Twilight Party

I've been waiting for this day to come for a LONG time now & it finally did! My Twilight party! It all started when Regina went to one in Dallas. After she told me all about it, I couldn't wait to start planning mine. I used the same games they had at theirs because they were so great I knew I couldn't come up with anything better. It turned out so much better than I thought!

Here are the invitations.

Here's some of the decorations. The tiny red things you see on the walls are quotes from the book. The Jeopardy game was a big hit!

Here we are playing a candy game. I think my favorite decorations were the paper lanterns hanging from the ceiling. I would keep them up all the time if they matched my walls. We all had a great time & can't wait for the movie!

My Latest Craze

The one in the middle is from Old Navy & the ends are Target.

Today I went to Target to get a wedding gift for a friend & was distracted by these cute holiday shirts! Yes, I'm one of THOSE people who buys a shirt for every holiday, sometimes more than one! I get them from Old Navy & Target, but this year Target has a new brand called L.O.L. Vintage which has made me so happy! It's hard to resist them...especially when they're only $10. So snag you one! These are just the tip of the iceberg. I have a Halloween, Valentine's Day, & 2 more Christmas shirts sitting in my closet. The ones above are just the recently purchased ones.

Well Look Who It Is

Lane went to hear a naval doctor speak & lo & behold it was the bachelor, Andy Baldwin! It was just a small group of people he was speaking to about the benefits of enlisting in the Navy & being their doctor. At the end, all the girls were taking pictures with him & Lane was like, "What about me? I swear I'm not gay, but my wife won't believe me unless there's proof." So here you have it. I was pretty excited to see the picture & hear that he's not all "Mr. Magoo" like he acted on the Bachelor.

Our New President

President Vice President

I woke up this morning feeling sick...and for good reason. We now have a new President and it wasn't who I was hoping for. America has chosen Barack Obama, a man with only 2 years of experience as a Senator, as our president for the next 4 years. They've chosen someone who wants to get rid of the flag and Pledge of Allegiance. I guess that is the "change" they've been waiting for. Just because a man can speak eloquently and very persuasively, does NOT qualify him for president. He's just a great public speaker that makes things sound better than they really are. I can make an ice cream sundae sound like the best choice for you. But in the end, it's STILL an ice cream sundae full of fat and too many calories! Barack Obama is just an ice cream sundae, and his cherry on top is Joe Biden, a man who on more than one occasion has published works that have been plagerized. Good choice America. I hope things don't turn out as badly as speculated in the next 4 years. But I have a feeling Republicans are going to get to say a big fat I TOLD YOU SO!

26 Years Young

I can't believe I'm actually 26! I should feel all mature, but I don't & I'm not. I still feel like I'm 22 with a few exceptions. Maybe my mind will stay at that age. Here's the awesome cake Lane made for me. I'm still impressed how he got the sprinkles in the shape of 26.

This afternoon we had a picnic at a park while listening to a jazz band play. The weather was so nice & it was great to relax. The location was pretty cool because it's in the middle of downtown, you have all the tall buildings around you.

Tonight we ate cake & opened presents (my favorite part). One of my favorite cards I received was from my mom. It has a picture of a dachshund, which resembles my dog when she was younger. It was so cute! I got lots of gifts including money (always need that!), a movie, gift cards for ice cream & makeup (yea!), an apron (I've been wanting to make one, but this makes it so much easier!). Lane got me a jewelry cleaner & a pair of jeans that I've been wanting forever!

All in all, my birthday was wonderful. In fact I'm sad that it's ending :( Thank you to all of you who made it great by calling, sending cards & gifts & being great friends!

Pre-Birthday

Every year for my birthday, my dad gives me yellow roses. I thought I wasn't going to get them this year since I'm in Houston, but my dad surprised me with a beautiful delivery! I was so happy to get them! This is the first time I've spent my birthday away from my family, so I'm sad I will be missing out on a few traditions. But at least this one was not lost. Thanks dad!

Since my birthday falls on a Sunday this year, it kind of puts a damper on things. We have to go to church, which won't be over until 2pm. Plus, we can't go to dinner since it's Sunday. So...we had a pre-birthday dinner on Saturday. We went to El Tiempo Cantina & gorged ourselves on fajitas. They were SO good! One interesting thing happened while we were at dinner. An old guy who works there comes up to our table for no reason & starts talking. What he said was quite surprising... "When life gives you limes, make a glass of sweet lemonade & ____ everyone!" Thank you for that! Just what we wanted to hear on our night out.

MURDER at the Juice Joint

Last night we celebrated Halloween with a murder mystery. Everyone played a character & had
to complete different objectives throughout the night. It took place at Rosie's speakeasy. Her husband was shot in the head & found dead at the bottom of the river. Above is the newspaper & invitation everyone received. Then you have the "Rosie's" sign along with the wall of gangsters. The whole night turned out great. Everyone did such a good job getting into their characters.

Notorious Nick (Northside Mob Boss) was killed at the party.

Rosie, owner of the Juice Joint.

Chief Cameron..aka..Murderer!

P.I. Pinkerton taping off the body. Bernie Booze in the background.

Kitty Cocktail & Cy Ramsey

Southside Sal(Southside Mob Boss) & Cindy Butt(Cigarette Girl)

Notorious Nick & Molly Moll (gold digger)

So in the end, Chief Cameron killed Notorious Nick because he found out Nick was going to replace him with Cy Ramsey as Chief. The funny thing is that no one accused the Chief! I guess we would all fail as private investigators.

Master Carvers

Us with our works of art.

All lit up.

