Human Touch

I think we all are aware of the importance of human touch and yet it dawned on me yesterday that I'm seriously lacking in this. I went to a class last night at my church and realized that it was the first time that I had been in my car and actually drove anywhere in over a week. Then it dawned on me that aside from the pizza delivery guy last week on my snow day, I haven't really had contact with another person in that same amount of time.

My first thought was that in order to alleviate this, I should probably start going to the office and being around people, but then remembered that even when I went to the office, I would duck into my office and still not really touch anybody there.

So, what is the answer? Well, for one, I am finally getting a chance to snuggle with Sara's Wee Wonder for the first time in a very long time. Then on Thursday, I am going to dinner with some friends who are in from out of town, which means I'll at least get a hug. That should do me for awhile, but I really need to figure out a way to get a steady fill of touch....maybe I'll just have to splurge and set up regular massage....

Labor Day Weekend

I really didn't have many expectations for this long weekend. I mean, I did have a list of things to do, but in general, I assumed it would be a pretty uneventful weekend. That plan changed when I got into my car on Friday evening.

I headed out to my church where a group was putting on a play. As I'm driving down the road one of the fun warning lights starts blaring orange at me from my dashboard. Now, this is a light that has come on multiple times. Each time it comes on, I pull out the owners manual to check to see what it means and what I need to do about it. This particular light has something to do with the emissions system and if it continues to shine, then I should take the car to the dealership. So, I make the decision that I will take the car to the dealership on Tuesday and make a determination as to whether it will be more expensive to fix the issue or just trade the car in. I didn't come to this decision lightly. This light has been coming on and then going off for probably a year (yeah, I just kept ignoring it because it WOULD go off a couple of days after it turned on). The car is 12 years old and has given me 12 great years and included getting me to and from California without issue. So, Friday evening I pull back into my garage with that being the plan....dealership for diagnosis on Tuesday.

Saturday I road with my friend Jennifer and her beau Barry to the Watson's house for a chance to wish Randall a happy birthday and to meet the soon to be very famous Avery (check out everything about her arrival at her Wee Watson blog). It was great seeing Sara and Randall, and of course Avery. Sara did ask if I wanted to hold her and I immediately threw my hands up in the air and ran away...I'm really not much of a kid person. Avery is TINY, she came a little earlier than expected so even tinier than the normal baby that I would still run away from. I'm really not big on holding kids until they can manage the weight of their own head and don't require me to protect it or "watch it". And, to be 100% honest, I'm not really good with kids when they get older. I think I had 'baby pangs' for like 15 minutes in my early 30s when all my friends were having babies and I thought briefly that it would be a good thing for me to consider and that I was missing something by not having kids, but those feelings quickly diminished and I realize now that I don't really have a maternal bone in my body. I love ALL the kids that are in my life, I just don't know what to do with them and I can't relate to them, and I channel my great grandmother in thinking that children should be seen and not heard, or they need to be sent outside to play in traffic.

This brings us to Saturday evening. I still have my car on my mind....and I catch an ad on television before I can skip through the commercials that says that there are all these Labor Day specials at all these dealerships, so I think to myself, "Self, perhaps you should investigate...." So, that is what I did. I started investigating. I pulled up Kelly Blue Book to see what my car would be valued at (yeah, not much) and then started looking for acceptable alternatives.

Sunday comes around and I headed back out to my car to drive to church. This time when I started it up the glaring orange warning signal was no longer alight.....is my car trying to convince me that I don't need to get a new car? Is he teasing me into a lull of acceptance so that it will leave me on the side of the road stranded? I pondered and wondered. I decided that I wouldn't tempt fate and drive the 70 miles over and back to celebrate my nephew's birthday with the family and instead returned to my little den of vehicle investigation.

