Peek-tures!

Today I thought I would test out the picture feature on this thing. I'm trying to get more advanced in the whole technology world, and this seems like something all the cool kids are doing. Plus, pictures are awesome! I insist on picking up my obsession again. Bear with me, I'm new at this part. :)

This is Lime Creek. It's the place in Colorado where Alex, his mom and dad, and I went fishing in July when we were there for a little over a week. I had never been fishing "like that." We drove up, up, up, up, up into the mountains, parked, unloaded the dirt bike and ATV's, then drove down, down, down, down into the middle of one particular mountain to the base of the creek. From there, the boys fished while his mom and I followed with supplies (and cameras, of course). The mosquitoes were the craziest things I've ever seen ... HUGE and plentiful. But, we managed to keep them at bay with spray. (That rhymes.) Anyhow, that day is one of my best memories so far from the year. The mountain was beautiful and we all had a really good time. Plus, I got to drive the ATV the 7 miles back up the mountain with his dad on the back. I'm not talking about paved roads with rails here. I'm talking rocks and dirt and skinny paths and ditches and massive drop-downs off to the side. I was a little timid at first, but put my big girl panties on towards the end and kicked up the pace. It was fun!! And, let me just say, the shower at the end of the day was the best one I've ever had. 14 hours on a mountain was diiiiiirty!


Of the day, this one is my favorite picture. I think this was at about Hour 7 in the foliage. We both look like the biggest nerds in the world, but I just love it! Maybe that's why. Because we look like nerds. (Yes, I am wearing 2 hats and no make-up.) Oh, and that's Alex. And you are correct, he's completely amazing.


This is one from this past New Year's Eve. (I wish it wasn't blurry, but you take what you can get.) We celebrated here in Austin at a place on 6th Street called The Barcelona. It was sweet because we all just paid a blanket cover for the evening, and had an open bar for the rest of the night. We ended up springing for the VIP area as well, so we had our own, personal waitress. In the end, I think there were about 10 or 12 of us there. While I don't remember every detail of the night, I do remember that it as my best NYE yet, we all got silly and danced, and that we all managed to drink our weights in tequila. Loved it! Every minute of it.


And this is my family from my graduation last December. What a day! It was full of tears and laughter and tears through laughter. My family is so important to me. My mom is ... well ... my mom, my friend, and my checkpoint. Kay is just wonderful. I miss them a lot, a lot. The holidays this year should be really special. Not only because it will be the first that I will be "coming home" from actually not living there, but also because we will have a little wee one this Christmas! Melanie is due on November 16th, so little Corinne will be spending her first Christmas in Lubbock. Wow.


Speaking of Christmas, last year, I think my family had the most fun we've ever had on any holiday, ever! For whatever reason, we all got goofy and started acting a fool. Crystal, my oldest cousin, was running through the kitchen, diving, and having Melanie, Mark, and I catch her. Aunt Charlotte captured it on film, and I think it could be my favorite photo of the four of us together.



Heidi and Courtni! I have known Courtni since I was 2 years old, and I've known Heidi for a very long time as well. We finally became great friends when she and I worked together this for a year or so before I graduated college. These girls will be my friends for the rest of my life, and I just love them to pieces. Good friends make all the difference.


This one is from last Halloween. Melissa (my roommate) and I made these peasant costumes with my mom's help. It as such an accomplished feeling to finish those costumes. My mom helped us quite a bit, but we actually did the majority of it ourselves. We didn't wear them for as long as we would have like, though. We went to a Halloween party, then went back to my house and drank a bit. Still, it was a good time ... and now I have a last-minute costume should the occasion arise. (Maybe I could even talk Alex into putting on some tights and accompanying me. HA! Not freaking likely.)


From my 26th birthday. I miss my Kala! I've known her since I was 15 or 16. We were talking about how long we've known each other when we were in Dallas for that concert a few weekends ago. We made it through a lot there in the early years of friendship. The trick is we supported each other through it all. That's key. She's a GREAT friend, and I honestly don't know what I would do without her.


