Life with the LeMasters

I Couldn't Make This Up If I Tried

2011-11-20T18:36:00.005-06:00

Jason and I decided to go to dinner Friday night. We picked a tiny, local Thai place, but once we got there we noticed it was extremely busy, so we decided to try another place. The second place was closed. Not like closed for the day, but closed for good. So we picked a third restaurant and got right in.

We were seated at a small table for two, right between two other small tables for two. We noticed a table nearby with a man and woman who ordered chips and queso as an appetizer (which looked really good!), so we decided to order some too. Our waitress nodded over at the other table and said, "Oh... they actually just got the last batch of chips... and we don't have time to make more. So... I guess you don't want an appetizer?" Jason and I thought it was interesting how she didn't even offer a suggestion for another appetizer instead. Plus, the fact that they weren't planning to make more chips! So we just ordered our food.

A few minutes later, a table nearby received their appetizer of spinach dip and chips! So we flagged down our waitress and told her that the other table had chips and asked if we could reorder our appetizer of chips and queso.

In the meantime, the two ladies at the small table next to us received their food. As soon as the plates were on the table, one of the ladies loudly told the waitress, "When the time comes, we'd like separate checks." Not a big deal, but she said it really loud and matter-of-fact--almost like it was an issue.

Across the room, there was a table of college-aged kids. One girl had an shrill, loud laugh and kept laughing over and over. It was one of those laughs that almost makes you jump because it catches you off guard. She laughed like this a lot.

As we're eating our appetizer, the man and woman at the table nearby with the chips and queso received their food. I overheard the woman ask the man if his food was hot. A minute later, she flagged down the waitress and told her that their food wasn't warm. The waitress apologized and took the food back to the kitchen. The next thing we know, the couple is getting up from their table, gathering their jackets and leaving! They didn't leave any money on the table to pay for their appetizer or drinks. They just left!

A few minutes later, a man who looked like a manager walked through the room. We could tell he was looking for the couple whose food wasn't warm. He went up to a table with a little boy, his mom and grandmother. We couldn't hear what was said, but it seemed he was assuming they were the ones with cold food. The young mom pointed to the (now empty) table where the man and woman were sitting. I think the manager figured it out pretty fast.

At this point, our food came (which was warm!) and a new couple sat down at the small table on the other side of us. Because our tables were so close to each other, we could hear--for the most part--what they were saying. They had a lot of small talk: the guy said he "may or may not have read all of the Twilight books" and was planning to see the newest movie. The girl listed a few things that sounded good from the menu including baja tacos. Except, she didn't say "baja," she said "ba-jaw." I guess she failed Spanish 101...

As we're eating, the girl across the room with the shrill laugh is still laughing. The girl next to us starts talking about a new dessert bar in town called The Choc'late Mousse Pie Bar (which, by the way, is amazing!). The guy had never heard of this place, so the girl starts explaining the concept: graham cracker crust is poured in the bottom of a glass, then you choose a pie filling and it's topped with mousse. "But a not a real moose," the girl said, "mousse like whipped cream." The funny thing is, she wasn't joking when she said "a real moose." She was dead serious.

Across the room, I noticed three ladies sitting at a table. Two of the ladies were feeling the forehead of one lady as if she might have a fever. Not what you want to see while you're eating.

A few minutes later, I heard coughing, which I didn't really think much of. Except that I noticed the mom of the little boy frantically wiping her table and pants and the front of the little boy's shirt. Then she shouted across the table at the grandmother, "I didn't force feed him! No... I didn't force feed him!" I'm not sure what that was all about, but the little boy had gotten sick at the table!

In the meantime, the girl next to us bluntly said, "Well, the reason I wanted to meet tonight was to talk about what happened the other night. I'm not afraid of awkwardness, so I'm just going to jump right into it." We couldn't hear everything that was said between the girl and guy next to us, but it was pretty awkward--and it didn't even involve us!

At this point, we were just about finished with our food and I was more than ready to get out of there! I don't think I've ever been out to eat where there was so much going on at once!

And... we're off!

2011-11-15T23:01:00.004-06:00

We're off to a new city! Well, not completely new. I guess I should say we're going back to this particular city.

After much praying, patience and more praying, Jason has found a new job in Dallas. We're really excited about this new opportunity, but at the same time, we'll miss the family, friends and our first house here in Lubbock.

Luckily, I will still keep my current job since we have two stores: one in Lubbock and one in Southlake. So it all works out!

In the meantime, we're dealing with trying to sell our house which is hard. Hard because that means we have to make the bed everyday. When we first got married I was a stickler about making the bed. I grew up making my bed everyday. Once we moved into our house a few years ago, something changed. I started thinking, why make the bed every morning when I'm just going to get into it again at night? So we stopped for the most part, except occasionally on the weekends and always when people came over. We also can't leave mail on the island anymore, my straightener on the counter or socks on the floor (I'm perfectly ok with the last one. Dirty clothes have a place in this house, which is not the floor!).

So, here we are, about to start another new adventure. We have no idea where we'll live, when our house will sell, if we'll rent, buy or build, what church we'll go to or how everything will work out. But we've trusted God and His timing which has never failed us. We don't know how everything will work, but we know through God, it'll work.

The Comeback

2011-10-06T21:58:00.011-05:00

I can't believe my last post was in February! At least I left you with a good one: Oreo balls...

So why did I stop blogging for the past 8 months? To make a long story short, because of my job.

To make a long story long: back in February, I worked at the convention and visitors bureau. My very good friend (and supervisor) left the CVB to work somewhere else. Then, the company decided not to re-hire her position. Instead, her responsibilities were divided among the department. My workload instantly--and dramatically--increased. Then, the CVB decided to merge our marketing department with our sister company's marketing department (or the one person who made up their marketing department). This made my workload increase even more.

In April, I accepted a new position at Malouf's, a high-end retail store in Lubbock and Southlake. I went from being a coordinator and assisting the marketing director at the CVB to actually being the marketing director--with no assistants--at Malouf's (except I did have an intern whom I met once, then decided not to come in or return any of my calls after that). Since I started my new position, work has been non-stop. I thought I had a heavy load at the CVB--boy was I wrong! I really enjoy my job, but it's a lot of work! I have since hired a wonderful intern who has drastically helped me, but there's still so much pressure when the whole department is riding on my shoulders. I definitely put most of the pressure on myself, but that's only because I have such high expectations for myself.

So from (mostly) single-handedly trying to run the marketing, advertising, events and promotions of two stores, I've hardly had energy to blog, let alone come home and look at the computer after I've been doing that all day.

I'm slowly getting the hang of things and figuring out how to balance work with the rest of my life, hence my comeback!

In the meantime, Jason and I celebrated our 4-year anniversary in August. This time, no cars were totaled...

And Harley is just as cute--and smart--as can be. I just love this little guy!

I also read this book, which is now one of my all-time favorites. It's such an amazing story!

And finally, just a few days ago, I signed up for Pinterest. I can see how easy it is to become obsessed with this site. I'm already on my way...

Now that I've made my comeback, I guess I have to start blogging more. Otherwise, it wouldn't be a comeback. It would be an appearance. And I'd like more than an appearance on my blog!

If you love Oreos...

2011-02-06T16:01:00.005-06:00

and cream cheese...

and melted chocolate...

then you'll love this!

I made these Oreo balls a few weeks ago, and they were amazing!

