It's been awhile!

I know I have been horrible about this blogging thing. The lack of blogging stems from the fact that I can't figure blogger out when it comes to posting pics. It posts them backwards from how I select them. So far, all the trouble-shooting I have done has not resulted in anything. If anyone knows what the heck is going on, please let me know because it is irritating the crap out of me! On that note, I am forgoing posting anymore Vancouver pics because it takes too much time and energy to get them all on here. If you really want to see them, let me know and I'll email them to you or something. They are all posted on Facebook and Myspace as well for all to enjoy.

These last few weeks have been pretty good. Thanksgiving was fun as always. This year I made Pumpkin Pie Cupcakes and then I iced half with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Icing, and the other half with homemade whipped cream. Either way, they were delicious. I’m excited about the upcoming holidays because I can do some baking! I’m thinking lots of divinity and Cream Cheese Sopapillas! Yum! I can’t wait.

This last week has been a little ‘eh.’ With the economy the way it has been, work has been very slow. It picked up quite a bit around Labor Day, but has since slowed down again. On Monday they told us that we were all going to have a pay cut and cut our hours down to 32 hours a week. The good thing is that I still have my job! So keep your fingers crossed that I can keep it! If something should happen, I’ll probably end up at McDonald’s or Bill Millers!

Just today I found out that Sara, the secretary at the LA Department while I was there is not doing well. She has cancer and has been in hospice care for a while now. I got an email today that there is not much time left. She is one of the nicest, most genuine people you could ever meet. I loved going to work and talking with her and Sharon, especially when we would mock one of the former secretarys!! I can do it right now! And they would love to get a laugh at my expense on the very few occasions that I would show up hungover. Man, they would get a kick out of that and not let it go! I’m so glad I was able to see her in March when I went to Lubbock for Jean’s funeral.

It still doesn’t quite feel like Christmas to me! It’s probably because I don’t have my Christmas tree up yet! But I blame that on my mom! She decided that she wanted to downsize her tree, so she gave me hers and I got her a new one. Well, on the Friday after Thanksgiving, Dad came to put in our new back door to replace the crappy sliding glass door that was there. As soon as he got to the house, I started bugging him to get the tree out of his truck so I could put it up while they put the tree up. He finally obliged and I got busy unpacking it, putting all the branches in their respective color piles. I’m working away, and I get to the bottom of the box and realize that there is no tree stand!!! Yeah, what am I supposed to do now? I called mom, woke her up, and told her that she sucks at sending me trees. Well, it wasn’t quite that harsh, but I did wake her up and tell her that the tree stand was missing. I thought, ‘Ok, when the guys go to Home Depot, I’ll get them to see if they have one that I can work with.’ They make their trip to Home Depot, but they don’t have any. They have their trees in stands, but do not sell any. What the heck is that? So, I decided that after lunch I would brave the crowds of Black Friday and head out to Hobby Lobby, Target, or wherever I had to go to get a tree stand, because my tree was going up one way or another! Mom called me back right before lunch to inform me that she, Ms. Check and Doublecheck everything, went upstairs after she talked to me and lo and behold, there was the tree stand. But that’s not all folks! Oh no! She then says there was also a bag with branches in it. One full layer of branches. My hopes and dreams were dashed in 30 seconds because I realized that even if I could get a tree stand, it would have a huge gap! Ugh! The rest of the afternoon was spent plotting ways I could get the stand and limbs to SA for the least amount of money and putting up the rest of the decorations. So, I was planning on going home this weekend anyway, and it ended up as my only option to get the rest of my tree. It really sucks, but Josh has already offered to help me put it up. It’s a pretty massive tree and takes a couple of hours to do. I know what I will be doing Sunday evening when I get home!

I promise to be a little more vigilant about updating. I’ll have to get creative and figure out a way to fool blogger into letting me post pictures correctly!

Tuesday- October 21, 2008

On Tuesday morning we decided to walk around and explore Vancouver some more.

And we discovered that even Canada has Dairy Queen.

We made our way to a viewing tower called "The Lookout" Awesome views!

Looking toward English Bay

Rooftop Garden. They were everywhere!

View of Stanley Park

"Gassy Jack"- Founder of Gastown

Another view of Stanley Park

Boats that look like little houses at the Vancouver Yacht Club

Vancouver- Day 1 & 2

We left the B&B in Schulenburg at 3:00 Sunday morning after only an hour and a half of sleep. My parents were so very kind to pick us up and take us to the airport in Houston. Our flight left a little before 7:00. I made sure to drug myself up for the almost 3 hour flight to Salt Lake City. And I'll throw this in here now...I really really dislike Delta. On every single one of our 4 flights, Josh and I were separated by the aisle and in the very back of the plane right by the bathroom! So, on this first leg, I had to get creative with my sleeping positions. I ended up with the tray table down and me fast asleep laying on it.

