Birthday Weekend

Tomorrow is my birthday and I'm hoping to have a lovely day. Josh asked me what I wanted to do and I replied that I'd like to go to my favorite museum, the Amon Carter, and have a game night with my family. So, that's what is on our agenda. There are two photography exhibits at the Amon Carter I want to see- one focusing on landscapes and the other on work. I've picked up all my favorite snack foods for game night and Mom is going to make some German chocolate cupcakes for me. I don't know if I'll do it on my actual birthday, but I'm also hoping to use some gift cards to pick up a few items I've been eyeing. There are some nude flats at Payless that I want, and a scarf at Old Navy that's piqued my interest. I'm also planning on getting a new necklace, to replace a duplicate Christmas gift that was returned. And Josh's mom got me one of the necklaces I asked for at Christmas, but didn't receive. It's shaping up to be a stylish birthday this year!


















Skeet McAuley (b. 1951)
Navajo Housing Project, Chinle, Arizona, 1984 , 1984
Dye destruction print
Courtesy of the artist and Barry Whistler Gallery, Dallas
Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas, Gift of M. Lee Hutchins
P2009.7.22

They Say It's My Birthday

Today is my birthday- my 30th birthday! And we're having a very low-key evening. Of course we've had an incredibly low-key week because of our winter weather here. Monday night it started raining in the evening, then turned to sleet, and then snow. Schools were closed (not that I have class on Tuesdays now anyway), and the boss man said to stay home. The thing is, it never got above freezing Tuesday, so the ice and snow stayed right where it was. Wednesday classes were canceled. Work was a no-go. Then it was the same game Thursday. We did leave the house Thursday, to pick up my prescription and some Sonic, but that was it for me. Josh went in to work for awhile, but regretted it, as the roads were not great and the people on the road were even worse. And then, last night, it started snowing again. The 2 or so inches that had fallen Monday night hadn't gone anywhere, but they were quickly covered with a fresh layer. Just under 5" fell over last night into midday today. So, I got another snow day for my birthday! The sun came out at last and the temperature actually just reached 32 degrees this afternoon, so a little melting occurred. It's finally supposed to get above freezing tomorrow, so hopefully everyone will be able to dig out of their hibernation holes.

I should have been way more productive with this time off. I did some homework, and of course I still have the weekend, but I could have done more. I did find out that I was off a bit on some of my due dates, and in my favor, so that was helpful in alleviating a little stress. And this winter weather will postpone my Government test that I was concerned I might miss while we're out of town, so that's good also. And we'll gloss over the fact that I did absolutely no cleaning, nor did any household projects get done. I did make pancakes Tuesday morning, with enough to last me two weeks of school mornings. So, I guess it's not all been wasted, ha.

Mostly Josh and I have had lots of hanging out time. He's played lots of video games, I did some cooking and baking, we've had movie marathons and watched a LOT of Simpsons DVDs. We've obviously lost some income, but we've gained some rest and relaxation. Of course, we'll get some more of that when we go on vacation next week. Birthday cruise! Today I made grass-fed sausage and french toast with bananas for my birthday breakfast. We ventured out for beer, snacks, and pizza for my birthday evening, some of which has already been consumed. :) Oh, and I bought myself one other birthday present too.


Birthday Snow

Slowly, But Surely

I feel like all I ever get to do on this blog is run in, rattle off a list of stuff I've done since I last updated, and then run back out only to repeat the process. Which, is basically what this post is. the title of this post is in reference both to my current state of health and school. I am currently about halfway through a cold, and am slowly crawling my way to recovery. And this week I took my history midterm, so I'm at the halfway point in my first semester. So far everything is going along swimmingly. It's stressful, but half of that is self-induced, because I haven't had any real reason to worry so far. The lowest grade I've made in my history class is a 100, and I've got an A for my first MathMod, and also got that A on my first English paper. I turned in my second one today, and I'm hoping for a B. My lowered expectations can be chocked up to the fact that I finished it in a nyquil haze. I'm pretty sure it was coherent. Well, at least to me!

I'm super excited though, despite my current poor health, because today I booked us for a cruise for my 30th birthday! We decided just a quick, 4 day shoot to Cozumel and back would be the best way to go. If I can get a Tuesday/Thursday schedule again next semester then I'll only miss one day for our trip. It's hard to imagine a nicer way to celebrate my 30th birthday than hanging out on this beach. Wouldn't you agree?

