So, Wednesday night I went to my first Jiu Jitsu Class followed by one of the best TKD classes I’ve ever attended. Jiu Jitsu was pretty good. My shoulders hurt thanks to some dumb exercise called a caterpillar roll. Not only did I look absolutely awkward doing this, but I was the slowest in the class – yay me! Once we got on the ground and started to do things though I really started to dig it. The only downside was being grouped with 2 girls who found the class way too funny. There is nothing worse than giggling girls sometimes. TKD was also great. We didn’t even spar or work on our forms. All we did was KICK! Love it! We got to run at bags and do flying side kicks. Then we ran at them at did jump combos. It was so sweet. Lastly, we practiced our jump 360’s on clapper targets which I failed at miserably as usual. I think I’m gonna have to get a private lesson just to get these down or up and around rather. However, if any of my black belt friends want to help me out say maybe for a meal or something well then, just speak up!

Thursday was kinda weird. I awoke early in the morning to finally cut off a horrible dream that felt all too real and left me feeling extremely sad. Then I slept and slept and slept. I couldn’t seem to wake up, but finally did. Needless to say, I got nothing accomplished this day – nothing. I took Astoria out for a walk in what was NOT winter weather. Geez, it was so hot! She was panting something crazy, and I wasn’t far from joining her. She loves her walks however. The leash training is coming along. She’s great, but she just has a little problem with wanting to lead most likely because we don’t go at the speed she’d prefer. Oh well, I have 2 less legs than her. She’s also learned several new “tricks” since moving in. She’s smart though stubborn at times. Bryan and I both stayed home for the night. He cooked a Granny recipe for the first time. He’s good at them, and I get to eat food I love! Mmmmm…. Then we played Little Big Planet which Bryan bought after renting it. It is one of the coolest games I have ever played.

I’m not really sure what we are going to do tonight. I am going to my sword class at 6PM. After that, I suppose we’ll hang out at home and play more Little Big Planet. Tomorrow I am going to Jiu Jitsu at 9AM followed by TKD at 10AM. Tomorrow afternoon we are getting a security system installed. The company came by yesterday and talked to us about their services. The price was very reasonable, and they were very nice. This will definitely make me feel better when Bryan is gone for business. I know that his mind will be more at ease also. There is nothing planned for the rest of the weekend, but I’m very okay with this.

Stephanie agreed to go to the Alamo’s Pop Princess Sing-Along on the 22nd. I am sooo excited! I missed the Madonna Sing-Along which greatly depressed me. I think we’ll have a lot of fun. All others interested should meet us there! Yay! (That’s my Bubbles cheer!) 😀

Photos of Astoria:


Songs I’m digging at the moment:
Fly on the Wall – Miley Cyrus

Today I went to Kung Fu class at 7:30 AM which was kinda blah. This afternoon I subbed at a middle school. It’s not a full day’s work, but I’ll take it to not working at all. They did have a little screw up however. When I accepted the job it was for language arts, and then when I showed up it was an inclusion teacher. Inclusion is the worst job you can get as a sub because there is nothing for you to do in the class but sit there which I did. Ugh! I’m going to TKD class tonight where I’ll be taking my first Jiu Jitsu class first! I’m a little nervous about that!

Here’s what’s coming up for the rest of the month:

• January 9 – our 11 month anniversary!!
• January 17 – open house at the Kung Fu school
• January 18 – Astoria starts an 8 week obedience class at Petsmart
• January 24 – pancake theater at our house (Robin Hood)
• January 31 – TKD testing (testing senior blue to rank up to brown belt)
• I should also test in Kung Fu this month to go from yellow to blue!

Friday:
Bryan worked while I tried to do certain things around the house. Then we had a furious cleaning session to prepare for Kevin and Sarah who stayed with us for the weekend. I hadn’t met them yet since they live out of town, but they were super nice. The first night we just hung out around here. I even cooked! I know!!!! :O It was fun.