There was a 2 hour layover in Salt Lake that wasn't too bad. We got some breakfast and did some people watching. I've been in quite a few airports and I have to say this is one of the busiest! Josh also filled me in on the itinerary for the week. I had wanted to be surprised about which hotels we were going to be staying at, so I found out then. The flight to Vancouver was only about an hour and a half, but I got another good nap in, but this time on Josh's shoulder and the window. The plane wasn't full, so we were able to switch around. We got to Vancouver about 12:00, which was 2:00 Texas time (which means we had now been awake about 12 hours). We had to stand in line at customs for close to an hour, and then had to deal with an incredibly grouchy customs worker. I had put my address as the one on my license, because I didn't want to cause a fuss if they started questioning me. Well, she asks why we are traveling to Cananda? Honeymoon. Where's your husband? Right there. Do you live together? I told her 'no' because obviously our addresses wouldn't match. And she looked at us like we were crazy! We finally make it through, grab our luggage, exchange some money, get a taxi and we're on our way to the hotel. The Sylvia Hotel.

After a 30 minute cab ride, we finally arrive, exhausted, only to be told that our room was not ready. Seriously? So, they store our luggage and we head out to get something to eat. I think the place we ate at was called Fat Burger. Very good. We get back to the hotel and our room was ready!! Yeah! Our room was on a corner so we had gorgeous views two different ways.

I literally fell into bed and slept hard until about 8:30 that night. I had to force myself to get up to take a shower. As soon as I had done that, I fell back into bed until 8:30 the next morning. It was incredibly wonderful sleep.

*Now on to Monday, October 20

After we managed to drag ourselves out of bed and get dressed, we at breakfast at our hotel, and then set out to explore Vancouver. We made our way over to Stanley Park and the Vancouver Aquarium.

Along Denman St. Look at the beautiful foliage!

Looking back toward Downtown. It really is "The City of Glass"

More Fall Color

Entrance to the Aquarium

While there, we got to see them training some dolphins

This was one of their tricks. They would swim from where they were in the pic above and then jump onto the platform. It was pretty impressive!

These were two Beluga whales. If you look closely at the fin area of the closer one, there is a gray spot...that's a baby Beluga!

This is Lion's Gate Bridge. Built by the Guinness Family. Yes, that Guinness Family...the beer people. They built it because they had a residential development across the water that didn't have any access.

We walked around part of Stanley Park after we left the aquarium. The colors were gorgeous!

Josh and Me

Downtown. The Landscaping was awesome!

An area called Lost Lagoon

Josh "hugging" a tree. But also look at how big that thing is!

The Sylvia Hotel where we stayed. That is Virginia Creeper. It's one of the oldest hotels in Vancouver. It was originally built as apartments.

Another shot of the hotel.

Stay tuned for some more Vancouver, waterfalls, and Whistler!!

Bridal Portraits

I had forgotten that I had promised some of my bridal portrait pics after the wedding, so here you go. You can see the rest at http://www.memorable-media.smugmug.com/Weddings/87241 , click on my name, and hopefully in a few days they will have it un-password protected.

Back to the grind

Vacation is over! The honeymoon in Vancouver was amazing!! I hope to be able to get some pics up by the end of the week, if not, then this weekend. It feels like it's been longer than a week and a half that we were gone, but it flew by at the same time. It was really difficult to get up and go to work this morning. All last week, I woke up without an alarm clock, which was so wonderful, so it was hard to go back to that today.

Stay tuned for wedding and honeymoon updates! Rach has some pics up on Facebook if you would like to see some pics now.

3 DAYS!!!

Well, I have only 3 days left of single-girl status!! I really can't believe it's here already. I know I keep saying that over and over again, but it's the truth. Back when we got engaged, October was so far away! And I swear I must have been asleep for most of this year, because it has all been a total blur. Of course, when you throw house-buying into the equation, it just added to the stress and quickness.

I only have about 4 hours left to work, then it is to the house, load up the dogs, and hit the road for Schulenburg! Tomorrow is going to be an incredibly busy day that I'm sure is going to fly by. We are going to be doing all the set up at the B&B so that Friday, we can take it a little easier (i.e. go get my nails done), because you can be sure that I will not be setting up tables or hammering shepherd's hooks into the ground after they are done!

So, this is probably the last you will hear from me until after the honeymoon, so I leave you with this...

This is the one and only picture you will get from my bridal portraits until after the wedding! I know Josh checks this from time to time and I don't want to ruin the surprise! By the way, he keeps telling me he already knows what my dress looks like. When I ask him to describe it, he says that it's white and it's got beads on it. Yeah, he knows what it looks like! :)

9 days

There are only 9 days left! Yes, you heard me correctly...9 days! I can't believe it's already here!! I realized this morning that next week at this time, I will be cleaning and setting stuff up. Luckily work is keeping me very busy, so I haven't had much time to worry too much. The stress is there, that's for sure, but not too much worry.

That's all I have for today! Oh yeah, the high in Vancouver right now is in the low 50s! Yeah!!!