Almost there!

Good news all around:
Tim PASSED his state exam to teach Math 4-8. YAY!!!
I am done with Accounting (forever!), and this is my last week of Economics. WOOHOO!!!
Then Friday thru Monday, it's off to Houston to see friends and family, and celebrate my birthday!! I'm not excited about getting older, but I am SUPER excited to see my friends, who I haven't seen since April 2009!!

Friday night we'll be going with Dad & Carol to Kemah Boardwalk for dinner, completely rebuilt after Hurricane Ike. http://www.kemahboardwalk.com/ I haven't been down there in years, so it should be nice to see all the changes. They also start a laser light show that evening, so that will be fun to see!

Saturday (my bday) I will have lunch with Michelle at Wings'n'More (our fav spot) http://www.wingsnmorehouston.com/, then that night we'll meet a big group of friends at The Abbey Pub http://www.abbeypub.net/ in Katy to see my friend's band, The Fab Five. http://www.thefab5.net/index1.htm My friend "Ringo Rod" is the drummer, and is a friend of ours from high school. They put on a really good show, and I haven't seen them since Dec 2008.

Sunday will be brunch with Michelle at Gravitas (where she used to be a pastry chef). http://www.gravitasrestaurant.com/ Then off to spend the day with Veronica, and I finally get to see her little grandbaby Kaylie. :)

We wanted to do the painting/wine thing at Pinot's Palette http://www.pinotspalette.com/, but they were all sold out, and they haven't opened the new location yet. :(

Then we'll drive back home on Monday, very tired and sad to leave again. Well, maybe not Tim, but I will be.....

We are so boring!

Tim has been studying relentlessly for his state exam next Monday (July 19), and I had 3 chapters of economics to read over the weekend (UGH!). I have ECON class tonite, and ACCTG class tomorrow night, which includes my first exam. I've already started on the final accounting project, which I had to start over like 3 times! Thank God for Excel, which we use exclusively for all our work!

This is all to say that WE DON'T DO ANYTHING RIGHT NOW EXCEPT STUDY, EAT, and SLEEP (and work, for me). Throw in a little bit of tv, taking care of our pets and the house, and taking the dog for walks, and there is our life presently. Aren't you just so jealous of us?? LOL....not!!

It'll all be over soon.....Serenity Now!!

Summer School......

is kicking my boo-tay!! Spent ALL of July 4th weekend studying. The only real break we took was to go see Eclipse on Saturday morning, had lunch out, and ran an errand. Otherwise, stuck in the house with my nose in the Accounting book. BORING!!!
But it will all be over by July 27th, and Economics will conclude on August 2nd.
Then it's off to Houston for my BIRTHDAY!!! :)
Hopefully we can stay away from Carol and her negative disposition as much as possible.
I just wanna see my FRIENDS!!! :)

Wondering.....

Wondering WHY my back hurts whenever I scrapbook for long periods of time.
Wondering WHY family members cannot get along, and therefore no longer speak to each other.
Wondering WHY family members don't participate at important life events for others.
Wondering WHY my "stepmother" has to be so mean to everyone.
Wondering WHY my dad stays with her, and why he gets on my nerves.
Wondering WHY it's so hard to get people to attend Bunco in the Summer.
Wondering WHY it's so freakin' hot in Texas!!
Wondering WHY family members never see each other when they live only 30-45 mins away in many directions.

But I have no answers..........

June update, updated

GEEZ, is it June already!?!? Last weekend was my niece Sara's graduation from high school and group graduation party. Both were a huge success! We also got to spend 3 hrs with my grandpa at the nursing home as well. We made him play dominoes, and his mind is still sharp! :)

My last class for the first Summer session is tonite, and since he drops our lowest quiz score, it doesn't matter what I get on my quiz tonite, I will still make an A in the class. I have an A in my other class as well, as I took my last quiz last night. So, I am maintaining my 4.0, which should help me next Spring when I apply for the IA/DoD scholarship program. But for now, I will have 11 days free from school! :)