Monday morning I woke up and decided to heck with it, I don't care if my budget isn't ready for it, I'm just going to bite the bullet and get a new car. My original plan was to follow my head (after days....okay technically weeks and months and years of research because I have been thinking about this since I returned to Texas in 2009) and go to Honda and get a replacement CRV. However, I had to pass a Chevy dealership on my way to the Honda dealership and I felt that my heart really wanted me to at least look at and test drive an Equinox. Well, to shorten the story a little, a couple of hours later, I ended up driving off the lot with a pretty new white Equinox. It doesn't have all the bells and whistles that I probably could have gotten with a Honda (e.g., a sunroof, but I really doubt if I would ever open the sunroof) but it suits my needs and it is quite a bit roomier and more comfortable than my old CRV was. And, I guess I'll figure out how to make the budget work.

During the negotiations, I did text Sara and let her know that I was copying her and Randall, and she reached out to their neighbor who happens to be over the Used Car department and I don't know if strings were pulled or what, but he gave me a pretty good deal on my trade-in, so I was happy about that.

And, as a side note, I said above that I've been thinking about getting a new car for about 4 years now. When the topic first came up, my dad said that I should look at the GMC Terrain or, you guessed it, the Chevy Equinox....they are essentially the same vehicle. So, dad is still influencing me in one way or another....Now I just need to come up with a name for this new baby..... Oh, and Leo doesn't know what to think of it. 

Quilts for Wee Watson

So a couple of weeks ago my friend Sara was given a baby shower (Waiting to Meet Avery Hope: Baby Shower). Me being me decided that I wasn't going to go off of the baby registry, but instead, I decided to make a quilt....A quilt... yeah that didn't happen.

We all knew back in March what we were having (and yeah, I'm using "we"). I happened to be at the Dallas Quilt Show when I saw a pattern for a wall hanging called "Faith, Hope, and Love" and knew that I wanted to make that for Sara and the nursery, since she was having a girl and it would be fitting for a girl's room. While also at the quilt show, I came across a booth that was out of Bryan, TX and specializes in Texas A&M fabric and patterns and saw the cutest baby quilt pattern that I had to pick up.

The thing is....I had already found a really cute quilt pattern and fabric for a baby quilt that was all about puppies, and I know that both Sara and Randall are dog people as they have 3 crazy critters already. And then I found out that she was doing the nursery in pink and grey, and well.... the black and red doggie quilt nor the maroon and white A&M quilt would really work there. So..... Yep, you guessed it, there were 3 quilts wrapped and a triptyche of angels for the wall:

Faith

Hope

Love

A&M Quilt

Puppy Quilt with Razorback backing fabric

For the Nursery

And because I am notorious about talking about my mistakes... The Faith and Love quilts were made twice as I didn't like the original placement of them. I then trimmed all three wrong so that I had to do a little adjusting there and lastly, after it had quilted all three of them and taken them over to my mom's so that she could put on the binding(and actually finish them off nicely, I realized that there was a black thread showing on Faith, so I had to take out a small chunk of the quilting, dig out the thread and then quilt that section again. Needless to say, there was much cursing to be had while making these small quilts.

(Thank you, Sara, for getting pictures of these and letting me 'borrow' them from your blog.)

What A Site!!

A couple of weeks ago as my sister and I were driving down to La Grange, I look out of the window and I see these fields of sunflowers.


Not My Photo

I had never really noticed these fields before. Typically, when driving through Texas, you would see corn or wheat or soybeans or cotton or some other grain that my Dad could name from a glance, but I would have no idea what it is. But, there were fields upon fields of sunflowers.

Then, last night as I was driving to meet Sara for our recurring pedicure and dinner catch up discussion, I look over and see more fields of sunflowers and cars pulled over with people getting out and taking their picture with them as the Texas sun was setting (and yes, Texas has a completely different sun than the rest of the world...deal with it). Seeing all of those sunflowers opened and blooming and faces up to the sky made me so very happy and I got to thinking about what joy simple flowers can bring to me...especially the unpretentious sunflower.


Not My Photo

I think if I ever get married, I wand to carry sunflowers in my bouquet.

Something to Think About

I just saw and article (Man Designs Intricate Works of Art Using Excel Spreadsheets) on Yahoo! and thought of Sara. I know how much she loves her Excel....

 

Happy Birthday, Sara!!

Happy Birthday, Sara!! I don't know how, but I hope this year tops last and each year going forward is the best yet for you!!

