ACU is the new black.

I listen to Kidd Kraddick in the Morning every morning on my way to work. For those of you who don't know, Kidd Kraddick in the Morning is a morning radio show that broadcasts out of Dallas. I grew up listening to the show on my way to school and am very proud to say it is one of the best morning shows in the United States (according to statistics, as well as my own opinion).

Anyway, one of the Lubbock affiliate stations airs it and so I like to listen to the show on my way to work because it is often pretty entertaining. This morning I hopped into my car, as usual, and flipped on the radio only to find that it was a commerical break. I hate listening to commerical breaks so I flipped it off until I got about halfway to work. When I flipped it back on, I heard Kidd say, "The ACU President said the iphones would help students...first university in the country to do this..."

ACU? Iphones!? Wait a minute...they're talking about Abilene Christian University on the radio! If you haven't heard, ACU is giving all incoming freshman an iphone. Apparently, the country thinks this is pretty big news. Preston and I were pretty impressed the other day when ACU made the New York Times' front page in an article about the iphones, but hearing it on the radio was pretty exciting. I don't know why. It's not like I'm getting a free iphone. Though the radio announcers did say something about trying to get a free iphone if you were an alumni. I thought that wasn't a bad idea. Anyway, who'd have thought ACU would ever be the trendsetter of the nation?

I just went online and re-listened to the radio show from this morning so I could hear the whole story. If you want to listen, you can, but I think you have to do it today because they update the webcast every day. Go here: http://www.kiddlive.com/default.asp. Click on the link on the right side of the page that says: watch today's show live webcast. And then you have to watch the show. About 15 minutes into the show, they start talking about ACU.

Go Wildcats.

My Calling

I know what I want to do with my life. I was watching Rachel Ray the other day and she had a woman on the show who is a Wedding Proposal Planner. Basically this woman charges uncreative rich men 5 to 30 thousand dollars to plan their proposals to their girlfriends. Are you kidding me? I would be so good at that! On Rachel Ray, they showed a particular proposal that this woman had done in which the girlfriend went on a scavenger hunt and in the end met her boyfriend on the beach. Rachel Ray asked the woman how much she charged for a proposal like that. The woman said $5,000. Really? That's like the oldest trick in the book?! I mean, who hasn't done a scavenger hunt proposal? All this woman does is interview the guy about the couple's dating history, creates a proposal that works for both of them and then make sure it all goes smoothly! That's it! So if you know anyone with a lot of cash, a serious girlfriend and a terrible imagination, please call me. I need a career.

Last blog about New York...its time.

Days 5 and 6: On Day 5 we met the moms at their hotel before heading off to breakfast. When we arrived, Anna and Jane decided to wait in line at the hotel to check their bags (the line was REALLY long) while me, Morgan (who had flown in the day before...not sure if I mentioned that yet), mom and Robin headed off to find the breakfast diner. As soon as we headed outside we noticed the sky was an orangish-green color. Being from Texas, we knew that meant a storm was coming. Not 5 minutes later, a crack of thunder hit the sky and that's when we started running. Annie had told us that New York doesn't ever get bad storms, so when there is a storm, New Yorkers freak out. Well that's exactly what they all did. We finally arrived at the diner and it started pouring and hailing about 30 seconds after we made it inside. At about this time, Annie texted me to tell me that everyone at her work was glued against the window in awe at the rain. Pretty funny. Poor Jane and Anna got caught at the hotel and had to wait a bit for the storm to die down before meeting us at the diner.

After breakfast we all decided to part ways. Morgan headed to the Trump Hotel to wait for the Jonas Bros. They were staying there and if they were going to return or leave...she was going to be there to witness it. Robin, me and mom visited Wall Street. We wanted to watch the trading but apparently after 9/11 they stopped allowing the public to watch. Makes sense. We also went to a random shopping mall on the pier and happened to get a great view of the water from one of the balconies at the pier. If you look closely you can see a waterfall on the bridge on the right side of the picture. They were designed by some famous artist and they're pretty cool...

After Wall Street we spent about an hour trying to find this authentic Chinese food restaurant in China Town that Annie had recommended to us. Way too much trouble in the end. By the way, it is at about this point that I discovered that my foot was really hurting. I was having trouble walking and getting a little frustrated so we decide after this we didn't want to walk very much. On their last trip to New York, Morgan and mom had taken a bike ride through Central Park and mom wanted me and Robin to do it too. It wasn't ride your own bike, it was a guy who rode a bike and pulled us behind in a little carriage. I was ecstatic to do this because my foot was killing me by this point.