Saturday:
Saturday the 4 of us went out to lunch. Then Bryan attended my laser hair removal appointment with me. Ouch! That night we played Phase 10 and drank. I love that game. It’s sooo much fun, and we did have a blast. Then we went to Kerby Lane for a late night dinner. Ah, good times! Kevin and Sarah, you are welcome back anytime…

Sunday:
Bryan with very little help from me managed to re-catproof the backyard. This time it is for real! There will be no more little “Lewis and Clark” adventures. I’m really glad this got completed because OC and Mallos were becoming quite annoying to be around without their “freedom”.

That night Bryan, Sarah, Kevin, and Jason went way down to the Salt Lick for dinner. I’m not a big fan of BBQ anyway, but even so I still really did not like this place. They are real jerks and morons here. Yes, I’m being very opinionated. My conversation with the waitress:

Me: I’d like the turkey sandwich. Can I get the “special sauce” on the side and mayo on the sandwich.
Waitress: I’m not sure we have regular mayo. The sauce is mayo habanero.
Me: Ok, scratch the sauce all together (I don’t do well with spicy). Do you make the sauce yourself?
Waitress: Yes
Me: Well, then go find the mayo they use to make the sauce.

Oh well, the sandwich turned out to be pretty good, but I mostly enjoyed the conversation and the stories which were all really funny!

Monday:
Monday was a hang around the house kind of day. It was so cold – crazy Texas weather! I got a little schoolwork done. Some is better than none I suppose. I took Astoria out for a jog/walk for about 30 minutes until my chin went numb. Bryan and I went to Kung Fu/Tai Chi. It was our first time in the new school. I definitely like some things about it, but I’m still not convinced it was the best option. There is tons of room, and yet, there is not room. Hmmm… I discovered that I have all of my yellow belt material. Now all I need to do is practice, practice, practice. I should be able to test sooner than expected – yay! After class we came home and caught some DVRed TV. Ahhh….

Tuesday (today):
It’s yet another hang around the house kind of day. I can’t seem to snag any jobs. I guess all the teachers are expected to work after their long break. Sigh. I watched a movie this morning. Then I got quite a bit of schoolwork done today – go me! Astoria didn’t get to go out this morning thanks to the rain. I should probably keep her out for double time this afternoon or else she’ll be off the wall. It’s a TKD night. I look forward to being back in class after all this time off. It feels good to use my body again.

While we were in Mississippi we somehow decided that we wanted a dog. So, on Sunday we scoured the Internet for the “right” dog. We had a lot of requirements. For example, no puppies or lap dogs. We sent emails and applications for several dogs. On Monday we went to one of the shelters in Austin. We found one dog that was okay, but none of the dogs really met our needs. That night we drove to Seguine, TX to look at a 1 year old boarder collie/lab mix that we found on craigslist. We took her home. She is sooo sweet. We renamed her Astoria. The cats are still getting used to her, but so far she has been doing great with everything. I think we got lucky and picked a superb pup.

Tuesday:

• took Astoria to the vet to get vaccinated and enrolled her in obedience school (starts the 18th) – both a Petsmart

Pictures of Astoria:
me and the dog
astoria

first night home

on the couch hamming it up

Here is a video of Astoria and Mallos:

Wednesday (New Year’s Eve):
Bryan had purchased tickets for us to ride the Twilight Flyer train for New Year’s. I was pretty excited about this. We had a lot of fun. I have never been on a train like this before. The people around us were really friendly, and they made the event for me. There was a buffet and of course drinks. There was some entertainment, but it wasn’t all that entertaining. Next year I want to maybe do something downtown. All in all, I had a great night. I can’t think of a better way to start the new year off right than beside my sweetie. 😛

Pictures from New Year’s Eve:
about to board
me and bryan
bryan
cute couple
the entertainment
pimping
?
lucy and cher
lucy
marilyn
smokey
miss texas
smokey again
drinking
celebrating
no, I didn’t
kiss

Videos from New Year’s Eve:

Thursday (New Year’s Day):

• did stuff around house – mainly organize all the stuff from Mississippi 🙂

I do have a New Year’s resolution to keep up with my blogging. I’d love to blog daily, but that ain’t gonna happen. 🙂 But I will try bi-weekly at the least. I hope everyone had a great New Year’s, and I sincerely hope that everyone has a great 2009.