Happy Birthday Audrey!

"Nothing is impossible, the word itself says 'I'm possible'!"- Audrey Hepburn

Birthday Wish List

You know the drill. That time of year rolls around and people start prodding you for birthday gift ideas. Here are the few things I asked for this year, aside from my kickass tattoo that Josh bought for me. A couple of books, a couple of movies, some color film, and the usual gift cards.

Josh's 30th Birthday

I didn't get a chance to post about it yesterday thanks to a super busy work day , but it was Josh's 30th birthday! We slept in a little yesterday morning as a treat. He had ice cream cake at work, and after drum lessons came home for nice birthday dinner of pizza, champagne and tiramisu. I bought him Resident Evil 5 for PS3 and the latest Stephen King book, which both pleased him very much. We spent the evening eating and watching Kids In The Hall episodes. He said he had a very happy birthday, and I'm very glad!

Happy Birthday Elvis!

Here's a clip from my favorite Elvis movie in honor of the King's birthday.

Weekend Roundup

Friday:
-Up early and head to house
-Discover leak under sink and panic
-Clean house
-Visit with Seller, there to pick up forgotten items
-More cleaning
-Rearrange some closet accessories
-Go over new appliance info with Frank the delivery man
-Discover that opening up the water line to refrigerator fixed the leak under the sink
-More cleaning
-Read some Newsweek
-Go over stuff that I did with Josh
-Head back to apartment
-Hot dogs and french fries for dinner
-Catch up blog reading I missed during the day
-Bedtime

Saturday:
-Oversleep big time
-Shower
-Try to get pantry stuff from Container Store- too many people!
-Stop at store for donut and hygiene products
-Get ready
-Jen's birthday party- badminton, croquet, wii, burning stuff, good food, beer and laughs
-Grab some Whataburger
-Eat, watch episode of Late Night
-Hit the hay

Sunday:
-Oversleep again!
-Shower
-Ham & cheese tortilla and apple for breakfast/lunch
-Get ready
-Steph & Rodney's for paint supplies, John & Ann's to pick up tree
-Deliver and plant tree at Deana's
-Container Store for another attempt, successful this time- new pantry here I come
-Drop off elfa stuff at house and check under sink just in case
-Target for a few grocery items and birthday cake
-Apartment for Josh to grab a quick shower
-Deana & Jack's for birthday dinner
-Back to apartment for bedtime

Birthday Wishes

My birthday is next Wednesday, so I thought I would share what I'm hoping to get. Presents helps take the sting off the slow climb to 30 that I'm on, ha.


















.Martha Stewart's Homekeeping Handbook
.Understanding Exposure
.Tokyo Milk Dead Sexy No. 06
.Hannah and Her Sisters
.The Mirror Has Two Faces
.Three Little Words
.Moleskine Weekly Notebook
.Nina by Nina Ricci mini-spray & lotion set

Happy Birthday Diane Keaton!

Happiest of happy days to one of my tip-top favorite ladies in the whole wide world. This is so perfect for me that I often don't even feel a need to finish the movie once I see this scene. Such a peach of a person she is.

Happy Birthday Woody!

Birthday Goodies

This was actually a pretty quiet year for my birthday. Some years there have been a full week of dinners with different family and friends. Occasionally there was a night out. All we did Monday is fly back from NYC and eat our favorite burrito bowls. But I did get some good gifts this year.

My mom gave me a bit o'cash for our trip and this great book













My bro gifted me this movie. He says it's the best serial killer movie ever. I'm waiting to watch it till Josh can sit with me.














Steph, Rodney & Rylo got me this great Martha Stewart recipe box.













And my mom-in-law got me a Michael's GC (which I intend to spend on Martha Stewart Craft items) and this t-shirt which we will hopefully be picking up from her this weekend.

Checking In

Well, we got back from our fabulous NYC vacation yesterday, which also just happens to be my birthday. This trip was our co-birthday gift to each other, so we didn't really do much of anything yesterday except grab some Chipotle on the way home. And Josh didn't complain when I watched America's Ballroom Challenge while we ate. I'll have more to say about our trip later, once I've edited some of the 500+ pictures I took. I wanted to do an end-of-the-month update on my resolutions and goals, to try and help myself keep up with everything.

