the holidays

so we spent a good couple of days in tomball. it's nice that both of our families live there, that way we're able to see both sides. i don't know what we'll do when one clan decides to move!

christmas eve was spent at ed's parent's house. they always have a christmas eve dinner and gift opening session the night before. ed and i have also taken on the "open one gift on christmas eve" tradition...and i like it :) i dont know how to put in to words what it's like to open gifts with the buck boys..they could absolutly care less what is under the wrapper..as long as they get to tear something open. putting a gift in a bag is absolutly blasphemous. even now they get giddy and excited and tear the wrapping paper into the absolutle smallest pieces. it's a bit ridiculous, but hilarious to watch.

all of the brothers and their wives participated in a white elephant exchange. little campbell received the rubber ducky of the new century...an electric one that lights up, quacks, AND shoots water out of its head like a fountain. theresa bought it when she was with my mom..who also bought one, for her unborn grandchild. sigh. campbell is very timid, though, and looked very confused and then began to cry as she struggled to fit this obnoxious thing into her rubber ducky schema.

proud uncle ed and beautiful ms. campbell

the next morning we did christmas with my family, and then headed to his grandparents to see the entiiiiire group of bucks. there are so many little kids now (one of ed's cousins has 4 kids..LOUDEST MOST UNDISCIPLINED CHILDREN ON THE PLANET) so things were a bit crazy, and i'm not sure his poor grandparents were able to take it all in.

campbell can now say mommy, daddy, puppy, stu dee (studley, ed's parent's dog), no, tan you (thank you), and HEY! She yells this to get your attention :) she is also one for the dramatics, and rolls her eyes and sighs dramatically when she doesn't get her way. Her dad, Chris, stood in her way as she tried to get to a pile of wrapping paper, and she looked up at him, rolled her eyes, and sighed. it was hilarious, as if to say, "oh dad." and then she just walked away. i'd really like to see more of her.

showing dad that she is much more flexible than he is. he has to take his heels off the ground to squat.

the face she made when uncle ed took some of her cereal.

you can see more pictures at our website. www.apriled.shutterfly.com. It's under 'Our Life' in the Holidays 2008 folder. She's cute, you should look.

tagged.

So Ivylicious tagged me in her last post.



This is the fourth photo from my fourth photo album, "Campbell"

This is my niece, Campbell Layne. It was taken at Thanksgiving by her mama's sister..so, her other aunt, Heather! We did not get to spend Thanksgiving with them, so they shared the photos instead.

I think she is absolutely precious, and can't wait to see her at christmas. She is the main and absolute reason I would love to go to UofH. She started walking on Halloween (14 months..kinda late?) and is a little miss sassy-pants. SO like her mother and father :)

I tag Heather! To tag the fourth picture in the fourth album on your computer. Don't cheat! And don't forget to tell us what it's about! I only blog with you ladies, so I have no other people to tag!

applications..ugh.

Not much going on in Buckland..just working and trying to finish up our applications! I have currently finished my applications to:
Univ. of Minnesota, UC Santa Barbara, Rochester, Stony Brook, and UC Irvine.
I am working on my applications to:
UT Austin Psychology, UT Austin HDFS, Univ of Houston, and Univ of Massachusetts

Notice there is no Northwestern in the mix. That is because I am an IDIOT and wrote down that the due date was December 31. It was definitely the 1st. I have mixed feelings about the mix-up..it was my own personal #2 choice. I would love to work under Eli Finkel there. HOWEVER, he said he might not take a student this coming year unless they were exceptional (years of experiences, GRE in the 1500s-1600s..what a prick, right?), plus there is nothing for Ed in Chicago. It was one of my..I'm applying anyway in case the worst happens and you don't get in anywhere, dear..schools. BAH. Ed is rolling through his applications too. We should both be done come mid-January, and then as Ivy said, it's the waiting game!

We went to my grandfather's house for the day for Thanksgiving (pictures on fb) which was an alright trip. No one told us it was a lunch instead of dinner, so we got there after everyone else had already eaten. It was alright though...we came back to Austin shortly after and watched the game together. Good evening.

I put up my christmas decorations! The night of Thanksgiving!! Ed insisted that I wait until the next day, but I was done waiting.

We're pretty much almost done with christmas shopping..we're going to be cutting it close just to cover everyday things after we pay off our credit card with all of our grad school stuff on it, so we're going light this year. Wedding scrapbooks for the parentals, new hoodie for the bro, books for Campbell, and sipping chocolate for the sis. Ed's family is doing a white elephant gift exchange, but that should be easy.

Monday is Lonestars formal..weird to not be going, right?? It's also the last girl's night that Catherine will probably be able to attend before she moves to Dallas to start her grad school career..SO SAD!! We met in ASL and she has been such a fantastic friend. Now who will watch Grease 2 with me? This is also the time of year that most of you lovely ladies packed up and moved on to bigger things..I love the holidays, but it all seems so dreary.

I am also starting a second job tomorrow. Alissa Sherry (professor at UT) needs someone to help her in her private practice, so I'll be helping her to get and stay organized as she transitions to a new office. I've pretty much got this sort of thing nailed by now, so it should be easy-breezy.

Juli comes home on the 19th..should be interesting. Things have been a bit easier with her overseas, but it will be nice to hear her laugh again. Maybe she'll watch Grease 2 with me!

I hope you are all doing well. Ivy- I still need to hear the rest of the engagement story! Call me when you're done with finals! Laura- How the world are you?!? Shivonne- thanks for posting love! I'm super excited for all of the things you have coming up in the next couple of months! Heather- see you tomorrow!

you will not stop my jingle bell ROCK

Because I'm a holiday rock star.

