Busybusybusy

I was told that I don't update enough.  I thought that my activities don't really merit an update, that they're not really that interesting, but really, "that's the point."  So here it is.

Today, I went to Six Flags for the second time this year; I have a season pass and paid parking all season--if you want to go some time, I want to go with you!  It's one of the few non-wedding-related thing I've done in a little while.  Last week was a marathon of wedding events, and tomorrow starts up another set of wedding-related events (I'm a bridesmaid in two weddings this summer!).  I know: you think I'm just throwing around words here and using "marathon" as an exaggeration, but I promise I'm not: I went to a bachelorette party, then to get our nails done, then a rehearsal and rehearsal dinner, then a bridal luncheon, and then the wedding for one bride; Sunday, we (yep, Jay came with me!) woke up and went to bridal shower for this week's wedding.  Yesterday I donated platelets, today I went to Six Flags with Nick and Mojo (it was hot, but we had a really great time!!), tomorrow I'm going to a bachelorette party, then Thursday is a rehearsal and dinner, and Friday is the wedding.  I'm just go go go, but that's alright--I'm unemployed, what else am I up to, right?

I've also worked on a few crafts in the meantime.  I've made fabric flower brooches, fabric "mums" for bridal showers, and continued working on a quilt for my sister's baby.  My mom's friend is getting married, so I've also helped her make a bouquet of metal brooches--it's kind of a pain in the butt, but it's going to look really awesome when it's done!

Jay found out why one of our tropical plants looked so sad and wilted: the roots were completely disconnected from the topside of the plant.  We had two plants in one container that had no draining hole, so he thought maybe they were drowning; when he moved the plants into a container that drains, he found out the sad news about the roots.  But at least now we know why it looked so sad, and our surviving plant can drain excess water.  The mint on the back porch seems to be doing well, as does the other planter of flowers from one of my girl scouts... even though the flowers got knocked over in last night's storm.  Some friendly person in our complex found it on the ground and put it back on our fence rail.  :)

Jay also helped my dad, my uncle, and James build a fence last weekend (the weekend before the wedding).  It took them two full days of working, but the fence in my parents' back yard looks a million times better than the original fence looked when it looked its best.  Oh.  Jeff came over in time to help with the last five minutes of working on the fence.  (We call him Blister--always showing up when the work's done.  tee hee.)

Tonight is actually Jeff's birthday (Jeff is my sister's husband, btw), so we're about to head out and have a celebratory dinner with him and the family.  :)

Hope you've enjoyed the post!

Traveling, Y'all

Jay and I recently returned home from a super fun trip to San Antonio!  We had our first opportunity to take our new Honda Insight (it's super sweet!) on a longish (I've driven to many places that took more than five hours of car travel, so anything less than that isn't really a "long" trip in my book) trip.  Around town, we get 45 or so mgp, sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less.  (Yesterday, I got 60 mpg on my trip from the Magic Time Machine (a restaurant) to our home!  WOO!)  On our way to San Antonio, we did not fare as well.  I think our average for the tank we took down there was only like 39 mpg, and the way back was closer to 45.  And when it's windy out, boy does the Insight get blown about the road.  All-in-all, though, it's a pretty quiet ride and it's smooth, and the navigation system and iPod playing system and Bluetooth connection and hands-free everything and the climate control is pretty freaking awesome!

Okay.  Enough about the car.  Onto the trip!

One cool sculpture spotted on the trip--cow made of fenders!

Squinty eyes!

Gazelle!

Since we didn't have an agenda to keep, we kind of took our sweet time in arriving, and made some off-course side trips.  On the way, we saw some cool sculptures, took a squinty-eyed picture, and we saw a whole field/herd/ranch of gazelles (side note: they didn't budge an inch when we drove past them at upwards of 65 mph.  When I did an impromptu  u-turn in the middle of the road and circled around to pull off onto the side of the road to take pictures, the critters went nuts and started running away; it was very strange that they were afraid of us approaching slowly and not afraid of us whizzing by). All of that happened on the way to our first destination before San Antonio: The Salt Lick Bar-B-Que.  What, you don't know what The Salt Lick Bar-B-Que is?  Well.  It's a delicious barbeque place in, essentially, the middle of nowhere that Jay saw on some show--Man vs. Food? maybe?--and heard of  otherwise, so we headed there from Coppell.  I'm not generally a big fan of bbq, but this place had it going on.  I'd probably drive there again if Jay ever wanted to on a weekend.  Or whatever.

