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 :)