Every year families across America send Christmas letters to their friends, family, co-workers and complete strangers (considering they do not know/remember half the people on their Christmas list which was compiled umpteen years ago when they first were married and invited people to their wedding their parents made them invite.)
I decided this year to act my age and do our Christmas letter on our blog. Some of you may have already received our card. You may have noticed that the address label on your envelope only has my name on it. Well here's the deal. The other day I got some free address labels in the mail and I thought to myself "these may not have Preston's name on them, but they're only good for another month since we're moving so by golly I’m gonna use ‘em!" Why waste a good batch of address labels? I only need them in case a card comes back to me. And who are we kidding? We all know Preston had absolutely nothing to do with getting those Christmas cards out. Except his picture is on the card. If that counts.
Which brings up a good point. We are moving! This is our official announcement. I wish I could give you the address to where we are moving but at this point it is undecided. We know it will be in DFW at first...either at my Granny and Granddad Bonneau's house or my parents' house. If Preston gets a job elsewhere by the time we move then I guess we will move to elsewhere. All I know is that on December 20th, happiness is Lubbock in my rearview mirror.
Which brings up yet another point. Preston and I are both job searching, which is kinda weird since I currently have a job and have never really job searched whilst having a job. Preston is hoping to acquire a job as a financial planner/consultant/advisor for a firm. He would like to work for a company that will train him adequately before throwing him to the lions but has not had much luck so far. Everyone is a little freaked out as a result of the economy and thus not too excited about bringing on more employees when they don't know what the future holds. I don't think Preston could have graduated at a worse time. Not that its his fault. It's really my fault because I urged him to squish all his classes into 1.5 semesters to avoid having to live in Lubbock longer than I could handle.
Which brings up another point. I think I have actually gotten to the point where I am going to miss Lubbock! If you'd asked me one year ago to this date how I felt about Lubbock, you'd have gotten a disgusted face and an angry grunt. I will admit, it has kinda grown on me. Not enough for us to stay, but enough that I will be sad to leave the job, friends and home we have built here. We are hoping to go out with a bang though. We have a fun Christmas party planned with our friends this weekend and are planning to have a special picnic on our living room floor the last night we stay in our apartment.
As the year come to a close so does a chapter of our life. We are no longer the newly married, student living, college types. We are now the newly married, friends are having babies, working types. Now I've been working, but I've still felt as though we have been stuck in a weird transitional stage of life that is now coming to a close. In Dallas (or wherever we end up) I hope to find a job doing something I am really passionate about, such as event planning or perhaps writing. Until then, I am going to enjoy the last few weeks of this stage of our life, because according to others, this stage of married life is the best.
As a result, I would like to reflect on the past year but since I tend to write quite a lot, I will try to make this as brief as possible. Here we go...
2008 in a nutshell:
Skiing in Colorado. We got our own room. It's great to be married. Granny and Grandpa Paul prove that by celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary. Worked for Zida. Received a letter of past paid dues. Store closed down. Found a new job at J. Hoffman's. Like it much more. Still not sure sales is my thing but it pays the bills. Preston is going to school. Taking tests. Passing classes. I go to wedding showers. Preston studies. Kojies win Sing Song. Easter at the Weather's Ranch. Brittany gets married in Dallas. Amanda in Minnesota. We hide from the cops because Preston made an illegal U-Turn on our way to Subway. Preston starts working at Chili's. 50% discount on food. We begin eating there every week. Trey is drafted to the Brewers. Preston's 23rd birthday at Mr. Ghatti's. ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY! Off to San Antonio to celebrate. Preston buys me a dog. Preston takes back the dog. The twins visit Lubbock on the way to Colorado. A door in our apartment almost falls on Dean. We realize our apartment is not child proof. San Marcus River trip with the old Kojie officers. Preston is in Summer school. I head to New York. Meet a few celebrities. Moms buy the first Brett Favre jerseys in New York. We get interviewed and photographed by the New York Times and Wall Street Journal. I write too many blog entries about it. We visit the Lubbock Apple Orchard. Lubbock has a flood. Preston goes to Atlanta. Preston goes to Boston. I go to Abilene. Amber and Bryan get married. I go to Kojie grub as an alumn. Granny and Granddad celebrate their 50th Wedding Anniversary. We are able to attend. ACU Homecoming. ACU football wins again. Halloween. Preston is Tony Romo. I am Jessica Simpson. We carve the best pumpkin ever. No. Preston carves the best pumpkin ever. Tech beats UT. The city riots. Tech is 10-0. ACU is 10-0. I turn 24. I go to Merry Market. J Gay and Calli get married and all our friends finally come visit us in Lubbock. It's cold. I work Holiday Happening. Virginia for Thanksgiving. Preston's family solves all the world's problems. Plane ride home is bumpy. Luggage gets lost. Luggage is found. I write our Christmas Letter.
...and here we are! Glad we're all caught up! With that said and done, Preston and I truly hope and pray for a Merry Christmas to all our friends and family. We wouldn't be who we are without all of you and are truly thankful for your love and support in all that we do!
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Thanksgiving
At this particular moment I am thousands of feet up in the air mid-flight from Newark to Houston listening to an album of Christmas music on the flight’s high-tech entertainment system which allows you to pick and choose whichever song albums, TV shows, movies or games you want to entertain you at any particular moment on your very own touch screen TV. We were thrilled to be on one of these planes on the way up to Virginia and were crossing our fingers that we’d get one on the way back as well. I’ve already watched an episode of Friends, Everybody Loves Raymond, Mamma Mia, It’s a Wonderful Life and Bugs Bunny’s Looney Christmas Tales. I decided I needed to start writing this blog considering how late we will get back tonight, as well as the fact that my next blog entry will be our Christmas Letter so I am choosing to listen to Christmas music as I write, though the Jonas Brothers were a close contender. Preston is playing Sudoku on his TV.