So after we checked on Morgan at the Trump hotel, this one particular guy hounded us to let him take us on his bike and assured us that he could fit 3 people in his carriage. So me, mom and Robin hop in and we're on our way. Now of course, the guy is foreign. He attempts to tell us about the history of the park, but we really have no idea what he is saying. Robin just kept nodding and saying "uh huh" to everything he said. About 5 minutes into the bike ride we realize we are going considerably slower than the rest of the bike carriages. This poor guy is having quite a hard time with all 3 of us in his carriage. Most of the other guys are lugging couples of people...or 2 adults and a kid...not 3 women. So at our first stop, he shows us a statue of Christopher Columbus (maybe?) and I'm thinking I really don't want to get out of the carriage to take a picture with this boring statue because my foot hurts and I am perfectly happy inside the carriage, but the man keeps repeating, "You want picture? I take picture!" and he was really excited about it. Mom leaned over and said, "I think he needs a break from the bike...we have to take a picture." So we all get out and take a lame picture with this statue that I am now glad we took because its a good story. After the statue we stopped, oh just about every time it looked like the guy was going to have a heart attack or every time the bike made funny noises like it was about to fall into 10 pieces. We felt so bad for the poor guy...he was exhausted by the time we got to the end of our tour.

Here we are at the infamous statue. :)

After our tour we shopped a little on 5th Avenue, ate at a yummy local pizza restaurant, then headed to Serendipity's again for dessert to end the night...

Day 6: Me, mom, Morgan and Robin woke up early to try to get on Regis and Kelly to see the Jonas Bros. but by the time we got there, there was a loooong line. We knew there was no way we could get in so we just watched the Jonas Bros. arrive and then headed to Starbucks. Then we headed to Times Square to see if we could get into TRL. We didn't get in there either but we waited outside while the show was going on and we could see in through the windows during the show. I watched the episode later on tv and the cameras did scan the waiting viewers outside and though we were tiny little specks...we were there!

That was basically all we did that day. We met up with Annie to say good-bye and then headed to the airport! Dad met us at the airport in Dallas and brought me, Mo and mom a flower and then when I got to Lubbock Preston met me with a bouquet as well! That trip was the longest we've been away from each other since we've been married and we made it!


As for current news, we are having a lot more fun in Lubbock now that our friends from ACU have moved into town. We spent the entire weekend hanging out with Chase and Taryn and Mark and Elizabeth (friends we met who are from Baylor) and we can't wait to hang out with Kayla and Lance who moved in this weekend!!!

New York: Day 5

Day 5: Day 5 was a Sunday so we woke up and went straight to church at an old Catholic church near Annie's apartment. I should remember the name...but I don't. It was a pretty church though! It looked like several of the churches I visited when I studied abroad in Europe.

On our way back from church and on our way to brunch we stopped through another street market to browse briefly. Then we headed to the lunch at a cute little Italian restaurant that had been featured in the movie Sex and the City. I don't recommend seeing this movie if you haven't already...I was a little more than shocked at the adult content in it, but if you have already seen it, we went to the restaurant in the scene where Charlotte curses the day Big was born. Aside from it's fame, the restaurant had great food and an incredibly polite staff. I'd recommend going if you're ever in New York! Here's a couple pictures:



After lunch we decided to take a little stroll through Central Park. Halfway through our stroll it began to drizzle so we decided it might be better to head towards 5th Avenue and take cover in the shops. As we were about to head that way, Cassie (mine and Robin's roommate from college and one of the bridesmaids in my wedding) called and she happened to be about 3 blocks from where we were! She had just finished a camp she does during the summers in New York and she had just returned to city before heading back to Texas! SO Robin and I headed off to say hello to her while the others headed to 5th Avenue.


After chatting a bit with Cas, Robin and I made our way back through Central Park towards 5th Avenue. At this point it was definitely raining and we definitely had an umbrella made for one, so we hustled to cover in the nearest department store. The rest of the day was filled with shopping, or really browsing since I didn't really buy anything. I mean what am I going to buy in Tiffany's. One piece of jewelry costs more than I make in an entire year. After shopping we headed towards the theatre district for our last Broadway play: Spam-A-Lot. We ate a snack at a healthy frozen yogurt place call Red Mango and then headed to the show with plenty of time to spare...no running this time.