Tonight Lane & I watched one of my all time favorites "Garfield's Halloween". Garfield is one of my favorite cartoons. Maybe because I feel like I can relate to him. For instance, he likes to sleep, I like to sleep. He likes to eat, I like to eat. We're really one in the same. Anyway, afterward we carved our pumpkins. I stuck with the old original design. Lane on the other hand got a little more creative. I think they turned out great!

Mustang Island

This weekend we went to visit Lane's grandparents in Beeville & decided to make a weekend of it & head down to Mustang Island that night to camp. The weather was perfect! It was so much fun. We set up our tent right on the beach! Lane worked on getting the fire going. He had to convince me that he really was an Eagle Scout. For some reason, every time we try to build a fire, it never works very well. But after a while he got one going with the help of the duraflame. There were so many stars in the sky & it was nice to just listen to the waves all night.

Here's the view from our tent with a little added decoration:) I'm so glad we had a free weekend where we could squeeze in a little fun.

Good Times

Tonight we went over to a friend's house to hang out. I have to say, it was the most fun I've had in a while. We made caramel apples which were SOOOO delicious! These apples were probably as big as both of your fists put together! We also jammed out to Rock Band. This was the 1st time I've played this game & it was so much fun! I'm very tempted to go out & buy an x-box just so we can have it. Last we watched the movie "Invincible". I had been wanting to see this movie forever, but never got around to it. I loved it! It was inspirational, based on a true story & about football. What more could you ask for? I highly recommend it! Thanks Katie & Daniel for a great night!

Prized Pupil

Lane spent his summer doing research on diabetes and today they had a contest. Each lab created a poster displaying their findings and had to present it and be involved in a question & answer with professors. Lane won! He got a blue ribbon & plaque. He also got a small cash prize & gets to fly somewhere for the national competition. He tries to downplay how smart he is all the time, but to me he's a genius. I'm so proud of him!

Dewberry Farms

This is our 2nd year to come to Dewberry Farms in Katy, TX. This time we got there while the sun was still out & we were able to walk through the pumpkin patch & pick our favorites. These were the 2 beauties we decided on. I really worked for these. We had to lug them 1/2 mile to the front to pay for them & then another 1/4 mile to put them in the car! They each weighed 25 pounds! We were all sweaty before we even got inside the place.

Most everything to do there is geared towards families with children, but did that stop us?...NO! We made the most of it for sure. This giant slide looks like a lot more fun than it really is. I expected to go faster.

This would have to be my favorite. It's called the human gerbil wheel & you can see why. We were laughing so hard as we were running inside this. Notice Lane stretched himself as far as he could go so he could spin completely upside down as it rolled.

Yes I made everyone stop & take a picture at this goofy farmer scene. I couldn't resist!

You can't tell, but we're actually sitting in a tiny barrel painted to look like an ear of corn. A tractor was pulling the train. Now this ride could have been pretty slow & boring, but Lane & Christian kept it lively for the entire ride with their hoots & hollers & throwing their hands in the air & eventually getting the rest of the riders to follow suit.

The last thing we did, I didn't get a picture of...the swings. It was the kind that swung them around in a circle. And they weren't really swings as much as they were a rope with a sand bag tied to it. We actually didn't ride them. We just observed for a long time. We felt kind of bad taking turns away from kids because there were only 4 swings. Towards the end, the boys both ran in & would swing the other kids who they didn't know around as fast as they could. This turned out to be the funniest thing I've ever witnessed. I've never seen so many kids fly off & one even knocked Lane off his feet! Every time some one would get off a swing, Lane & Christian would yell "OPEN BAG!" You could see everyone charge the swing. One time Christian grabbed it & this short chubby kid jumped on him! Ahh, good times!

Our Lives Published

My book is very basic. I could have put a picture on the front, but I didn't want to.

Excuse my fingers!

As you can see, there's different layouts to choose from.

Ever since Paige wrote about this website (blurb.com) she found that changes your blog into a book, I've been meaning to check it out. A couple of weeks ago I finally did. It's the coolest thing! I plan on making one for every year I have a blog. My 2007 book just arrived today & I've already read it cover to cover. It's so cute! I kept it pretty basic for my first time. Now that I got the hang of it, I know the next one will be even better. I love the idea of it. If you haven't looked into it, you should!

Problems

We've had a pretty stressful week & to top it all off, our car blew up. It's not as bad as it sounds. I went to get into the car & then turned it on & all of a sudden I heard BOOM! Then I start to see smoke coming out of the front left side of the hood. My first thought was, Oh no, did someone put a bomb in my car?? Then I was afraid to open the door in case that would trigger the car to explode. Don't ask me why I thought that could be a possibility. I have a wild imagination. I told Lane & when he opened the hood we saw the top part of the battery had popped off. So we had to call roadside assistance, which by the way is a very easy system to use! They came an hour later & towed our car to the dealership. Then this morning we drove our moped over there to get a rental. We opted for the Mazda 3. I have to say I like it! It has good get up & go. For a split second we thought about trading our Jeep in for one because we thought it would be half the price & half the gas. But when we looked it up on the internet, we discovered they're about the same price as the Jeep. So we'll stick with what we have for now.

Strange School

For my job I go into schools every day. Well this one particular school I found very interesting. As I was walking down the hall I see this life size cut out of Barack Obama. Hmmm...I thought. I kept walking & turned down another hall. On this wall they have paintings of different things. The last one was of Barack & his wife wearing pins that say vote. What? Are you serious? This school is totally biased! No where in sight is there a picture of McCain or even our PRESIDENT! Just Barack. For this sole reason, I hope Barack loses! That way they'll have to paint over his stupid picture. Now I don't care who you vote for, but schools should NOT influence that. First & foremost, they should have a picture of the president up before a presidential candidate. Second, they should paint over his wife & put McCain next to him. That way the kids KNOW there is someone else running. Ahh, I wanted to slap them all. Sheesh!