From Jersey Boys weekend in Dallas in late July. I had never seen the play before, and it was amazing! (For those of you who don't know the premise, it is about Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons. I didn't realize that they sang so many well-known, truly great songs!) Alex had seen it on Broadway the last time he was in New York, but it was his favorite, so he didn't mind seeing it again. It was nice to meet everyone out of town and have a little mini-vacation together. I think that's actually the last time we were all together at the same time.


And, finally, 3 of my very favorite people in the entire world! Alex, Aunt Kay, and my mom. This is one was taken on Aunt Kay's birthday, when we stopped through on the way back from our 10 days in New Mexico with Alex's family this summer. Norbert was cooking and we were taking a break from presents and cards. I have a lot of really great pictures from that weekend, but I think this one is my favorite. It is framed right by my side of the bed. :)

Okay, so I should stop now. I have a ton of pictures, but wanted to experiment with some of my favorites. You have now seen what is most important to me in the world. Missing are my sister (I'll have a lot next weekend, though), my Norbert, and my dad. I'll include all of them a little later. As I said, I'm saving my sister for ACL weekend. So ready!

I said "favorite" a whole lot in this post. Oh well, it's Friday!!!!!

"Wait for all I am ..."

I think it was Colin Hay whose album was titled Waiting For My Real Life To Begin. I feel a lot like that these days. Like I'm "waiting for" ... something ... to happen, to surprise me, to snap me out of or in to ... something. I'm sure it will all change one day and I will forget these thoughts ever even entered my far-too-over-thinking mind. My problem is that I do have too much time to think, and that my thoughts are leading me down the same path of frustration, assessing that I thought I would (personally) be so much more than this by now.

As Martin de Maat said, "You are pure potential!"

I know it will change, and things can only continue to get better and better. I truly believe this. I am definitely thankful for what I do have. (Maybe it's just the human condition to always want more?) Even so, the ruts will be conquered and the monotony will give way to purpose. (It's up to me, I know this much as well.) "All things in time ..." It's what keeps me moving forward in my life, not regressing backward.

Whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should ... - Max Erhmann

(Listening to: Forever May You Run by Gavin Rossdale.)

Ike & a full year!

So, Ike did nothing here. We didn't even get any rain. This was a tad disappointing to me. I was all geared up for some heavy rain on Saturday; it didn't even spit. We had a few clouds in the morning and a breeze for a bit, but nothing I could even classify as actual "wind" coming from where I do.

(Of course, I didn't want anything devastating from Ike. That would have been awful. Just a little rain, please. Thought I'd clear that up before I move on.)

So, we just hung out most of the weekend. Nothing too exciting. I cooked a lot, we watched some movies, some TV, figured out the true badass-ness that is the Wii, downloaded some old school games (I'm talking Super Mario Bros. here), and ran around just a bit.

This weekend did mark a year of Alex and I knowing each other. Not officially "an item" yet (that would be sometime in November, I believe), but just introductions and "getting to know you, getting to know all about you" stuff. (I so very much know I am a loser, okay.) I feel like it was so long ago, yet so recent. Bizarre! The year, as all of time these days, seems to have literally zoomed by. Seriously so, so weird.

Funny where life takes you, isn't it? It's never quite what you predict, or how you picture it in your head. And I do mean that in the best of ways in this instance.

Other than that, things have been pretty low-key lately. Not too many exciting things happening right now. Just regular, ol' day-to-day. The highlight of my week will be (finally!) taking my car in to the body shop to get it fixed. It's been dented a slight, slight bit with some paint scratches since April. (Too, freakin' long, if you ask me.)

I had been the proud owner of Joan (Jetta) for only 5 months when some idiot ran into me while trying to park in the spot next to mine. If it weren't for the very nice man in the Subway right next door, I never would have known, as Alex and I were in Chipotle grabbing lunch and never saw the incident. The little jerk wasn't even going to tell us he had hit us! Whatever. I am now able to get it fixed, so this is good news! I will be car-less for a few days, but it's all good.

I'll leave you all with a (a rather disturbing) fun fact: the original color of Coke was green. Um ... ew.

YouTube is too entertaining!

Well, this just had disaster written all over it. A bucket ... on a platform?! You've got to be kidding me ...




Maybe I'm cruel, but this just makes me laugh ... and laugh ... and then laugh some more ...