Spam-a-Lot was hilarious. I kept wishing my dad, brothers and Preston were there to enjoy it with us. We were all rolling the entire time. It's based off of the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail and starred Stephen Collins (the dad on 7th Heaven, also in many movies such as the First Wives Club and Because I Said So) as King Arthur and Drew Lachey (he was on Dancing with the Stars, used to be a member of the boy band 98 Degrees and is the brother of Nick Lachey, Jessica Simpson's ex-husband) as the guy who follows King Arthur and claps the coconuts together.

One of the funnier parts of the show happened when one of the characters made a joke regarding John Edwards' recent affair. Apparently in this part of the show, the character changes his joke every couple of nights to fit the current events. Well on this particular night, no one really laughed at his joke, because no one caught it. Right after he said the joke, and because no one laughed, the character said, "Looks like we won't be using that line Tuesday night." Everyone just burst into laughter after that, INCLUDING the cast! Stephen Collins (King Arthur) couldn't even say his next line he was so tickled. No one could recover! That was when I really wished Preston had been there. He loves when stuff like that happens. It's just so much funnier for some reason when the actors laugh too.

After the show, me, Robin, mom and Morgan waited around for autographs and pictures with the cast. We spoke with and took pictures with both Drew Lachey and Stephen Collins. Both men were incredibly kind but I have to tell you, Stephen Collins went out of his way to make everyone feel special. He asked every person who took a picture with him or asked for his autograph what they were doing in New York, who they were traveling with, etc. He was just genuinely a really nice guy. The most friendly celebrity I have ever met for sure. Here are our pictures with both of them:

Drew Lachey...

Stephen Collins...

By the way, I meant to put this picture up on Day 4, but I forgot...this is mom wearing dad's Favre jersey AROUND HER WAIST! Who does that, you may ask? My mother. Her and Carol loved the attention so much from the first day, they had to wear them again on the second day. Luckily mom took hers off and stuffed it in her purse halfway through the day because she was afraid someone was going to rip it off of her and steal it...


Don't worry everybody...we were only in New York for 2 MORE DAYS! The novel is almost over. Then I'll be able to catch you up on current day activities such as what I am doing now: blogging and catching up on Rachel Ray episodes while Preston is at work. It's a strenuous lifestyle...I know.

New York: Day 4

Day 4: And so the saga continues. On Day 4 we began our day at the street fairs, which boasted several vendors of purses, scarves and great food. It was like the State Fair...you go more for the food than anything else. I had corn on the cob, a chocolate strawberry crepe, a smoothie, meat kabobs, lemonade...I’ll stop there.

Our next stop was China town. China town is the area of New York where several vendors, majority of them Chinese, barter to sell you knock-off designer bags, jewelry, sunglasses etc. It’s a great place to search for gifts and most fun on Saturdays according to Annie because it is the least likely day that cops raid the area for illegal activities. Of course our party of 9 women was a dead target as soon as we stepped off the subway. Every 5 minutes someone Chinese was slipping one of us a piece of paper with several purses on it and whispering, “You want dey-vey-dey (dvd)? You want dey-vey-dey? You like Tiffany’s bracelet? You need purse?” The streets are lined with vendors carrying clear knock-offs of Dooney and Burke and Coach purses but some designer purses, such as Louis Vuitton, were never displayed in plain sight. Now depending on the Chinese person who approached us determined our buying experience. Some sellers would have us glance at their paper of purses and point to the ones we wanted to see and then they would go get the purse and bring it back for us to view…in a trash bag. Thus the situation at our first vendor. This particular man, who happened to be the only non-oriental person with whom we associated in China Town that day, made my mom stand across the street from his store, showed her his piece of paper, went to get the item she wanted to view and then proceeded to distance himself from us by walking to the complete other side of the street. Then, back on his side of the street, he had a sort of retracting door that he would close every 5 minutes or any time he felt it had been opened for too long. I guess the purses behind that door were more illegal than the ones he was selling on the street...but not any more illegal than the one he’d given my mom in a trash bag. My mom was a little worried about lugging her newly purchased items around for fear of being arrested but he assured us that “Buyers don’t go to jail, sellers do.”

