Beautiful and Adorable Christmas Cards

I have to admit..I love to get mail. Not the bills, of course. Random cards or anything really. I can barely contain myself walking up to the house from the mailbox when I get something personal. Usually, I've opened the envelope before I've made it into the house. So you know that Christmas is especially fun with all the cards coming in. I am a big slacker in sending out Christmas cards. I did get on the bandwagon last year with my infamous photo, but, I got lazy this year.

Back to this year...I've received lots of great cards. Yesterday, I even received a note from the post office. It said that I had a letter that needed to be picked up and "postage due" was checked. hhhmmm, odd. I sat there for awhile and contemplated what it could be. Tom came home and I showed him the note and he didn't have any ideas, either. Then, it came to me. I told him my guess. Before I tell you that I WAS RIGHT, I'll finish the story chronologically. My little note said that I had to pick up the letter the next day after 8:30am at the post office. Okay, no problem. I'll just be late for work.

Fast forward to this morning: off to the post office I go. Have you ever tried to go to the post office before Christmas? People are frantically trying to get their packages to their destination, but, they've already missed the deadline to get it there by Christmas Eve. Oh, the horror!

There was a man in front of me that just couldn't understand how the post office couldn't get his letter to Austin by 7am tomorrow morning. They could guarantee by noon, but, not by 7am (really, noon wouldn't work? If it's that important, you can drive it down there faster). He went round and round with the postman. If I were that postman, I would have smacked him up side head. Finally, he got it that the post office will not get his letter to his destination. The postman suggests Fed Ex....the moron guy asks him where it was located. I think the postman knew, but, was so annoyed by this guy, he said "I have no idea." The guy then asked for a phone book! I was about to smack him at this point. Finally, he leaves.

My turn, my turn!!! I give him my little note and returns with my letter. I had to pay my postage due before he would even hand me the letter. I grabbed it eagerly, hoping that I had some relative that I never met before send me an enormous sum of money.

What was it, you ask? A square-shaped Christmas card. I will say that it's a cute square-shaped card, but, you have to put extra postage on square cards!!!! I won't call you out, card-sender, but, you owe me 20 cents and I will collect!

Merry Christmas Everyone!! Woo Hoo, holiday spirit.

I hate you, Garland

Every year, I get lost. I don't understand how it happens. For five years, I've been going to Jackson and Colin's holiday programs in downtown Garland at the Granville Arts Center. EVERY flippin' year we all get lost either going to or leaving that place.

This year, I came straight from work and had to map it. I had no idea that Forest Lane went that far. I can safely say that I had no idea where I was...but, somehow, made it. When it was time to leave, Kris was so cofident with fancy navigation in her car. So, I decided that I'd follow her out and we'd get home lickety split. We ended up going through a residential area and then we're on Beltline Road. That is NOT the way to get home quickly! How does that happen? Ugh! Good news is that I never have to go there again. Colin starts kindergarten next year and he is done with daycare.

He was the only one in the holiday program this year and was super cute. And, really tall! My little boy is growing up so fast!

Jackson told me that the little girl to his right is Colin's girlfriend.

Someone is off in this picture....I'm not sure who. Does the little girl on the left remind you of "Friends"? She's about to tell the crowd off!

Now they are all in sync.


Adorable!

RVing!

I think my liver and kidneys are needing a break from Miller Lite. Went RVing this past weekend and there was alot of Miller Lite drinking. Jeez! I am saying RVing because when I say camping people think "are you crazy?"No, I don't camp. I RV, though!

Barbie and Larry's RV is kick ass and we decided for a few days of fun. Barbie found an RV site about 50 miles west of Ft Worth that had a 9 hole par 3 golf course. Great! We headed out on Friday and our weekend consisted of campfires, beer drinking, beer brats, golf, beer drinking, bad movie watching, and more beer drinking. Sense the theme?

Barbie, Tom and Larry watching some moron trying to back his RV into a spot. The guy was not afraid to hit a couple of trees.

Our awesome dinner the first night. Boiling the brats before grillin'.

Our view - cows.

We could have been in the tree-lined area, but, decided to park on the edge of the park. We are so glad we did. Check out the awesome sunset.

Larry and I were the only two that stayed awake for movie time. We like to watch bad movies together. First up - The Goods. It was actually pretty funny and definitely raunchy. We giggled like twelve year olds. Since we had already had quite a few beers - if you fall asleep, you are fair game.

Poor Tomas - he fell asleep during the movie...we MAY have strategically placed that beer to make it a better picture. Like I said, twelve year olds.