Happy New Year! Sorry I’ve been yet again such a bad blogger, but in this new year I really will try better. Given that it has been the holiday season and life has been more than a little busy maybe you’ll let me slide this one last time? You’re the best! Don’t ever go changin’. 😉

Friday (um, last Friday) and Saturday (consider them one day, they were for us):
What a day!! We slept in…ahhh. Then we were off for Granny’s house where she gave us a delicious breakfast of homemade biscuits. Yum! Bryan and I then left to go to Meridian, MS (1 hour away) and shop! Yeah, we shopped the day after Christmas. It wasn’t bad though. I had to see the sales. Plus, the gift cards were burning a hole in my pocket. I also had to exchange some things. We did awesome, and walked away with some pretty cool looking threads. After arriving back in Philadelphia, we did more shopping…yay! Finally when there were no more stores and Bryan looked like he’d had all he could take 😉 we went over to my dad’s house for dinner. After dinner I took Bryan back out to Granny’s where we simply stood and looked at the millions of stars. It’s crazy how much you can see when there are no lights. It’s breathtaking. Anyway, as we shared a little kiss under the stars, Bryan’s phone ran, and it began…

Scott called to say that when he went in to check on the cats they could one find one, OC. Needless to say, I was in a panic and crying immediately. We had to wake up Granny, and figure out what to do. We decided that even though it was 10 PM, we had to leave ASAP. But first I needed to load the SUV down with crap that is still in storage at Granny’s. I did it as fast as possible. I wasn’t about to come home and not put the trip to good use.

We then left for Texas after being up all day. We took turns driving and sleeping. What really made the night special was that my cousin’s husband gave half the family his stomach virus. It was about an hour into the trip when I discovered I had caught it. Great. I did the rest of the trip wondering if I was going to see my dinner again and fearful I might not see our cats again. My stomach made the entire trip miserable, but I never did throw up.

We finally made it home to OC. One of the cats, most likely Mallos, had pulled a part of the fencing down and then simply crawled under. I was terrified that they were lost forever. We started looking for them…animal shelters and driving though the neighborhood at a snail’s pace…nothing. The longer it went the more frightened I became. Those poor kittahs! We decided that we’d make some fliers. While Bryan started to work on that, I went outside to look on foot.

I started with a weird part of the subdivision where the houses face each other and not the street, a part we couldn’t drive. I saw a tree with a hole in the trunk. “I’d go there if I were a lost cat,” I thought. So I had a look. Sure enough I could see Bella! It was just her back, but I’d know that fur anywhere. I called Bryan who came running. I couldn’t tell if she were alive so I poked her with a stick. She jumped up and around like lightening. When she saw it was me, I swear I saw relief on that poor cat’s face. She started meowing to me. We got her out and back to the house. She was perfectly fine, and glad to be home. I can’t even begin to tell you how happy I was to see my baby!

We ditched the posters and started looking for Mallos on foot. Scott and Kelly even came by to help. We walked and walked and walked and called and called. Nothing! I have no idea where that stinker was hiding. Finally, we had to give up. Every muscle in my body was tired. We were exhausted. We’d been going for so long. I felt bad giving up, but the body was just too tired to continue. Bryan and I took a nap. I was gone before my head hit the pillow. When we awoke, we started trying to think of our next step when that damned cat just came through the cat door like “oh, hey…you’re back.” We immediately scooped him up and loved him. He ate, and then the rascal tried to go back outside.

Currently, the cats are not allowed outside except with supervision. They can’t be trusted. We are going to work on getting their yard back and better than ever.