Other sellers would simply say, “You want purse? You want Coach? You follow me.” And as dangerous and idiotic as it sounds we would follow them into their “store” and into a back room that led to a basement about the size and temperature of a sauna where 15 other women were already digging for designer purses in the sweltering heat. Though it was a little odd, we did this more than once and found the best buys by doing this (Brittany found herself a Coach diaper bag)!

And then when we were desperate enough, we met a seller with no shame. He thrust his little paper of purses at us just like everyone else and at this point, though each of us already had about 15 purses, mom was still looking for one more piece to match another item she had bought. This man claimed to have exactly what she was looking for and so we followed. He led us to a random side street and immediately jumped into a shady van parked on the side of the road. After bringing out 2 purses with which my mom was not impressed, he beckoned her into the van, she complied and he closed the door behind her. So the rest of us stood outside helpless if the man were to decide to start the ignition and drive away. Many of the other women expressed their concern about mom, but I wasn't concerned. That guy would've gotten more than he bargained for if he'd driven away with Rene' Watten. I would've loved to see him try. Anyway, by the time she finally exited the van she had retrieved what she needed and was laughing so hard she could hardly tell us what happened! Here's a picture of her infamous exit. I had to get proof that yes, this indeed happened...

And here are the girls with all our purses...

And the moms with their purses...mom with her trash bag.

After China Town we went to Little Italy for dinner and then to the Broadway production of The Little Mermaid. It was good, but not as good as The Lion King. You could definitely tell which show Disney put more money into. Oh and they changed the ending to The Little Mermaid which irritated me. In the Broadway show, they leave out the part where Ursula turns into a human and Ariel and Eric get married halfway in the sea and halfway on the boat with all the merpeople and soldiers...it's really confusing...and cheesy. But overall it was good. I would recommend seeing it before you go to The Lion King if you plan on seeing both.

I'm totally distracted by this new show Preston and I have started watching about 3 egotistical Real Estate brokers in Malibu so more on New York tomorrow...

New York: Day 3

Day 3: We woke up at the break of dawn to go to Good Morning America. Now we had planned on going to the Today Show but all the cool people (Al, Matt, Ann, etc.) were in Beijing covering the Olympics so we decided to go to Good Morning America instead. Or maybe that was really our second reason for not going to the Today Show. Our first: Good Morning America had the Jonas Brothers in concert. If you don't know who the Jonas Brothers are ask any 13 year old girl. Guaranteed she can spout out their birthdays, favorite colors and social security numbers in less than 15 seconds. Try it.

I'm not 13 so what, might you ask, is my excuse? Well Morgan is a huge fan of the Jonas Brothers and since she was not coming to New York until Day 5, we decided that it would be fun to go the concert in her honor. Considering the fact that we did not go to bed until after 2am the night before, I can assure you we had no desire to go anywhere when our alarms rang early on the morning of Day 3...but we persevered.

So at about 8am the taxi driver drops me, my mom, Carol and Robin off at Bryant park in the midst of thousands of screaming teeny boppers vying for the attention of 3 teenage boys. It was the most ridiculous scene, despite the fact that I have indeed attended boy band concerts in the past. I guess I just wasn't close enough to the front to witness the craziest fans of them all. There were literally girls screaming so hard they were crying, nay sobbing. Paramedics were tending to girls strewn on park benches who had fainted from excitement. The police (all 5oo of them) had the area sectioned off into 3 areas with barricades. Naturally, since we did not decide to camp out at 5am the day before, we were behind the 3rd barricade when we first arrived. We were perfectly content with this position and scowered the area for a decent spot to take pictures. We moved to several places, losing each other several times in the chaos, until we finally settled upon a spot on the side where, if we stood on our tip toes and held our cameras high, we could nearly catch a glimpse of all 3 boys. Now, since we weren't too concerned with missing much of the concert, we spent a lot of our time scoping out better spots...I mean really, what did we have to lose? After about 10 minutes in our first spot, Robin noticed a nearby walkway and when we followed it we somehow managed to make it through to the second barricaded area. We could see much better at this point though we had lost both our moms in the midst of it all. Through a lengthy phone call to my mom, we finally met up and decided to stand in her spot since it was closer to the second barricade and not as crowded. Here is me and Robin really excited to be in the second barricaded area...


