Anyone Free Tomorrow Night???

I want to go see Julie and Julia- anyone else wanna join me???? 7:10 at Rosenberg Cinemark. Let me know cuz I won't go if I think I'll be alone!!!!

Sorry!

I've been so busy lately I haven't had time to sit down and blog a bit! What have I been doing, you ask? Well- I got off my big behind and found a job (this is written with a lot of sarcasm since I've been actively searching for over 5 months!). Yay! I work at National Oilwell Varco (NOV) and LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the people I work with. I also started taking class(es) for my MBA. Well, I signed up for four classes.... but then I got scared, so I dropped three- ha! I kept my Financial Accounting class and pretty much regretted it from day 1. It's an online course through University of Houston- Victoria. I'm a big dummy so it took me two weeks to figure out the email system (they have an email-email, and a class email...which don't connect to each other... so we had group homework due and I'm emailing these fools in my group and getting so mad when they don't respond.....only to find out that those "fools" have been emailing ME (through the class email system), thinking I was the flake!). I finally took my final yesterday, so I don't have to study or procrastinate on another 30 page paper for a while (BTW, totally scored a 100% on my 30 page, professionally bound paper- yay! It might have been my fabulous pink tables and graphs!). So I had every intention of signing up for two more classes for this semester, but I lost all motivation- MBA classes are way harder than undergrad....even though I still don't study....or read the books....but whatever.

I also went to girl's camp the last week of June. I had such an amazing time- I really got to know the girls in the stake- they are SO amazing. The best part of camp was when we spotted a cougar! I know most of ya'll have heard the story, but I'll tell it one more time for posterity...

So I was leading a bunch of girls back from archery at like 4:30 in the afternoon... we come around a corner and see this big something crossing the trail right next to the second years' camp, about a football field length ahead of us. So I grabbed Kim O. (who was walking at my side) and held up my hand to the 15 to 20 girls who were walking about a little way behind us so they would stop and shut up. Bless them, they did. Kim and I strained our eyes to see what it was- we knew it was an animal, but it was huge, so we thought it might be a dog.... but man, that dog had some slinky shoulders! The more we watched it move, the more convinced we became that it was some sort of cat. We waited for the cat to slink across the trail and go into the woods... and gave it an extra two or three minutes for good measure... and made the girls walk in a big huddle past the area. I immediately told Sister Melia B. about it and she called the stake camp director (out of earshot of the girls, of course) and told her about the big bobcat-a-ma-jigger we saw. When I was describing the cat to Melia, I showed her that the cat's head was about up to my mid thigh, and she said- "That's way too big for a bobcat! Was it a cougar!?!?" Since my idea of roughing-it involves 4 stars, I had no idea... I did remember that the cat's ears were kind of flat... much like the BYU cougar! So I said "Maybe!" The main camp directors then drove by to see where the cat was spotted. Kim O. and I went with them so we could show them which trail, etc. Well apparently girls are dumb and aren't able to accurately describe an animal because they kept telling us we didn't see a cat that big (cuz there weren't any cats around that were that big, duh) and the cat we saw MUST have had pointy ears and spots, even though we insisted it didn't. I can see if they think I'm lying or exaggerating, but Kim O. was there with me, and she is super-duper sweet and honest! So the camp peeps thought it was a harmless little bobcat.... and made Kim O. and I question what we saw... :(

Luckily, the stake camp leaders 100% believed us and we dug up some pictures of cats online. This is what we saw:

This is what those boys said we saw:

Um.... the bobcat is little and spunky and the cougar is long and lanky- we definitely knew we saw a cougar after doing that research! It is apparently pretty rare to see cougars... in the daytime... in 100+ degree weather... that close to a bunch of loud, screaming girls... I relish my close encounter!!! On a more serious note, the stake leaders took the sighting very seriously and made sure all the girls were safe, so no need to worry!

So that's what I've been up to. I hope you were entertained by my "I Survived" cougar story....and I'll try to post more often. Peace!

Greaseball

Yesterday after A and I made our 8:00 AM rounds (aka walked Waterside) we both noticed I had black specks on my face.

Weird.

Upon further CSI-style investigation, I discovered that the black specks were gnats.

Gnats. On my face.

What's worse? They were sodden....and dead.

As I walked through the annoying clouds of gnats by the lake, they drowned on my greaseball, sweaty face. That's right, the poor little innocent gnats DROWNED in the puddles of sweat collecting on my face. Call me Gnatzilla.

uuuugggghhhhh!

Just one of those days.

Five Years Already

Exactly five years ago D and I were in beautiful Kauai eloping. We found this "minister" online (ha!) and had booked her for June 1 at 2:00pm to perform our ceremony. D and I decided to eat a nice brunch and get to the spot we were meeting the minister early. Unfortunately (and yet I can't seem to regret it) I discovered delicious Lappert's Coconut Ice Cream the day before. I decided that since it was MY wedding day, I MUST get an ice cream cone before the ceremony....and maybe after, too! If any of you have ever been to Hawaii, you know that the pace is much slower there than here in Texas! We took way too long getting my ice cream and barely had time to get ready for our wedding...which is why my hair is all funky (I prioritize makeup over hair ALWAYS). So we ran (literally late for our own wedding) to meet our minister.

We booked a cute little package deal that came with ceremonial leis, photographs, and a cake. I had spoken to our minister on the phone several times and was a little nervous because she seemed very detached (detached= nice word for airhead). When we finally met she was very nice. She brought the photographer (her daughter- in dreads with hairy legs and armpits!) and showed us the way to a private little cove where we would say our vows. We began thinking we might have been a little hasty with the internet minister when she started pointing out little areas where she "could leave us to make love" if we wanted... we didn't! Ew!!!

After the vows

The ceremony was short and sweet and exactly what we wanted. We were barefoot on a gorgeous beach in Hawaii, what more could we ask for? How about a marriage certificate that spells our names correctly? (BTW- Hawaii is ridonkulously bureaucratic and it was very difficult to get things corrected!!!)

After the ceremony, we learned about the photographer and her friends, the "bliss-ninnies" .... these are big groups of hippies (with armpit and leg hair, presumably) that sit around smoking weed and touching each other. In short, ninnies for bliss!. The Bliss-Ninny also kept trying to get us to make out for the camera! (We all know she was hoping we'd go find a private cove!!!---GROSS!)

Bliss-Ninny on left

If nothing else, we will definitely remember our wedding in Hawaii!

I love you, D!!!!!!