Friday, October 9, 2009

Down for the Count

I had my tonsils removed last Thursday. For the past week, the most exciting thing I've done is move from the couch to the bed. This has been the most miserable week of my life by far. Today marks day eight and truthfully it's the first time I've felt half-way human since the surgery. Don't get me wrong, I still feel like an evil gnome took a garden rake to the inside of my throat, but I at least feel like breathing. Here are some random musings from the last few days.
  • Flowers really can brighten your day.
  • This is the quietest I’ve ever been in my life.
  • I want a pizza. With lots of cheese. And some stuffed mushrooms, also with lots of cheese.
  • This time off was my first absence from work since Drew took over the Price is Right. I really miss Bob Barker.


  • After watching a LOT of home improvement shows, I’ve decided that I hate wallpaper border. With a passion.
  • To make myself feel better during the day, I’ve been watching “A Baby Story” on TLC. When those women start screaming I think, “Whoa, at least I don’t hurt that bad.”
  • I’ve decided that I’m going to make a conscious effort to look awesome every day if my throat ever feels better. It’s sort of like a New Throat’s Resolution.
  • During the worst part of my pain, I would just lie in bed like a stiff board. Matt said I looked like I was training for the Olympic Luge. Here I come, 2010 Games, I’m even lighter without my tonsils!


  • I’ve had two dreams about barbeque sauce.
  • Who created Slurpees? If I ever meet them, I will kiss them.
  • I’m tired of soup.
  • Talking on the phone has never been less appealing.
  • When I get into awkward situations from now on, I’m going to take off my glasses and stare at people just like Horatio on CSI: Miami. I like his style.



  • I’ve decided that Matt and I really need to get a puppy. Let’s see if Matt’s on board.
  • I’m even better at Jeopardy on hydrocodone—at least I think I am. Watch out, Trebeck.
  • Supernanny and Clean House are fabulous shows. I just can’t get enough.
  • I’ve never been so afraid of brushing my teeth.
  • For the first time in my life, I couldn’t finish a Pei Wei kids meal.
  • I like the new IKEA and Pampers commercials. On the other hand, I can’t believe Jon D’Angelo is running the same commercial in the same midday programming that he ran when I was in high school. I want to have a meeting with him to discuss creative rotation.

Thank you to all of my friends and family that have checked on me and taken care of me in the past few days. Although this has been a terrible experience, one thing's for sure: I've never felt more loved.

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Goodbye 20s!

It's official. My sweet husband turned 30 this month. We had a fabulous celebratory weekend full of fun, friends, and family. On Friday evening, I somehow managed a surprise party with some of our favorite people. I reserved the second floor of Snuffer's so we could all hang out and take part in their amazing cheese fries. Seriously, they're the best you will ever have. I learned that it's hard enough to plan a surprise party for a close friend, but it's nearly impossible for your husband. I mean, I live with the guy, carpool with the guy, and work with him -- it was almost impossible. Luckily, he had no idea and we had a fabulous time. Here are a few pictures from the memorable evening.


The One-and-Only Torti, Heather and Gwen


Jackson and John


Cooper and his adorable aunt, Ann


Catherine, Matt and Pam


A Matt-Bobby-Matt Sandwich




Happy Birthday, My Sweet Love!


The next day, we slept in and lounged around for the entire day. You just can't rush into your 30s, you know... For dinner, we went to Matt's favorite restaurant, Fogo de Chao. It's a Brazillian Churiscarra, which I'm pretty sure is directly translated as "Men in funny gaucho pants entice you to stuff as much red meat in your stomach as possible." It was absolutely delicious.


Notice the meat spinning in the background?



Afterwards, we walked over to Addison's Oktoberfest and went through all of the amazing craft booths. To celebrate Matty's big day, we decided to go sky diving.



Just kidding! Matt likes airplanes way too much to ever jump out of one unnecessarily. We walked... excuse me, waddled around the fair until we worked off enough of our meal to actually bend at the waist again and went home.
The next day we went to Grapefest, which was a blast, and then over to my parents' house for a lovely birthday celebration. Matt got lots of Tribe gear, iTunes gift certificates, and workout stuff, so he is a happy, happy 30-year-old. Stay tuned for the fourth and final weekend of birth month!

Monday, September 21, 2009

Cleveland Rocks

For weekend two of Matt's birthday, we had the opportunity to fly up to Cleveland for the weekend. Matt's brother is attending Barber College there, and he's got a great place right on Lake Erie. Matt's parents drove in and we all went to my very first Cleveland Indians game. It was a blast, and it was so good to see everyone for the first time since the wedding.













Matt got a haircut from Tommy. Doesn't he look spiffy?

And take a look at this great lookin' clan.




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We walked down to the stadium from Tommy's school. It was such a gorgeous night -- a great time for a baseball game!








And to top it all off, Cleveland won! They beat the Royals 13-6, and as of today, they haven't won a game since. I guess we need to start going to Ohio more often.

Happy birthday again, my dear Matt!