I will admit that I was one of the many who became slightly irritated at Hobby Lobby when they began putting their christmas decorations up in JULY. However. It is November, and even if Thanksgiving has not come and gone, I still say we should spread the Holiday cheer :)

My mom has always been a big fan of holiday decorations. It's one of my favorite parts about going home each year..to see what new little houses she has added to her holiday village, or to see if she got her LIFE SIZE dancing Santa a new wifey friend yet. I love the holidays, and with holidays comes lots of food, cheer, and decorations.

Ed will not let me put up my decorations until Thanksgiving is over. Hmph. This is my silent retaliation against him...he can't change my blog :)

Ed and I still aren't sure where we will be spending TG this year..my family always goes to Seguin to see my grandparents..which has since become grandfather. It's pretty depressing..especially seeing as how I now think he's a bit of an a-hole. There's no real cheer there. My mom goes because it's her dad, and my dad goes to support my mom. Juli is still abroad, so no sibling support from her this go round, and who knows where David will be..I doubt he even realizes that TG is coming up.

Ed's family always goes to his grandparents house..who happen to live on the street over from my parents. Holidays there are far less depressing than those at my grandfather's, but his grandma isn't doing so hot these days. I'm pretty sure she's stuck in time, about 10 years ago. She still knows who she is and who we are, but the stories she tells as if they were yesterday all happened a good 10, 15 years ago.

Hmmph. This will not stop my jingle bell rock. Ed and I are a new family now, and we will celebrate the hell out of these holidays. Of course it might end up in me celebrating them enough for the both of us. He's a bit of a scrooooge.

I hope you all are getting excited for food and football! HOOK 'EM!

Happy Halloween!

Nothing major to report really...Ed suggested a new title for the blog..it's fitting.

Right now we're both still working and trying to get grad school apps ready. I was able to send out packets to all of my recommendation letter people this past week, which is definitely a weight off. I can handle doing my own things last minute, but it looks a bit unprofessional to ask them to do the same.

Ed has almost finished a story that he's been working on for the past couple of months. He's a little frustrated and is trying to make all of the pieces come together so people can review it, but I'm excited! He's worked really hard on it and I can't wait for him to hear from other people (besides his ever-loving, always-impressed wife) that it's good.

This past week for ladies night we had pumpkin carving! I have only carved a pumpkin once before (my mom was always real big on the holiday decorations, so we never really needed to carve our own pumpkin) so it was quite the experience. I bought a fairytale pumpkin because I thought it looked whimsical, but apparently it is not ideal for pumpkin carving. The walls were so thick, I ended up having to use a steak knife to carve the whole thing! I carved a Bevo, and I think I did him justice. I also made special Halloween treats for the occassion! -dirt cake (pudding, really) complete with worms in little Halloween containers :)

Ed and I haven't made any plans for the festive evening..I've always wanted to try downtown, but I know I'll hate how crowded it is. Ed has had to work on Halloween before and I've had to pick him up...it is the most ridiculous time for downtown! I hope you all have fun whatever your plans are!

PS Miss Dudney! I had to tell you that I finished my first mexican martini all by myself! It reminded me of you and the many martinis you had to help me finish :) I love you! Call me soon!

GRAD SCHOOL

DUN DUN DUN!!!!

Ever since my last post, Ed and I have been GRAD SCHOOL go go go go go!

Turns out, we suck. They didn't allow you to sign up for the GRE subject tests until September, so when we were finally able to, we both did. Without ever double checking our schools to make sure they still require them. Ugh. Turns out, every school except ONE (UCLA) dropped that requirement. NONE OF OUR OTHER SCHOOLS REQUIRE IT. Talk about a waste of money, not to mention TIME invested in studying for that stupid thing. It's so super frustrating, I cannot even articulate. Not only frustration with the schools, who realize now how stupid it is to think a test like that is any true reflection of your knowledge (they should take the hint on the general GRE too!) but frustration with ourselves, for not double checking.

Other than that, the process has been going great! We each have a list of about 15 schools now (the number has gone up as we've been forced to realize that the likelihood of BOTH of us getting in to the same school is not so great). We both have our rec letters secured and only need now to get our materials to them. Ed is finally almost finished with the rough draft of the story he wants to submit. After that it's workshop, workshop, workshop! I don't have anything like that, but need to update my personal statement from last year (add in all my super-cool lab tricks that i've learned!) and essays for each institution.

We're super confident that the application process this year will go much more smoothly than last year. We pulled out papers from our grad school planning sessions last year, and they were covered in wedding notes! What were we thinking.

And we've been super great lately. Our schedules work out really well and we've been making a lot of time for each other. CRAZIEST THING! Turns out, he thought Sleeping Beauty and Snow White were the same fairy tale!!!! He had no idea there were separate stories. BLASPHEMY, I KNOW. How can he be married to such a romantic and not know these things? Never fear though ladies, thanks to Disney and I, he is now educated. "You know, your Enchanted movie didn't help," ...I guess he never caught on that it was supposed to be a combination of fairy tales. Oh my.

The family is good! Campbell is still not walking..which I think is odd, since she turned 1 in August. Ed's dad was in town for a conference this week, so we went out to dinner last night and we made dinner tonight. He brought me a bottle of wine (which I drank..by myself:)). I like him. He's a very relaxed, likable guy that likes to laugh.