So this year we celebrated Thanksgiving with my father-in-law’s side of the family in Virginia. We left on Wednesday and flew Lubbock to Houston to Newark to Dulles in one very long day. Luckily our first flight began at 10am so we weren’t too exhausted by the time we arrived in Virginia at around 10pm. On Thursday we went to Preston’s grandparents’ house in Warrenton, Virginia to actually share in the Thanksgiving festivities. I had heard they lived in a particularly beautiful area and by no means was that an exaggeration. Their house lies in the middle of a gorgeous countryside of hills, trees, livestock and wineries. You’d have a great view of the scenery no matter which direction you turned. It was gorgeous.
Preston’s grandparents hired a caterer to prepare and serve our meal, which ended up being a new tradition for all of us…and we loved it! After lunch the boys played a little football and me, Malena and my aunt-in-law Karen took a short walk down the road to admire the scenery and burn off a few calories in the meantime. When we returned from our walk I made sure to join the rest of the spectators who had already sat down to enjoy the Cowboy game. Now you must realize…I’m in Virginia. Many of my fellow spectators were Redskin fans…most definitely a new tradition for me on Thanksgiving. For the most part everyone seemed to be pretty content with the Cowboys winning, but I did hear a few random cheers for the Seahawks every once in a while…certainly something I’m not used to hearing on Thanksgiving day. At least we weren’t playing the Redskins…
On Friday the girls got up and went shopping at a nearby outlet mall. I don’t think it is necessary to describe how insanely packed the stores were. I’m sure you are all aware of the Black Friday crowds, but I will note that several of the stores had lines just to get in the doors at 10am and they’d been open since midnight. Later that day I heard that in Long Island a Walmart employee had been trampled that morning when the crowds rushed in at opening. Furthermore, when the other employees tried to get customers to leave the store (since the employee had in fact died) the shoppers responded by saying they’d been waiting in line since Thursday and weren’t leaving. Really?! How greedy do you have to be to be that insensitive? I couldn’t believe that. Greed. The root of all evil.
On Saturday we weren’t exactly sure what we wanted to do but I had a couple of errands to run that required a visit to a nearby mall so Preston and Jeff came along with me with the intentions of heading into D.C. after the errands. Well of course I took way too long with my errands and by the time we’d finished and eaten lunch we just decided to stay at the mall and do a little more shopping (I was thrilled). I felt a little bad about it because I know how much both boys hate shopping but luckily there was a kiosk in the middle of the mall selling remote control helicopters and Preston and Jeff were so impressed they ended up buying four, so I didn’t feel so bad after that.
And then there was today. Today was a tad traumatizing for me. The flight I am currently on is wonderful…no problems. I wish I could say the same about our first flight from Dulles to Newark. I will preface this by saying I have had a fear of flying since I was young due to a particular flight in which we had to drop several thousand feet in order to avoid the path of another plane. I have never trusted planes since then. No matter how hard I pray or how much I replay the statistics in my head, I just can’t get past the fact that we are 35,000 feet off the ground. Now I do fine if there is no turbulence. A non-turbulent flight doesn’t bother me in the least. But this morning, we experienced just the opposite.
It was raining when we left the house and of course still raining when we arrived at the airport. We had flown on a propeller plane from Newark to Dulles so I was aware that we would be flying another one on the way back and also very aware of the fact that rain/clouds and propeller planes do not often get along well. The beginning of the flight was bumpy, but not too terrible. I had a grip on Preston’s arm for a bit and then released when it calmed down. Then it got worse. Much worse. I don’t think I need to explain bad turbulence to anyone…if you fly at all you must have experienced it at one point or another, but there were a couple of differences with this turbulence. Number one: it was relentless. Number two: it was a propeller plane. The combination of both did not bode well for me at all. If I can see the ground it makes things much better.... certainly a false assurance but nonetheless comforting. Unfortunately in this case the turbulence was a result of the plane’s inability to cooperate with the cloud cover, so I could not see anything…except a bright light…which is the last thing I wanted to see at this point. And so I panicked. I actually started sobbing silently, despite my death grip on Preston’s arm and hand. I was legitimately terrified…which has not happened since that one flight I mentioned before and even then I did not cry. I also started to get nauseous near the end of the flight but luckily it was the very end and we landed before it got worse. We made it to Newark alive but not without a spiking stress level on my part. You can imagine how excited I was to board the next plane. Though the touch screen TV’s did make me feel a little better.
Some people fear failure others fear the unknown but I fear flying…or rather falling to my death.
Now if only that were the end of our adventures today. I am now sitting on the floor in the Lubbock airport waiting for one of Preston’s grad school friends to pick us up because our bags did not make two of our three flights and will be arriving later on tonight (hopefully). We drove to the airport last Wednesday, which means our car is here…so why not take our car home and wait for our bags there? Well that’s the best part. The keys to our car are in Preston’s checked bag. The other best part? Our apartment keys are on the same key ring. So here we sit, bagless, carless and homeless. We had driven to the airport in the first place because none of our (close) friends could pick us up…but when we got desperate tonight Preston decided to call on one of his classmates. Needless to say it’s been a long day with plenty of opportunities to add to the blog. Here are a few pictures from the week:
Grandma and Grandpa Rampy's House
The view from their front porch
The boys playing football in the yard.
The road we took our walk on.
