Big Ol' Birthday Day

It's J's bday today. Happy birthday, baby! Also my cousin Diane's. Woo!

Had a fab Sunday with Cathy. She and Jeff and I drove around Austin all afternoon, then Cathy and I met up with Kathy for the traditional (K/C)athies evening out- dinner/drinks, followed by nighttime swimming. Don't drink and drown, friends.

Kathy's pool with the blue light.

Monday CJ headed back to San Antonio to pick up her son and her daughter's cat to take them home to Houston. She and her roomie will now have three cats. See them on the next episode of "Cat Hoarding." ;)

We all went to dinner with Debbie and the kiddos last night. Much fun!


Sunday Stealing: The Imaginary Meme, Part Two

21. Have you felt that life is like being on a roller coaster? 
Sort of. It definitely runs in ups and downs.

22. Favorite year so far? 
1994. Lauren's first year was so much fun!!

23. Do you consider yourself religious? 
I'm a Christian. I'm spiritual, but not overtly so. I'm not big into attending church services, mostly because of a few pushy, self-righteous people I've met at church as an adult... well, them and the fake type who go to church every Sunday without fail, but act like A-holes the rest of the week. Churches are man-made organizations and suffer from the foibles of man. That being said, I'm sure there are wonderful churches out there, with dedicated people doing selfless and important work in the world.

24. How do you dress to impress? 
Depends on who I'm trying to impress.

25. Have you ever been to Connecticut?
I don't think so.

26. Do you eat sushi? 
Oh yes. Mostly maki (rolls).

27. Would you smoke pot providing there was no risk or driving involved?
I wouldn't smoke anything, because of the health effects.

28. What do you think of Idol Winner Phillip Phillips?
I don't know him. I did see his finale performance, and I like that he cried. You have to cry when you win Idol or you're just a heartless human being.

29. Do you believe that animals have souls?
I'm thinking no.

30. Who did you last talk to? Share, if you dare.
Wow. Who do you think I'm talking to? Jeff.

31. What is one thing that always annoys you? 
Dangerous and/or stupid drivers.

32. Do you believe in a higher being? 
Yes.

33. Have you ever fallen in love with a neighbor? 
Nope. I once went out with a guy who was in my neighborhood, but about 4 blocks away. It would be convenient to fall in love with a neighbor, but it sure would be a bummer when it was over to have to see them every day.

34. Any plans for this weekend? 
Going to Joshua and Brittany's wedding.

35. Would you like to rule your country, if you could?
There isn't enough money in the world to make it worth taking that job.

36. Do you like watching films about the nature of animals? 
Yes

37. What's the difference between love and/or lust?
Gosh, I wish I could think of a snarky answer for this, but I'll go with lust requires only a physical connection, whereas romantic love additionally requires knowing and liking and connecting with a person on an emotional level.

38. Do you have a soul? 
Yes

39. One best friend or many good friends? 
Hard question. One best friend. I really value my deeper connections with my very close friends, and would feel more lonely without them than I would if I lost all my good friends.

40. Do you believe in spontaneous combustion?
Nope. We joke about it a lot though.

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Spanish Flavor

Jeff and I went to the Spanish Flavor dinner and cooking class last night at Texas Hill Country Olive Company. We had a fabulous time! Before the class, we met a couple who were stopping into the store on their way between wineries, which is how we first discovered the place ourselves a few weeks ago. We got to talking with them and it turns out the guy, Jim, works at Jeff's company. He's fairly new there and works in another group. His fiancée, Kathy, was telling me about two breweries in the hill country who do tastings and tours as well. Jeff prefers beer to wine, so I told her he would be very excited to hear that. When we got back to the guys, they had already been talking about us all getting together at Jester King next weekend. Too fun!

The class was set up really well. Lots of seating at tables facing the kitchen. The menu: flank steak on crostini with chimichurri (one of my favorite all-time condiments), paella, mango and cheese empanadas and tres leches cake. Everyone got wine or beer through the evening. It was a lot more interactive that Central Market's classes, with opportunities for everyone to come up and help now and then. You could get up and take pictures at the stove, pictures with the chef, etc. We also got a full meal, rather than tastings of each item, like Central Market does.

Not to knock CM's classes, which are awesome. Most of CM's classes are just less hands-on and not intended to be a meal for the students. I did take a sushi class at Central Market with Kathy once, where we all had our own stations and made our own sushi. That was really cool!

This place could benefit from mirrors over the cooking area and a chef's mic. They are getting a microphone soon.

I do recommend the classes! They are monthly and are posted on Texas Hill Country Olive Company's Facebook page.

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Anniversary!

Well, Jeff and I have known each other since October-ish of 1986-- 25.5 years. He was the hot guy who sat in front of me in an enormous lecture hall in Physics 208.

Our first official date was January 12, 1987. (I just looked that up, Jeff. Don't be too impressed.) We went on a double-date to the Baylor basketball game with his friend Steve and Steve's girlfriend Susan, and I wore a bright yellow sweater. Baylor is green and yellow, which never occurred to me, but that sweater was SO CUTE, y'all.

We got engaged in May of 1989. Married May 26, 1990. 22 years today!

