Trip Around the Sun

Hello dolls,

I hope y'alls week is going well so far! This is an EXTREMELY busy week for me. On top of getting everything ready for this weekend, celebrating 4 years with my kick ass boyfriend and cleaning my annoyingly dirty slightly messy apartment, I have some MAJOR primping to do on yours truly before I can be seen as The Birthday Girl. 3 hour hair appointment, I am coming your way!

For those of you that don't know I am turning the BIG 2-3 next Sunday and will be celebrating with about 37 people this Saturday night with dinner, dancing and drinks. I feel so blessed/slightly paranoid that I have so many wonderful friends that want to come out and celebrate with me

I am one of those people that thinks every birthday is a really big deal. I feel like it's your own personal "New Years". It's your day and a good reason to celebrate the past year. Over the past few weeks I began to reflect back on the past crazy, eventul, dog tired after starting a real job, high on life year. I started a new life in Houston last July and began my new job/current job on August 30th of 2010. It wasn't exactly what I imagined doing when sitting in business/sports management classes at A&M, but I have a great boss and it pays the bills. My new position that I have recently taken with the Texans has become a huge step towards my dream job and I hope that with hard work that dream will come true with the next trip around the sun. To be continued...

I have made some great new friends and learned a lot about myself. I feel like I have grown up a lot in the past 12 months. People tell you that you grow so much during those college years but that first year out is a BIG learning experience, especially if you are living on your own. Even though things got tough sometimes I wouldn't a single second of it.

When I was looking through pictures from the past year the ones below (In no particular order) are a few that stood out in my mind. I'd like to look at this as a reflection on the past year and looking forward to another great one!

August 2010- Oddly enough the first one happend nearly a year ago. This picture is from my birthday last year. It was a great start to my new life in Houston and I will always remember dancing the night away with some of my best friends.

September 2010- A big part of this past year was the new friends I made in Houston. One of those new friends was my name twin Danielle. I met Danielle through a mutual friend nearly a year ago and it seems when I think of my first few months in  Houston, I always think of her. I see many good times in the future with this girl.

October 2010- Got to go back to College Station Aggieland and hang out with  some of my best friends for Halloween weekend. Spent Friday and Saturday night on North Gate and we BTHO tech. It was a perfect weekend.

December 2010-OKAY! BEFORE YOU ALL START HATIN', yes this is a picture of Kobe Bryant. And yes I think is amazing, and YES I nearly had a panic attack the entire first quarter when I got to go see him play last December with my anonymous best guy friend (see stars in my sky tab).  It was seriously one of the best nights of the year.

March 2010-I love going to concerts, but I don't go to too many because I can't see paying 50 plus dollars for a ticket to see someone  play unless I REALLY like them. So when I heard Keith Urban was coming to the 2011 Houston Livestock and Rodeo Show I jumped all  over  that, and BONUS-the tickets where only 30 dollars a pop and we were in the bottom bowl. 

November 2010-What an incredibly fun night. Spent it out in Bellville with the "Family". Couldn't have had a better time. And as you can see from the "Beer Pyramid" (Sorry Egyptians for comparing your wonder of the world to this example of ridiculousness) that we went back to College that night, in our minds at least. Have no fear though, no Aggies were harmed during this away game weekend.

August 2010- A good friend informed me this week, exactly one year ago, we brought this little piece of heaven on Earth home. She  stole my heart during the first 5 minutes of the ride home, even though she cried the first 45 minutes. 

Clearly she did not just steal my heart...
:)

Getting Chanel was probably the best part about this year. Even though we had our fair share of puppy frustrations, I wouldn't trade her for anything is this world. I love her so much and I had no idea how much joy such a unique looking Aussie would bring to my life. 

December 2010-This was my first Christmas tree on my own! I know what your thinking...umm what is up with the white, blue, purple theme? Well I just wanted to do something different and  I am really glad I did. It was my little piece of Christmas in my little apartment. 

  

March 2011- Mardi Gras=National Holiday in my book. My Cajun background is responsible for this thought. I got the wonderful privilege of going to Mardi Gras in Galveston with Trev and 3 other great friends. This picture was actually taken BEFORE we even got down to the big party. Clearly we came prepared. It was a great memory and I am pretty sure we are going back for more next year.



March 2010- March was a busy month for us! Fast Forward to the weekend after Mardi Gras and we are in Austin celebrating Ashley's bachelorette party. Made some memories and some new friends. Can't beat that.



July 2010-The picture above contains many of my absolute favorite people on the planet. 4th of July weekend we made a trip to Schiltterbaun Galveston. The park was great, the rides were even better and the company was the best.



If you know me AT ALL, you know I cannot stand don't particularly care for children at this point in my life. Well one of my best friends, Jessica,  found out back in April that she was having a baby. The night of this particular picture, her and JB made the announcement they were having a baby girl, Makenzie Lynn. I genuinely was incredibly happy for her and JB and I truly cannot wait to see their beautiful baby girl when she makes her grand entrance in December.