I've made cake balls once before and the process was a little tedious and somewhat difficult. Making these Oreo balls was the complete opposite experience. With only three ingredients (1 package of Oreos, 8 ounces of cream cheese and 1 package of Baker's Chocolate), making the Oreo balls couldn't have been easier!

Here's how to make them:
1. Crush all the cookies in a food processor until finely chopped. Or, if you're like me and you unfortunately don't have a food processor, just crush them with a rolling pin inside a Ziplock bag. Set aside some of the crushed cookies for the topping.
2. Add cream cheese to the crushed cookies.
3. Roll into 1 inch balls.
4. Dip in melted chocolate and top with crushed cookies.

Before I dipped the balls into the melted chocolate, I put them in the freezer for about an hour to make them more solid and easier to roll around in the chocolate.

Mmmm....just look at them. Don't they look good? Well, they were! It sure was hard not to eat just one...trust me!

Hypothetically Thinking

2011-01-15T11:08:00.004-06:00

Hypothetically thinking, if a husband and wife decide to go out for the night to play a card game (let's just say this hypothetical game was called Hand and Foot, which hypothetically is a lot of fun) with their friends, and said husband and wife stay out all night leaving their puppy at home, there hypothetically could have been a puddle awaiting them on the laundry room floor. Luckily, for this scenario, that hypothetical situation didn't happen–this time. But hypothetically, since husband and wife stayed out all night, said puppy was probably sleeping most of that time. When husband and wife returned home, they played with puppy to wear him out–especially sweet husband–but had no luck. This hypothetical puppy was full of energy and wanted to play for a long time.

Hypothetical husband and wife went to bed, with hypothetical whining puppy not wanting to go to his bed. Hypothetical puppy might have woken up a few hours later. Hypothetical wife took him to potty outside. Hypothetical husband slept through this, of course. Hypothetical puppy woke up an hour later ready to start the day. Hypothetical wife was not ready to start the day but couldn't sleep because hypothetical puppy wanted out of his hypothetical crate. Hypothetical husband again slept through this. Wife, still tired, got out of bed, played with puppy and started the day–much, much earlier than planned–with hypothetical husband again sleeping through everything. But this is a hypothetical situation, so of course, it didn't happen.

Perspective

2011-01-13T16:25:00.005-06:00

Yesterday was one of those less than ideal starts to a day. As cute and sweet as he is, Harley kept asking for my attention while I was trying to get ready, I dropped my unopened applesauce (part of my lunch) on the kitchen floor and it exploded, I needed to stop at the post office before going into work so I was feeling rushed to get to the office, and on top of that, I was running late.

Needless to say, I was feeling overwhelmed. I have always—and obviously still do—put pressure on myself to be on time, have perfect attendance and not have anyone question where I am. That's why throughout college, I probably only skipped one or two classes—ever. I just couldn't bring myself to miss a class on purpose because what if someone wondered where I was? What if I missed something important?

After I rushed my overwhelmed and irritated self into the car, I felt like God started talking to me. I don't get this feeling very often where I feel like I can actually hear God, but I did yesterday morning.

"Were you able to finish getting ready?"

Yes.

"Was the applesauce cleaned up off the floor and a new one added to your lunch?"

Yes.

"Are you on your way to mail this package so it'll arrive in time for your mom's birthday?"

Yes.

"Will you realistically only be about 5-10 minutes later than usual to work? Aren't you always on time?"

Yes and yes.

"Then relax. Calm down. Everything is working out just fine. You don't need to worry about anything. I've got this."

I felt like God kind of put things in perspective for me. Like He said, everything got done. Everything was fine. Everything was going to work out. So there was no need to get overwhelmed and irritated in the process of it all. And things do always work out—in one way or another. Things might not always go as I plan (I didn't expect I'd be cleaning up applesauce that morning), but things will work out as they should because God plans them that way.

Christmas and More

2011-01-06T16:07:00.007-06:00

We are not lacking in the Christmas tree department anymore. While we were visiting my family for the holidays, Jason and I stopped at a little Christmas shop and found the perfect tree! It's exactly what we were looking for: 9 feet tall and slim with white lights. Now we're just lacking in the Christmas ornament department, but those will be fun to buy!

Unfortunately, we didn't take a single picture at Christmas or New Year's. I know, we're really bad about that. We had Christmas with Jason's parents the week of Christmas, and then went to Dallas for Christmas with my family. While we were there, we hung out with my mom's side and dad's side of the family. It was so nice to see everyone!

There was, however, a pretty intense game of Battle of the Sexes with my mom's side of the family. We all got together a few times while Jason and I were in town. During one of those times, we played with the regular Battle of the Sexes cards. After we went through all of the cards, we decided to kick it up a notch at the next get-together. So we all had a week to come up with the hardest questions we could think of (or find online!). Of course the guys gave the girls a lot of historical and construction questions. Jason kindly threw in a few GMAT questions that none of the girls could get. And the girls gave the guys several undergarment, feminine hygiene and fashion questions. It was a pretty crazy game!

I'm reading Eat, Pray, Love right now.

I'm trying so hard to love it, but I just don't yet. I'm nearing the end of the first part (still in Italy), and while I enjoy the book, I don't constantly desire to read it like I wish I did. I want to love it, but there's no love there. Just like.

Remember the tags we made and put in Hodgepodge Design to sell?

They're actually selling! Dinah is going to continue to keep them in her store and sell them throughout the year. I'm hoping we can also make some new products to add to her store this year!

Lacking in the Tree Department

2010-12-05T18:00:00.007-06:00

I can't believe it's already December! But that means it's time for sugar cookies, lights lining the rooftops of homes, hot chocolate, gingerbread houses and Christmas decorations!

Our entertainment center is adorned with garland...

A Christmas tree candle holder glows in the kitchen...

Cone-shaped trees sit in the dining room...

More garland lights up our mantle...

A wreath garnishes the centerpiece of our dining room table...

Yet another strand of garland dresses up our entry...
(Yes, I realize we have a lot of garland everywhere. We got a really good deal on it last year!)

And finally, stockings hang from our mantle. Even one for little Harley!

What are we missing?

Oh, that would be a Christmas tree!

Our current tree is pretty sad. Kind of like Charlie Brown's Christmas tree:

So we haven't put our tree up. We've looked around a little, but haven't found a new one yet.

I wouldn't mind this one:

It's apparently one of the world's most expensive trees. It's made out of 21,798 diamonds totaling 913 carets. I think I'll add it to my Christmas list...

Projects

2010-11-27T18:23:00.011-06:00

Back in October, we celebrated Jessica's daughter's birthday. Madison turned two years old. I designed and printed a birthday party invitation for her. The theme was a garden fairy party. There were butterflies, fairy wings and bubble wands–so cute!

At the end of October, my cousin Janna got married. I designed the wedding programs for her. The main color of her wedding was teal, so I matched the program's font color to be the same as the bridemaids' dresses.

Jason had the idea of letterpressing gift tags for Christmas. So we got a die made from a die-cutting company, ordered paper, found some baker's twine and made gift tags!

Tons of gift tags!

Aren't they beautiful? I think the tags are our best letterpress project yet!

A few months ago, I talked to one of my friends who owns a local store called Hodgepodge Design. I told her about the tags we wanted to make, and she agreed to sell them in her store for us! She's really sweet like that! The tags have been selling in her store for about two-and-a-half weeks now!

Remember these cards I made for Kailee's wedding shower?

