A Change is in the Air

Well, it's been over two months since I last blogged. Life got the better of me and I just didn't have the energy to update. But, I wanted to make sure to post something before the year was out. Hopefully I'll get back to blogging a bit more soon. Since October we've gone on that little cabin getaway I mentioned, and it was lovely. Hoping we'll get to go again sometime in the new year, maybe around Spring Break.

I managed to host my first family holiday in our home when we had my mom, brother, aunts, uncles, and cousins over for Thanksgiving. I couldn't have asked for things to go more smoothly. My only regret is that now the "grown ups" are getting older, so things don't run as late as the family holidays of my youth. But the dinner was great, everyone loved the food, our house, my simple decorations, and thanks to Steph I was able to seat everyone in our dining room around her 6 foot folding tables! My cousin Traci's kids both said at different times in the evening that they wished they could stay the night at our house. When the kids don't want to leave I think you can feel like you've done a good job, right?

The Monday after Thanksgiving my boss unfortunately passed away. He had been sick for quite sometime, and we all knew that it was coming, but it still manages to feel very sudden when it actually happens. I'm still working at the office for now, because there is a lot to do before we can close up shop. It's strange after working for him for 10 years to not have him humming around the office, or ringing up to have us connect him to a client from his cell phone. We're helping his wife keep things in order, find attorneys to cover his current cases, get client files together to return to old clients, etc.

My boss's passing was definitely a distraction in the last few weeks of school, but I managed to do well on my finals and got the A's I wanted for the semester. I also joined the Phi Theta Kappa honor society on my campus, and volunteered with the Lone Star Film Festival this semester. I've got most of my classes scheduled for next semester, and hopefully I'll be able to pick up a lot of students in my note taking gig, to make up some of my pending lost income.

On a brighter note, I got a second part time job too. In fact, I was officially told that I'm hired earlier this morning. Starting sometime shortly after the new year I'll be blogging for the local furniture and upholstery company Simple Things. I'll be coming at it from a blogger angle, whereas the employee who has been running the blog thus far was already with the company, so I'm looking forward to learning about their business and suppliers and integrating my knowledge of blogging and familiarity with popular design blogs and social media into their virtual presence. Once they start getting their new store established I'll also begin photographing store vignettes for the blog as well, which is very exciting for me!

We're less than a week away from Christmas and I can hardly believe it. With all the above-mentioned stuff going on we've hardly had time to decorate. My brother and his wife are hosting our Christmas morning this time, which takes a lot of the pressure off. We got a small fake tree this year, which normally I'd be completely opposed to, but we just didn't have the time and energy for a real one this year. I can always leave this faux five footer packed away and get real trees, but it's nice to have something in the attic for hectic years such as this one. And, it was a mere $30 pre-lit. Can't argue with that. I need to start wrapping presents tonight. I mean, I seriously have to start wrapping presents, there's like 30 of them.

So, there you have it, a brief recap of the past few months, and what I'm currently most excited about in the new year. Also, I'm so happy to have spent another year with Josh. He's been so supportive of me while I'm working hard at school, with the loss of my boss, and he is almost as excited as I am about this new job opportunity, even though it likely means less money in our pockets. At least for a while, anyway. I couldn't ask for a better partner.

Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
via

5

Today is our fifth anniversary! It's hard to believe that we've been married a whole five years already. The time has flown by, and I'm so lucky that it's been spent with such a great guy. Today I decided I'd look up what the traditional anniversary gift is, and it turns out it's wood. Ironically, this week I booked us a weekend at a cabin near Beavers Bend Park in Oklahoma. We don't get to go until November, but a quiet weekend at a cabin with a hot tub is worth the wait. Especially when it'll be spent with my favorite husband. You can tell I'm excited because I made a Pinterest board dedicated just to our trip. We plan on spending plenty of time in that hot tub I mentioned, but there will also be marshmallow roasting, star gazing, domino playing, french toast eating, and champagne drinking. Not to mention cold beer, hot stew, and lots of hand holding. I can't wait. I love you, Josh!

Source: google.com via Jessica on Pinterest

Merry Post-Christmas

I hope everyone had a great holiday! I know I sure did. Christmas Eve was filled with lots of family, fun and food. I was up late playing Santa, divvying up candy and filling stockings. Christmas morning we had a great breakfast and everyone loved all the presents they got, including me. Josh and I opened our gifts to each other after my family left. I already knew he had spoiled me because he "forgot" our gift count limit of 5. Along with all sorts of movies and books I wanted he got me a new drive & battery for my laptop, and a brand new netbook! I can't wait to be able to take notes so much quicker in class next semester! He spent his personal money on it. I don't get to tell him how he should spend that, and though I keep telling him he shouldn't have I'm still super glad to have a cute white netbook to use for school. And on top of all that, yesterday a package came for him from Cypress. He was confused, but when he opened it he realized it was the necklace I'd wanted from Etsy. He hadn't even noticed that it hadn't arrived yet! On top of all that I got a few of the things from the wish list I shared here too- those cute boots, the flash for my Holga, the movies, etc. I am so blessed to have people who care about me, and showed me that through picking out thoughtful gifts and wrapping them up sweetly.

Josh loved his presents, especially his super soft robe and the graphic novel. And our mom was really happy to get her new coat and the little peanut pendant necklace I got her at the last minute. But, I'd say the home run gift this year was the vintage hypnosis book we got for his stepdad, Jack. He really seemed impressed that we'd found something so neat that fit his interests so well. Etsy scores another win!