Ed works a double on Friday and then we're driving up to Dallas Saturday morning for the game! We're going to spend a lot of time with Zac, an all-time favorite of both of ours that has been begging us to come see him in Dallas for the longest time. Zac was Ed's roommate for 2.5 years, played the guitar at the wedding, and obnoxiously caught the garter.

The Peacock is still here! Turns out, the thing climbs up into the trees to sleep at night! My grandparents raised peacocks when I was younger, so I know that they're mean little things that make a lot of racket..but I like this one. He gives off sort of a Fonzie vibe :)

Not sure if you guys can see it, but that's it up in a tree. In the center of the picture.

Another note on animals. The Dr. I work for decided the office didn't have enough "life" in it. And since we are a place of healing, we should have life. Somehow, that translated into her putting frogs in our waiting room. Creepy.



This is the fat guy. He likes to sneak up near the lid...hoping we'll open it and he can escape to freedom. You should see him attack a cricket.

on that note, love you all!

a lot of going ons

Writer David Foster Wallace found dead

Ed read DFW's Infinite Jest his junior year of college..and it changed his life. Before that, he had been frantically struggling with who he was, where he wanted to go and what he wanted to do with his life. After he read Infinite Jest, his entire world view changed. He spent all of his free time reading his novels, essays and short stories. He wants to be a writer, now, because of Wallace. No one has had a greater impact on his life than DFW (and I don't say that lightly).

When he heard the news, he spent hours pouring over every article he could find online. He was distraught..in shock. The person who inspired him to be what he is and do what he is doing today has taken his own life. Horribly, taken his own life. He thought and spoke frantically for several days, trying desperatley to figure it out. He thinks it means big changes for him, for his own life. His world seems like a dimmer place, less valuable, less worthwhile.

I was at a loss for words for a long time. He is doing much better now, though, and has used it as a way to push himself to write more. He has been speaking to a writing professor he had, who has helped him a great, great deal.

“Think of the old cliché about quote the mind being an excellent servant but a terrible master. This, like many clichés, so lame and unexciting on the surface, actually expresses a great and terrible truth,” he said. “It is not the least bit coincidental that adults who commit suicide with firearms almost always shoot themselves in: the head. They shoot the terrible master. And the truth is that most of these suicides are actually dead long before they pull the trigger."

-DFW, 2005

Hurricane Ike

Austin never saw a drop. Not even a cloud, a little wind, but nothing that even resembles a light shower. Tomball, like most of south Texas, did not escape so unscathed. My dad sleeps with ear plugs in, so was completely unaware when the storm rolled in. My mom, however, a worry-wort and light sleeper, said it sounded like a war zone. They had lost power that night before the storm even arrived, so were sleeping with their windows open. My mom finally woke my dad up around 3am so they could move away from the windows and into the safety area under the stairs.

They woke the next morning and told me over the phone that only a few branches had fallen. LIARS. We have pine trees all throughout our yard, 10 stories tall at least. SIX of these snapped in half, one falling on our neighbors garage, ruining the carport and fence. Another tree landed less than a foot away from our own garage. If it had fallen the other way, it would have landed on my sister's bedroom, with my parents' bedroom below it. And they just redid the bathrooms!

A tree cutter was there THAT day handing out his card, and my mom called him that afternoon. They were afraid the trees that had snapped might fall and cause more damage, so they went ahead and cut them all down. THAT day, a tree stump remover was handing out HIS card. So the yard now looks perfectly normal, minus a lot of trees and branches. It took 14 empty dump trucks just to haul away the stuff from my parents' house.

My parents STILL do not have power. They lost everything in the storage freezer (my dad is a deer hunter, a lot of meat was wasted). My dad was unable to go to work for about a week, because all of the windows on one side of his building were blown out. Thank GOODNESS his office was spared. It was a crazy time for him though..he does risk assessment for the entire Chase bank company, and did not have access to the internet, cell phone (charged it in his car) or land phone for days..all during the stock market ups and downs of last week. He drove in to work at the end of last week anyway, and was able to get some work done. Good for him.

My mom refused to let me have her camera to post pictures..she wants to keep it around in case the insurance people ever actually show up. She stood in line for 3 hours yesterday to wash clothes at the washateria. She is really bored.

Happy Graduation to Me!

Even with all of their own drama, my parents were still able to get me a new car for graduation! We've been on a waiting list since July, and it finally arrived last weekend! Ed and I made a trip home to pick up it, and help my parents finish up some of the yard work. It was sorda like a camp out :) The car is a 2009 honda fit. I absolutely love it!

Peacock?

Random, I know, by there is a peacock roaming our apartment complex! Ed thinks it's all rather mysterous, I think it's just a bird looking to snack on all of our neighbors' plants.

Grad School Applications

Are due beginning Dec 1. Ed and I have both signed up to take our respective GRE subject test (mine is Nov 8!). We're both excited about applying and where it might take us. I think we're both secretly hoping for Houston, so cross your fingers!

Married Life

Is fabulous :) I love him and love every day we have together. He's still my all-time favorite person. I love life.

all good here

The move was a success! And the brother is G-O-N-E! Love him to death, but OMG I hope I never have to do that again! We're still living out of boxes, so no Lauraesque tour, but maybe soon...if we ever get to unpacking :)

We're both super busy! Somehow he still manages to find time for golf, which I don't understand. Work is nuts, and I begin running participants M-TH in the Sex Lab next week! I'm still not sure how that's going to work out with the work schedule, but we'll see.