Speaking of proposals... you have GOT to see this awesome proposal. Break out the tissues first.




Saturday 9: Self Esteem

1. How was your self esteem growing up?
Pretty good, except for grades 6-7. I guess that's a weird time for a lot of kids. I was taller than most of the other kids (shocking, I know) and I was trying to figure out how to deal with my unruly, curly, humidity-sensitive hair. By 8th grade, everyone had grown a few inches, and I had discovered the right hair products for me. Voila!

2. Do you ever have a hard time with morals?
Exceedingly rarely. I committed a few minor violations of generally-accepted moral code in my day. Nothing I would get arrested for. Well... ;)

3. Do you eat in bed? If yes, what?
Rarely, if it's past midnight and I'm starving. It would be something like... pretzels or a granola bar.

4. What was the last movie you hated and why?
At home- Arena. Pointless and overwhelmingly violent for no reason. At the theater- Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows. It was very slow.

5. Have you ever felt that you lost it all? If yes, explain.
I've had a few extremely low times in my life, but I never lost everything that was important to me all at once.

6. Have you ever been stalked?
Nah.

7. Do you believe in 'self help' for problems, or do you prefer therapy?
Self help, but I'm not against therapy. The therapists I know usually seem to need therapy themselves. It's all about finding the right person, if you go that route. I get most of my therapy from talking to my friends about things. I also find self-help books to be fascinating and inspiring.

8. What celebrity do you think should make a run for office?
George Clooney

9. Do you believe in happy endings? (We do. That why this is the last question!)
Yes!

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Friday Five

And we are now landline-free!! The phones are gone. The political calls. Ahhhhh. It's so freeing. The AT&T rep asked if I wanted to have a message play when people dial my old number, to give callers my cell number. (For free, even.) Um... no thanks!

Do you guys have Facebook friends who "like" all of their own posts? Or any of their own posts, for that matter. I have one friend who posts a photo, then likes it... posts a status, then likes it... posts a link, then... yes. It's very strange. Don't do that. There's your Facebook tip o' the day.

Friday Five: School

1. What was your favorite subject in school?
Science, especially biology

2. What was your least favorite?
History

3. Did a teacher inspire you to go into a certain career?
Mrs. Lee, my supercool physics teacher. I sought her opinion when I was considering various science majors, and she suggested engineering for me. Radiation Protection Engineering was a perfect mix of my loves of math, physics and biology.

4. Did you enjoy a particular book in literature class? If so, which one and why?
It's not a book, but my all-time favorite work in high school literature class was Julius Caesar. Our class had such a great time with it, taking parts and reading them aloud every day. Fun memories! It was also interesting to see how much easier it was to get into the language when we were hearing it and interacting, rather than just reading it silently.

5. If you could, would you go back and relive high school all over again?
Sure!

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Powered Parachute Sighting

But first... I've had it with Novastor backup software. It's been on my PC for a few years now, and it's never ever worked correctly. It always runs a backup when I reboot, despite asking me if I want to run it and my saying NO. It runs at random times not on the schedule. It doesn't reliably run backups that are scheduled. It frequently stops working altogether (for weeks in the background without a red icon status or any warning), giving the error "unable to allocate backup engine" when I try to open the administration window. There are several things you can try, listed in their knowledgebase, but when I tried the "repair" fix, the thing totally hung. I had to reinstall the whole program after the repair stalled.

Grr.

So...while Jeff and I were out walking the other night (I always have to drop him off at home halfway through my walk- be sure and give him a hard time when you see him), someone was flying a powered parachute around overhead.

I didn't have my phone or camera with me, so that's not the actual guy, but that's what a PPC looks like. All the neighbors were out, and we were just staring up at it in amazement, like it was the Wright Brothers' first flight or something. It was pretty cool! Of course, every guy on our street wants one now.

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There's an App for That

Now THAT's a useful app.

Lauren and her college roommate found out that their furnished house is no longer going to be furnished this fall. It'll be thirty dollars less per month in rent per person, but it means we'll be doing college furniture shopping this summer. How many things can one make out of milk crates again? (Do they still make milk crates?)


Song Lyrics of the Day

...Life inside the music box ain't easy
The mallets hit, the gears are always turning
And everyone inside the mechanism
Is yearning
To get out
And sing another melody completely
So different from the one they're always singing...

Regina Spektor "Musicbox"

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Tuesday

Well, my ultrasound came back normal, so they didn't do the mammogram, which is a good thing, since radiation exposure got me into this mess to begin with. Best of all, I don't need any more follow-ups on the mystery nodule. It's definitely benign!

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On Lost at E Minor yesterday, I saw this video, and it really moved me. It could have been the emotional roller coaster of a day I was having, but I'm willing to bet some of you might really enjoy it as well. So I'm sharing. Don't get all antsy and "too cool for poetry" five sentences in. Let it finish. I don't think you'll be disappointed...

A Finger, Two Dots Then Me

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Check out #69 in the 2012 Maxim Hot 100!

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The 2012 ACL lineup has been announced. Passes are on sale today.

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Tonight is my final school volunteer activity after 15 years of involvement, where I will hand over my board position at my last-ever PTA meeting. Time sure flies. On to the next big adventure!

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