Christmas night we spent at Josh's dad and stepmom Ann's house. Along with siblings, uncles, aunts, and some of Ann's family in from Rochester, we had a wonderful evening with lots of good snacky food, fun games, and a warm fire. Again, left feeling super blessed to have so much wonderful family in our lives.

Four

Yesterday Josh and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary! We slept in, grabbed some donuts and went to the duck pond to enjoy them. Then we went to the zoo, which we thoroughly explored. We had ice cream cones, and enjoyed the beautiful day. For dinner we went to Texas de Brazil, which we had a gift card for. It's expensive, so this special day seemed like the perfect occasion to use it up. Salad bar, 6 kinds of meat, beer, and chocolate cake put me into a coma, but a delicious one! I go to bed every night and wake up everyday so glad to be married to such an awesome dude!

One Day All My Dreams Came True...

...and my heart exploded into a million tiny joy-filled pieces.

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!

My Woody Allen Experience

First off, I just have to say that I have the best husband in the world. He was willing to take off work and drum lessons for me, despite having missed a lot of both lately with the holidays. He drove the three hours to Austin and back, despite having had to be and perform in Houston on Saturday and Dallas Sunday. All just to make one of my biggest dreams come true. That is the definition of love right there, and I know it.

So, one sentimental ball of mush out of the way and on to another. I spent almost two hours less than 30 feet from Woody Allen. It was one of the greatest things that I have ever experienced. When we sat down in our seats I had a moment to be elated at how good they were before I started to nearly hyperventilate with excitement at what I was about to witness. We were really as close as one could hope to get when they bought last minute tickets, and I had a completely unobstructed direct view to Woody. Clearly, he was what I was there to see, but that whole band is amazing. It was so fascinating to watch a smaller band play together, since my only other experience watching jazz performers has been the much bigger UNT band. Aside from the phenomenal music, I took so much pleasure in being able to watch Woody be Woody. I've watched so many interviews of him over the years that a lot of his little mannerisms are known to me. So when he took his sweater off about two songs in and brushed his hair back with his hand, when he slid his finger between his glasses and face to rub his left eye, when he stretched his arms down his legs and rubbed his knees- it was just him being himself right in front of my eyes. And more than that, I got to see him doing something he truly loves to do, is passionate about doing. Like I said, it was a dream come true.

They played for a little over an hour, and then did two encores which Woody claimed was a record for them, but I find that hard to believe. And they were long encores as well, adding almost 45 minutes on to the show. It's hard for me to know all the songs they played, I am not as familiar with my New Orleans jazz catalog enough to always easily recognize them- especially with a music as variable as jazz can be. I'm still trying to figure more out, but I know they played:

Ice Cream
Tie Me to Your Apron Strings Again
St. Louis Blues
Listen to the Mockingbird
Down by the Riverside
All the Whores Like the Way I Ride
My Old Kentucky Home
Home Sweet Home
Easter Parade
Sweet Georgia Brown

Again, just amazing to me that I've actually done this. It has been a dream for so long that I hardly know what to do with myself now that it's actually come true. Where does one go from here? To be honest, one still wants to go to NYC and see him at the Carlyle, to do it all over again. :)



































Crappy iPhone pics from the evening.

Christmas Vacation

I will be leaving work shortly and off on my 5 day break. Hopefully be able to find some time to share Christmas photos in the next few days, but they'll be busy ones. Tonight I'll be trying to finish wrapping all the gifts and ordering a pizza so I can focus on them. Tomorrow I've got a lot of work ahead of me- cleaning house, setting the table, and preparing a Christmas Eve feast for ourselves and my mom, brother, sister-in-law, and niece. Josh and I will be spending the morning of our first Christmas in our new house just the two of us. Looking forward to sleeping in, breakfast, and leisurely opening our gifts to one another. Christmas night we'll be with Josh's mom, step dad, and brother- no doubt stuffing ourselves like we usually do and maybe playing some games. Josh has to jet off to Houston on Saturday, which makes me sad, but he'll be back already on Sunday. Sunday night he's got a show at the House of Blues in Dallas. Which brings us to my new most favorite part of our holiday break, Monday we'll be driving down to Austin to see Woody Allen and Eddy Davis's New Orleans Jazz Band!!! I am beyond excited for this. I discovered they were going to be in Texas today and was able to find good tickets. Not cheap, but I conveniently got a Christmas bonus yesterday that I didn't know what to do with. And Josh is taking off work and getting back on the road after one jaunt to go on another one as a special Christmas gift to me. Guys. I'm gonna be in the same room with Woody Allen. Listening to him play delicious New Orleans style jazz. So basically, I've got a date with heaven on Monday. I didn't know I could get any luckier, but then I did. Happy holidays everybody!!! I hope everyone has a fantastic Christmas and that your wishes come true! I know mine have.

Josh's Christmas Gifts 2009

Once again, Josh has promised to not peek so that I might share with you what he'll be finding from me under the Christmas tree this year. Josh actually asked for some stuff this year, and pretty early in the season too, so I had an easy task ahead of me. Didn't take me too long to decide what to get for him. Here's a peek at his presents. His gifts look a lot more colorful compared to last year's.























The Complete Monty Python's 16-Ton Megaset: Flying Circus, Justice, Volume 1 graphic novel, Mirror's Edge for PS3, Striped sweater from Old Navy (sold out), Moongel dampening gels (stocking stuffer), Flight of the Conchords Season 2 DVD, The Acid House by Irvine Welsh, digital tuner and metranome, Drumsticks and brushes (stocking stuffers)

Halloween 2009

Here we are ready for some spooktacular fun! Our friend Jen snapped this pic.