We also put some of those–in green and blue–in Hodgepodge Design to sell.

Jason is making some business cards for me, too. He letterpressed the front of them today.

And finally, an update on little Harley: He is doing so well! He's so smart and such a cutie! I just love him so much! We've taught him to sit, and now we're working on lying down and staying. He's having a harder time with those, but he'll catch on!

Phase 2

2010-11-05T09:33:00.011-05:00

Remember in my last post I said I was back in my wanting-a-dog phase? I’ve entered into a new phase now: having-a-dog phase!

The breeder I called who had the ad in the newspaper had maltese/shih-tzu mix puppies. They were only a few weeks old (and expensive!). Then she told me she had a maltese/poodle mix (maltipoo), who was a little older (12 weeks) and much, much less expensive (because he was older).

So Jason and I went to the breeder’s on Monday to check him out. He was all alone in his little pen and was so nervous. He wouldn’t walk around or do anything. When the breeder brought another puppy in the room, the little maltipoo completely changed, became excited and was bouncing all over. Jason and I both really liked his personality; he looked good and was healthy. So we said, “We’ll take him!”

Without further introduction, here is our new little boy, Harley:

He desperately needs a haircut, but we can't take him to the groomer until he has his kennel cough shot, which will be in about 3 weeks. In the meantime, I cut some of the hair around his eyes so he could see better!

He was so good the first night. We took him outside to play and gave him a bath. He was really good about everything! Except after his bath and blow-dry, he got really nervous and was shaking pretty bad. Then he threw up! After cuddling with him, he calmed down and was fine the rest of the evening. He whined and whimpered off and on throughout the night, but overall, slept pretty well by himself in the laundry room. Here’s a video of our first evening with him:

Then came Tuesday. Jason’s parents and sister came over to meet Harley. He seemed pretty shy and wasn’t quite as playful because there was a crowd and he’s still getting used to everything. So he pretty much slept on everyone’s lap all evening. Turns out, that’s a big mistake. Sleeping in the evening = no sleeping at night. He cried and cried throughout the night. At that point, we’d been keeping him in the laundry room at night (which is right next to our room) with a baby gate up at the laundry room door. We put his bed inside his crate, but had never actually shut him in the crate before. When he wouldn’t quit crying, we decided to see how he would do locked in the crate next to our bed. He did pretty well, but still whined every so often, and I was still up constantly taking him out at night to use the bathroom.

We learned from our mistake by letting him sleep Tuesday evening, so on Wednesday we kept him awake and active in the evening. We got a new toy for him, which he loves:

We also took him for his first walk. He stopped walking every so often so I had to carry him half the time. We tried the crate next to our bed again at night. Didn’t work out so well. He whimpered quite a bit so I stuck my fingers through his crate for most of the night so he would know I was there. He was also awake so much during the night, I was sure he had to use the bathroom. I took him out about four times throughout the night, and he never went once.

By Thursday, Jason and I are pretty wiped out. We hadn’t been getting much sleep and being responsible for something else (besides each other) has been an adjustment. So we do what has worked so far and try something new. We kept him awake all evening by playing. We took him for a walk (except, it’s more like he took us for a walk. He refused to walk the entire time, so I carried him the whole way). We didn’t let him eat or drink past 9pm so he (hopefully) wouldn’t need to use the bathroom at night. We went to bed early—around 9:30 because we were so tired! We put him in his crate when we went to bed, but left the lamp on my nightstand turned on the whole night. How did he do? He fell right asleep! I think Jason and I conked out pretty hard too. I woke up once to Harley whining, so I looked at my phone to see what time it was, thinking it was probably only 1am or 2am. It was already after 5am!! So I took him outside to use the bathroom and he went! Then I put him right back into his crate, and we went back to sleep. When my alarm went off at 6:30, he was still asleep. I tried to get out of bed and just let him stay in his crate and sleep, but he heard me move so he wanted out too.

We think he might be kind of afraid of the dark. If the living room light is off, he won’t walk across the living room. He’ll stay right next to where we are. The second walk we took him on was later than the first time, so it was darker. Maybe that’s why he didn’t want to go. When we kept him in the laundry room to sleep, it was pretty dark except for a night-light. Maybe that explains why he cried so much. We’re wondering if the lamp turned on last night was the key because he did so well! Now if we can get a few more nights like this, Jason and I can catch up on our sleep!

Harley has been really fun, and seems to be learning quickly. He’s only had a handful of accidents in the house. And he’s so playful and affectionate. He wants to be cuddled and held constantly. I know he’ll get better during the night as he gets more used to us, our house and our schedule. And I know we won't always come home to this:

See him being completely innocent in his crate? But really, who could resist his cute little face?

The Latest

2010-10-25T09:58:00.007-05:00

Sorry I’ve only posted once this month. That’s pretty lame, I know. Things have been really busy for us lately, and I’ve been meaning to do a new post, but just haven’t. Until now! So let me catch you up:

We went to Dallas for my cousin’s bachelorette party a few weeks ago. At that time, my parents were in the process of moving out of their house and into a new house, so we helped them move some stuff and organize the new kitchen. Organizing is my favorite!

*Side note: when I just re-read that I had written, “Organizing is my favorite,” it reminded me of the part in Elf where Buddy says, “I just like to smile. Smiling’s my favorite.” Haha. Am I the only who just laughed? Oh well…

My cousin’s bachelorette party went really well. We went to Tillman’s Roadhouse, which has the most wonderful décor! Who doesn't love chandeliers?!

And really good popcorn! We went back to my sister’s house for peanut butter chocolate fondue and games.

Thanks valet parking guy for not being able to focus the camera or take a good picture--twice! It's a camera you're not used to, so I understand messing the first picture up. But the second time?!

While we were in Dallas, we also went to the State Fair of Texas. We’ve gone pretty much every year since I can remember. It’s one of my favorite things to do! We tried fried peanut butter and jelly sandwiches—which were pretty good, and fried cookie dough balls—which were amazing!

This isn’t really my picture. I brought my camera to the fair, but of course, didn’t take a single picture…

I’ve also been really busy doing some design work. I created some Christmas card templates for Jessica’s photography business. I just sent her a new template last night too!

I also designed a birthday party invitation for her daughter Madison’s 2^nd birthday. It was the cutest Garden Fairy birthday party ever! Pictures coming soon!

I designed and printed wedding programs for my cousin’s wedding this weekend. I used the pearl metallic paper I love so much! Again, pictures coming soon!

I’ve also got a few other projects in the works that I’m really excited about. Once things pan out a little more, I’ll update you!

In the meantime, I’m starting to get back into my wanting-a-dog phase. I was out of that phase for awhile, but it’s starting to come back. I actually made a call about some dogs I found in the newspaper on Friday. We’ll see where that goes…

And, I’m back into Zumba! I had missed about 7 weeks from being sick, out of town or working on projects, but now I’m back! I picked it back up with Jason’s mom last week, and man, it was kind of rough! But we had a great time.

I think I’m caught up now! Happy Monday!

Pretty in Pearl Paper

2010-10-03T16:02:00.013-05:00

I designed a bachelorette party invitation for my cousin, Janna, recently. She will get married at the end of this month! I also designed her wedding programs, which I'll post later this month after I get them printed.

Isn't this paper pretty? I just love the pearly sparkle!

Back

2010-09-29T12:57:00.002-05:00

I’m back. Back from Galveston (well, it’s been a week, but who’s counting). Back from not blogging. Back to being sick. Let me rewind and catch you up a little.