Grant (Jeff's brother) took pictures of all the families. This is Preston, me, Nolan, Malena and Jeff!
Preston playing Sudoku on the plane's touch screen TV's
The actual touch screen...this was the music page...but you could pick any of the categories listed at the bottom.
A close up of the choices on the screen.
So this year we celebrated Thanksgiving with my father-in-law’s side of the family in Virginia. We left on Wednesday and flew Lubbock to Houston to Newark to Dulles in one very long day. Luckily our first flight began at 10am so we weren’t too exhausted by the time we arrived in Virginia at around 10pm. On Thursday we went to Preston’s grandparents’ house in Warrenton, Virginia to actually share in the Thanksgiving festivities. I had heard they lived in a particularly beautiful area and by no means was that an exaggeration. Their house lies in the middle of a gorgeous countryside of hills, trees, livestock and wineries. You’d have a great view of the scenery no matter which direction you turned. It was gorgeous.
Preston’s grandparents hired a caterer to prepare and serve our meal, which ended up being a new tradition for all of us…and we loved it! After lunch the boys played a little football and me, Malena and my aunt-in-law Karen took a short walk down the road to admire the scenery and burn off a few calories in the meantime. When we returned from our walk I made sure to join the rest of the spectators who had already sat down to enjoy the Cowboy game. Now you must realize…I’m in Virginia. Many of my fellow spectators were Redskin fans…most definitely a new tradition for me on Thanksgiving. For the most part everyone seemed to be pretty content with the Cowboys winning, but I did hear a few random cheers for the Seahawks every once in a while…certainly something I’m not used to hearing on Thanksgiving day. At least we weren’t playing the Redskins…
On Friday the girls got up and went shopping at a nearby outlet mall. I don’t think it is necessary to describe how insanely packed the stores were. I’m sure you are all aware of the Black Friday crowds, but I will note that several of the stores had lines just to get in the doors at 10am and they’d been open since midnight. Later that day I heard that in Long Island a Walmart employee had been trampled that morning when the crowds rushed in at opening. Furthermore, when the other employees tried to get customers to leave the store (since the employee had in fact died) the shoppers responded by saying they’d been waiting in line since Thursday and weren’t leaving. Really?! How greedy do you have to be to be that insensitive? I couldn’t believe that. Greed. The root of all evil.
On Saturday we weren’t exactly sure what we wanted to do but I had a couple of errands to run that required a visit to a nearby mall so Preston and Jeff came along with me with the intentions of heading into D.C. after the errands. Well of course I took way too long with my errands and by the time we’d finished and eaten lunch we just decided to stay at the mall and do a little more shopping (I was thrilled). I felt a little bad about it because I know how much both boys hate shopping but luckily there was a kiosk in the middle of the mall selling remote control helicopters and Preston and Jeff were so impressed they ended up buying four, so I didn’t feel so bad after that.
And then there was today. Today was a tad traumatizing for me. The flight I am currently on is wonderful…no problems. I wish I could say the same about our first flight from Dulles to Newark. I will preface this by saying I have had a fear of flying since I was young due to a particular flight in which we had to drop several thousand feet in order to avoid the path of another plane. I have never trusted planes since then. No matter how hard I pray or how much I replay the statistics in my head, I just can’t get past the fact that we are 35,000 feet off the ground. Now I do fine if there is no turbulence. A non-turbulent flight doesn’t bother me in the least. But this morning, we experienced just the opposite.
It was raining when we left the house and of course still raining when we arrived at the airport. We had flown on a propeller plane from Newark to Dulles so I was aware that we would be flying another one on the way back and also very aware of the fact that rain/clouds and propeller planes do not often get along well. The beginning of the flight was bumpy, but not too terrible. I had a grip on Preston’s arm for a bit and then released when it calmed down. Then it got worse. Much worse. I don’t think I need to explain bad turbulence to anyone…if you fly at all you must have experienced it at one point or another, but there were a couple of differences with this turbulence. Number one: it was relentless. Number two: it was a propeller plane. The combination of both did not bode well for me at all. If I can see the ground it makes things much better.... certainly a false assurance but nonetheless comforting. Unfortunately in this case the turbulence was a result of the plane’s inability to cooperate with the cloud cover, so I could not see anything…except a bright light…which is the last thing I wanted to see at this point. And so I panicked. I actually started sobbing silently, despite my death grip on Preston’s arm and hand. I was legitimately terrified…which has not happened since that one flight I mentioned before and even then I did not cry. I also started to get nauseous near the end of the flight but luckily it was the very end and we landed before it got worse. We made it to Newark alive but not without a spiking stress level on my part. You can imagine how excited I was to board the next plane. Though the touch screen TV’s did make me feel a little better.
Some people fear failure others fear the unknown but I fear flying…or rather falling to my death.
Now if only that were the end of our adventures today. I am now sitting on the floor in the Lubbock airport waiting for one of Preston’s grad school friends to pick us up because our bags did not make two of our three flights and will be arriving later on tonight (hopefully). We drove to the airport last Wednesday, which means our car is here…so why not take our car home and wait for our bags there? Well that’s the best part. The keys to our car are in Preston’s checked bag. The other best part? Our apartment keys are on the same key ring. So here we sit, bagless, carless and homeless. We had driven to the airport in the first place because none of our (close) friends could pick us up…but when we got desperate tonight Preston decided to call on one of his classmates. Needless to say it’s been a long day with plenty of opportunities to add to the blog. Here are a few pictures from the week:
Grandma and Grandpa Rampy's House
The view from their front porch
The boys playing football in the yard.
The road we took our walk on.