Top 10 things I want to do with my "free time" (when not at work, of course!):
1. Get a massage!!! - DONE!
2. Get back to the gym - done 3 times
3. Catch up on Tivo - DONE!
4. Watch "Food, Inc." - DONE!
5. Watch other movies - sadly, this never got attempted :(
6. Scrapbook!!! - DONE, and finished Belize trip!
7. Go to a couple of scrapbook stores I finally found in my area - went to one store on Sat 6/12, the other may be this coming week (sale starting 6/24); made a run to Michaels on Sat 6/19 because I ran out of adhesive!!
8. Tan/read by the pool - DONE!
9. SLEEP - I do this one daily, but get extra sleep on Saturdays
10. Shop (maybe) - nope....

I'm not looking forward to my Economics class (YUK!), but I'm anxious to see what the professor is like. I hope he's good and helpful. I like my Accounting professor, and I'm sure this upcoming class will be as good as the one I took in the Spring. No class until June 21, YAY!! :)

April Update

Well, my Spring 2010 semester ended, and I am happy to say that I kept my 4.0!! I am so excited!! I also found out yesterday, that I am receiving some grant money for grad school for the Fall and Spring semesters, so I'm doubly excited!! My Summer semester starts this coming Saturday, and I will not allow myself to get behind this time; that was WAY too stressful of a week before a major vacation!! But I persevered and was successful, thank God!! :)

Our cruise vacation to the Eastern Caribbean was great and I got about 4-5 nights of much-needed quiet sleep. (No pets to wake me up to feed them!) By the time we got to Ft Lauderdale, and onto the cruise ship, we were EXHAUSTED!! Some islands, however, sound better than they are up-close. Nassau, Bahamas is decent, but there's not much to do there unless you have a LOT of $$ to spend going to Atlantis (all the beach areas are blocked to the general public, along with exhibits and walk-thru aquariums). St Maarten was not good....we rented a car and drove to a popular beach (part of which was a nude beach), and the people there were not friendly or helpful, they just want our $$. Seriously, $10/pp for a beach chair?? No thanks!! We did get to go to the place where the planes fly right over the beach, next to the airport, so that was cool. Our favorite place was St Thomas (awesome beach and snorkeling), but we almost missed our ship. Seriously, it was like a movie......the taxi drove us up to the dock, I paid the driver (Miller) $40, and we literally RAN to the gangway with people on their balconies cheering for us. It was crazy!! Our hearts were racing for fear of missing the boat, and we needed a stiff drink to calm ourselves down once we got to our cabin (after showers, of course). Grand Turk has a nice tourist/shopping area, with Margaritaville supplying the music/food/drinks/entertainment, along with a pool and nice beach right near the cruise ship pier. Jimmy Buffett's place sure does have high prices though. However, we went on a snorkeling boat trip, and stopped at 2 great snorkeling spots, played with stingrays, etc, and tried not to get any more sunburned. The only place I could find Diet Dr Pepper was in Nassau.

While our dog (Katie) was at my sister's, she decided to chew on my nephew's new baseball glove, so she got herself in a little bit of trouble this time around. The night we came back was my niece's senior prom, but we didn't get to see her til the next morning. She said it wasn't fun, and neither was the after party. She graduates on June 4th, with honors!! :) Then she's off to UNT in the Fall, so hopefully we'll get to see her more. My mom is working weekends as one of many security guards on a movie set in Granger, TX......the remake of "True Grit". She may get to actually see some actors this week, as they begin filming the last section of the movie. It stars Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, and Josh Brolin. We stopped by there on our way back to Dallas to see the set and visit with my mom. (It was too late to visit Grandpa in the nursing home; if you don't get there before lunch, he's asleep.) The huge makeup/costume tent is next to the hall where my cousin had her wedding reception 2 years ago.

Stuff bought for the cruise.....

Mid-March Update

OK, so I've started week 2 of my second 6 weeks of school. So far so good, and surprisingly I am actually enjoying the Accounting class! I was very nervous about it (given my undergrad history w/acctg), but I have a good feeling about it this time. I can take part 2 of this class during the first 6 weeks of Summer session, with the same professor and use the same book......that means save $$ on a book! Yay! :) I also just finished my Ch 1 homework (balance sheets), and all my answers were correct! :) What can I say, I get excited about small victories nowadays!