Saturday, we were up and ready for some golf! We ended up playing 27 holes of golf that day. We had a great time and lots of laughs on the course. I think we lost about 10 balls in total (Larry was responsible for about 8 of those). The beer drinking started around hole 8 and continue throughout the day and evening. It was steaks, potatoes, and corn on the cob for dinner that night. Delish! Barbie dumped her entire plate in her lap, but, managed to save hermeal. Larry helped clean her up while Tom and I continued to stuff our faces and giggle at her.

Movie #2 was Transformers 2. Don't even waste your time with this one. Barbie and Tom fell asleep again and Larry and I stopped it about an hour into it and decided we had to continue it the next day because we were exhausted from all the golf....or beer drinking.

Barbie - notice that she's on her backswing....um, the ball is still on the ground. I say "Practice Swing!"

Larry - going for his second shot. Notice that he's very close to the tee of another hole. This happened alot with all of us. We weren't that good.

Tomas chipping up to the green.

There are no pictures of me golfing - ha ha! I had the camera and made sure nobody got pictures!

We had a great time and are already planning our next RVing trip.

My 2nd Longhorns Game

Ginger and I went back to Austin for the UT/Kansas game last weekend. We had a little bit more fun this time around.....


We were more prepared and packed our own "tailgating party". Here we are hanging out in the parking garage enjoying a beer and snacks.



We met up with my friend, Greg, who tailgates at EVERY Texas game. Um, what is that in my hand, you ask?

Well crap! It's me shotgunning a beer!!

And then, singing the Texas Fight Song!

We had a fabulous time at the game and had lots of laughs on our way to/from Austin. Thanks Ginger for letting me tag along to the games with you! I'm ready for the Big 12 Championship Game!!

New York Marathon! NOT ME!!!

My sister didn’t get to run the NYC marathon last year, but, went to New York and cheered my dad and me on. So, of course, I had to go back with her this year and support her run. Can I tell you how unbelievably happy I was not to be the one running? It was such a better trip this year! It ended up being a girls’ trip with Kris, Debra (Kris’s friend who also ran the marathon), Elizabeth, and me. We stayed at the Hilton Times Square in the heart of the city. Some people thought that hotel would be too loud with street noise, but, we were on the 33rd floor and barely heard anything. We had so much fun!

We arrived on Friday afternoon, checked into our hotel, and went to pick up the race packets. After spending some time roaming around the expo, we decided to take the subway into Greenwich Village to get cupcakes at Magnolia Bakery. Of course, we had to get two apiece. You’ll notice throughout this blog, food is the key. After eating one cupcake, we took the train back up to Times Square to grab a quick dinner. We had some delicious Chinese food at Ruby Foo’s.

Delicious cupcakes from Magnolia Bakery. Note that two are already missing.

There they are...or the leftovers.

Elizabeth and Kris - after enjoying yummy cupcakes.

Saturday – Halloween in NYC. Yikes – the crazy people. First of all, don’t you usually just wear a costume on Halloween? Not in NYC. There were people in them on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. People there definitely enjoy dressing up costumes.

Debra, who has been to New York multiple times, suggested that we have lunch at a restaurant called “Peanut Butter & Co.” WHAT? A restaurant that makes everything with peanut butter? Heavenly!! We trained it back down to Greenwich Village for that deliciousness. We decided to get four sandwiches and just split them so we could try as many as possible.

Here they are in order of deliciousness:

Fluffernutter: creamy peanut butter, marshmallow fluff on wheat

Cookie Dough Surprise: creamy peanut butter, chocolate chips, and vanilla cream cheese on wheat

The Elvis: crunchy peanut butter, bananas, honey, toasted on wheat

Black and Tan: crunchy peanut butter, chocolate syrup, toasted on wheat


I bought a recipe book from the store, so, be prepared if I have to bring anything to your house – food-wise. It will contain peanut butter.

Yuminess!!!!

All four different sandwiches. The chips were needed to cleanse our palates.


We trained back up to Times Square and had tickets to see the musical, Chicago. Kris and I wanted to belt out the tunes because she has had the soundtrack since the movie came out and we knew all the words. We managed to keep our mouths closed….it was hard.

Kris and Debra walking to the theatre.

Elizabeth, me, Debra, and Kris after the show.


Afterwards, Elizabeth and I went downtown to meet up with Celeste, who was in town visiting another friend, Mallory. Mallory is attending fashion school in New York and has a kick ass apartment near the water. We also met her two friends, Freda and Andrew. We wanted to go to the Halloween parade that started in Greenwich Village. Due to some costume malfunctions, we didn’t leave Mallory’s until late. The subway was jammed with everyone headed to the parade.