The study I'm working on is called "Fashion Magazine" --it is essentially trying to determine if induced body dissatisfaction (having girls rate their bodies against models) has an effect on sexual response, as measured by the vaginal photoplethysmograph and self ratings. It's a rather lengthy experiment, 2 sessions of about 2 hours each. And in between sessions I have the lovely privilege of cleaning the probe, eww. Just cleaning it takes about an hour- it's the same stuff your dentist or orthodontist use, and your gynecologist. There are only 6 labs in the country that have this equipment though, so I'm super excited to be able to put it on my resume for grad school! Here is a link with more info on the photoplethysmograph!

The depression lab is still going, too. It's still depressing. And so boring. But, another thing to put on the apps. Speaking of which, we've started researching again and I'll be turning in my applications in December (for most of them). Most of Ed's aren't due until early next year...wish us luck in getting everything completed this time around!

i hope you are all doing well..I'll be thinking of all of you at the first football game this weekend. From the ALUMNI center, woot! Who's excited for AC?!?!

MOOving!

On Saturday! I cannot even explain how excited I am. For over a year now I've felt like I didn't really have a place, a home. Sure, all of my stuff was at mine and Carra's apartment, but my Earnest, my life, was at Ed's apartment with all of that gross boy furniture and dirty dishes. There is my parents' house in Tomball, but as soon as I moved out my mom redid my room and it hasn't really felt like home for a while. Before the wedding I moved most of my stuff into storage and a few things (mmmostly clothes :)) into Ed's apartment. This is where we have been living, with our brothers, since May 21. Granted, his younger brother is now back in Tomball, so it's just David, but he's a horrible roommate. I'm a bit of a neat freak and get an unhealthy kick out of organizing and recreating my own personal spaces, and it has seriously impacted my quality of life to not have things...my way... That sounds horrible. We also thought it would just be the two of us once we moved..turns out Dave might be staying with us until he moves in to his apartment (Longhorn Landing) on the 23rd. I KNOW IT'S ONLY A COUPLE OF WEEKS...but AAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!

Ed is having a hard time too. He lives to write and hasn't been able to do anything productive since before the wedding. He'll have early mornings here and there when there's no one awake to distract him, but not having the privacy and appropriate environment to write in is stifling him, he feels frustrated and angry. HE can't wait for us to have our own space too.

The apartment is small, with no washer and dryer connection.. SAD FACE. But, it will do, and it will allow us to put money in savings each week that we will desperately need when it's time to apply to grad school..and BE in grad school. If that even works out, omgeeee.

As Heather's blog says, we went dress shopping! She's going to be so gorgeous..I can't believe we have to wait 2 years! Sigh.

Work has been pretty nuts. Right before the wedding the Dr. I work for fired the Office Manager (not doing her job and I'm pretty sure some personal stuff was involved) so the other office lady gal (Frances) and I have been bustin' our boooooties to catch up on everything that she didn't do. We're redoing insurance claims from TWO YEARS AGO. The Dr. has hundreds of thousands of dollars that are owed to her by insurance companies that we're having to go back and try and get. I could not even imagine having that much money owed to me. We got a check in the mail today for $15, 865 from ONE insurance company.. so Frances and I were feeling pretty good about ourselves today :)

The labs I'm working in are also going well. The lab on depression is, go figure, pretty depressing, but it's good experience. The sexuality lab is flipping fun and I can't wait to start running participants in the Fall. WOOT!

Currently Reading: The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. Word on the street is that she's a writer every feminist should be familiar with. She was married to the poet Ted Hughes and is also known for her own poetry. The book started off great..very witty and entertaining. HOWEVER, Syliva died at the age of 32(?) after she killed herself, and the book is supposed to be pretty spot on in recounting Sylvia's own attempted suicides. Right now the main character is spiraling downwards through a major depression..and she's depressing me. I'm having a difficult time finishing it, but my next book is The Optimists, so at least there will be an uplifting book to follow it with.

IVY- ED SAID TO READ THE BOOK HE GAVE YOU ASAP SO YOU CAN TELL HIM HOW MUCH YOU LIKED IT AND HOW GREAT HE IS FOR RECOMMENDING IT. As if you didn't have enough to do already :)

I love you all deeearly!

AUGUST 15-17

What is everyone doing August 15-17?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

I'm not sure when Ivy starts school, but I thought it might be nice to get everyone back together in Austin before she sells her soul. Ed and I will have moved in to our new place by then, and he wants to take a solo vacay to get some writing done (aka, April is kicking him out :)) SO! Let me know what you're up to, I would love to see you guys!!

love.

back in the groove

hello loves! so we're back in austin...and things are pretty much back to "normal" here.

I met with Yasisca (1 of the 2 grad students I'll be working for in the Sexual Psychophysiology Laboratory) and will now be going in on Monday and Fridays to assist her in her work. For right now it will just be entering and analyzing data in SPSS (a program I have forgotten..a fact I was deathly afraid of admitting to any potential grad schools..so the refresher course is pretty sweet) and come fall I'll be running participants (love that part) again! The study is called Fashion Mag, and is pretty much trying to see if a female's view of her body has an effect on her sexual response. Girls will be coming in, filling out questionnaires, and then watching a...movie...after which I measure their arousal using vaginal photoplethysmography (pretty much an electric tampon that measures blood flow). I'm super excited about it.

I'm also keeping my old job..BOO..but we're poor, and I need to contribute :) Ed says he'll be my sugar daddy now..because he's pretty sure I'll be his sugar mama later. Love him.

And on that note..the honeymoon was fabulous! But now we're back..living with the brothers. Ed's brother actually moved back to Tomball yesterday (didn't do so hot in school) so it's just David left here. I must say, it's no fun living with your siblings after you're freakin' married. But we move to our new place on August 9, and I am COUNTING DOWN THE DAYS until it is just the 2 of us.