I went to Galveston last week for a work conference. Unfortunately, it rained and was overcast the whole time, but it was still nice seeing the beach. It seems like Galveston has changed a lot since I was a kid. I remember so many more shops up and down the seawall. I think Hurricane Ike is to blame for that one.

Jason had a cold about three weeks ago. I guess because we’re married and supposed to share everything, he so kindly gave it to me two weeks ago. Then I was fine for a week. Now I think I’m having really bad allergies so I’ve stayed home from work for a day and a half trying to get better.

Which brings me to my confession. Two friends each had a confession on their blog, so I figured since we’re all in Problems Anonymous together (shout out to Kylee and Jacquelyn!), it’s my turn. Hello, my name is Diana and I constantly keep myself busy, and I have a hard doing nothing.

As I mentioned, I’m staying home from work because I’m sick. There are plenty of reasons as to why people stay at home when they’re sick: 1) So you don’t get other people sick – I think mine is just allergies, but who wants to hear me sneeze and blow my nose 438,629 times a day? 2) You’re not usually thinking 100% clearly because you don’t feel well and 3) To rest your body so you will heal faster. I have a problem with the last one.

Since being at home, I’ve written two press releases for work, finished all the laundry that I neglected to do for the past two weeks (sorry, Jason, for not having anything to wear), did the dishes that were piling up, took out the overflowing trash, worked on the wedding program I’m doing for my cousin, folded and hung up all the laundry, and now, writing a new blog post. Why—you might ask—don’t I just watch mind-numbing daytime television or 8 hours of Lost today? Or why not just take naps all day? Or why not stay in bed and rest? Because I always have to do. I always have to stay busy. I think my problem is good and bad. I’ll never be lazy, procrastinate or become unreliable. I put too much pressure on myself to get things done. But at the same time, I sometimes refuse to let myself relax, especially when I need it most – like now, when I’m sick.

So I think I’ll turn over a new leaf. I’m going to stay on the couch and watch Lost (have I mentioned how much I love that show?? I think I have! By the way, I’m on season 5. Yay for me!) for the rest of the day. Well, unless something for work comes up that I need to do…and after the last load of laundry is finished drying and put away…

Hey, don’t judge. For me, that’s making progress…

Galveston

2010-09-21T18:23:00.001-05:00

No, I Did Not...

2010-09-17T10:40:00.008-05:00

...send an email this week to our local county fair because their Web site frustrated me. A majority of the links available to click on don't work, and it's been like this for at least the past two years. I did not express my opinion about the importance of maintaining and properly-working Web sites, and how poorly maintained and improperly-working Web sites diminish the organization's reputation and validity.

...literally almost fall asleep at a luncheon yesterday. The presentation was about the status of banks in America and how the economic downturn has affected banking. As my eyes were not fluttering and threatening to close, I learned where banking has been, is now, and will be in the future. This kind of information is far too important for me to know as I continue my career in advertising.

...cut a chunk of my hair a few months ago, and now it's really bothering me as it grows back. It seems as though the hair in one particular section on my head grows a little thicker than the rest. It was bothering me one day so I decided to thin it a little. No, I did not accidentally cut a chunk of hair that probably ended up being half an inch long. Now it's growing back and getting even more annoying!

...spend all morning of my day off today browsing random Web sites and writing a blog post while neglecting to do all the things I told myself I would do like the dishes, making a grocery list, cleaning the bathroom, vacuuming, etc. I always prioritize my tasks, and I never get sidetracked!

Love/Hate Relationship

2010-09-13T09:32:00.027-05:00

My mom found this antique plant stand for me earlier this year. I loved it!

Isn't it cute? It fits just perfectly in our hallway.

I decided to make the plant stand my summer project and paint it. It took me awhile to decide what color, but I finally settled on doing a faux crackle finish. I've never done that before, but I thought, how hard could it be?

So I started on this table back in late June. I painted it tan, the color I wanted the cracks to be.

After buying two or three crackle finishes, testing them and finally finding one that I liked (I wanted the porcelain crack, not the weathered crack), I put the crackle finish on top. It cracked beautifully. I was pretty impressed with myself.

Here's where the pictures stop for awhile. The back of the crackle finish bottle said to paint your top color next, which was a nice chocolate brown. So I tried it on the underside of the table first. I didn't like it. It looked like leather–not what I wanted. After researching for awhile, I bought a glaze. The picture in the brochure for the glaze was just what I wanted! I tried that on another part of the underside. Again, I didn't like it. I decided I didn't like the table now. I put it in the corner of the laundry room and didn't touch it for awhile.

After about a month, I got over being mad at the plant stand. I decided to sand the crackle, redo it and paint it chocolate brown.

Again, the pictures stopped. I got mad at the plant stand. It was nothing like I had imagined. So I put it back in my laundry room. I contemplated giving it way or throwing it in the Dumpster.

But I didn't.

Instead, it sat there...

...until I woke up one Saturday morning in late August and decided I was ready to face the table again.

I realized the paint colors were part of the problem–the tan was too similar to our wall color and the chocolate brown was too chocolate brown and bland.

So I mixed them and made a dusty chocolaty brown.

I researched other faux textures. I found one using tissue paper that sounded really easy. I decided to try it.

I painted the table (yet again) the tan color (for a second time). Then I crumpled a piece of tissue paper and wrapped it around the legs; I did the same thing for the top. I used my new dusty brown color and painted over the tissue paper.

It looked like a brown paper lunch sack wrapped around the table. I didn't really like it. I contemplated throwing the table in the Dumpster again.

But I didn't.

Instead, I changed my mind–again.

I decided to see what it would look like if I painted the tan below and on top of the tissue paper. Surprise, surprise...I didn't like that either. So I redid that leg and stuck with the dusty brown.

I went out on a limb and tried the glaze (again). This time, I used cheesecloth. When I first tried the glaze, I had used an old T-shirt–which could've been part of the problem before.

I was very surprised and pretty pleased with the result. I actually liked it! So I kept going. I added two top coats of a clear sealer. My love/hate relationship with this plant stand came to an end–finally!

Now my plant stand is sitting pretty in the hallway.

I realize from afar in the picture it still somewhat resembles a brown paper lunch sack, but up close it's perfect!

Dog?

2010-08-25T09:03:00.029-05:00

I've been putting off this post for awhile. I think it's actually pretty funny. But I also think I have the funniest husband in the world, which makes this post even more funny. I've debated several times whether or not I should blog about this because I don't want people to think, Oh, she tried to be funny, but it wasn't. That's too bad. So maybe for those of you who know Jason and me and also know our humor, you'll like this one. But be warned, it's kind of a long post...

A little background: I go back and forth between wanting a dog and not wanting a dog. Wanting something little to cuddle with, not wanting the responsibility. Wanting something to take on a walk, not wanting the expenses of a dog...and on and on. A few weeks ago--maybe even last month--I was in my dog phase (which I'm still in and out of). Jason usually isn't quick to get on board with my dog phase. On this particular day, I found an opening and I went for it. I pulled out my most persuasive skills...that's when this conversation between Jason and me happened:

me: aww isn't she cute??

puuuuuppppyyyyyyy?????????

Jason: looks like it is missing some toes

me: what??

where?

Jason: front

our left

me: there's a toe there

Jason: yeah....3

me: ok then this one:

Jason: looks mangy

me: are you serious???