Grant (Jeff's brother) took pictures of all the families. This is Preston, me, Nolan, Malena and Jeff!
Preston playing Sudoku on the plane's touch screen TV's
The actual touch screen...this was the music page...but you could pick any of the categories listed at the bottom.
A close up of the choices on the screen.And now, thanks to our apartment's security guard, we are safely sitting on our couches awaiting a call from Continental. Cross your fingers that they call tonight.
Monday, November 24, 2008
oh yeah
Oh and also, Annie Gasparro, my best friend since birth, had another article published in THE Wall Street Journal today!
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122749303761752273.html
Amazing. This is her second article to be published in The Wall Street Journal. And her third time to contribute to an article. So cool.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122749303761752273.html
Amazing. This is her second article to be published in The Wall Street Journal. And her third time to contribute to an article. So cool.
John McCain is speaking at Preston's graduation and ACU football is amazing!
You heard me! John McCain is going to be the speaker at Preston's graduation!!! So exciting! Check it out: http://www.depts.ttu.edu/provost/commencement/speaker.php
AND if you haven't heard yet, ACU beat West Texas A&M 93-68 last Saturday setting the record for most points ever scored in an NCAA football game SO everybody go to sports.espn.go.com/ncf and vote for ACU's 93-point performance in the bottom right-hand corner of the page!
Of all the football teams I support right now, ACU is the only one not letting me down...who would've thought?
AND if you haven't heard yet, ACU beat West Texas A&M 93-68 last Saturday setting the record for most points ever scored in an NCAA football game SO everybody go to sports.espn.go.com/ncf and vote for ACU's 93-point performance in the bottom right-hand corner of the page!
Of all the football teams I support right now, ACU is the only one not letting me down...who would've thought?
Sunday, November 16, 2008
The Gay Wedding
This weekend was Jordan and Calli Gay's cute little West Texas wedding. I never would have thought a wedding in Lubbock could be so adorable and I am so glad they proved me wrong! Several of our friends from ACU came into town and so it was great to see everybody. We love weddings now because they end up being ACU reunions all over again...except we get to dance.
The weekend started off Thursday night. We have a tradition every Thursday with our Lubbock friends in which we go to dinner at Dion's...the newest and best pizza place in town and then go over to someone's house to watch The Office. This week we went to Kayla and Lance's house because Kayla's twin Bethany and her fiance Cody (who was in our wedding) were in town.
On Friday I had to work and Preston helped set up a tent for the wedding in 25 mph winds. I wanted him to tell the story but he wants me to tell the story and then he's going to go back through and check the facts...so here I go. Apparently the tent company only sent one person to set up the tent thus he needed help and recruited Preston, one of the other ushers named Russ and Jake, who was a groomsman. Now here's what you need to know about the other 2 guys helping Preston. Jake can bench press Russ. Russ weighs 350 lbs.
So these 3 are helping the tent guy set up this tent. It's 50 degrees outside and the wind isn't just blowing...it's whipping...violently. They were trying to erect these wooden posts and get the tent nailed to the ground without the whole operation blowing away into the western sky. Jake and Preston were on one corner of the tent and Russ was on an adjacent corner...the tent was, well wherever the winds was. So Russ was attempting to straighten his post when all of a sudden he lost control and the entire pole crashed into his forehead. Preston said that at this point Russ cursed quite loudly. Russ later said he even had time to think about not cursing but that it hurt so badly he just couldn't keep it from coming out of his mouth. I guess you can't really blame him. The welt on Russ' forehead depicted the pain he must have been in, but don't you worry... you better believe we sat in that tent at the reception and enjoyed every moment of it. At least it blocked the wind.
Preston and the rest of the guys had to go back out to the wedding site on Saturday (the day of the wedding) to help set up tables, chairs, etc...needless to say all the groomsmen and ushers had wind-burned faces after the weekend, and it didn't get any warmer that day. I'd say during the wedding ceremony temperatures were lingering around the 40-50 degree area...by the end of the night we'd definetly hit the 30s.
The wedding itself was very cute and very West Texas. They had the wedding outside of the bride's aunt and uncle's ranch house out in the middle of nowhere at sunset. They had heaters outside and tables set up inside so you could kind of go in and out...and once we started dancing we all warmed up a little bit. For dinner they catered Rosa's (Calli's absolute favorite) and they had coffee, hot chocolate and apple cider to drink which was well received due to the weather. They also had a homemade desserts table of family recipes and a candy table where you could fill a bag with candy and take it home with you.
All in all I thought it was a perfect little West Texas wedding. My friend, Erin Woolsey, was the photographer...there's a link to her blog on our blog main page. I'll let you know when she posts pictures of the wedding so you can see. Until then here are a few of mine!
The programs were adorable. They were stitched around the edges.
Mr. and Mrs. Jordan Gay!
The Candy table.
The dessert table...all homemade with family recipes!
Calli's cake
Centerpieces inside the tent Preston helped put up with his bare hands.
Calli's bouquet...her bridesmaids' flowers were very similar to what mine were supposed to look like at our wedding. It's ok. I'm over it.
A funny picture of us. We...I guess I should say I...was not ready for this pic.
Here's a pic of Calli's dress...so perfect for her wedding.
Calli had on Long Johns and multi-colored socks when Jordan went for the garter...she was trying to stay warm.
This was inside the ranch house...I had to have a picture in front of the cozy fireplace. This is where we went to de-thaw every now and again.
The weekend started off Thursday night. We have a tradition every Thursday with our Lubbock friends in which we go to dinner at Dion's...the newest and best pizza place in town and then go over to someone's house to watch The Office. This week we went to Kayla and Lance's house because Kayla's twin Bethany and her fiance Cody (who was in our wedding) were in town.