I'll be sending an email when I finally finish with our honeymoon pictures..they're all uploaded, I just need to finish adding the captions. Love you all! Shivonne--welcome home!!

love :)

hello ladies! i had a little extra time at an internet cafe..at dunkin donuts of all places..and wanted to post!

things after the wedding went by so quickly that i don't feel like i gave you all a proper thank you! ivy and laura..you guys were ballers at the candy table set-up. i know you felt rushed to get back, but i'm so glad you did and i'm so glad you were a part of my bride day!! thank you for the smiles and for continually reminding me that the day (as it should be, i think) really was for me. i love you both!!

heather..thank you for keeping me sane and focused on what the day was really all about. you rock my life and i can't wait to see you!!! ps- pretty sure jeffrie BANKED! i hope you have such a great time with your family before heading off with marcel's, and I'M SO GLAD your tests came back negative! now no more worries, enjoy your summer!

RIGHT NOW ed and i are in berlin :) we are exhausted but so excited and having such a great time! i hope you've gotten at least a few emails from me..this paying for internet thing has been sorta sketchy.

after this, we still have cologne, PARIS, VENICE, FLORENCE, and ROOOOMMMMEEE!!! Can you tell that the last part of the trip is made up of the cities i chose?

i can't post pictures on this computer, but i'll send some at the next place! i miss you all and can't wait to see you all again! LOVE!!

SO FLIPPIN' EXCITED

EEEE!! This time tomorrow I will be with all of my homegirls. This time next week I will be a married woman!

I just wanted to share a few pictures that were on my camera..my computer is packed away in storage so I still don't have those, aka my dress pictures :( BUT YOU WILL ALL SEE IT IN A WEEK!

Ed and I got our marriage license today!


This is my baby Tomball with a big-city overpass going through it. I drove on it. It was very surreal.

Ed's eldest brother, Chris, and his wife, Brandy, are both officially lawyers. Here are a few pics of his brother's ceremony (with baby Campbell! She's SO big!)


A few of my favs from graduation.


I have always nagged at Ed about doing more things "Austin" ...I want to eat in Austin restaurants, shop in Austin shops, visit Austin monuments and parks, etc. We did the paddleboating as a start, and last weekend we went to Mt. Bonnell. The climb was not anything like I thought it would be..I was almost embarrassed for thinking it would be such a rough hike! But we found a few paths that went into the land around it and caught some beautiful views and really worked our hiking buns!

My baby girl Dee is all growed up and graduated!

Updates!

Loves! So much to tell you. And no pictures to tell it with :(

I packed the last four years of my life away last week and have moved it all into storage. As much as I have complained about this last year, it was such a depressing task. Carra and I had several movie nights/girl days where we drank champagne and watched movies that reminded us of the last four years together. We had SO many funny memories for all of them..we've called each other more since the move-out than we did the last several months..I'm going to miss my tiny dancer.

I graduated! I am now a Texas Ex and so super sad about it. I'll still be on the campus next year, but not scurrying around to classes or studying like a mad lady. I cannot tell you how refreshing it was to throw away old notes and sell back old books (from freshman year! I'm pathetic). Juli graduated at 10am on Saturday, and then we went to The Grove, a fabulously yummy 'green' restaurant in downtown Houston that she used to work out (Ivy-go!). We dilly-dallied around the park for a while, and then made the trek to Austin for my graduation! The only one I could make it to was the big University wide one, and it was so beautiful! I'll remember it absolutely forever. I even found Stacy Force to sit with me! We found Van, Chelsi, and Lindsey Potter afterwards and took a few photos. My family then headed off to Conan's (a must-do for every Austin visit) to celebrate. It was great :)

Ed is in Vegas as we speak for his stupid bachelor party. POOR THING missed his flight this morning after arriving 50 minutes early. Apparently they overbooked for the holiday weekend, and his seat was given away by the time he got there. Eek. He managed to get on another flight later, only to have it delayed due to weather. He made it to Phoenix, where he just barely caught a transfer flight to Vegas, and had to wait over an hour on the plane AGAIN because of the weather! He made it though, and was able to step out into the city over 12 hours later than he planned, and into 50 degree weather, which he did not pack for. I hope the weekend turns up for him..in the form of large winnings at the casinos :)

I got my dress and it is absolutely PERFECT!! I arrived home last Friday afternoon at the same time my mama did, and we heard a message on the machine from the lady at the dress store saying that my dress had come in! We both screamed and jumped out of our seats! We rushed to the store and I was SO nervous walking in, I was so afraid that the dress would not be right and we'd have a majorly stressful problem. HOWEVER, it was exactly what I wanted :) I thought they might just hack the bottom of the dress off, but they scalloped the edges and even put eyelashes (that are also on the top) on the bottom! Couldn't be happier :) I also found shoes and have my jewelry. I'm wearing a strand of pearls from each my great grandma, grandma and aunt..all on my mom's side and none of whom are with us any longer. SO moved when they were given to me (everything went to Juli bc she's the oldest girl, very traditional family) that I cried. The dress lady tried to sell me a different set of jewelry, but I was not budging. I also had a trial updo for my hair..very soft and romantic looking.