Jason: yeah....looks like it has been in a few fights

me: no he doesn't!

well do you see one you like? http://humanesocietyofwesttexas.wordpress.com/category/dogs-for-adoption/

Jason: no

me: aww you're so mean

Jason: jayjay:

me: haha aww

where is this little guy?

Jason: i think this site is for a rescue in abilene

me: aww do you want him?

Jason: bonnie:

me: OOOHHHH I WANT HIM

or her

Jason: Yorkie, Chihuahua, Maltese

me: aww we should go this weekend....

me: you didn't say nooooo!!!!

ok we can go

and we can take jayjay and bonnie girl

Jason: i just can't figure out if it's going to be an ugly dog or not

me:

Jason:

me: haha no

me: http://www.tinytracks.net/Chorkie-hybrid.htm

they sound pretty good

Jason: do they shed

me: i don't know

i don't think yorkies do

but i'm not sure about chihuahuas

Jason: it's also maltese

me: i don't think they do

http://www.designermixes.org/Breed_Info/189/Chorkie.aspx

The Chorkie has a very low to no shed coat.

The Chorkie is a very intelligent dog who should take to positive-reinforcement training quickly.

me:

aww i want her

a lot....

Jason: does it look kinda scruffy

me: it's hard to tell. maybe she needed a bath at the time of the picture, maybe it'll smooth out over time

i'm not sure

this one doesn't look scruffy. it's an adult

Jason: that one is freaky looking

me: haha why??

another adult and baby

haha this one weighs 2 lbs as an adult!

Jason: weird

me: another adult

haha awww

puh-puh-pwease adopt me, jason....

Jason: haha

me: i pway catch wit you, jason....

Jason: fatty

me: aww

i dwess up for hawoween, jason...

i make you soup when you sick, jason....

Jason: he might cut his face on that lid

me: aww
i wead to you, jason...

wat you say, jason? i be good and wisten...

i get cumfy wit you, jason...

i bwing you fwowers because i wuv you, jason...

Jason: he is probably pooping on the bed right now

me: adopt me, jason....you give me bath and i won't be mangy anymore....

me: dog still speaking: you didn't say no, jason.....i think you want me.....i be good...promise! i no have accidents on your bed!

Jason: how much is it

me: i don't know

Jason: who would be in charge of training it?

me: hopefully we both would

Jason: wrong

me: why do you say that?

Jason: i would help, not be in charge

me: ok

Jason: i don't know how to potty train them

me: you'll learn, it's easy

Jason: well, find out more info about this one and let me know

me: i'm emailing now

Jason: well, i see someone jumped on that

So yes, I did email about little Bonnie. I went back and forth with a lady about her. Apparently, going through this particular organization was as intense as adopting a child (not really, but it's a pretty rigorous process for just adopting a pet!). The organization wants an application with all sorts of information about where you work, what your house looks like, the kind of backyard you have, your daily schedule, etc. After you submit an application, a person from the organization comes for a home visit to see what your house looks like and how you live. Before I submitted my application, I wanted more information about Bonnie. Is she hyper? Does she shed? Is she already potty trained? What is her health history? Things like that. Maybe I asked too many questions because after my second email, the lady never responded again.

Working Out

2010-08-16T14:05:00.010-05:00

It was a busy week last week! We learned that Jason's car was totaled, and we got a good settlement from the insurance company. I also had a conference for work I had to attend, so I was barely home. In the meantime, Jason figured out all the insurance paperwork and found a truck he liked. Saturday morning, we looked at the truck and brought it home that afternoon. Jason might be a little excited about it!

It seems as though everything has worked out so far since Jason's wreck. We are so thankful no one was seriously injured, we were able to find a nice car and we weren't out any extra money. And, bonus! The truck actually fits in the garage! We had to rearrange and organize (which was much needed), but we were able to make room so the truck can fit. It's tight, but it works!

It seems as though things are working out, and I can't tell you how grateful we are for that!

One To Remember

2010-08-05T16:05:00.011-05:00

Yesterday was our three year anniversary!

It's hard to believe that three years ago, we were getting married...

...pledging our love for each other...

...and starting our lives together as Mr. and Mrs.

Yesterday, I came home to these beautiful flowers, arranged by my wonderful husband–all by himself! I love hydrangeas! Obviously, someone's been paying attention!

Jason and I ate dinner at a nice local restaurant, Harrigans. Seems like a pretty nice anniversary, don't you think? Wait, I forgot to mention something...

Yes, Jason got in a horrible wreck yesterday afternoon. Luckily, it wasn't his fault. A guy didn't see Jason coming and pulled out in front of him. Thankfully, no one was seriously injured. Jason just has a bruised and swollen wrist. Now we're in the waiting process...waiting for the police report, waiting to hear back from our insurance company, waiting to hear the extent of the damages, etc.

So it wasn't quite the anniversary we had planned, but at least it's one we'll always remember!

Birthday

2010-07-22T14:49:00.010-05:00

Jason and I went to Dallas a couple weekends ago to visit my family. My grandma, aunt and uncle from Houston came in town, too.

Since it was my birthday week, we celebrated with cake and presents! My sister made a fancy strawberry cake with huge strawberries on top...

...although she had a hard time cutting the cake...haha!

It was really nice spending time with my family again. The girls had a good time shopping – as usual! Too bad Jason and I flew in, so I wasn't able to take some of my "It's My Birthday Week" purchases back home. I don't think the airlines or the other passengers on the plane would like it if I carried on two lamps and a new bathroom light fixture. But now that means it'll feel like Christmas next time we visit!

I thought this picture turned out good:

This one – not so much...haha!

Nice face flex, David! I think Jason has always been scared – yet uncomfortably intrigued – by my sister and me! Maybe that's good...we keep him on his toes!

Obsessed

2010-07-08T14:02:00.010-05:00

I didn't watch Lost while it was on TV; it was never appealing to me. I kind of wish I had watched it while it was all the rage, but that's ok. I'm watching it now! I started a few weeks ago, and one benefit to not watching it on TV is that I can go at my own pace and not have to wait a week for the next episode. I don't know if I could wait a week for the next episode. It's addicting!

When I watched the pilot episode of Lost, I told Jason, "You have to watch this! It's crazy!" I was eating my lunch while I watched. After part 1 of the pilot, I realized I had hardly eaten anything. I was so tense and into what was happening, I had forgotten to eat! I told Jason to watch the first episode so he could catch up and we could watch the rest of the show together. He said, "No, I probably won't be able to keep up. You just go ahead and watch without me." So I did. A few days later when I asked him if he had watched the first episode yet, he was already way ahead of me! Now he's on season 3 and I'm still on season 1. Yeah, you couldn't keep up, huh??

The show is pretty amazing so far. We're kind of obsessed–definitely Jason more so than me. Who knew?!?

July

2010-07-02T15:14:00.002-05:00

We're already two days into July, so that means it's officially birthday month!

I came up with a song the other day for Jason to help him with ideas of what to get me for my birthday. It was to the tune of "The Twelve Days of Christmas" except it was titled "The Twelve Days of Birthday Month." Too bad when I was singing/saying it (I think I'm somewhat tone deaf and can't hold a tune to save my life), I stumbled over and forgot some of the words... Oh well, I think he got the idea. I only asked for things like 12 new car options, 10 weeks in Europe, 5 diamond rings, etc. That's not too much to ask for, is it??