And, while I'm at it...

Remember today is World Water Day and think about and practice conserving and protecting our precious water sources. 

Happy Feet a la Sara

Sara posted yesterday about how happy her feet were after meeting up for our bi-weekly "Pedis and Pinot" event (although we don't actually drink Pinot...sometimes we'll go out for dinner afterwards and have a Margarita or a glass of wine). In her blog, she mentioned getting flowers on her toes because the plan for the green sparkle polish (for St. Patty's Day) over the neon pink (for her birthday) just didn't quite cut it, while I got a green polish base and topped with the green sparkle:

Yes, I figured I'd get a shot with Leo since I hadn't put a picture of him out here in a couple of week.

I also decided that I would display my toes in the choice of sandals that I'm deciding on for my upcoming trip to Hawaii:

I was trying to decide which would be better as I'm only keeping one pair....I'm going with the ones on the right because they are MUCH more comfortable. 

Great Weekend!!

I just had a great weekend with lots of old and new friends. This is the weekend where by Sara Wonder Watson-to-be officially became Sara Watson (a Wonder in her own right).

The festivities began on Friday night when the available HCBC members gathered at Casa ABBA for drinks and snacks and general catching up (as many of the folks were traveling from all parts of the country and we don't see one another very often).


Picture: ABBA, Kim1Champ, Andrea, Laura is Jane, and Diane

Leo found much love from all that came to visit. As each new person joined the group, he gave them each his special love (that is except for Ash and David, our token men as Leo isn't around men very often and doesn't quite know how to take them). Kim, however, seems to be the only one who had his lovin' caught on film, and we all think is a sign that she needs a dog.

On Saturday, Laura and Ash took me to lunch at Mi Cocina's where Laura had a Mambo Taxi and I had a glass of Sangria. After lunch, and feeling the effects of our midday beverages, we headed to DSW, whereby Laura left with seven pairs of shoes and I left apologizing to Ash for being such a bad influence. It was then home and quick change to get ready for the real reasong for the gathering...The Wedding!!

Sara and Randall exchanged vows in a lovely ceremony attended to by both of their immediate families (including participation of numerous nieces and nephews).

The audience was full of friends and more family all filled with joy at their combined happiness and love for one another. Post ceremony was, of course, the reception. Where we were finally able to see the true love and joy (and relaxation that it was finally done) on their faces.

Aren't they a lovely couple?

The reception included a wonderful spread of food and drinks and music provided by Diamond Dave:

We were all out on the dance floor with him spinning the tunes. The evening was filled with joy and happiness and lots and lots of laughter. I couldn't have had a better time...I can only imagine that my enjoyment was just a tenth of what the bride and groom felt, though.

Sadly, though, the evening came to an end. We sent the lovely couple off in style, headed back in for a few final dances, then home to bed. I was surprised when we returned home by a gift from Laura and Ash as they felt that I needed to have a coffee maker in Casa ABBA:

I have now found that I'm very fond of having a coffee maker and am finding myself drinking coffee (with lots of cream and surgar) and really enjoying it. With that being said, I can thank my caffeine addiction to my wonderful Phoenix friends now.

Sunday morning saw everybody headed off to the airport. Ash and Laura left Casa ABBA bright and early. I was sad to see them go as it had been a whirlwind weekend and not really much time spent really visiting...of course that goes for all of the folks that were in from out of town (which just means that we must plan more frequent gatherings). Later in the morning I did have the priviledge of running into the Bride and Groom as I was picking up a friend to take to the airport. Needless to say, they looked relaxed and happy and back in their natural element...by one another's side.

I want to wrap this up by saying congratulations to the beautiful couple and thank you for inviting me to join you all in your happiness and celebration. I also want to thank the HCBC members for visiting me in my home and loving my Leo as much as I do. And, especially to Ash and Laura for staying with me; I so enjoyed having you and hope that you will come again to stay at Casa ABBA, where there are always sloppy dog kisses from Leo and warm hugs (and now coffee) from me.....of course that goes to all of you.