On Friday I had to work and Preston helped set up a tent for the wedding in 25 mph winds. I wanted him to tell the story but he wants me to tell the story and then he's going to go back through and check the facts...so here I go. Apparently the tent company only sent one person to set up the tent thus he needed help and recruited Preston, one of the other ushers named Russ and Jake, who was a groomsman. Now here's what you need to know about the other 2 guys helping Preston. Jake can bench press Russ. Russ weighs 350 lbs.
So these 3 are helping the tent guy set up this tent. It's 50 degrees outside and the wind isn't just blowing...it's whipping...violently. They were trying to erect these wooden posts and get the tent nailed to the ground without the whole operation blowing away into the western sky. Jake and Preston were on one corner of the tent and Russ was on an adjacent corner...the tent was, well wherever the winds was. So Russ was attempting to straighten his post when all of a sudden he lost control and the entire pole crashed into his forehead. Preston said that at this point Russ cursed quite loudly. Russ later said he even had time to think about not cursing but that it hurt so badly he just couldn't keep it from coming out of his mouth. I guess you can't really blame him. The welt on Russ' forehead depicted the pain he must have been in, but don't you worry... you better believe we sat in that tent at the reception and enjoyed every moment of it. At least it blocked the wind.
Preston and the rest of the guys had to go back out to the wedding site on Saturday (the day of the wedding) to help set up tables, chairs, etc...needless to say all the groomsmen and ushers had wind-burned faces after the weekend, and it didn't get any warmer that day. I'd say during the wedding ceremony temperatures were lingering around the 40-50 degree area...by the end of the night we'd definetly hit the 30s.
The wedding itself was very cute and very West Texas. They had the wedding outside of the bride's aunt and uncle's ranch house out in the middle of nowhere at sunset. They had heaters outside and tables set up inside so you could kind of go in and out...and once we started dancing we all warmed up a little bit. For dinner they catered Rosa's (Calli's absolute favorite) and they had coffee, hot chocolate and apple cider to drink which was well received due to the weather. They also had a homemade desserts table of family recipes and a candy table where you could fill a bag with candy and take it home with you.
All in all I thought it was a perfect little West Texas wedding. My friend, Erin Woolsey, was the photographer...there's a link to her blog on our blog main page. I'll let you know when she posts pictures of the wedding so you can see. Until then here are a few of mine!
The programs were adorable. They were stitched around the edges.
Mr. and Mrs. Jordan Gay!
The Candy table.
The dessert table...all homemade with family recipes!
Calli's cake
Centerpieces inside the tent Preston helped put up with his bare hands.
Calli's bouquet...her bridesmaids' flowers were very similar to what mine were supposed to look like at our wedding. It's ok. I'm over it.
A funny picture of us. We...I guess I should say I...was not ready for this pic.
Here's a pic of Calli's dress...so perfect for her wedding.
Calli had on Long Johns and multi-colored socks when Jordan went for the garter...she was trying to stay warm.
This was inside the ranch house...I had to have a picture in front of the cozy fireplace. This is where we went to de-thaw every now and again.This week is going to be crazy once again. Holiday Happening (Lubbock's version of Merry Market) starts Wednesday and so I'll be working until 8pm on some nights. Taryn's birthday is Thursday, OU vs. Tech and ACU vs. West Texas A&M are Saturday and when someone mentioned yesterday that Thanksgiving is a week from Thursday I couldn't believe it. I hope I have time to post before we leave for Virgina.
Oh and way to go Cowboys! Finally! A win!!! But of course of the two times we play the Redskins this season, we had to go to the losing game. Oh well...at least we're on the up and up...hopefully. If not...GO ACU AND TEXAS TECH!
Oh and way to go Cowboys! Finally! A win!!! But of course of the two times we play the Redskins this season, we had to go to the losing game. Oh well...at least we're on the up and up...hopefully. If not...GO ACU AND TEXAS TECH!
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Birthday, Merry Market and Tech wins again
This week has been pretty eventful, to say the least. It started last Wednesday night when we met up with friends for dinner for my birthday at Triple J, one of my favorite restaurants in Lubbock, and then went back to our house for Baskin Robbins ice cream cake. Also my favorite. I told Preston that's the cake I want on my birthday for the rest of my life. He said ok.
On my birthday I had to work but it was fine because birthdays are actually pretty fun at work. They got me a red velvet cake and bought my lunch, which was nice. I hope when we move I will find a work family as fun as this one. I really enjoy my coworkers.
Wednesday night Preston and I went to the Double Nickel...my other favorite restaurant in Lubbock. It's a steak restaurant whose owner was trained by the owner of 3 Forks...so you can imagine. We had gone there last year for my birthday and were surprised by how much our bill was, so we were much more careful this time. We split a very good Rib-eye and some of the best mashed potatoes and creamed corn I've ever eaten...then we went home and ate more Baskin Robbins cake from the night before. :) Unfortunately I had to pack and go to bed as early as possible because I had to be up at 5am the next morning to leave for Odessa.
Thursday morning I left for Odessa to help our store at Merry Market, which is a show where several vendors set up booths for women (and men...if so brave) to shop early for Christmas. I rode with Vickey Hoffman, the owner of the store where I work, that morning since my birthday was the day before. Another girl and Vickey's husband Jon (hence J. Hoffman's) were already waiting for us in Odessa.