This weekend our good friends Jay and Kylee are staying with us. We are celebrating the 4th with them and Jay's family. Our tradition is to go to the ranch in Perryton for the 4th, but it didn't work out this year. Instead, we'll stay here. Although I'm sure we'll bring some of the ranch traditions home this year–like the good food: brisket, cheesy potato casserole and ice cream cake. Yum!

Have a great 4th of July!

Wit, Wisdom & Wishes

2010-06-23T22:10:00.014-05:00

A few weeks ago, my good friend Kailee had a wedding shower. I volunteered to be one of the hostesses, and my job was to put together a book so people could give marriage advice or words of encouragement to the future Mr. and Mrs.

Jason and I saw this as the perfect opportunity to use our letterpress again. So I created a design and Jason did all the letterpress work. We were really happy with the outcome. It was our first time to use colored ink and do two runs on a single project.

Sugar Rush

2010-06-06T11:15:00.029-05:00

Devil's Food cake = rich
Peanut Butter = creamy
Dark Chocolate = sweet
Reese's Peanut Butter Cups = smooth

Mix all of these ingredients together into a cake, and you can go into a sugar coma.

But that's what Jason wanted. That is, a cake with all of these ingredients, not the sugar coma–although he got that too.

I made the Peanut Butter Cup Cake recipe from Bakerella.com:

The cake turned out really good, but it was so rich, I couldn't finish my piece!

I started with one Devil's Food cake mix.

Then I beat 3 eggs, 1 cup of buttermilk and 1/2 cup of vegetable oil into the cake mix.

Chop 2 cups of peanut butter cups and fold them into the batter.

Oops, someone didn't add peanut butter to this Reese's.

I used about 35 Reese's Peanut Butter Cups in the batter.

Pour the batter into two 9-inch pans and bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes. I baked mine an extra two minutes because a toothpick didn't come out completely clean at 30 minutes.

Let the cakes cool completely.

Chop 8 ounces of dark chocolate. I used dark chocolate chips and semi-chopped them.

Bring 1 cup of heavy cream to a boil and then pour over the dark chocolate.

Whisk until the chocolate melts.

Add 1/2 cup of peanut butter...

...and whisk until smooth.

Place one of the cakes on a cake stand. Trim the top so that it is flat. Pour one cup of frosting on top and spread evenly.

Add the second cake layer.

Pour the remaining frosting on the top and sides, and smooth over the cake.

This is where it got tricky. The recipe said to let the frosting set for a minute and then gently press chopped Reese's Peanut Butter Cups all over the top and sides of the cake. When I did that, the frosting wasn't cool enough so it started to drip off due to the weight of the peanut butter cups. So I stuck the cake in the refrigerator for about 6-7 minutes. When I took the cake out, the frosting had cooled, so it was able to hold the peanut butter cups. Then I just kept adding more and more Reese's until the cake was completely covered.

Put the cake back in the refrigerator for about an hour so it can set.

I was so proud the cake looked good–and tasted good! Next time, I think I will pair it with vanilla ice cream since it was so thick and rich.

If this doesn't fix your chocolate craving, I don't think there's anything out there that will!

$1.08...

2010-06-05T10:44:00.003-05:00

...is what I paid for this lovely Michael Kors dress.

A local consignment shop was going out of business last week and everything was $1.00. You can't get much better than that!

Celebrating

2010-06-03T20:32:00.011-05:00

Yesterday was Jason's birthday...

We invited his family over for dinner to celebrate. Jason made a delicious brisket...

We also had beans, salad, baked potatoes and peach tea. I made a chocolate chip pie for dessert. Jason found the recipe a few weeks ago and said he wanted that instead of a traditional cake. The pie turned out to be very tasty! It tasted like a big chocolate chip cookie. Now, what you can't see is that before I baked the pie, I spelled out "Happy Birthday" on the top with mini chocolate chips. I didn't take into account that the pie would rise, or the chocolate chips would sink, or whatever happened, because it totally disappeared. Do you know how long it takes to spell something with mini chocolate chips? Take it from me, it takes awhile.

Jason opened his presents and blew out his candle...well, of course, after he finished texting...

We had a great time celebrating with Jason's family. I'd say he had a pretty good birthday with good food, good company and Best Buy gift cards!

S-P-E-L-L-I-N-G it out

2010-06-02T08:48:00.000-05:00

Hilarious
Attractive
Provider
Playful
Yard master

Big-hearted
Irresistible
Ridiculously good cook
Tech-savvy
Honorable
Devoted
Always supportive
Yahoo! It's your birthday! (Cut me some slack, Y is hard!)

Happy Birthday to you, Jason! I love you so much!

Weekend Wrap-Up

2010-05-25T08:59:00.017-05:00

This weekend was crazy busy. My good friend and co-worker, Abie, had her wedding this weekend. She asked me about 16 months ago when she got engaged if I would help coordinate her wedding. So I coordinated her fiancé’s Tool Shower, Abie’s Kitchen Shower, General Shower, Lingerie Shower and Work Shower. I also helped her make the bridemaids’ bouquets. She wanted ribbon bouquets instead of live flowers. The bouquets turned out beautifully! (Sorry for all the bad pictures – they were taken from a phone)

I took a half-day off from work on Friday because Abie scheduled all of her bridesmaids, mom and me to get a pedicure. It was a lot of fun. It’s been so long since I’ve had a pedicure, so it was nice to get pampered! That night was Abie's rehearsal and rehearsal dinner.

Bright and early Saturday morning, Jason and I met Abie and Lance, the wedding party and both families at the building where the wedding and reception was to be held. It started out as a completely empty room. We pulled out all the tables, organized them, put the chairs out, decorated the tables, put chair ties on the chairs, set up the sign-in table and picture table, put decals on the windows, etc. I even helped make the altar arrangements.

In the early afternoon, Jason and I ran home to change and clean up. When we came back, we helped with some of the final decorating touches.

Abie designated me as the coordinator for the whole wedding so I had to make sure all the family and groomsmen had their corsages and boutonnieres, I told everyone when to start walking down the aisle, I told the musicians when to start and stop playing, I gathered everyone for pictures, etc. It was crazy! I was really nervous, but had fun. Everything seemed to go smoothly, so I was really glad.

This picture was taken while I was passing out the boutonnieres. See the tray on the table next to me? By the way, boutonnieres are really hard to pin on people. I had such a hard time!

Sunday was Jessica's graduation breakfast at church. Last week, I had been making centerpieces and decorations for her table. Jason's mom and his brother's girlfriend set up the table on Saturday since I was helping with the wedding. When I got to the breakfast on Sunday, I made three small floral arrangements (for the vases below) for her table. The breakfast was nice. They had a picture slideshow of all the seniors growing up.

I spray painted the pot below, wrapped ribbon around the top and added buttons to accent. I cut out letters to spell out "Jessica" and "Frenship" – her high school. We put a tree branch inside (secured by river rocks) and hung pictures of Jessica and some of her awards from the limbs. Kathy added blue and yellow flowers at the bottom to hide the rocks. I also used cans as vases. I wrapped scrapbook paper and ribbons around them. At the breakfast, I put blue and yellow flowers in them.

And finally, on Sunday afternoon I went to my friend's baby shower. What a weekend! Next weekend: another wedding and Jessica's graduation!

Happy Birthday

2010-05-15T12:50:00.004-05:00

Happy Birthday To You…

Today is my sister’s birthday.