Picture Challenge - January 27

Damn You, Sara!! Chocolate Covered Honeycomb was a treat that we had last week at the Bachelorette party. I stopped at Sprouts today and picked some up for myself. This stuff is like candy crack and I'm a full on addict..... Damn You, Sara!! 

Picture Challenge - January 19

This is a picture of Sara from 2008 on the first wine tour that we did together. That time we were in California and had started with a quick trip through Muir Woods and then on up to Sonoma, Russian River Valley, and Napa. This was at Hop Kiln Winery.

Later in the day, we ended up at a place catering to small, boutique wineries and Sam and Sara ended up really enjoying themselves with the wine pourer guy...Don't Worry, Be Happy....

We ended the touring at some other winery, Valley of the Moon, but by this time the moon was starting to appear in the later afternoon sky and somehow, so did Sara's... Okay, so she didn't actually moon us, but she was as happy as the Man in the Moon.

Today, the three of us, along with five other lovely ladies, are once again touring wineries. This time, though we are in the hill country of Texas...which should be a completely new experience!!

Picture Challange - January 18

Today we head to the Texas Hill Country and Fredericksburg, TX to properly fete Sara and to see her off into marriage. 

Picture Challenge - January 17

My friend Samantha arrives today from California. She is coming in town to participate in Sara's Weekend in Fredericksburg. I have 5 bottles of bubbly chilling in the fridge in honor of Sam's arrival...hopefully that'll last the two nights that she is staying at my place...

January Challenge - Three Days Late...

Sara just challenged whomever to participate in a January posting challenge. The challenge is to post a picture a day for the month of January. I figure I would give it a try as I am very posting challenged as it is.... Is that too many uses of the work "challenge"?

Anyway, I know that I have been a bit remiss on posting regularly and it is because I just don't find my life interesting enough to put out here for the whole world to read, however, maybe forcing myself to put at least one picture each day this month out there will help.

Sadly, I'm already late on getting started with this and I have to confess that there may be days where there will be a clump of posts on one day....but I promise to try and post at least 31 pictures this month....

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 14

Today, I am grateful for a football game that was played some 20+ years ago that sealed my decision to go to Texas A&M. I admit that I'm not a rabid A&M football fan like some people (Sara), but I do like to see my team win.

This past weekend, we won and we won BIG!! We beat the hell outta the number 1 team, Alabama and it was exciting. I was watching the last couple of minutes of the game with some friends in a bar after Sara's bridal shower, and needless to say we were on pins and needles.

Well done, Aggies. Well done. 

Wonder Watson Wedding Quilt

Yesterday Sara (Wonder Watson-to-be) had her Bridal Shower. I made her a quilt in the colors of their guest room, as well as in honor of Randall (the guy helping her hold the quilt in the above picture) as a former Marine. I have to say that I am a little proud of this quilt. The pattern is called Lover's Knot, which I thought was also appropriate as it represents the entwining of two lives. There are patterns out on the web that I could have (and probably should have) downloaded and used, however, instead, I drew this one out on graph paper and then figured out how to make it without a bunch of set in seams....that was the challenge.

Congratulations to the happy couple!!

Pedis and Pinot

Sara and I regularly get together for pedicures and dinner/drinks. This gives us a chance to catch up with what has been going on with work and life and stuff. Last night was one such appointment. We first picked out our colors. We both selected a red polish. Mine was called Ruby Pumps, which made me think of Ruby Slippers and Wizard of Oz. Sara's polish was also of the Ruby name, I believe.

Anyway, after we were all done, I looked down at my toes and the color made me very happy. I exclaimed,  "It's like I have ruby disco ball toes!!" Luckily, Sara concurred and didn't just give me that look like I've gone completely insane. We, of course, took pictures of our toes at the salon, and realized that this would definitely be blog fodder. Sadly, my phone is completely screwing and did not save the actual pictures from the salon, so I had to recreate it when I got home:

After the salon, we headed to dinner at The Cheesecake Factory. I recently went through a big stack of gift cards that I had and realized I had one for that restaurant and am now bound and determined to use up all these cards.