The first day was, well surprisingly interesting. From the moment the doors opened at 10am until they closed at 6pm we were swamped. People were practically throwing things at us that they wanted to buy. We had the space of 2 booths so we'd have more room, but it didn't matter. There were so many people I had to leave the booth every once in a while to give the shoppers room to move. Jon spent the entire day outside of the booth just watching to make sure no one walked out of the booth without paying...which could have very well happened with how busy we were. You could bring something over to someone, just to show them, and they'd say "I'll take it" without a second glance. It was shocking.
I had been told by some of my coworkers who had worked Merry Market in the past that the first day of shoppers would be the high-rollers, whereas the second and third days would be the "nose-pickers and country-peddlers"....and it was true. That first day, all the women were dressed in trendy outfits and high heels with designer purses and the latest hair-does. The second and third days, which was Saturday and Sunday, consisted of not only women but men and children has well, considering they did not have to work or go to school. Most everyone was dressed in their t-shirts, jeans, tennis shoes or sweatsuits. One guy looked like he'd just walked in off a construction site... dirt and all. Furthermore, it turns out the show was selling beer at the concession stands and so it was not uncommon to see both men AND women strolling along with a beer bottle in their hands...which did not help the stereotype. I decided that if I had come to Merry Market as a shopper I definitely would have shown up in my sweats and tennis shoes...putting me in nose-picker/country-peddler Saturday group.
It was never as busy on Saturday and Sunday as it was that first day, which was surprising to me. In fact, I learned later that we made our goal on the first day of the show. This did not surprise me considering I didn't think we were going to have anything left after the first day as a result of the chaos. On Saturday night, we watched the Tech/OSU game in our hotel room and had a blast. In fact, I couldn't help but compare Vickey to Granny Bonneau as the game ensued. She had no problem expressing her opinions about the game out loud. I loved it. Preston and a bunch of our friends actually went to the game and they had a blast as well. It definitely wasn't as exciting as the Tech/UT game, but still worth watching. It's fun to be a part of Tech's success right now. Here's a picture of them at the game...
On Sunday we packed up and headed back to Lubbock around 7:30pm. Jon actually started packing up as soon as we arrived at Merry Market that morning to which Vickey responded, "You'd think there was a fire drill with how fast Jon tries to get us out of here." All in all we had a great weekend and I enjoyed spending time with the owners on a more personal basis.
This is random but I have to show you this awful video that has apparently been all over the news. Many of you may have already seen it but if you haven't you need to. It's a video of a man swinging his baby around by the arms to music. It's from another country, and apparently there are experts trying to figure out where the video came from, but it's just unbelievable. Watch the whole thing...there's a move he does at the end that's just crazy.
http://www.babylune.com/man-swinging-baby-by-arms/
On my birthday I had to work but it was fine because birthdays are actually pretty fun at work. They got me a red velvet cake and bought my lunch, which was nice. I hope when we move I will find a work family as fun as this one. I really enjoy my coworkers.
Wednesday night Preston and I went to the Double Nickel...my other favorite restaurant in Lubbock. It's a steak restaurant whose owner was trained by the owner of 3 Forks...so you can imagine. We had gone there last year for my birthday and were surprised by how much our bill was, so we were much more careful this time. We split a very good Rib-eye and some of the best mashed potatoes and creamed corn I've ever eaten...then we went home and ate more Baskin Robbins cake from the night before. :) Unfortunately I had to pack and go to bed as early as possible because I had to be up at 5am the next morning to leave for Odessa.
Thursday morning I left for Odessa to help our store at Merry Market, which is a show where several vendors set up booths for women (and men...if so brave) to shop early for Christmas. I rode with Vickey Hoffman, the owner of the store where I work, that morning since my birthday was the day before. Another girl and Vickey's husband Jon (hence J. Hoffman's) were already waiting for us in Odessa.
The first day was, well surprisingly interesting. From the moment the doors opened at 10am until they closed at 6pm we were swamped. People were practically throwing things at us that they wanted to buy. We had the space of 2 booths so we'd have more room, but it didn't matter. There were so many people I had to leave the booth every once in a while to give the shoppers room to move. Jon spent the entire day outside of the booth just watching to make sure no one walked out of the booth without paying...which could have very well happened with how busy we were. You could bring something over to someone, just to show them, and they'd say "I'll take it" without a second glance. It was shocking.
I had been told by some of my coworkers who had worked Merry Market in the past that the first day of shoppers would be the high-rollers, whereas the second and third days would be the "nose-pickers and country-peddlers"....and it was true. That first day, all the women were dressed in trendy outfits and high heels with designer purses and the latest hair-does. The second and third days, which was Saturday and Sunday, consisted of not only women but men and children has well, considering they did not have to work or go to school. Most everyone was dressed in their t-shirts, jeans, tennis shoes or sweatsuits. One guy looked like he'd just walked in off a construction site... dirt and all. Furthermore, it turns out the show was selling beer at the concession stands and so it was not uncommon to see both men AND women strolling along with a beer bottle in their hands...which did not help the stereotype. I decided that if I had come to Merry Market as a shopper I definitely would have shown up in my sweats and tennis shoes...putting me in nose-picker/country-peddler Saturday group.
It was never as busy on Saturday and Sunday as it was that first day, which was surprising to me. In fact, I learned later that we made our goal on the first day of the show. This did not surprise me considering I didn't think we were going to have anything left after the first day as a result of the chaos. On Saturday night, we watched the Tech/OSU game in our hotel room and had a blast. In fact, I couldn't help but compare Vickey to Granny Bonneau as the game ensued. She had no problem expressing her opinions about the game out loud. I loved it. Preston and a bunch of our friends actually went to the game and they had a blast as well. It definitely wasn't as exciting as the Tech/UT game, but still worth watching. It's fun to be a part of Tech's success right now. Here's a picture of them at the game...