It was near the end of the concert that something unexpected happened. The police officer guarding the second barricade must have decided that he'd had it because he started to let a few people into the first section. A few people, including us. Now you must understand. He was not just letting us up to the front, he was letting us join the crowd of over-dedicated super fans who had spent the last 48 hours sleeping in a park through rain and hail in order to be in the front row of this outdoor concert. We woke up at 7am. We're not even fans and we're in the 5th row!

Well needless to say we BECAME fans. We were taking pictures, screaming for the tv cameras, jumping, singing lyrics we don't even know...it was A BLAST! Here we are, 2 of us in our 20's and 2 in our 40's screaming like we're 13 years old! I called my sister and held the phone up so she could hear and I tried to capture it on video, but my snapshot camera isn't the best digital camera with which to film. I have posted it below for laughs. This was our view in the end...

Now if that wasn't enough excitement for one day we then headed to Times Square to see the sights since Robin hadn't ever been there. Now, to preface this next moment, Dad had asked us to buy him a new Brett Favre Jets Jersey while we were in New York. We had briefly looked for one the day before but didn't see any so we decided to check a few of the sports stores in Times Square. First we glanced in the windows of ESPN Zone (since it wasn't even open yet) but saw none. Then we asked around in Champs...no luck. At this point Robin and Carol decide to go into a Yankees store to look for souvenirs and mom and I spotted another sports store across the street called Modell's so we decide to check it out. Upon entering the sports megastore we are greeted by several Jets jerseys lined across the front racks, none of which are Brett Favre's. Mom continues to look for his jersey until I say, "I'm sure if they had Brett Favre jerseys they would be front and center." To which the store's security guard responded, "You looking for a Brett Favre jersey? They're supposed to be here in 15 minutes." So we decide, why not wait?

15 minutes later UPS shows up with 3 boxes of brand spanking new Brett Favre Jets jerseys. I dig through to find my dad's size as Robin and Carol try to find one for Mike. Mom gets in line with dad's jersey...which isn't even priced yet and then all of a sudden a man comes into the store with a camera and asks for us to pose for a picture.
"Sure," we say, "what for?"
"For the Post," he says. "These are the first Jet Favre jerseys in New York."

At this point we're a little confused. Dad had said ESPN reported the sales of thousands of the jerseys the day before, but they were apparently solely internet sales because according to the reporter...we were the first people in New York to lay our hands on a Brett Favre Jets jersey!

So we're posing and being interviewed by the Post reporter when the New York Times reporters come in. The Post reporter yells, "These gals are the first ones to get a jersey! They're the story!" And the Times reporters immediately head over to us and start taking our pictures and asking us questions. We told them we were from Texas, and that we'd woken up to see the Jonas Brothers and wandered into Modell's at just the right time and oh yes, we are in fact Dallas Cowboys fans but we still like Brett Favre because, um, he's cute. And afterwards Mom and Carol threw their double XL jerseys over their clothes and paraded proudly throughout the rest of the day. I think they'd both admit they got more attention than they'd ever gotten in one day. Which is most likely why they both wore their jerseys the next day. But we're not there yet. Here we are with the guy from the Post...


And this is mom and Carol walking the streets of New York in their husbands' Brett Favre jerseys...

Later that day my pregnant friend and bridesmaid Brittany Gauntt, her sister Anna and their mom Jane joined us for lunch at Serendipity's. Afterwards we took a long nap and woke up just in time for dinner at the rotating restaurant at the top of the Marriott in Times Square. We ended up, again, RUNNING to our second Broadway show of the trip: Wicked. This ended up being my absolute favorite show even though we made an executive decision not to run to anymore shows after this one. I'd definitely see it again and I think they should make a movie out of it. After the show we went with Annie to one of her Delta Gamma friend's apartments to watch the end of the Opening Ceremonies for the Olympics. It ended up being pretty neat because the apartment has a roof terrace that overlooks the city with a great view of the Empire State Building. Here's me, Robin and Annie on the roof...


Since Day 3 took so long to write, I'll talk about Day 4 later...I don't even know if I remember Day 4.