This also marks week #3 that Tim and I have been working out on weights together at the gym. I'll show that rude-ass trainer at the gym what's what! I don't need him to get a good workout! So far, we're doing good, and working out with weights 3x/wk. Today we do a new set of workouts for weeks 3&4. We're trying to be serious about this, because we're not getting any younger, and what I've tried so far hasn't helped me lose any weight. At this point, I have absolutely no desire to put on a bathing suit anytime soon. :(

Also, we've booked a cruise in April, celebrating the end of my first semester in grad school. Actually it's the only time we can plan a vacation (besides this coming Christmas) due to my very limiting school schedule, so we have to jump while we have the chance. We fly out of Austin to Ft Lauderdale and set sail on the Star Princess. We'll travel to Nassau, Bahamas; St Thomas; St Maarten; and Grand Turk. We dock back in Ft Lauderdale, fly back to Austin, then drive home the next day. This will be our 4th cruise, and the 3rd cruiseline we've travelled with. Hopefully Princess will live up to the high standards of its past, since we found out they were bought by Carnival. So.......we're at 33 days and counting!!! :)

Amazon Kindle

I recently bought a used Amazon Kindle on ebay because I like to read, and I'm tired of buying books that I have no room for in my house. Seriously, I have LOTS of books! And I am happy to say that I love my new Kindle! It's the old 6" screen, not the new 9" one, which is fine with me, because I wanted something book size, and something I could tuck in a bag or purse. I have one book so far, which I will attempt to read first, before getting more. But I think it's so cool! :)

Mini update

I finished my first 2 MBA classes on Tuesday, and am proud to say I did very well, two A's! :) As much as I study and have no other life outside of school and work, I'd better have A's!! But I'm on a mini-break until March 6, so we're going to see family this weekend (my grandpa in the nursing home, and my niece/goddaughter, who turns 18 next week). I really wanted to go to Houston to see friends, and my friend's new granddaughter, but family takes precedence this time around. (Sorry Veronica, Michelle, Debbie, Kim, and Dad & Carol.....maybe after the next 6 weeks' break from classes we can go to H-town for a long weekend!)

Waiting to see if any new jobs come up for me, so we can start planning a summer vacation. We have a super-limited window, so hopefully everything will work out. Dena & Brady can't make it this year, so instead of an Alaskan cruise, we're looking at one in the Southern Caribbean. This means I have to be in semi-good shape before summer gets here......UGH!!!

Bad....

I am so bad about updating my blog! Since our anniversary on Dec 19, we have been on a week-long Christmas/ski trip to Santa Fe, and to visit Tim's brother in Albuquerque on our way back home. We also celebrated New Years 2010 with our dear friends Robert & Lucy, and I went to visit my friend Dena in Kansas City from Jan 7-11. Then I started my MBA classes at the University of Dallas on Jan 16th, so I've been studying a lot, so that I can be successful in my endeavors. I also went to my cousin's baby shower on Jan 16 and got a root canal done on Monday, after having a temporary crown on for a week and a half. It has been a very busy month so far, and not all of it fun either. TOOTH PAIN SUCKS PEOPLE!!

More updates and pictures to come, I just don't have the time right now, and I need to download them all from my camera. CHEERS!! :)

Our 11th Anniversary

OMG, I just realized that I haven't mentioned our 11th Wedding Anniversary on December 19th!! I guess because we spent most of that day shopping and getting ready for our ski trip to Santa Fe on December 21st! Now the anniversary, trip, Christmas, and New Year's have already come and gone......where the hell did 2009 go?!?! Time flies by so quickly when you get older, and it really sucks. You plan things and wait for them to get here, and then they're over and done with before you know it. This year we went to Belize in June and New Mexico in December, and we're working on going on an Alaskan cruise in August 2010. But for now it's back to work, and also I start working on my MBA in just a few days. Hope 2010 is even better than 2009! Happy Anniversary Tim, and many more to come......you're the best, and I love you! :-)