Andrea always makes me laugh.

Happy Birthday To You…

She has great decorating taste.

She loves cupcakes, shopping, flirting, reading magazines, playing games and cooking.

Happy Birthday, Dear Andrea…

She is a great listener, baker, supporter, advice-giver and dancer.

She is beautiful inside and out.

Happy Birthday To You!

Have a wonderful birthday, Andrea! Love you lots!

Golf, Ducks and Crafts

2010-05-14T13:34:00.005-05:00

Last week, Jason took me to a driving range. I've never played "real" golf before–only Putt-Putt. I've never used "real" golf clubs before–again, only Putt-Putt clubs. And I've never tried to really hit the golf ball and drive it down the green (did I say that right, or did I just put a bunch of golfing words together to make it sound good?). Anyway, it was a perfect, sunny and warm evening with no wind. We picked a spot on the very end of the driving range. I guess Jason assumed I would need a lot of room–which was a safe assumption.

We set all of our clubs and golf balls down, and Jason showed me the basics of how to swing the club. It wasn't quite as romantic as you see in the movies. I think since we were on the end of the driving range and a majority of the golfers there were right-handed so they could easily look up and watch us, Jason didn't want to be too sentimental and look like a softie. So my golf lesson was quick, straight to the point, and I'll "figure it out" as I go.

A majority of the balls I hit didn't go very far, but that turned out to be a good thing! Once we were out of balls, we discreetly stepped across the rope barrier, collected the ones that didn't go anywhere and we tried again. Well, I shouldn't say "we" tried again because it was really me who put the balls there in the first place. I got a second chance to hit the balls farther than I did the first time and Jason just kept practicing and being the studly golfer he is!

I do feel sorry for the people who have to maintain the driving range. I might have made a bunch of holes in the ground from the many times I missed the ball and hit the ground instead. That was another good reason we were on the end of the range. I made so many holes, I constantly had to find a new spot to put my tee in the ground.

We had a lot of fun at the driving range, and I don't think I embarrassed Jason too much with my bad swings and holes in the ground!

My family came to visit us for Mother's Day this past weekend. It was so nice seeing them. I miss them so much! The girls went shopping–as is tradition when my family visits–and the guys went to a few museums and manly stores. Jason made a wonderful brisket for dinner on Saturday night. We also celebrated my sister's upcoming birthday with red velvet cupcakes. It was really nice seeing my family again. Next month we are going to Colorado with my parents and I can't wait!

We also celebrated Mother's Day with Jason's family on Sunday. We met them for lunch and had pizza with his mom's favorite crust–honey wheat! Jason's brother bought the biggest card for their mom and somehow managed to slip it underneath the tablecloth all the way over to her. It was pretty funny!

After lunch, Jason and I grabbed some day-old bread from the restaurant and fed the geese and ducks at a nearby park. I didn't know the geese could hiss! I really thought one of them was going to attack us to get the bread faster. Luckily, just as we ran out of bread, another car drove up and started feeding the birds. We laughed as we watched the ducks waddle-run as fast as they could to the new people so they could eat.

Jason's mom, Kathy, and I went to Hobby Lobby and Wal-Mart Monday night. A certain someone (Jason's sister, Jessica) is graduating from high school and having a certain something (graduation celebration breakfast at church) that we are coming up with ideas on how to decorate her table. I finished a few of the decorations Tuesday night. (I might just post pictures after the breakfast because I think it turned out pretty cute!) I still have a few more things to make. I just love do-it-yourself crafts!

And now, I think you're just about caught up with everything!

One Day

2010-04-30T08:28:00.012-05:00

I would love to lounge on the white sands of the beautiful beaches in Bermuda.

I'd like to see the radiant colors of a Maui sunset.

How lovely it would be to take a gondola ride through the canals of Italy.

It would be a fairytale dream-come-true to visit a castle in Ireland.

To see the vast mountains in Austria would be amazing.

As beautiful and magical as these places are, imagine just how much more beautiful and magical Heaven will be.

Better is one day in your courts than thousands elsewhere.

Wildflowers

2010-04-27T16:54:00.018-05:00

At work, we advertise a lot with Texas Monthly. They sent us a packet of wildflowers recently so I decided to plant the seeds tonight.

I'm excited to see the flowers grow. The package of wildflowers includes:

Drummond Phlox, Cornflower, Corn Poppy...

Black-Eyed Susan, Lemon Mint, Plains Coreopsis...

Texas Bluebonnet, Lance-Leaf Coreopsis and Indian Blanket.

And now, we wait...

Top 3

2010-04-16T10:59:00.026-05:00

My good friend Jacquelyn visited us recently, and we were talking about different meals we make for dinner sometimes. I know, grown-up talk. When you're younger, you probably never imagine you'd exchange recipes because that's boring and only old people do that. Not true. I love getting new recipes now! Jacquelyn introduced us to one of our new favorite recipes: "Chicken Pockets."

As we were eating our chicken pockets on Monday night, we kept saying things like "amazing," "good," "my new favorite," "let's make this every week," ....well, you get the point. It was that good! I've decided this particular dinner goes in my Top 3 of Best Dishes I've Ever Made. It's definitely better than the disaster I made one night.

Here's how we made our chicken pockets:

1. Tear off 2 sheets of aluminum foil (about 8" x 12")

2. Lightly oil one side of the foil with extra virgin olive oil.

3. Slice all of your vegetables. We used:

Squash

Red Bell Pepper

Zucchini

Sweet Onion

4. Place sliced vegetables on the greased foil sheets. Lightly oil the vegetables and add salt and pepper.

5. Place a seasoned chicken breast on top of the vegetables. We bought cajun-seasoned chicken breasts from the butcher. We plan to try other seasoned chicken, but it'll be hard because the cajun one was so good!

6. Bring together two sides of each foil sheet over the ingredients, and double fold the edges. Double fold each end to form a packet, leaving room for heat circulation inside.

7. Put the chicken pockets in your oven. (We put a sheet of foil on the bottom of the oven just in case the juices leaked out. I don't think any did, but better safe than sorry. I don't like cleaning the oven.)

8. Bake at 350 Degrees for 45 minutes.

9. Get ready for one of the tastiest dishes ever! I think a lot of the taste probably depends on the way the chicken is seasoned, so make sure your seasoning has a lot of flavors. Hope you enjoy!

Penalties Are Coming...

2010-04-16T09:48:00.009-05:00

As you probably know, Tax Day was yesterday. Jason is so funny about taxes. He likes to wait until the last day to file because why should the government get his money early? He doesn't mind paying taxes, but if he can keep his money longer, that's what he'll do. So he told me he would file our taxes at 11pm on April 15th. I assumed he was serious, but thought, oh well, as long as they're filed by Tax Day it'll be fine. Jason is really good about important deadlines, keeping up with the bills and things like that, so I had no reason to doubt his 11pm deadline.

This morning as I was eating breakfast, Jason hurries in the kitchen. Here's what happened:

J (frantically): "Oh no! I totally forgot to file our taxes last night!"

D (not sure if it's a joke, or if he's serious): "What?! Are you serious?!"

Side note: Last night Jason hung out with a friend. So did I. The taxes aren't considered one of my "responsibilities" so I didn't even think about them yesterday, or even think to remind him or ask if he had already filed them.

Back to the kitchen...

J: "Yeah, I totally forgot about it last night!"
He grabs our tax folder, hurries to the computer and impatiently taps his fingers on the keyboard waiting for it to boot up.