Thursday, September 17, 2009

The Southwest Airlines Baby Wave

Let me start out by saying no, it's not us.

In the past year, an incredible amount of people we know at Southwest Airlines have had babies: Catherine & Philip, Erin & Steven, Erin & Will, Hedy & Evan, Laura & Jonathan, John & Kim... And trust me, that's not even the beginning. Any day now, we're looking forward to the arrival of Baby Hunter. Our friends Caroline and Gil are expecting their first bundle of joy on Matt's birthday -- this Saturday!

Here are some pictures of my beautiful friend:







We went to our last girl's lunch before Hunter's arrival, and Catherine was kind enough to join us. She brought sweet little Cooper-man, who was due on the same exact day last year. I apologize for these blurry pictures, but Coop was too fast for my camera! He's just raring to go -- good luck when he starts walking, Cat!







What a little sweetheart! Now we all can't wait to meet you're little one, Caroline!

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Sometimes I Confuse Him

So last night, my cute husband and I were sitting on the couch. He was watching TV while I was reading a magazine, trying to unwind from a crazy day at work. I was uncomfortable sitting up, so I laid my torso down on the couch and put my legs straight up in the air and continued to read. After about five minutes of awkward silence, this is how the conversation went.

Matt: Umm... What are you doing?
Me: Just sittin' here reading.
Matt: Like that?
Me: Yeah, why?
Matt: I've never seen anybody sit like that... With their legs up in the air for so long and everything.
Me: Really? Is that weird?
Matt: Yes.

This really just scratches the surface of the strange things that I do. When we got married, I'm sure Matt knew some of these quirks would come out, but I think I still surprise him on a daily basis. Thank you, honey, for putting up with the weird things that I do.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

30 Years of Awesome

Can it be that my sweet little hubby is turning 30 this month? Are we really married? With an apartment of our own? Making our own plans? Taking trips? Cooking dinner? Doing laundry? Cleaning out our fridge? Discussing adult things like insurance, retirement plans, and compound interest? Wow. So much has changed for the both of us in the last two years, but it has been the most amazing time in my life. Thank you, Lord, for this blessing I call Matt!

To celebrate this momentous occasion, I've decided that Matt will have "Birthmonth" instead of just one "Birthday." Why not have 30 days to celebrate 30 years? Each day we try to do something that Matt likes to do, or eat where Matt likes to eat, but we do something really special each weekend.

For the first weekend of birth month, we had Matt's good friend Dominic fly up from Houston and stay with us. We haven't seen him since the wedding, so it was great to have him stay with us for the Labor Day holiday. He was our first house guest! See? I told you we're getting old and responsible!

On Saturday evening, Dom, Russ, my hubby and I went to see Matt's favorite 80s cover band, The M80s. They're a hilarious group that pretend like they're from England, but they really just tour three places in North Texas. They have some pretty incredible outfits and dance moves from the days of yore.




Guitar playing behind the head? You just can't find this caliber of entertainment everywhere!




One guess on which awesome 80s song they were playing here!

After the super-fun concert on Saturday night, we got a chance to spend time with a few of my favorite ladies! We are so mature that we decided to go shopping at a grocery store as a quality way to spend time together. Well, it wasn't just any grocery store... We hung out in Central Market for a few hours!




Matt tried coconut milk for the very first time. As cute as this picture is, he really wasn't a fan.


It was right in the middle of the hatch chile festival, so everything smelled delicious! Matt has decided that we need to get one of these awesome gas-rotisserie-basket-turney things.


Yay for good friends.

To continue the first Matt weekend, we decided to do what Matt loves most: watching airplanes. He is so very spoiled. Here are some pictures we took from the lookout point at DFW.















Annnnnnnnnddddd... Even though we thought our weekend fun was over, we got a last-minute call from Miss Lauren. We jumped at the chance to meet her new little boy, Elijah. Isn't he a looker?







Whew! What an awesome weekend!

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Our Little Texas Tornado

A few months ago Matt and I left work a bit early to go to the DMV. Thank goodness we did! We got caught right in the middle of one of those evil, springtime, tornado-spawning, Texas thunderstorms with very little notice. Like true Texans, we rode out storm in Wal-Mart where we had stopped to pick up prints of our wedding pictures. The wind started howling, the lights went out, and the storm barreled through the quaint little suburb. Yee haw!

Take a look at some of the damage -- the parking lot was toast! See what the wind did to the little cart corrals?







There are some benefits to riding out a tornado in Wal-Mart. Actually, quite a few!
- Emergency generators. On the lights and for sale!
- There was food everywhere in case we got stuck.
- We watched the local weather coverage in Electronics.
- We rode out the storm in Bedding, where it's nice and soft.
- There was fantastic people-watching. Speaking of, have you seen The People of Walmart?

We had quite a bit of damage at our apartment as well, but nothing serious. Secretly, Matt and I were excited that this motorcycle tipped over in the wind. I'm ashamed to admit it, but the bike's owner always parks it in one of the regular-sized parking spots in the most crowded part of the parking lot.



Here are a few more pictures of the debris.