Before going to bed for good, we had to open the gifts that Bryan’s family had sent that didn’t make while they were here visiting. We again got some awesome gifts and got to extend Christmas a little. 😀

That was a long day…2 days…it’s a blur. We slept better than ever that night glad to be home with the family but a little sad to have had to leave early. Sometimes you just have to do what you have to do. 🙂 I love my kitties!

The missing cats after their return:

Bryan opening gifts:

Tuesday:
We went shopping in downtown Philadelphia which is about 1 square. It’s not much, but I think we had fun anyway. Then it was off to Granny’s house for yummy food! That evening we went over to my dad’s house and hung out for a while. It was great to see all of my close family….really great. I have missed them soooo much!

Wednesday:
We got to sleep in which was awesome and much appreciated. We met one of my old coworkers for lunch at a restaurant we used to eat at all the time when we worked together. It was fun to catch up with him. After eating we took my little brother out to shop for some last minute gifts. We took him back home and hung out there for a bit (my dad’s house), and then it was finally time to go to Granny’s house for the annual Christmas Eve celebration at her house. My whole family was there. We ate and ate and then we opened presents. There are always tons of presents, and I have somehow became the person who must always pass out all of these many gifts. All of the kids are growing up, and they were definitely entertaining. We both got some awesome gifts some much needed. I stayed and helped clean up which made for a later night so it was nice when we got in bed.

Pictures from Christmas Eve:
desserts
me in a hat
me in a hat 2
bryan in a hat
bryan in a hat 2
me and paisley
paisley in a hat
riley
mason
presents
riley and jessi
us and granny
bryan
opening gifts
grandparents’ gifts
paisley
still opening gifts
so many gifts
paisley looking at a book
bryan will smell good

Videos that I took Christmas Eve:

Thursday:
The first thing we did was go over to my dad’s to open presents and see what Kade (my little brother) got from Santa. We were again blessed with some nice gifts. I always enjoy exchanging presents with my family.

After we finished up at my dad’s, it was time to drive to my grandparent’s house (about 2 hours away). We always have Christmas over there. I sure am glad that both sides of my family don’t do Christmas at the same time. 🙂 I always look forward to getting there. It was a lot of fun with even more food and gifts. It was sooooo great to see the other side of my family; I have missed them immensely. I love hanging out with my family especially on Christmas! We had an awesome time. Bryan gets along with them so well, and they like him! Presley (my little sister) took to him in no time. She pretty much wore him out. After it got dark Bryan, my grandmother, my aunt, my cousin, and I drove to Canton to see their Christmas lights. Overall, it was a great day. I hated to leave and the drive home, but I was super happy to get into bed!

Pictures from Christmas:
me at my dad’s
presley
carson and blocks
presley and blocks
me swinging
bryan tickles presley
grandmother
madison as a present
brennen
mom and daughter
us girls
us girls again
carson smiles
carson pouts
carson’s cars
presley smiles
prelsey frowns
attempt 1
attempt 2
attempt 3
cartwheels
not going to make it
showoff
bryan drives
backseat
castle
bryan in canton
us
carousel
grandmother poses
maddie
me on a horse
bryan on a horse
al on a horse
girls on horses
madison and a tree
grandmother/white tree
maddie and grandmother
the girls
couple shot
bryan/white tree
lights
reindeer
waffle house

Video that Bryan took on Christmas (must watches!):

Wow, forgive me for being a bad blogger.  I have simply been so busy.  We are currently in Philadelphia, Mississippi (my hometown).  I do want to catch you up so you will know every step I have taken, but I’ll only be getting you to a few days ago…sorry.  😀  But just so you feel better…I am having lots of sweet tea and many delicious foods while here and am VERY happy.  😀

I have got to take Bryan’s camera phone away…not only does he take unsuspecting shots of me napping (one of many!), but now he’s taking videos (this is not the first)! He somehow got me at Kerby Lane…

He’s getting good…too good!

Beware: I think he may have a YouTube channel in the works or something. 😉

Somehow I forgot to mention that I sold the pink kayak. I mention this only to say that this means that I have to add this back to my list of things to complete before 30. 🙂 I managed to get what I paid for it which is quite nice. I want to get a smaller one when it warms up again.