And this guy just needs a hug ...

Eleven on the Twelfth

1. I'm feeling a sudden burst of motivation to 'Dive in and do!' I can't decide if it's the incredibly strong pot of coffee I made (and proceeded to drink the majority of) this morning, or if I am just now discovering that I have a ton of stuff I could be doing in lieu of this recent, very boring situation I find myself immersed in (no 'real' job, no 'real' responsibilities).

2. List of what I plan to 'Dive in and do!': A. My new-ish digital camera (very high-tech, very swanky) that I got for my BIG graduation present in December. I haven't read the manual and figured it out yet, and I should. I love, and I do mean LOVE taking pictures. It's time to start. B. Photoshop. I have the hand-me-down Mac from my mom's shop, which is still super-duper nice. It has all sorts of interesting applications. Time to go! C. Speaking of ... the cards I started working on a while back and discarded (hahahahahaha ... get it? DisCARDed!) when things went nuts my last semester of college. D. The GRE! Nuff said. E. The book. Again, nuff said. F. Coloring. Seriously. I love it! I don't do it enough. And my mom, in an act of sheer silliness, bought me the biggest, 3-tier thingy of crayons I've ever seen. It's glorious, too pretty to be broken in, but begging to be used. G. Painting! I'm no good at it, but I adore it in ways I'm not comfortable discussing. H. Scrapbooking! Okay, so, it's a little hokey. I get it. Still, I'm going to do it. I have a three-drawer tupperware chalk-full of supplies to get the things I have stock-piled from my past organized and put in coherent order. May as well, right? Right.

3. Whew. That is A LOT of stuff. My head is spinning already.

4. I also very much want to figure out the widgets (is that the technical term?) for all of the fancy features on this blog. I would love to include some photos, I am figuring out how to put music up, and I also have one of those totally cheesy voice recorders (had to buy it for a class a while back and it actually comes in handy while driving and whatnot). I figure I could put up some voice posts from time to time. Might be weird, but who cares? Fly your freak flag proudly!

5. I have no clue if Hurricane Ike is headed our way, or if it will skirt us like the 3 previous have; however, I am prepared! Movies, food, water, candles, flashlights, and games! Just in case. And the funny part is that I didn't even have to buy too, very much to be "prepared." It just happened that I had it most of it here. Strange, but true. And I am also very pleased that I filled up on gas last night, instead of today. Because so many of the evacuees are being guided here, 'they' were saying on the news a bit earlier that the entire city may be bone dry (gasoline-wise) by this evening. Freaky.

6. It's time to get going on that sewing machine my mom gave me to keep here. I've been slightly intimidated by using it without her expertise in the same vicinity, but it is definitely time to conquer the beast. Be smarter than the machine. You get the idea. I'll start small first, then work my way up. Must walk before you can run. Remember that. ;)

7. I had a 2 1/2 hour writing test for a job with the Texas Legislature on Wednesday morning at 8am. It's one I applied for online on a total whim. The session here in The Capitol starts in January, and they are in need to folks to fill spots in the Bill Analysis Unit. If hired, I would start mid-October and would work until the session ends on June 2nd. From my understanding, I would be proof-reading, editing, and summarizing bills for the higher-ups. They said my English major is a huge bonus, so we will see. I would love to get the job. It pays well, would be interesting, and I wouldn't have to worry about quitting before I start my Master's because the job would end about 2 weeks prior. Seems perfect. I'm crossing my fingers, but won't know anything for a few weeks.

8. Subbing kind of sucks. I don't mind it too, too much. I did think I would have my own class by now, though, so teaching others' kids on a random, different from day-to-day basis isn't exactly my fav rave. I will continue to do it (when there are jobs available, that is) until I find something else, of course. I'd just rather either have my own class, or, as I said, do something entirely different. I need more of a purpose. I get stir-crazy quite easily ... and these past few months have not been the keenest in controlling the urge.

9. It's mid-September-ish ... already! I cannot believe how quickly time is flying by. I'll be 27 in about a month. 27!!!! Obviously, I knew I would be getting older and older as the days persist, I just thought when I was younger that ages such as those in the late-20's (and early 30's, even) were so far away. Now it is here. The weird thing is that I don't feel (almost) 27 ... whatever that is supposed to feel like. I feel like I've grown up for the most part, but I don't feel any differently than I than any other time I remember. Maybe that is because change is subtle. Some might even say sneaky.