• Read one book per month. I sort of missed this mark, but just barely. Actually I read an entire book during airport/airplane time yesterday, and I almost finished a second. So I'm counting the first one as my January book, the second will be my February book, and then maybe I'll even fit 2 books into this month!
• Open a savings account. Done, although we haven't made any deposits past the first one yet. Once we have established where we stand financially after all this vacation spending we can probably chuck some more in there.
• Learn more about photography and new camera. I read up on my camera settings, highlighted the things that seemed important to me, and am now taking better pictures because of it. I didn't say great pictures, but better. I need to learn more about photoshop (ahem, Carissa), and what makes a good picture better, but I've got a truckload of opportunity with all our trip photos.
  
• Have friends over once a month. Had Steve, Meri & Cory over in January for a goodbye game of Scrabble. Need to find time for guests this month.
• Work on learning French again. This one started, sputtered, and stalled. I'm gonna keep working at it though. Anyone have any jumper cables?
• Try 4 new restaurants. Josh and I had some awesome burgers at Kincaid's a few weeks ago. Obviously I could mark this one off completely considering I ate at all new restaurants in NYC, but that would be cheating. So I'm keeping this to a local list, leaving me three more places to try.
• Keep up with Newsweek subscription. This one was waning too, but I was able to catch up on two weeks worth during our flight last week. I just gotta make it a priority from here on out. It was hard because a lot of this political stuff has been getting me down. I hate falling for a candidate only to not have them make it through primaries and have to go with your second or third choice, so I tend to get sick of it all pretty quickly.
• Get physical. Boy, oh boy, I was pretty much failing at this one. Unless you count a turn around Target as exercise. However, I feel that I confidently made up for it by walking the equivalent of a 10K while traversing Gotham City this weekend. Now I'm so sore I KNOW that I need to get more exercise.
• Visit the 3 major museums once this year. We went with Steve, Meri & Serge to the Picturing the Bible exhibit at the Kimball. Need to hit the two others and if possible explore more of the permanent collection at Kimball.
• Vacuum once a week. I think it's been a little more bi-weekly, but it's still an improvement. Gonna keep working at it.
• Improve wardrobe. Bought a cute jacket and 2 cute tops at H&M this weekend. Bigger and better improvements are in the works.
• Use money program weekly. Again, more bi-weekly, but trying to be better about it.

Things yet to start/accomplish:

• Eat healthier through the weekend.
• See a play.
  
• Create a list of life goals.
• Go to the zoo more often.
• Take shoes to be repaired and clothes to be altered.
• Do one thing related to each interest every week.

Hopefully be posting about the trip soon!

Weekend Roundup

Friday:
-Wake up early and make breakfast pigs-in-blanket for Joshy
-See Josh off to work, piggies in tow
-Go back to bed
-Oversleep
-Catch up on dvr'd shows
-Work on travel plans
-Get dressed
-Tidy up
-Watch some Golden Girls
-Welcome Josh home
-Grab some Chick-fil-a for dinner
-Eat and watch Simpsons
-Practice singing with Josh
-Hit the hay

Saturday:
-Oversleep, as per usual lately
-Make bacon & eggs for breakfast
-Play around on laptop
-Watch more Fred & Ginger movies while working on NYC wardrobe
-Make Josh work on his NYC wardrobe
-Shower
-Get ready
-Stop at Garden Ridge for Mom-in-law's gift
-Celebrate co-birthdays at Mom-in-law's house
-Eat good grub and play some fund Cranium
-Say goodbye and head home with a monster headache
-Take two Advil and eat tortilla chips
-Fall asleep watching Follow The Fleet

Sunday:
-Wake up
-Have coffee and cheese toast and make shopping list
-Get ready
-Head to Target for groceries and supplies
-Unload cargo at home
-Sort and start laundry
-Watch Simpsons and eat deli sandwich
-Continue laundry and watch Everyday Food and Everyday Baking
-Continue laundry
-Watch episode of What Not To Wear
-Finish laundry
-Watch Dancing With the Stars & tidy bedroom closet
-Shower
-Watch part 3 of New York documentary and work on packing
-Hit the hay

Happy Birthday Joshy!

Today is my totally awesome husband's birthday. Josh is without doubt the greatest thing that has ever happened to me. Happy birthday babe!