Dinner was okay, although Sara has decided that TCF is completely against her as everything she ordered they came back and said they were out of.

All in all, it was a fun evening catching up and talking about future plans. 

Shoe Intervention

So, as I have mentioned recently, I am taking a trip shortly to the Old Country (England/Italy) and have been trying to prepare myself. As part of said preparations, I have been making some tough wardrobe decisions. I mean, I don't want to look like a full on geeky tourist and yet I want to be comfortable. I am only taking one bag for 10 days so whatever I pack has to be lightweight. There are many obstacles that I am having to face here, as you can see.

One difficult obstacle has been which shoes to take. Due to this obstacle I have been spending a lot of time shoe shopping on Zappos.com and have purchased a lot of shoes (and while I'm not going to give an exact number just know that when I say a lot, I mean A LOT). Thank goodness Zappos have free shipping both ways AND will take shoes back for any reason for 365 days post purchase.

Luckily with Sara's shoe intervention assistance (she even offered to provide written procedural intervention documentation) I have finally narrowed down what I'm going to be taking and what I will be keeping just because they are too cute to return. I will be returning the greater majority of shoes this weekend so that those funds can be freed up for other things.

If I didn't think it would throw my parents into a conniption, I would take a post a picture of all the shoes.... Hmm, maybe I still will just because I am THAT daughter.

Trip Planning 1

I am now on the official countdown for my trip. I have 32 days before I head out and there is so much that I still don't know and haven't figured out and REALLY need to work on getting my list together so that I can actually follow through, but keep getting distracted by things like starting a new book or watching stupid television (e.g., Impractical Jokers - thanks, Sara).

One thing that I did do this morning was come across the following tip when trying to cross the streets in Rome:

Crossing the road. There are apocryphal tales of visitors to the city coming and leaving having only seen everything on one side of Piazza Venezia, such is the daunting prospect of crossing the vast mass of traffic. Follow these simple rules and you won't be one of them.
1/ Stand on the kerb, looking in the correct direction of oncoming traffic. When there is a decent break (i.e. enough for whoever's coming to brake),
2/ Make sure they have seen you,
3/ Step out decisively and, maintaining a constant and regular pace, walk across. As if by magic the cars and scooters will weave around you.
DON'T stop midway, go backwards, or run across screaming, that confuses everybody, and don't wait in ever-growing frustration for everyone to stop, it's never going to happen.

First, love how the spell things. Second, I love the fact that magic will be part of my life while in Rome....I'll be sure to let you know if it actually works or if I'm hit by a scooter... (Although I fear that I will actually be that crazy tourist who runs screaming across the street.)

To give you an idea of where I currently stand with my plans:

• Lodging plans made
• Plane tickets purchased
• One tour set up
• Luggage identified
• 1/6th of the wardrobe determined
• How to speak Italian book listened to
• Camera purchased and some picture taking practice done
• Guide books skimmed through

So much yet to think about...maybe I'll just take a nap.

UIL Competition?!?

I had the oddest dream last night. I dreamt that I was competing in a UIL (University Interscholastic League) competition. Mind you, UIL is for highschool kids, so no idea why I was participating because in my dream I was not a highschool kid. Here is a breakdown of the dream:

I'm backstage with a dance group. There are four of us in our group and it is some sort of interpretive dance. The dance starts off with us doing a reverse strip-tease, in that we have bodysuits on but our first move is to put on these flowy skirts with elastic at the waist, which made it easy to step in and do a swirly move and get it pulled up gracefully. The dance then consisted of a lot of moving around the stage and waving arms and doing circles and all interpretive and moody. After the dance was complete we all left the stage and our coach said to the team "You all did a great job" and then "Andrea, you put a lot of passion into your dance, but maybe you should just stick to dancing around your house and not in public anymore." Sheesh, even in my dreams I'll never be a Broadway star....

Now, here are my thoughts on why I dreamt of this:

• UIL - I have a Facebook friend who is a band director and he has been posting about his woodwind orchestra competing and their scores.
• Dancing - Last night I went to a soccer game with Sara to see her sweet niece, Faith, play. Now, Faith is like 5 so not quite a sports star, yet, but she may get there. What she is is a little dancer and while running up and down the field she looked to be doing what will become a beautiful jazz run some day.