10. I said it before, but really ... I'm totally stuck on Sweet and Low by Augustana right now. Also, Detriot Waves by Matt Nathanson, Live To Be Free by Griffin House, I'd Rather Be With You by Joshua Radin, Love Remains the Same by Gavin Rossdale (yes, the one on that cheesy trailer), and Sidedish Friend by Rachael Yamagata are all great songs.

11. Remember ... make out, not war (way more fun in my estimation) ... and, as always, be kind to one another. :)

K, Big 'D', & the 2 Adams

I went out of town (again, I know!) this past weekend to meet K (Kala) in Dallas for a Counting Crows concert. I left on Friday afternoon and picked her up at the airport in Dallas around 5pm. We stayed with my Aunt Charlotte, which is always nice. It seems like I rarely get to see Charlotte, Melanie, Scott, Mark, and that whole crew, so visits are always lovely.

When we got in on Friday, we had been sitting in 5 o'clock traffic coming back from the airport for a while and didn't really feel like don't anything crazy. So, we all just went out to eat some Mexican food and went back to the casa to watch some television. (There should be accents, yes, I get it.) Pretty uneventful. Still nice to see everyone and chat at dinner.

Saturday was a MUCH busier day, with Kala and I going shopping, finding some GREAT deals, catching an afternoon movie, eating, then heading back to Char's to get ready for the concert that evening.

The concert started at 7:30, and was kicked off by Augustana. I have their first CD, but honestly hadn't listened to anything other than Boston ("she said, I think I'll go to Boston, I think I'll start a new life ...") at great length, so I wasn't too frenzied to watch them. We did catch their last couple of songs, and they are honestly pretty good. I have since checked out their MySpace and discovered that they have a new album out. Upon listening to a few of those songs, I now wish I would have caught the entire set. Sweet and Low (to be found on their M.S. page) is FANTASTIC!

(Quick Confession: For a while before I moved, I would sing Boston, only replace it with Austin. It was somewhat of my own, personal theme song for a few months. I'm totally lame.)

So, we missed most of the opener, but did get to see all of Maroon 5 and, of course, all of Counting Crows. I also have both of Maroon 5's CD's, and have listened to the first, Songs About Jane, about a thousand times. I hadn't given much notice to their second (I forget the title), but as they played, I realized that I was super-uh-lot enjoying their show.

Now, I'll first admit that this could be attributed to 2 things outside of their actual musical abilities and talents. The first is that I had guzzled a HUGE beer in the break between them and Augustana (remember the aforementioned LOW tolerance). The second is that the singer, Adam Levine, is crazy-boiling-holy-cow-you-have-to-be-kidding-me HOT! I have heard of how big of a playboy he is, which honestly grosses me out quite a bit. I have also sworn off musicians (for personal reasons of my own ... ha!) of all kinds, entirely. Furthermore, whatever the phenomenon of "celebrity envy" happens to be has been completely lost on me since I was about 20.

However, for whatever reason, I found myself dancing, singing, laughing, and (yes) staring. I'm a bit ashamed to admit it, but the boy is oozing charisma. I mean, I ogled him for almost an hour and a half, so I'll at least give him that much. Also, he actually sounds better live than on his album. This has always been a big test for me. If you can match, or even trump, your CD vocally while playing a live concert, you're typically pretty golden in my book. This guy could. So, yeah, it was good. The highlight was Secret for me. If you've ever listened to the lyrics, you'll know just what I'm talking about. (Naughty!)

After Maroon 5 was another HUGE beer, then Counting Crows took the stage. Before I start talking about their performance, I have a confession to make that troubles me quite tremendously. The confession is this: I do not like their new album, Saturday Nights and Sunday Mornings, very much at all. I can stomach 3, maybe 4, songs on the entire album ... but that's it. I'm a very large fan of the Crows, so it was rough on me to listen, listen, and listen some more to their newest addition ... and find nothing in it that reached me at all. So ... I honestly wasn't too sure how I was going to respond to their show this go 'round.