On Sunday we packed up and headed back to Lubbock around 7:30pm. Jon actually started packing up as soon as we arrived at Merry Market that morning to which Vickey responded, "You'd think there was a fire drill with how fast Jon tries to get us out of here." All in all we had a great weekend and I enjoyed spending time with the owners on a more personal basis.
This is random but I have to show you this awful video that has apparently been all over the news. Many of you may have already seen it but if you haven't you need to. It's a video of a man swinging his baby around by the arms to music. It's from another country, and apparently there are experts trying to figure out where the video came from, but it's just unbelievable. Watch the whole thing...there's a move he does at the end that's just crazy.
http://www.babylune.com/man-
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Raider Power
This weekend was probably my favorite weekend in Lubbock since we've moved here...all because of the Tech/UT game last night. The week didn't start off well considering I had some sort of nasty cold/congestion problem going on AND I had to work 6 days in a row but it sure did end well! Mom, dad and Cameron came in for the game, as well as 60 or so guys from ESPN, Donald Trump (supposedly) and Matthew McConaughey. Lubbock was completely booked as far as hotels are concerned and the closest rooms available for the ESPN guys was in Clovis, New Mexico, so some big shot must have found rooms for these guys somehow. I wouldn't be surprised if a few normal people showed up to discover that their room had been given to somebody from ESPN. Needless to say, Lubbock was crazier than I've ever seen it and we were in the middle of all of it.
The craziness started at the beginning of the week when Tech students started camping outside the stadium for tickets starting Monday. At Tech, entrance to the game for students is first come first serve as long as you have a Tech student I.D. so several students decided to camp out in order to ensure their entrance into the game. They called their little settlement "Raiderville", elected a mayor and took shifts watching each others' belongings while others went to class. In fact, a friend of mine who is a Tech student said her teachers told them that as long as they had pictures proving they were camping out at Raiderville, they were excused from class. Mike Leach (the Tech head football coach) also showed up in the morning to hand out breakfast burritos while alumni fed the students meals throughout the week. Talk about dedication!
So it all came down to Saturday. ESPN gameday started early that morning and both Dad and Preston stopped by to check it out. I had to work and Preston did too so I took my lunch and we went to Chili's so Preston could be our waiter. It was busier than I have ever seen it on game day. Then mom and dad came shopping at my store for the rest of the day which was great for me because the day went by really fast! Our store closed early for the game and it took me half an hour longer to get home than it normally does considering our apartment was in the midst of the excitement. I'll tell you one thing...our apartment ended up being the best place to be on gamedays. We had guranteed parking close to the stadium and it turns out Michael Crabtree actually lives in our apartment complex, our little claim to fame if he makes to the NFL! So right before the game we ended up walking through the tailgating area and some random guy waved us over and offered us fresh cooked meat off the grill, which ended up being our dinner. Then we joined the hoards of people attempting to make it inside the stadium gates before kickoff.
Our seats ended up being right behind the student section, which we at first thought would be frustrating since we were going to have to stand most of the game, but ended up being the most fun place to be. We had several Texas fans surrounding us. In fact, Preston sat next to a woman adorned in UT attire whose husband was sporting Tech gear. They held a sign that said "House Divided" and at one point she leaned over to Preston and said, "No matter what happens, its going to be a long drive home." Speaking of, Preston wasn't sure who he was going to cheer for considering his Austin roots, but he decided he was for sure going for Tech once we got there. I was pretty impartial the whole game but it was kinda hard not to cheer for Tech considering how well they were playing. I don't think I can explain the atmosphere of the game, but it was unreal to be a part of it. This past week, Preston kept saying he just wanted it to be a good game. We were so afraid Texas was going to kill Tech. So when Tech started scoring and making great plays and holding Texas back...we couldn't believe it. We kept looking at each other and saying, "What is going on?! This is crazy!" We were both in shock for a majority of the game.
When it got down to the final minutes and Texas tied up the game, we kept reminding ourselves that its not over until its over. We had made up our minds that we'd be happy no matter who won the game but when Crabtree scored that last touchdown, I have never, in all my life, seen such a display of enthusiasm. You would have thought Tech had just won the National Championship. The fans around us erupted in screams, laughter, high fives and disbelief. In fact, the students were so excited they jumped the gun and rushed the field not once, not twice, but THREE TIMES with one second still remaining in the game. I have video and pictures of the entire event. It was incredible and probably the most fun I have ever had at a sports game in my entire life.
After the game we had to wait quite a while for the stands to clear out enough for us to start heading down, but it was worth it to watch the students and fans on the field. Once we got outside the stadium half the crowd shouted "RAIDER" while the other half yelled "POWER"! People were standing on top of cars waving flags, honking their horns, hanging out of windows high-fiving pedestrians...University Avenue was one giant traffic jam with the happiest motorists you've ever seen. No one WANTED to move. It was pandamonium. Even when we got back to our apartment, people were ringing our doorbell and standing out on their balconies yelling "RAIDER!!!"...."POWER!!!"
So all in all, it was a great weekend. Cameron told us a funny story this morning at breakfast. Last night he hung out with one of his friends who is a Tech student. He was wearing an Under Armor Tech shirt and he said at one point a guy walked up to him and mistook him for a Tech football player. The guy said "Oh, well all those people over there think you're on the team." We told Cameron he should have milked that for all it was worth. It happened again at our apartment this morning, but this time he was holding UT gear and a girl said, "Hey great game!" He just smiled and nodded.