Ed had his "Hail the Male" shower, and it was hilarious! It was so him, with tons of BBQ and beer, no frillies. We played this game where they had us stand back to back and gave us dolls on sticks, one boy and one girl. They asked us questions and we had to answer April or Ed by holding up the guy or girl stick. My stomach hurt when this game was over, I was laughing so hard! He was such a good sport too, which he's usually not. The funniest pictures they caught are the ones where we disagree, or where you can tell we're both having to think reeeally hard.."Whose parents are the most eager for grandchildren" and "Who will negotiate the purchase of your first car" were especially good. Other questions include: Who said I love you first? Who FELL in love first? Who dresses better? Whose furniture will be the first to go? Ed even wore a hat that my parents got him that says 'Groom' on it :)

After a lot of trouble with the jeweler, Ed's ring is set to come in on May 30th. He wanted titanium to it would last (he's left handed and afraid he'll beat it up) but they didn't tell us until AFTER that if his finger swells and for some reason they need to cut the ring off, they'd have to cut off the finger instead. GEEZ, no pressure Ed. We purchased his suit too! And finalized the flowers!

I'm home again this weekend for my friend Deeksha's graduation party, and also in an effort to keep my mind off the fact that Ed is in Vegas for his bachelor weekend. And then next weekend is MY weekend to have fun! Absolutely CANNOT wait to see all of you ladies in one place! AND in TWO WEEKS FROM TODAY, I'll be married...it's nuts! But we're so super excited. And EUROPE is only a few weeks away too! I met with the travel agent today to go over rail passes and everything, and I'm absolutely STOKED!

One Month!

OMG..it makes my hands shake when I think about it! and have restless nights where I can't sleep a wink, because all I can think about is the long list of things we still have to get done..seriously, i have a note-pad by the bed so I can write things down when I think about them. Not to mention packing for freaking Europe!

OK Confession: The closer the wedding gets, the more I worry about something happening to Ed. It's not even just an annoying little thing thing that I worry over, because I tend to worry about almost everything, but this deep fear that makes me breathe so fast I could hyperventilate and want to hold his hand and walk him everywhere he goes to make sure he gets there safe. Thinking about it now makes me want to cry, but I won't because he's right there..so now, you know how when you're trying not to cry, your jaw starts to hurt? it hurts like that now. gah. i guess when you're lucky enough to find someone you love that much, there has to be some sucky part, it's only fair to everyone else.

Another sucky note, my grandpa fell and broke his hip a couple of weeks ago (did I write about that?) My mom went and visited him for a week) and he was doing well, so she came home. bah. now he has pneumonia, and she's on her way back. she's not sure if she'll be back to go with me to try on my dress for the first time (which is supposed to come in this week) and she called Roxanne (the woman who threw my shower for me) to "step in as mommy, and tell you how pretty you look, and how perfect everything will be" ...she's thinking what i'm thinking, what do we do if the worst happens, postpone the wedding?

ANOTHER sucky note. Little brother went through a pretty twisted relationship which recently ended, and he is having a reeeeeally hard time with it. He had to leave Tomball because he didn't trust himself (and we didn't trust him) to stay there. He's sleeping on Ed's couch...so there are 4 people in he apartment now..3 boys. Ed has been amazing with him, staying up late to talk to him for hours, taking him out so he'll have something else to think about. Love him. But 3 boys? Sometimes I leave to go back to my apartment to get a little estrogen. But Carra's parents came up this past weekend and took some of the bigger furniture home with them, so they wouldn't have to move EVERYTHING on the 21st. It's pretty depressing. She and I have been trying to spend more time together, we're both kinda depressed about our four years of living together coming to an end. Sigh. We went and got mani/pedis today. It was fun.

Mmk good things. Ed is having his "Hail the Male" shower this weekend..where we're supposed to eat beer chicken and jalapeños stuffed with cream cheese and wrapped in bacon. and he's supposed to get a bunch of boy junk that he'll never use, if he ever figures out how to use it.
My dress is supposed to come in this week. We have hotel rooms for people. We're going shopping tomorrow for Ed's suit and ring.

What a ramble. Love you guys.

Tea Party!

My Tea Party Shower was this past weekend.. and it was amazing! It was absolutely the girliest thing EVER and I absolutely adored it. It was hosted by Roxanne, her daughter Alissa, her future daughter-in-law, Kourney, and her mother-in-law Wilona. Roxanne is married to Darrell, who is my dad's best friend and has been since they were in 5th grade. Darrell and Roxanne Dysone are also one of my 2 sets of god-parents.

The Dysons turned their living room, normally red, into the girliest mixtures of blues and greens. Pictures of Ed and I sat on every table. They set up round tables everywhere with china, tea pots, and tea cups that had tea packets sitting next to them. The tea packet, "The Perfect Blend," had mine and Ed's names on it as well as ou wedding date :) They gave me a box to take home with me- Ed said that as soon as I startr drinking one I'm going to want to cuddle and watch Enchanted. He's right :)

They completely went all out on the food, with so many types of sandwiches and fruit, and dessert! Chocolate cake, petits fours, and smaller April-size chocolate cakes! It was absolutely delicious. We all ate our yummy food and drank SO MANY types of teas, it was so much fun.
Gift time was fun too ;) Everyone was given a Bingo card to fill in with the gifts they thought I would get. Carra's mom won a bingo as did Ed's grandma, and took home flower arrangements.

