in the event that anyone reads this thing anymore

updates for you because i have a second to breathe:

• earnest quit his job! he has been doing valet for the driskill hotel/ stephen f austin hotel since 2006..and has hated every minute of it. it keeps him in shape and the money is great, but something about having to smile at and be nice to people for hours a day, bending to their every whim, etc. is a bit draining. he's been happily unemployed for the last 3 weeks or so, and his spirits are amazingly lifted. he has been going to class and studying for the GRE, which he is retaking this coming wednesday. he's really happy, and that makes me happy :)

• school is going well. i'm done with one class, and only have one test and a cumulative final in my stats class, and a 20 page paper due in another before I am DONE with this semester. and it can kiss my ass, because I kicked its :)

• family is ridiculous. my relatives have been shamefully fighting about my grandfather's will, and my mom and an uncle are having to take my 2 other uncles to court. sigh. people are so selfish, it's disgusting what people are willing to do to loved ones for extra cash.

• the 2 girls in my program from china (Niko and Yijie) and I and another girl from my program, Brittany, went to the san marcos outlets today! Niko was SO excited, they've been told stories about the outlet malls and were dying to try them out. they ooed and aawed so many times! we all spent more than we should have and didn't cover much ground in 7 hours, but we had a great time :)

• we're going to tomball after ed's GRE on wednesday and will be hanging with the fam through the weekend. i hope you all have a marvelous holiday :)

and i can't resist adding a picture of campbell
pictured here with her mom, aunt, and grandma
she's getting so big :(

pumpkin carving with lonestar founders?

yes please.

have i told you guys this story? ed came home from 'man night' last year and told me that some of the guys that he hangs out with are the HUSBANDS of 2 girls that started lonestars. bull shit.

but oooh so true. ed's friend richie is married to sara, and his friend tim was just married to kacie this past summer! love her wedding pictures..her dress is exactly what i was looking for. turns out she couldn't find it anywhere either and her madre MADE IT HERSELF. love. isn't life ridiculous.

anywho, we carved pumpkins this past weekend! it was hilarious to talk about lonestars and answer questions like, "so, what is a t-shirt dress anyway?" kacie's younger sister is in lonestars this year as a freshman. also, kacie is a teacher and received an email this past spring from the parent of one of her kids...whose older sister had received a dress at project princess! she was gushing with great things to say and wanted to let everyone know about the great group of girls that did it. everything comes full circle :)

and i had "LL!" yelled at me as i walked away..overall a very surreal experience. i know we gripe a lot, but it reminded me of the reasons i joined lonestars and was excited and involved for so long. love you ladies :*

earnest working hard

ed's creepy pig pumpkin? not sure.

ed with his friend jesse and his gf meaghan

sara (l) and kacie (r)

sara and kacie

kacie and her hubs tim, and earnest

pumpkin guts

ed's beautiful creation.
pumpkin with worms out its ears. and a cool scar.
all together now!
jesse and meaghan's, mine and ed's, sara's, richie's, tim's, kacie's

up...and then back down.

my last remaining grandparent, my mom's dad, or PawPaw, passed away this morning.

getting his purple heart from senator john cornyn

some of you might remember my post, Oh Grandpa. no word yet on funeral arrangements, except that he will be cremated like my grandmother with a memorial set up right next to hers.

looking up

we're doing much better at the bucks. things are still really hectic, money is tight, advisors are demanding..but we've been able to spend more time together lately, which always results in laughter and lifted spirits.

-ed and i have both been on antibiotics. mine turned out to be something different. apparently my body is not currently able to handle it's own friendly bacteria :/ the doctor asked me if i was stressed...HA. the symptoms have been around since august, which, coincidentally, is when school started. geez. she gave me antibiotics and made me all but pinky swear that i would start sleeping more. this weather is currently helping me keep my promise :)

-speaking of the weather! i told you i would use the fireplace as soon as it got chilly!

-my niece is adorable :) ..and makes angry faces that look JUST like her dad's.






i don't know what they do to her that causes her to make such..beautiful? faces. can you believe she just turned two? where's the baby fat?!? our kids are going to be rolie polies, she's going to be a giant.

-the allens will again descend on austin for halloween! derek had his wedding back in september, and now alissa is getting hitched. i'm trying to think of a costume that's wedding appropriate..not too over the top. while they're not dressing up, alissa and lyle have totally embraced the fact that their wedding is on halloween...i'm even making the pumpkin pie bites from bakerella for their rehearsal dinner! any costume suggestions?

-my advisor will be gone for a week :) so i'm definitely breathing easier. we had a student concerns meeting this past week that has given me a little perspective...as demanding as my advisor is, she's approachable (most of the time). sure..she assigns ungodly amounts of reading, requires my presence at everything, calls me out in her class, and is generally intimidating..but i still feel comfortable approaching her with problems and questions. other students are not so lucky.

-thanks to everyone for their love these last couple of weeks. they have been some of the toughest in memory, and it's so comforting to know that a few of you are going through it with me (thanks abbi and ivy), and that all of you will listen to my moans and groans.

love love love

my cohort kicks ass

i love them. eventually i'll post pictures and bios of them..so you can get to know and love them too :)

below are some pictures taken by Niko, one of the 2 girls from china! they are so full of questions and say some of the most insightful things. last night they both tried marshmallows for the first time..and it was the funniest most awesome thing ever. they both LOVED them. and niko likes it here because people are so free to laugh :)

guadalupe

dean keeton

i love her pictures of campus.
she helps me see the campus i've been at for the past 5 years in a completely new light

niko, caroline and myself at anne's bbq

weekdays are rough. friday happy hour :)
left, front to back: Yijie, Niko, Brittany, Mickey
right, front to back: Earnest, April, Liz, Holly
missing: Anne and Caroline

going bankrupt just to feel better

ed and i have both been really sick, but his symptoms have been worse than mine. he went to the dr. on monday..and tested positive for the bacteria that causes stomach ulcers. seriously?

they asked that i go in this next week to get tested too, and said they'd call in the pack of antibiotics for ed to get started on. relieved to finally know what has been making us sick, he goes to the pharmacy...that wants $360 for his prescription. and that's after insurance knocked off a couple hundred. seriously?

he got a print out of the drugs that make up the pack, and we're going to call the dr. on monday to see if they can call in individual prescriptions for each drug which will hopefully allow us to get the generic version of them.

but seriously. who can afford that?

i want my life back

ed and i have been through the worst 2 weeks that either of us can ever remember. i am not interested in reliving any of it, but know that we no longer have mac and we may both have stomach ulcers (awaiting blood tests), complete with the absolute worst nausea and every other fun symptom you can think of. i was overwhelmed with the work from school BEFORE i got sick, and now i don't know that i'll ever recover. i have never experienced this sort of overwhelming exhaustion. ever. presentations have not gone well. when i finish something, i'm used to having a brief moment of relief where i can take a deep breath, maybe sigh a little, and recuperate before moving on. now, as soon as one thing is over a million other things are waiting there for my attention. i'm too selfish for this bullshit. and i want my life back.