In other news, today at work I answered the phone and the man on the other end said, "This is Bob Knight and I would like my usual." When I didn't say anything he responded with what I assume is his usual "order" and then said, "What kind of pie do you have today?" After stuttering a little I responded, "Uh, this is J. Hoffmans."
"What? Is this not Sugarbakers?" He said. (Sugarbaker's is a bakery similar to Celebrity Bakery in Dallas)
"No...sorry," I said, "We're a clothing store."
And then he apologized for calling the wrong number and hung up. The funniest part of the whole ordeal is that I had been so flustered when I answered the phone that I didn't even realize who I was talking to until after I hung up. I tried to retrieve his number off the caller id for bragging purposes but couldn't seem to work it since it seems to have been made the year I was born.

The tales of New York: Day 4 coming soon. I know you're all on the edge of your seats.

New York...part 1

I wish I'd had time to blog in New York because now that I am home all we do is watch the Olympics and it is really difficult to get anything productive done. I'll have to do a blog about the amazing Michael Phelps later...

I think the best way to do this is to break is up by day...so here we go.

Day 1: Me, mom and other mom Diane Gasparro flew to New York. When we arrived to the fascinating Howard-Johnson hotel, we were greeted by a foreign speaking front desk worker and a crowded lobby of angry guests, many of whom were upset because apparently at midnight everyone's keys had stopped working. It was at this time that we and the angry hotel guests also learned from the hotel lobby tv that Brett Favre had been trading to the New York Jets. When we finally arrived to our "non-smoking" room after passing a man in the hall with a cigarette, we quickly realized we were going to need to switch rooms due to the faint yet extremely annoying beep from the fire alarm as the battery was slowly dying. When my mom picked up the phone to call the lobby there was no dial tone due to the fact that the phone was also dead. And so mom, along with the angry guests, approached the foreign desk worker for another room. For the record mom was not angry, she was nearly amused at the situation. Foreign desk workers and angry hotel guests is never a good combination. So we were moved quickly to a real non-smoking room...though the tv remote and the coffee pot did not work properly. At this point we decided to pick our battles.

Day 2: We literally spent this entire day trying to get to Annie's apartment and our moms' hotel. We had stayed in New Jersey the night before so our plan was to meet Robin and Carol at a hotel for lunch which overlooked the river and the New York skyline and then head to New York to settle in. Lunch worked out well and the view was incredible. It was once we started making our way through the subway that I wished I was part of a reality tv show. We could have made any network millions. First of all, imagine 3 menopausal women and their 2 daughters with 3 pieces of luggage and countless purses attempting to maneuver our way through subway turnstiles. A task that would normally take 4 seconds, took a little over 15 minutes. When we finally did make it to New York I think we might have ridden 4 too many subways to get to where we needed to go. This meant getting on a train, getting off the train, going up the stairs, then down the stairs, standing, then sitting, waiting, then running...all with our 3 pieces of luggage and countless purses...which were quickly getting heavier. At one point we were in mid transit to somewhere, I'm not sure we really knew where exactly we were going, and somehow we had the entire subway car intent on helping us figure out where we needed to go. Carol was talking to one man, my mom to another and Diane to another. Robin and I attempted to slide as far away from the moms as we possibly could, but another passenger decided to give us advice as well. So here we are in this train with about 15 other people and every passenger has their own idea about what we should do: "Get off at Times Square and take the 6 to Lexington...", "Oh no, you need to stay on this train until you get to 51st street, then you'll want to take the N train" and on and on it went. Somehow we managed to arrive at our destinations just in time to beautify ourselves for our first Broadway show "South Pacific". The show started at 8pm so we hopped back on the subway in an attempt to find somewhere to eat before the show. We left at 6pm. After an HOUR AND A HALF of maneuvering our way through the subway incorrectly (again) we are now sprinting to our eating destination (Magnolia Bakery). Upon arrival we realize that the bakery only serves desserts (imagine that) and so mom makes a quick stop at the pizza place next door to grab a few slices on the go. At 7:45pm we are on our way again to make an 8pm show. Now, it is difficult to describe this scene in all its atrocity, but to the best of my ability this is how it went. We are running. Full sprint. All of us. Diane is on the phone with Annie trying to figure out in which direction we are supposed to be running. Mom is in pain and trying to keep up. I am holding the pizza box, open. Robin is taking pizza out of the box, feeding one bite to me, one bite to her, one bite to Carol. Again, WE ARE RUNNING! When we finally find the theatre (5 minutes before the show is to start), mom reaches into her purse only to discover that our tickets...are gone. We panicked for about 30 seconds (because that's really all the time we had to panic) but luckily the box office was able to retrieve new tickets for us since my mom had bought the tickets online. Go mom. So since we know we have tickets now, Robin and I dash into the bathroom. On our way out Robin almost runs into someone and when she looks up it is none other than Tyra Banks (for those of you who aren't familiar with her, she's the black Victoria's Secret Supermodel who hosts America's Next Top Model as well as her own daytime tv show.) So Robin grabs my arm and says "Shelbi! That was Tyra Banks!" At this point they've already sent the warning signal that the show is about to start, oh about 3 times so I rush into the bathroom only to see Tyra's head towering above a bathroom stall as she entered. We decided to go to our seats and stalk her at intermission instead.