I came away with more stuff than I knew what to do with! I didn't want to haul it all to Austin and then just move it again, so most of it went into storage. I brought a few things back :)

And guess who decided to surprise me!?! Carra!!! She called her mom on Thursday to tell her that she wanted to surprise me by coming in on Saturday. It was so great of her. She also bought her dress!! She and I have been hitting rough spots lately, and she really stepped up big this weekend. It was great to see her.

haha, and get this! One of my best friends since 5th grade, Brandon, stopped by to say hi on Friday. He brought with him a gift from his mom..a doilie with 'Buck' in it!! It's hilariously cute. Ed's not a huge fan, but it's def going in a frame and up on a wall somewhere :)

It was a fabulous shower! Completely showed up any that I had ever been to before. And now I have some good ideas for YOU LADIES in the future! I love you all and wish you could have been there to enjoy the girliness, it's nice to be disgustingly girly every once and a while.

I love Birthday Month!

Basically..because I'm a borderline brat (or maybe full-fledged) I declare the month of April, from April 8th on, my birthday! I have a whole month named after me, I can do what I want :)

I woke up Tuesday morning to a "Happy Birthday Baby" kiss from my Earnest. He then made me a very yummy breakfast and took me to school. I skipped my last class, why? It's my birthday! and Ed took me to my favorite pizza joint, Conan's!!! Their whole-wheat-deep-dish-hamburger pizza is to DIE for. And they have yummy salads with black olives and mozzarella cheese :)

I have been bugging Ed to take me out rowing on the lake since who knows when...it's been a while, because his old excuse was, "it's too cold outside!" so you KNOW that was forever ago. After our yummy lunch, he took me! We rented a paddle boat that you put-put around in with your feet. It was such an amazingly fun time! We chased after ducks and turtles, and I somehow managed to sunburn ONLY my KNEES. Crazy..Crazy good time!

After our adventure Ed took me out and bought me the most hideously indulgent cake ever. It's called a chocolate bomb. It is a layer of cake, piled high with chocolate mousse, and smoothed over with a thick layer of chocolate ganache. He paired it with a raspberry/vanilla cream swirl ice cream and freshly whipped cream. He hit that one out of the park.

Tuesday night for dinner we met friends at the Friday's on Lake Austin and had a spectacular view of..the pool. I didn't want to sit outside, it's my birthday! and I didn't want to be hot :) It was still a good time, and I still got to see the sun set.

After dinner we went back to Ed's to eat yummy cake and watch ENCHANTED. Sigh. It was the perfect day :)

I woke up Wednesday and today to "Happy Birthday Baby" kisses from my Earnest :) He's the one that let's me know when I'm being obnoxious and taking it too far, so we'll see how long he'll let me get away with it. My family is coming up this weekend to celebrate my birthday with me, see the Chapel and the Saltlick, and drop David off. He's going to be living with me for a little bit while he gets over this whoreface in Tomball, but I won't spoil my lovely post with her nonsense :)

Thank you to ALL of you for your wishes, cards and gifts!! I love you guys and wish you could have been here to share it with me, but I know I'll see you soon! Woo hoo for lingerie ;)

sting like a...

BEE!

OK. Yours truly is OFFICIALLY the COOLEST person alive. Here's why.

I volunteered at the Texas School for the Deaf this past Saturday. They were hosting 9 other states in a track tournament. I was working concessions outside, and rooting for the Texas Rangers. I was also drinking a coke. I went to finish off the coke..threw my head back and went to swallow. OOPS. I felt something in my mouth and then HOLY GEEZ felt the worst burn/STINGING on the roof of my mouth.

I spit coke and a dead BEE all over the front of my shirt, and frantically scratched at the roof of my mouth like a mad person to get the stinger out. I ran to the bathroom, no mirrors. Somehow I managed to get the dang thing out...everyone was staring. What in the world is that hearing girl up to?!?

I explained to the people I was working with what happened as the roof of my mouth started to swell. My ASL class had not prepared me for this conversation. They called a police man over who escorted me to the nurses office. My friend Catherine came with me in case my AIRWAY BECAME SWOLLEN SHUT and they had no way to identify me.

The nurse offered me some Oragel and popscicles, which I gladly took. She said to be on the lookout for any difficulty breathing, and if I felt it I should call 911. She told me I was lucky that I didn't swallow it or it didn't get stuck in my airway, because then I would have gone in to shock. Way to not freak me out lady.

I am not allergic to bees, thank goodness, so all I have is a tender mouth. Talking was difficult on Saturday, and teeth brushing is no fun, but it's all better now. Thank goodness.

ALWAYS look in your coke cans before consuming your beverages :)

Oh Grandpa

So. I have one remaining grandparent, my Mom's dad. My Dad's dad died when I was 5 after his 4th heart attack. My Mom's mom died when I was 16 of emphysema. My Dad's mom died this past summer..of craziness. She was a mean lady that had a labotamy when my dad was younger, they thought it would get the anger out of her. Wrong.

At any rate, the grandpa that I have left, PawPaw, is a Korean war vet. He enrolled at A&M, Korea started, so he jumped over there for a bit. He was wounded (shrapnel to the hip, from some explosion) and fixed up in a hospital over there with no anesthetic, and then sent back out to fight again. Somehow, his Army records were destroyed when the US base that was over there was destroyed. My uncle has been fighting to get him his Purple Heart lately, and he finally got it.
Apparently Senator Cornyn's dad is a vet as well, and he has a lot of sympathy and does a lot for vets. He couldn't believe that my grandfather had still not received his Purple Heart after all these years, and decided to have a lil ceremony for him.

Ed and I met up with my parents and my mom's side of the family in Seguin and then caravaned with them to San Antonio, where Senator Cornyn is currently working. They had a ceremony set up outside infront of the Korean War Memorial.

I don't think anyone in the family thought it would be a big to-do, just a presentation, so we were all shocked when camera, photographers, and newspaper people showed up. Most of all my grandfather. He hates attention.

