you have not seen The Changeling (the old George C. Scott movie) you should definitely check it out. They used to show it at the Paramount every year at Halloween. It's awesome!

I'm excited!

dang it!

I should have worn my helmet to work this morning!!