Unfortunately, it was raining and the streets were way too crowded, so, we didn’t get to see the parade. That did not deter us (of course). We went to a bar near the parade route and had a few beers while doing some serious people watching. It was great seeing everyone’s costume…before you ask, Elizabeth and I did not dress up and we got crap from EVERYONE about it. How were we to know that everyone in New York dressed up for Halloween? Don’t’ worry…everyone who saw us, gave us crap for it. We had a blast that night. We went to three or four different bars…stopped at one gay bar for our new best friend Andrew, so he could check out the scene, and talked a doorman into letting us use his building’s employee bathroom. We ended up getting back to our hotel around 2:45am and had to be super quiet since the other girls were getting up at 5:30am to get ready for the marathon.

Elizabeth - trying to keep her hair dry from the rain.




Elizabeth, me and Celeste (she had on an '80s costume...very cute!)



Adorable little boy and Waldo on the Subway.

All we saw of the Halloween parade.

Elizabeth and me - soaked.

The group at the bar. Freda, Andrew, Celeste, Elizabeth, Me and Mallory.

Elizabeth and Celeste after a few beers.

Beauty Queen with creepy lizard guy.

Elizabeth and Celeste with Gumby.

Creepiest outfit that we saw. Super sweet girl, though.

The area where the doorman let us the employee-only bathroom.

The cologne in the bathroom area.....oh dear.

After waiting 40 minutes for the train....this is what pulls up. They have a freaking trash only train!!!! We were pissed...and also freaked...saw a sewer rat right after that. Gross!

Elizabeth's injury from the night. She was so busy looking at everyone's costume, she failed to look where she was going and walked into a concrete barrier.

Sunday was the big day. Kris and Debra left about 6am to get to the start line. Elizabeth and I got to sleep in for awhile, then watch the professional men and women race in its entirety before heading to mile 16 to see and cheer Debra and Kris on. Another of Elizabeth’s friends, Mindy, lived in New Jersey and had a friend who was also running so she came to our hotel to hang out with us and cheer her friend on. We somehow missed Debra at mile 16 (she must have been speedy) and almost missed Kris. We got to scream and shake our sign that we made for them.

We had some time before cheering them on again at mile 25, so, we headed to Dylan’s candy shop. They have bulk candy!!! Skittles (the worst candy in the world for you to eat), chocolate covered pretzels, sour candy and even chocolate covered gummy bears. There was also a candy that was called Chicken Feet that Elizabeth got, but, she said they were not that good. We hustled to mile 25 in Central Park to cheer on our girls. We may have gotten a few dirty looks while we were cheering…we were also eating our candy. I don’t think the runners were very pleased with us for that one. We tried to hide it behind our sign.

The girls - pre-race.

Kris at mile 16. That is a fake smile, by the way. She was not pleased after crossing the Queensboro bridge.

Our quick stop between cheering at mile 16 and 25.

They had a chocolate fountain - in the store!!!

The cheer squad!

Debra - looking great at mile 25.

We busted into the candy while waiting for Kris. Note the dirty looks from the runners.

Kris - delirious at mile 25.

It was a low key dinner and watching a movie in our room night after the race. Kris and Debra both did GREAT in the race and got their medals. However, both were completely pooped and sore. Debra headed to her Uncle’s apartment after the race so we were down to three. Bubba Gump’s for dinner and Musics & Lyrics on TBS. What else do you need?



Monday was our slow day. After a quick excursion to H&M for some shopping, we headed to a restaurant called “Burgers and Cupcakes”. Wouldn’t you go immediately to a restaurant named that? The portions were huge (why didn’t the waitress tell us this?) so we had to take our cupcakes to go. We were so full from lunch that we had to go back to the hotel and take a quick nap. Lethargy set in and we watched TV, messed around on the internet, and chatted the rest of the afternoon. We discussed going to The Met, Guggenheim, Empire State Building, etc, but, were just too tired from all our eating to get up and go. How’s that for lazy?

Best idea ever!! Well, maybe 2nd best. Peanut Butter restaurant is first!

Our huge lunch. We ordered sweet potatoes fries, onion rings and cheese fries.

So full, we had to take our cupcakes to go!

We had the best time and to top it all of: Elizabeth has decided to enter the lottery for the 2010 NYC marathon. She asked if I wanted to join her. Does she not remember my blog from last year? Heck NO!