They discovered that in addition to earning a Purple Heart for being wounded, my grandfather had also earned 3 other medals: Korean War Service Medal, National Defense Service Medal, and the Army Good Conduct Medal.

The family is happy now that the old man has his medals. We were outside for all of 2 hours and I somehow managed to get sunburned on my face and right arm..hmm. But it was good to see the family again. I hadn't seen one of my cousins in like 2 years because he's had to work or something just about every holiday. There are a couple of articles online about it if you're interested :)

Cornyn's Website
San Antonio Paper
Seguin Gazette

PS

I forgot to mention in my last post. April's credit card was compromised.
Not sure when..or how..or what other information this butthead has on me, but somehow they got my cc number and were able to charge $20. I saw it posted on my account, and could not for the life of me remember where I had charged exactly $20 (I get excited about that sort of thing). It was pending for like a week, and I got a couple of phone calls from Chase, all of which I thought were courtesy calls. WRONG. A couple of days later I was working open-close and had 8 MISSED CALLS FROM CHASE. I got off work and was finally able to talk to someone..and they asked me about the $20..which I was pretty unsure of..and then mentioned that someone had tried to charge SEVERAL THOUSAND DOLLARS to my account NUMEROUS TIMES THAT DAY. I wigged out, denied making the charges myself, and the dude was like "your card has been compromised. it is no longer valid, effective immediately...."....!!!
I don't carry cash. I despise checks. My sugar daddy always has cash on him tho, so it was OK. I got my new card in the mail today..so hopefully changing the card was enough. They said I didn't need to open a new account, but we'll see.

Just had to tell you my scary story. Watch your cards. And online purchases. And bank statements you throw in the trash.

Spring "Break"

Consisted of me working my BOOOOOTY off. Things have been crazy at the clinic, so I offered to work extra and let the other receptionist take a couple of "mental health" days. What's wrong with me.
For cheap thrills, Ed and I rented a bunch of movies that we both felt the other should watch..he sat through Across the Universe..TWICE and Enchanted. I watched some crazy movie I can't remember the name of, but he loves 'em. I think it was called..Dr Strangelove OR How I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb. Don't ask.
We also did some SXSW stuff...CRAZY FUN. He lives in the heart of SoCo, so we were within walking distance of most places. We went down to Auditorium Shores one night, and the next day we went to Waterloo Park. One of the stages had ALL SuperDeluxe.com comedians (which is one of Ed's fav websites--and group of comedians). It was a crazy good time.
We've been looking for apartments in the Austin area, as we had pretty much decided to stay put for the year we take off. We were all set to sign a pre-lease on this place down the street from where Ed is now..and they never called back. They STILL have not called back.
However...Rich (the grad student I worked under who is now doing a fellowship at UCLA) sent me an email..one of the professors he works with is looking for a Master Coder (something I'm not really qualified to be..) and really things I would be great at it. He sent the other prof an AMAZING email about me, and the other prof is really excited about me applying. AH! LA?!?!? Scary thought, but Ed was really supportive and encouraging, so I'm going to apply. EEE!
If I don't get it, it will probably be a sigh of relieve (LA scares the sh** out of me-just bc it's far away) but SO SUPER DUPER exciting. I'd love to move somewhere different. And learn to surf.
Ed and I took our ENGAGEMENT pictures on Friday! (YEA-we've only been engaged for what..8 months?) and we should have a link to our pics later this week. I'll post when we get it :)
ALSO--we met with the woman we want to officiate our wedding. Her name is Spike. She's a bit of a hippie, and a writer, and she wants to travel the world for 3 years when her son graduates from high school. She has some beautifully written ways to make it a very personal ceremony, so we're really excited about it. More to come.

I love you all! Come and visit me :)

Just real quick

In a rush loves, sorry, but I wanted to give you all an update!

So I went home this past weekend with Ed and we
a) Got our passports taken care of! We'll get them in "4-6 weeks" if all goes well. SOOO glad to have that off our list.
b) We spoke to our travel agent! The last time I talked with her she gave us various books of guided tours and whatnot.."SEE EUROPE IN 21 DAYS!" But we knew none of these were really up our ally. Instead, I researched the trains and went to her with a list of cities we want to see, etc etc and she's supposed to be drawing up an itenerary for us! We'll travel by train, stay in the major cities and make day trips out to the smaller towns that we want to see. VERY excited. SHIVONNE--We're totally planning a meet-up :)
c) My sister has offered to make the invitations, which scared me at first. She's great at that sort of thing, always making cards and scrapbooks for someone or something, but I was afraid she might take it too far. HOWEVER, she showed me a few sample invites and I LOVE THEM! They're so beautiful and romantic, right up my ally.

Most of you know that Ed is currently writing various short stories and plans on attending grad school in the Fall of 2009 to get his MFA in creative writing. He is also currently enrolled in a creative writing class at ACC in an attempt to defer his loan payments :) He submitted a story last week and got back great reviews. TONIGHT he went to a reading at Austin Java and read part of it aloud. I'm so proud of him. Had to share.

ONE more thing :) There are finally pictures of my dress online! It's part of the Spring 2008 line, which until recently was not available on their website. But here are some pictures--much better than the ones previously posted.

I am having it altered to be tea-length..blasphemous, I know, but I don't want to worry about my dress dragging on the ground and turning brown. We're going to be outside people.

SO if you'll NOTICE the larger panel of lace going across, knee-ish area, that's where they're going to cut it. They're also going to raise it up a little around the waist. yay :)