I am pleased to say that, as an old fan, I enjoyed their set a lot. I do think, though, that you would have HAD to been an OLD fan to appreciate it at all. Here's why ... they did EVERYTHING acoustically. Everything. Anna Begins, Miami, Rain King, Mercury, and so on. It was far from "upbeat," but it was really pretty music. It did fit the evening. (We got lucky, and were granted a reprieve from the heat. Beautiful weather!)

Kala didn't like it too much because it was quite a big adrenaline cut-off from Maroon 5's totally loud and fast and all-over-the-place set. I do have to say that I think it might have been better for Counting Crows to play first if they were going to play so mellow. It's easier to go from mellow to wild, than from wild to mellow.

Even still, I liked it. They played very, very, very few of their newer songs (surely they have to know they fall short!), so that was actually good for me. I got my Anna Begins fix, which is always nice, and I had never heard Miami done acoustically. It's very pretty that way. I also heard some songs I'd never heard live, like Mercury. All in all, it was an exceptionally different set than I've ever seen from them. Very VH1 (old-school) Storytellers.

(Quick Sidenote: Adam (of CC) has lost tons of weight and looks very good, happy even. So, mock if you must, but no "fat boy" jokes. They just don't pertain anymore. Besides, shitty new album or not, he'll always be one of the most talented musicians (writers) I've ever heard.)

In the end, the concert and shopping with Kala on Saturday, as well as seeing Melanie's ever-growing belly (she's 7 months pregnant!) on Friday were the high points of the weekend. Sunday was pretty much waking up, watching a little TV, packing up, taking Kala to the airport, and driving home. A very nice weekend overall!

I will say that I believe I-35 to be Hell's Highway, but (thankfully!) this trip back and forth wasn't too, too bad. Somehow I managed to avert the horrible traffic that tends to clog up the way too small 2-lanes each way. I made super-good time back, and hung out with Alex for what was left of the evening on Sunday. It's usually nice to come home from a bit of time away and have the person you are coming home to really happy to see you. Sometimes it's just good to be missed.

Although I've GREATLY, GREATLY enjoyed my past 2 weekends out of town, I will say that I am happy to be staying in Austin this weekend. No long-distance driving, no dodging crazy idiot people who think they are in Nascar, no multiple stops at gas stations, and no setting alarms. The only potential oddity of this particular weekend is the ever-brewing Ike. He's proving to be a tricky little dude, so we'll see how much he affects us here in A-town. I hope not too much ...

And ... scene!

'Josie's on a vacation far away'

Not really. I mean, I was, but it wasn't far away. And my name isn't Josie. I do have the same number of syllables in my name as good ol' Jos, though, so I guess it could work. Kinda.

So, yes, Lubbock was a very nice little getaway. I dropped Alex off at the airport in Austin around 7pm on Thursday and hit the road. I didn't get in until about 1 in the morning, but it was worth it. I had a full day planned out for Friday and getting up at 4am just wouldn't have sufficed.

I was able to meet Kala for lunch on Friday, which gave us the perfect opportunity to catch each other up on life, gossip (at least I admit it!), jobs, boys, Austin, Lubbock, jury duty, yucky hospitals, and all of that crazy stuff we call Life. That was very nice for me, considering we very rarely get to see each other these days. The other times I've been back to Lubbock have been strictly family lockdown situations. My mom and Aunt Kay have a way of filling my hours there is very strategic. (Not complaining! I enjoy it immensely.)

But, yeah, Kala and I were able to talk, talk, talk ... just her and I ... which was, as I said, wonderful. She's doing pretty freakin' great, has stopped smoking, and is more motivated to embrace a completely healthy lifestyle than I have ever seen anybody. I'm so proud of her (not to sound trite at all). Never having been a smoker, I can't really relate to the difficulty of quitting. I hear it's rough, though. That girl just went cold turkey, and hasn't touched the stuff since! Yowzers.