It's in the process of being relocated, thus, construction.

After we ate a delicious lunch (completed with dessert!), we set our course to a different side destination: Stonehenge II!!  Okay.  You've probably never heard of Stonehenge II, and you probably think I'm making it up.  But guess what: I'm not!  It's real!  It exists!!  I first learned of it when reading the book Yes Man by Danny Wallace--the movie is loosely based off the book, but it's set in England and is a real story (or as real as any memoir goes).  Either way, the book is hilarious, and you should definitely read it some time; it's completely not the story of the movie and it is HILARIOUS--I read it during silent reading when I was student teaching, and sometimes it made me laugh out loud, which earned me crazy looks from the 8th graders.

Workers asked me to hold this while they took a break.

But back to the point!  I learned about Stonehenge II in the book, and I immediately said, "What?  Stonehenge II?  This guy's crazy."  So I googled it, and found out that it's a real place.  Of course, I had to see it for my self.  So when Jay and I began planning a San Antonio trip, I asked if we could visit, and he was also intrigued.  Voila!  Stonehenge II!


While we were at the Stonehenge II site, we also saw something else from another place and time... but you'll have to go there on your own to find out what!  (Or look through Jay's facebook photo album.)


After that exciting stop, we headed to San Antonio to our swanky hotel room suite.  Jay booked us at The Hotel Contessa, and it was beautiful.  There was some fragrance they used in the lobby that I didn't care for, but it wasn't used anywhere else, so I was alright with that. While we were there, we even went swimming on the rooftop swimming pool.  It's pretty weird/awesome to swim on the top of a building.

Of course, we visited the Alamo.  What trip to San Antonio is complete without a stop at the historic site of a lost battle?  The first time we went there it was closed, but that made it easier for us to get a picture of the two of us without random people in the background.

Yeah.  That guy is just hand feeding sting rays.  No big deal.

We also took a trip to Sea World.  If you're looking for rides, Sea World is not for you.  If you're looking to learn some stuff about ocean creatures and see some pretty awesome shows featuring sea mammals, then Sea World is definitely for you.  I took a bunch of pictures there of the shows, mostly because I kept trying to get the shot where a whale or dolphin or whatever is mid-flip.  I'd certainly recommend it.  And if you're a teacher, you can sign up for something or other to get in free.  And if you're an active or retired or reserve military person, you can get in free, as well.  I don't know that it's worth joining the armed services just for free admission, but you have to weigh that for yourself--who am I to decide what is important or right for you?  ;)

Baby whale!  (Which is called a calf.)

Did you know that San Antonio is only a few hours (fewer than two, actually) away from Shiner, Texas?  Jay and I know.  And we went there.  We got to tour the brewery for free, and we got to sample four brews, also for free.  The tour doesn't last very long, but it's pretty interesting.  And we got to see Shiner being canned, not bottled, and that doesn't happen very often, so we felt pretty special.  It's amazing how machines and assembly lines work.  Jay and I probably could have stayed at the brewery and watched the bottling/canning all day, but the Shiner people probably wouldn't have appreciated it.


Of course, we spent a bunch of time walking around San Antonio.  We ate both on and off the River Walk, went through La Villita and looked at all the artsy stuff, and we walked to El Mercado for dinner and to look at the shops there, as well.

We decided that the heat and humidity in San Antonio is more intense than we care for, but we had a really great time.  We enjoyed spending time together and seeing the fun stuff we got to see.  Plus, we missed the crazy hail storm that happened in the DFW area while we were on vacation, so that was an added bonus.  We're already talking about our next trip, but we're not quite positive where it'll be. 

:)

p.s.  No word on the job front yet (I know you're curious), but my resume and application are out there.