Birthday Update

So, my birthday was this past weekend. We won't go into my age as I don't feel that old, at least not today. I opted to celebrate in style...I did this by taking Friday, Monday, and Tuesday off work. Here is how I spent my time:

Friday:

• I slept in, well as late as Devil Dog would allow.
• After I got up and had some icecream for breakfast, I shooed DD out into the yard and went up to my studio and finished work on a growth chart quilt for my friend Angie's boychild. (I have pictures of this but have not gotten them off of the camera, so that will be posted at a later date.)
• I then got myself around and packed up to go visit Angie and her family.
• On my drive over to Angie's, I stopped at a liquor store to purchase a gift for her husband. Sadly, the town in which I live is dry, so I needed to figure out where to stop on my way. Thank goodness I can count on Sara for her quick research as she was able to direct me to which exit to take. However, the liquor store that I stopped in looked as if they were going out of business as their shelves were bare. I found this to be odd since it was Friday afternoon and I would think they would be fully stocked in preparation for the weekend (they did say the truck was on its way, but not in time for when I was there). I grabbed a bottle of Captain Morgan and went on my way.
• I had to return to my house as I forgot to pack my skydiving DVD, which was one of the primary things that I was supposed to bring with me.
• I eventually made it to Angie's house where we spent the afternoon/evening hanging out and visiting.

Saturday:

• We all got up and headed out to Scarborough Faire. Angie and Seamus, her husband, have season passes and do the full dress. Since they are full dress people, I too opted for the full dress for this visit. Here is a picture of me in costume. Okay, so not a full picture of me, but you get the idea:

 

• Great fun is always had when I'm out at a fair with these folks. Primarily we do lots of walking and people watching and just generally nothing, but it was great because we were out doors and enjoyed the fresh air.
• Once we were finished at the fair, we stopped at her folks' house for dinner and then headed back to their home where I spent the night.

Sunday:

• On this morning, we got up and hung out. Angie and I had some more really great conversation and visiting time.
• Around noonish I headed out to my sister's to meet up with the family to celebrate my birthday.
• While at my sister's we watched my skydiving video (good thing I went back for it) and looked at my niece's prom pictures (can't believe she is a Senior and graduating).
• Because I'm such a high maintenance person I required much work on my family's part for the meal.... Marti had to call Mama's Pizza and place the order and Chief had to drive there to pick it up.
• We also had cake and since it was my birthday unwrapping presents.
• Mid to late afternoon I headed down to my parents' house to spend the night down there. We sat out on their back patio for a while just enjoying the breeze and watching hummingbirds and butterflies. It is always so relaxing and enjoyable to just sit outside when over at Mom and Dad's. We also scanned through my London and Rome travel books and talked about things to do on my trip.

Monday:

• We, Mom, Dad, and I, slowly got ourselves around. We had a leisurely breakfast, after they sang "Happy Birthday" to me, and completed our crossword puzzles (oh yeah, I did the New York Times one almost completely on my own).
• We then headed down to Grandbury, TX to wander around the square for a bit and have a bite of lunch.
• I then headed back to my own home.
• Sara came over to celebrate my actual birthday dinner with me. She brought Double Dave's and bubbly for dinner. We topped it off with cupcakes that my dog walker made and left for me in the fridge.
• Sara and I also expanded our minds by watching two weeks worth of Biggest Loser.

Tuesday:

• To top off my 5 days of visiting, I decided to pamper myself.
• I started my day with cake for breakfast, I mean if I have it I might as well partake of it, right?
• I then went for an hour and a half massage.
• After the massage, I did a little shopping for things that I didn't really need, but I had a coupon and a gift certificate so heck why not go for it.
• I then went and got a new cut and color. I went for a really short style this time as I want to have very easy hair while on my trip. I don't have a picture, but will post one as soon as I do.
• I finished the vacation off with some mind numbing television watching and playing with DD.

All in all, I had a really great birthday weekend.