Tuesday:
I didn’t’ work. I spent the day doing more Christmas stuff and getting ready for Bryan’s parents to get here. We picked them up from the airport that afternoon. It was good to see them again. We ate out on the way home. I know Bryan was super happy to see them. We spent the night at the house. I did leave to go to TKD class. I hadn’t been in awhile so I thought I better make an appearance.

Wednesday:
Bryan I went to 7:30 AM Kung Fu class since his parents were visiting. Wednesday was a long day of looking at houses and communities for Bryan’s parents so they can see some potential places for when they move here to Austin. We looked at some pretty nice houses including one which I fell in love with…sigh. We went to the green community that is being developed in South Austin. I didn’t like those houses at all; they were so cold feeling to me. I couldn’t live in one. What is even worse is where they built this community…right in the middle of a very low economic part of Austin. How do I know? Easy – the worst school I have ever subbed at is located just down the street. Yikes! Seriously, you do not want to live near this place. Wednesday night we ate at home and hung out; it was nice.

Thursday:
Thursday morning Bryan and I made it to an open practice class at Shaolin-Do. Later in the day everyone went out for more house browsing while I stayed home to do some schoolwork. I then took a long nap while Bryan and his dad added some shelving to our garage in preparation to the junk I will be hauling back from my trip home. The shelves are much appreciated! I’m still not sure how I slept through the hammering and sawing, but I do have mad skills. 🙂 We ate in that night. Bryan’s mom cooked all week which was nice especially to Bryan who ends up doing 99% of all the cooking each week…poor guy.

Friday:
Bryan and I went to early morning conditioning classes (my legs are still sore). It was a little rough on me since I haven’t been since I started working. It was nice to go back even if it did kill. Some of us went out for breakfast right after class (a tradition). The day was spent doing a few errands and more cooking. Bryan’s mom made her famous rainbow cookies, and Bryan and I stuffed them into nice bags as gifts for our friends. That night I went to TKD sword class while Bryan and his parents had to wait on me in the car (sorry!). Then we all went downtown to see the Christmas Pancake Theater at the Alamo (hilarious!!). I think we all enjoyed that.

Songs I’m digging at the moment:
Love Story – Taylor Swift
In Color – Jamey Johnson
Love Lockdown – Kanye West
I’m Yours – Jason Mraz
I Don’t Care – Apocalyptica

Christmas Pictures:
artwork from children that I subbed for proudly displayed as Christmas decorations

Taking today off again. I didn’t want to, but as Christmas approaches, I find jobs harder to come by. That’s ok though; there is always more school work to do as well as house stuff. Bryan’s parents will be here tomorrow afternoon. I hope to snag a job for tomorrow (it may be my last before the schools let out for the holidays). I haven’t decided if I will try to work while his parents are visiting. I will make that call each day. I want to spend time with them, but I definitely need the money. I’m not just loving the once a month paychecks, but money is money. 🙂

Austin ISD is having some Saturday training sessions in January – March. They are one Saturday a month which is nice. The training focuses on classroom management. What’s really awesome (other than the vast amounts of knowledge I’m sure to gain) is that they pay you if it’s your first time (and it is!). I plan to attend all of them because they will definitely help me out in subbing as well as when I have my own classroom.

I wanted to post the link to the shots that Sam took of me last weekend because they are AMAZING! I absolutely love them! Sam has major talent, and working with him was awesome. I always feel weird being on the other side of the camera, but he definitely made me feel at ease. I’m super happy with the way they turned out.

I am so ready to go to Mississippi. I feel like I haven’t seen my family in ages…oh wait, I haven’t! I also haven’t had good Southern food or sweet tea. It will be good just to see everyone and familiar sights. I look forward to Bryan meeting the rest of the family…hmmm…maybe. 😉 It will be an exhausting trip I’m sure, but I still can’t wait to be back in the good ole ‘sip’.