The first half of "South Pacific" was entertaining for the following reasons. The show apparently drew an "older crowd" who were not tolerant of noise of any kind, including that of moving or breathing. At one point I fidgeted slightly in my seat and the women next to me swung her head towards me and gave me a defining glare, which I outright ignored. At intermission, the time in the show where you are allowed to speak, Annie was telling a story and the people in front of us scolded her for talking too loud. Speaking of intermission, Robin and I promptly left the theatre to stalk Tyra only to find her b-line to a private room for majority of the break. The amusing thing was that she walked proudly through the crowd without a single person recognizing her as a celebrity (aside from myself and Robin). I attribute this to the fact that the older crowd doesn't have many Victoria's Secret magazines lying around the house. So we attempted to wait for her but again, she waited until the last minute to reenter the show and we didn't want to get locked out of the theatre for Act II so we surrendered our opportunity to meet her and slipped back into our seats as loudly as we could in order to disturb our noise police neighbors.

After the show, we left the theatre in the midst of a rain shower. We were headed towards the bus when all of a sudden Diane realized she had left her plastic baggie, yes baggie, of important items such as her cash, credit cards, id, etc. in the theatre. She took off in a sprint towards the theatre just as Annie was joining the group. Annie asked us why her mom was running back to the theatre to which we responded that she had forgotten her baggie. "MOM!" Annie yelled in a panic. "I HAVE YOUR BAGGIE! YOU GAVE IT TO ME!" But alas it was too late. Diane was already in full sprint and out of earshot. So Annie also takes off in a full sprint after Diane. When the two finally rejoined our group about 5 minutes later, it was learned that as Annie was sprinting after her mother she hit a slippery spot and fell flat on her rear end in front of crowds of people still leaving the show. Diane made it all the way to the theatre before Annie finally caught up with her to tell her that in fact, she had already handed her plastic baggie to Annie. It was a miracle we even made it through Day 2...and then there was Day 3...

(to be posted at a later time)

I left my cell phone charger in New York.

Soon I will tell all the tales of our adventures in New York, but for now I just wanted to tell everyone I accidentally took home the wrong cell phone charger and so my phone might die in the next couple days. If you need to call me, try my cell phone first, but if you can't get ahold of me just call me at work or call Preston.

Kojie Officer Reunion

This weekend I (Shelbi) went to San Marco to float the river with our Kojie officer group from Senior year. We had gone for our officer retreat the year we all became officers so this was just a little tradition reunion. Malena was generous enough to offer to buy my flight down and back with her airline miles because otherwise I would have had to drive 7 hours to get down there so I am eternally grateful for that!!!

Anyway, it ended up being such a fun weekend. We stayed up at the hotel until 4 in the morning catching up the first night. It was just so nice to be around good girlfriends! It felt like we were all back in college again! We talked about who is dating who and everyone had questions for the married girls about the married life so there was plenty to talk about. It was also great just to get out of Lubbock...I'm not gonna lie...I do love Austin!

Tomorrow the Heard family is going to be driving through Lubbock so we are looking forward to seeing them and on Wednesday I am leaving to go to New York with my best friends and our moms! This is another much needed girlfriend reunion! This is going to be the longest Preston and I have been away from each other. Normally I can keep myself distracted if it's only a couple days but I don't know how I am going to do being away from him for a whole week. I guess I'll just have to survive!

I don't have many pictures from the weekend since we couldn't take our cameras on the river but I assure you I will have plenty pictures from New York!!!