Here are a bunch of pictures and video from the game...
This was in the midst of the tailgating. Mom wanted to take a picture with these guys...we don't know them.
We have no idea what's coming.
This poor UT fan had to stare at that guy's shirt all night.
The whole crew.
This is the first time the students rushed the field before the game was actually over. The security guards even started taking down the goal posts before the students got to it.
This is when we actually won and everyone rushed the field.
Cameron went to sit with his friend who has a box at the stadium but this is us after the game ended.
Tech has flags of all the Big 12 teams on campus so of course we had to get a Baylor picture!
Preston asked a guy if he could get in his truck bed to take a picture of all the cars. Dad is waving over there on the left hand side. This picture doesn't do the scene justice.
The craziness started at the beginning of the week when Tech students started camping outside the stadium for tickets starting Monday. At Tech, entrance to the game for students is first come first serve as long as you have a Tech student I.D. so several students decided to camp out in order to ensure their entrance into the game. They called their little settlement "Raiderville", elected a mayor and took shifts watching each others' belongings while others went to class. In fact, a friend of mine who is a Tech student said her teachers told them that as long as they had pictures proving they were camping out at Raiderville, they were excused from class. Mike Leach (the Tech head football coach) also showed up in the morning to hand out breakfast burritos while alumni fed the students meals throughout the week. Talk about dedication!
So it all came down to Saturday. ESPN gameday started early that morning and both Dad and Preston stopped by to check it out. I had to work and Preston did too so I took my lunch and we went to Chili's so Preston could be our waiter. It was busier than I have ever seen it on game day. Then mom and dad came shopping at my store for the rest of the day which was great for me because the day went by really fast! Our store closed early for the game and it took me half an hour longer to get home than it normally does considering our apartment was in the midst of the excitement. I'll tell you one thing...our apartment ended up being the best place to be on gamedays. We had guranteed parking close to the stadium and it turns out Michael Crabtree actually lives in our apartment complex, our little claim to fame if he makes to the NFL! So right before the game we ended up walking through the tailgating area and some random guy waved us over and offered us fresh cooked meat off the grill, which ended up being our dinner. Then we joined the hoards of people attempting to make it inside the stadium gates before kickoff.
Our seats ended up being right behind the student section, which we at first thought would be frustrating since we were going to have to stand most of the game, but ended up being the most fun place to be. We had several Texas fans surrounding us. In fact, Preston sat next to a woman adorned in UT attire whose husband was sporting Tech gear. They held a sign that said "House Divided" and at one point she leaned over to Preston and said, "No matter what happens, its going to be a long drive home." Speaking of, Preston wasn't sure who he was going to cheer for considering his Austin roots, but he decided he was for sure going for Tech once we got there. I was pretty impartial the whole game but it was kinda hard not to cheer for Tech considering how well they were playing. I don't think I can explain the atmosphere of the game, but it was unreal to be a part of it. This past week, Preston kept saying he just wanted it to be a good game. We were so afraid Texas was going to kill Tech. So when Tech started scoring and making great plays and holding Texas back...we couldn't believe it. We kept looking at each other and saying, "What is going on?! This is crazy!" We were both in shock for a majority of the game.
When it got down to the final minutes and Texas tied up the game, we kept reminding ourselves that its not over until its over. We had made up our minds that we'd be happy no matter who won the game but when Crabtree scored that last touchdown, I have never, in all my life, seen such a display of enthusiasm. You would have thought Tech had just won the National Championship. The fans around us erupted in screams, laughter, high fives and disbelief. In fact, the students were so excited they jumped the gun and rushed the field not once, not twice, but THREE TIMES with one second still remaining in the game. I have video and pictures of the entire event. It was incredible and probably the most fun I have ever had at a sports game in my entire life.
After the game we had to wait quite a while for the stands to clear out enough for us to start heading down, but it was worth it to watch the students and fans on the field. Once we got outside the stadium half the crowd shouted "RAIDER" while the other half yelled "POWER"! People were standing on top of cars waving flags, honking their horns, hanging out of windows high-fiving pedestrians...University Avenue was one giant traffic jam with the happiest motorists you've ever seen. No one WANTED to move. It was pandamonium. Even when we got back to our apartment, people were ringing our doorbell and standing out on their balconies yelling "RAIDER!!!"...."POWER!!!"
So all in all, it was a great weekend. Cameron told us a funny story this morning at breakfast. Last night he hung out with one of his friends who is a Tech student. He was wearing an Under Armor Tech shirt and he said at one point a guy walked up to him and mistook him for a Tech football player. The guy said "Oh, well all those people over there think you're on the team." We told Cameron he should have milked that for all it was worth. It happened again at our apartment this morning, but this time he was holding UT gear and a girl said, "Hey great game!" He just smiled and nodded.
Here are a bunch of pictures and video from the game...
This was in the midst of the tailgating. Mom wanted to take a picture with these guys...we don't know them.
We have no idea what's coming.
This poor UT fan had to stare at that guy's shirt all night.
The whole crew.
This is the first time the students rushed the field before the game was actually over. The security guards even started taking down the goal posts before the students got to it.
This is when we actually won and everyone rushed the field.
Cameron went to sit with his friend who has a box at the stadium but this is us after the game ended.
Tech has flags of all the Big 12 teams on campus so of course we had to get a Baylor picture!
Preston asked a guy if he could get in his truck bed to take a picture of all the cars. Dad is waving over there on the left hand side. This picture doesn't do the scene justice.I have video of the students rushing the field and the traffic jam but they were taking FOREVER to upload so I am going to go ahead and publish this post and put the videos on a new post later.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