Valentine's Day 2011. Trevor took me on a weekend trip to Galveston. This picture is from dinner Friday night. From watching the sunrise Saturday morning to strolling the strand all day Saturday, it was a very sweet and romantic weekend that I will never forget.

June 2011- Not only was this my first vacation that I paid for on my own (Spring Break in college does not count kids) but it was a cruise to Belize, Honduras, and Cozumel. It was so much fun and the people I went with made it even better. Couldn't have asked for a better summer vacation. If I could live on a cruise ship, I totally would.



So there is my random flash back of great times from Chapter 22 of my life. I am slightly nervous to start 23 because I don't particularly like odd numbers (strange, I know) but hopefully all will be fine. As a huge Jimmy Buffet stalker fan I live my life inspired by many of his songs. This one in particular I always end up listening to a lot when August rolls around each year. I think it's a great message and an awesome song. It's called "Trip Around the Sun"-By Jimmy Buffett featuring Martina McBride. There is a particular line that says "Only time will tell if it was time well spent" and that is kind of how I want to live my life, no regrets, not worrying about everything, because eventually time will tell you if your decesion was good or not. You can't predict the future so you might as well enjoy the ride. 

Until next time,

have a great hump-day dolls.

Hump Day Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down

It's been one heck of a busy week. When you boss is on vacation, for me at least, that = A LOT more work. Because people are constantly calling me and trying to get me to do the same thing my boss with 25 + years of experience does. Clearly I am not as capable of certain tasks.

But enough about stupid work. The week is half way over! (Got to look at the glass half full) Only 2 more days then Trevor, Chanel (She's a peach to travel with) and I will be going back to Bridge City for the weekend for my friend Shannon's wedding. We are also looking forward to spending time with my crazy dysfunctional family and getting to see old friends. BONUS-My housewife will be home this weekend too. Double win.

As for the rest of this post, I believe I'm just going to go with some thumbs up/thumbs down of this week/previous weekend so far.

Thumbs Up:
1.Going to the Tasting Room at City Center on Friday night with Trev and two of my long time wonderful friends who just happen to be married. We sat outside and the weather was wonderful. They also had a band that was really good and also very funny. The wine, of course, was really good. Seriously though, I have been friends with the Surbers for nearly 5 years now and over those past 5 years they have become two of not only mine, but Trevor's really good friends. They are wonderful people and I do really enjoy random wine nights with them. :)
2. Getting to "Wobble" on Saturday night at Rebel's on Washington Street. I seriously haven't got to do that line dance since the cruise. It's fun.
3. Black Eyed Pea on Sunday yummmmmmmmm.
4. Monday runday with Chanel.
5. Last night's new Pretty Little Liars episode. I'm seriously obsessed with that show. I think it's great. "It's open season BFF's and I'm hunting liars."-(love that line)
6. Quality time the the BF during week nights that get me through the work day.
7.  Getting my nails done on Monday which greatly improved my quality of living.
8. Pinot's Pallet tonight with the girls. It's the genius idea that you get a group of women in a class room where they show you how to paint a specific picture, each class is a different painting. The real kicker is you drink wine and have snacks while you paint. Makes for some good times and better paintings??? (maybe). I'll update you more on this little adventure tomorrow.

Thumbs Down:
1. America losing the World Cup in the 117th minute on Sunday. That was really heartbreaking.
2. My drink tab Saturday night at Rebels....
3. Being 45 minutes late for work today. I woke up at about 7:02 ...Doesn't sound to bad except for the fact that I am suppose to be at work at 7:00. Yeah...needless to say I went into panic mode and ran like a wild animal to get ready and get out of the house as fast as possible. I think poor Chanel was traumatized. Don't worry, I gave her peanut butter and she was perfectly happy with life.
4. The guy at the gym yesterday that sounded as if one of 4 following choices were happening; A) He was giving birth B) He swallowed an entire cat and was trying to cough it up C) He was having lung surgery and they forgot to put him under or D) He was getting kicked repeatedly it his dough boy tummy by Chuck Norris. Y'all, not kidding this guy was horrible, loud, and annoying. He would also drop the weights after he was done with his 5 effin reps. Like read the sign Mr. Hogan-"Please DO NOT drop the weights". I believe next time I have to work out next to the chump I will let him know, although he's probably too stupid from all the steroids and supplements to under stand. I'll keep you posted.
5. Eyebrow waxing on Monday. Unlike a friend of mine, CoughjessicaCough, I do not enjoy the feeling of hot wax ripping hairs off my eye brow, but hey beauty hurts. (Love you Jess)
6. Getting yelled/cat-called at on Monday while running on the canal by...well, let's see... "Hispanics" that couldn't have been over the age of 16. NO child, I am not your "senorita" and this is AMERICA, if your going to holler at me at least do it in ENGLISH!
7. The cable company Ygnition. If I could blow up every one of their buildings and get away with it I totally would. My apartment complex has a contract and you have to use them. THEY ARE THE WORSE CABLE PROVIDER IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

Halfway through everyone, we just have to hang on 2 more days...

Happy Hump-Day Dolls.

P.S.-This song is on as I write this blog and I thought I would share, makes me smile...:)
 I come from the land down under