I also got to see my little sister almost every day that I was there. I still can't believe that she is 22!!! My baby sister ... 22 years old. It's freaky. But it's true. She's this almost completely grown-up person. She still wacky as ever, but that's how we all love her best. She's a good kid. Always has been. She's trying to get back into school sometime soon, and I think there is nothing better she could do right now. With the economy potentially flushing down the toilet, school is a very safe bet for a few years. Wait out the worst, jump back on the wagon when it starts rolling again. (And it will start rolling again.)

Anyhow, we went out for drinks the two nights before Alex came into town (Thursday and Friday), which was also great because I ran into a lot of my old crew. (Bunch of Trouble running around! Still adore 'em to pieces, though.) I also noticed while I was out with my (younger, remember) sister that I simply cannot hang like I used to be able to. (And don't really want to be able to do now.) I was never a heavy drinker by any grand stretch of the imagination. I went out on the weekends some, but never to excess. Now I barely do anything alcohol-related. My tolerance ... pathetic. It's alright, though. Cheap date!

Oh, and Friday night I went to see Mama Mia with my mom and Aunt Kay. I love musicals (can't help it, have no desire to try), and we all enjoyed that one quite a bit. After the movie, we grabbed quick bite to eat, and I met up with Heidi and Courtni for a bit. We started at Fox, but some of their crowd wanted to hit Chances R. Anyone who knows me knows that I am about as far from a Chances R girl as a person can be ... so ... I opted out of that portion of the evening. Still, even though it was brief, it was nice to see my ladies. I miss them (all!) so, so much.

On Saturday, I woke up super-massive-whoa-early to have breakfast with my mom and Aunt Kay before my mom had to go get her shop ready to open. After breakfast, I fell asleep for much longer than I had intended and woke up just in time to shower, get ready, and grab Alex from the airport.

Once he was there, it was all family, all the way. We took my mom a late lunch at her shop, then headed to Aunt Kay's for dinner, cards, and drinks. The same could be said of Sunday, save a trip to the lovely South Plains Mall for some shopping. (Strange that we shop more in Lubbock than in Austin? Not really. Everything's close in the LBK. Not so in the ATX.) I think that was the night we "officially" celebrated my mom's birthday. Monday was supposed to be the day we left to head back to Lubbock. Supposed to be ...

We had just eaten lunch on Monday and were preparing to hit the road, car packed, everyone about to say their goodbyes ... when Alex looked over at me and said, "We're staying another day. I'm going to take my free day at work." Then he looked over at my mom and said, "Happy birthday, Patty. I give you your daughter on your actual birthday." (She loved it.) Her "real" birthday was on Tuesday, the 2nd, which we were going to miss entirely. Game time decision, we stay! Ha.

The real reason for staying was neither one of us wanted to drive and we were all having such a good time, we weren't really ready to leave. Since Alex works for the government down here, LBJ Day was a "come to work, win a free day later" workday for his office. He worked; therefore, get-paid-for-no-work-day for him! Hey-oh! It was beautiful. Due to the impromptu extra day, we just hung out all day Monday and Monday evening. Then, on Tuesday, we kidnapped my mom and took her to lunch for her birthday, then left around 2 in the afternoon.

It worked out so much better that way because traffic was light, and we got to sneak over to Colee's (my sister) house on Monday evening for one more visit before we left. Plus, obviously, my mom was crazy-happy we were able to see her on her actual, day-of birthday. It made her week. And mine! :)

That was my trip in a nutshell. A lot of other crazy stuff happened, especially the Friday that I met up with Colee. Late night was INSANE! We felt like we were straight out of a Twilight Zone episode. Details would take far too long and this thing has already been semi-novel-ish. Let me just say that it was like The Series of Super Unlikely Events from the minute I walked in to PM to meet her, right up until I drove back to Aunt Kay's at around 4 in the morning.

Quickly ... highlights of the weekend were definitely seeing Kala's pants almost fall off her thin hiney, my mom and I and our verbal antics that no one else thinks are funny, Alex and Norbert getting drunk as skunks on the patio and hugging it out, Aunt Kay's homemade rolls, seeing old friends and getting the "Woop, woop!" pick up and twirl, MY SISTER!, the relief of knowing that all our move-in/move-out work back here was done, the mashed potato in the kitchen, re-discovering that "one, special thing," and a lot, a lot of laughter.

Fin.