D (kind of annoyed, but not quite freaking out yet): "Great, we'll probably get some $1,000 penalty for filing late."

J (nervously): "No...I'm sure it'll probably be more than that."

D (kind of starting to have a quiet freak out now. Picturing the auditors coming to arrest us. Our house getting trashed by them as they search for whatever it is auditors would search for. I probably got this from a movie or something): "Well, you'd better file them before you go to work."

J (looking up online what the penalty for late filing is): "It's 5% for every month you're late. That won't be too bad."

D (thinking, great, now he'll probably wait until the end of that first month time-period because there's not a payment difference if you filed in the beginning of that month or the end of that month. also feeling a little better because the penalty isn't a crazy amount like I first thought, but still picturing us being taken away for questioning): "Ok, well just send them in!"

J: "I'm just kidding! I filed them yesterday. Remember when you came home from work and I was on the computer? You asked what I was doing and I said 'nothing.' I had just filed them!"

Punk.

So, penalties are coming...

Not from the government...

From me...

I'll get him back...hopefully!

Official

2010-04-14T21:26:00.007-05:00

Over the weekend, I went with my good friend, Abie, as she had her bridal portraits and bride and groom pictures taken. While I was out, Jason stayed home and worked all day to make adjustments to our letterpress before we did our first official run!

We letterpressed business cards for Artiphact, an art photographer. We bought a Boxcar base and ordered a plate with the Artiphact logo. Here's the base and plate in place:

Jason did most of the business cards while I was out, but when I got home I helped him finish. We did 200 business cards with black ink and 20 with a blind impression (no ink). Here are the finished products:

We are really happy with the way the business cards turned out. Jason did a great job tweaking the letterpress and setting up the plate. He's such a wonderful letterpresser – if letterpresser is even a word, which I'm guessing it is! When you print something, you're a printer. So if you letterpress something, wouldn't you be a letterpresser? Anyway, that's not the point...

The point is our business cards are lovely, and we had lots of fun making them!

Catch Up

2010-04-08T22:14:00.010-05:00

Yes, I realize it's been awhile since I've last written a post for my blog.

No, I did not fall off the face of the planet. :)

So I guess it's time to catch up:

Easter
We celebrated Easter with Jason's family and a few friends. Jason's mom made a wonderful spread of roast, ham, candied sweet potatoes, broccoli cheese and rice casserole (luckily, cheese is a big hit in the LeMaster family), and crescent rolls (always a favorite). My contribution was a salad and a birthday cake for dessert. We celebrated our good friend Tim's birthday too.

Every year, the day before Easter, we dye Easter eggs with Jason's family. We usually all try to grab as many eggs as we can, let them soak in the dye for a long time, or see who can make the ugliest eggs. This year was different. Jason got the idea to dye all the eggs in less than two minutes. So Jason's brother and sister, and Jason and I sat in our usual spots at the table and waited for Jason's dad to start the video camera. We dyed the eggs so fast, they were barely colored. The eggs were pretty much just pastel colors. We had a really fun (and quick) time dying eggs!

Of course, why dye Easter eggs if there's no Easter egg hunt? Oh, don't worry, there's an Easter egg hunt every year! This year we did it in the front yard – for all to see! Haha. Jason's parents also had a new addition: Mexican confetti eggs. Those were a hit...literally! Unfortunately, we couldn't find one of the dyed Easter eggs. There's always one each year that's hidden so well no one can find it! I'm sure it'll turn up – or start smelling up the yard – soon.

Floors
Remember when our house looked like this?

Now it looks like this:

We've made a few decorative changes, but the main thing is the flooring. Yes, our flooring was ripped up again. The planks were starting to curl again. So now we have tile rather than the vinyl flooring. It looks pretty much the exact same, doesn't it? Instead of putting the tile in the living room, we decided to go with carpet. It lightens up the room and looks really nice.

First Client
We got our first client for our letterpress! We are going to do some business cards for a friend who owns an art photography business. I'm hoping to do the business cards this weekend and post pictures soon!

I think we're about caught up now! Until next time...

Still Learning...

2010-03-12T21:50:00.012-06:00

I've been waiting to post about this, so I thought now is as good a time as any...

I love designing and making cards, invitations, wedding programs...pretty much any sort of paper product. Jason is creative and can design anything.

We've talked for awhile about making cards and invitations on the side. Jason has been interested in letterpress for several years. We finally started looking online for a letterpress and found a bunch. However, most of them were in California or somewhere up north and the owner wanted someone to come pick it up rather than ship it.

In early January, Jason found a listing for a letterpress–of all places!–in Post, a tiny town about 30-45 minutes away. The owner's father used to have a local print shop, so he also had a ton of accessories. We went to Post, made a bid, and are now blessed with a letterpress!

This past weekend, we bought a workbench and organized the letterpress room.

We've played around with the letterpress, but this week was our first time to try it with ink.

When we bought the letterpress, the owner gave us all of the type and spacers he had. There are probably about 15 packages of unopened type dated from the 70s and 80s.

We bought black ink a few weeks ago.

Our first time with ink...

The letterpress...

We're still learning about the letterpress and figuring out the best ways to do things, but we're having a lot of fun in the meantime!

Two Days Late...

2010-02-16T08:58:00.006-06:00

On this post, that is.

I probably should've posted about what we did for Valentine's Day on Valentine's Day, but I didn't. So I'm doing it now.

I'm not a huge advocate of Valentine's Day where I have to have flowers, gifts and an expensive dinner. I think it's because I'm kind of cheap. And because we are trying to pay off student loans and stuff. Ok, and because I'm cheap (did I already mention that?).

However, I still want plans to be made for Valentine's Day. I guess it's the hype of the holiday instilled in my head.

So Jason–very sweetly–decided to make dinner for us. He had it all planned to make tostadas. But after church we ended up eating lunch at Rosa's, so neither of us really wanted Mexican food for dinner. So Jason changed his plans. He made the equivalent of the Bowtie Festival at Johnny Carino's. I think Jason's was by far better, but I might be a little biased.

He slaved in the kitchen to prepare his wonderful meal while I relaxed and watched TV. I'm not completely useless, though. I did make the salads and set the table!

My contribution to Valentine's Day was a red velvet cake with cream cheese icing and red sprinkles on top. I made cupcakes the day before for my friend's engagement party (Congratulations, Kailee!), and saved some of the batter to make a small cake for Jason.

We had a very nice Valentine's Day. Thanks, Jason, for making such a delicious Bowtie Festival!

Numbers

2010-02-04T13:51:00.015-06:00

1. I'm excited about watching the Super Bowl commercials on Sunday. I love Super Bowl commercials.

2. Unfortunately, we have standing water underneath our floor in the master bathroom. We just had our floors replaced in November, and now a new–or the same–problem is coming up.

3. I love our conversations with our good friends Jordan and Jessica. They have the cutest kids and are such a fun couple to hang out with. I always feel so encouraged and blessed after being with them.

4. I'm kind of obsessed with Words With Friends on my iPhone.

5. This is one of the craziest things ever. I kind of want one.

6. I'm planning a kitchen-themed bridal shower for my good friend, Abie, in a few weeks.

7. I love, love, love Modern Family. It's such a funny show! If you don't watch it, you're totally missing out!

8. Jason is reading Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover right now. I'm reading The Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella. (Side note: I just Googled the book because I couldn't remember the author's name, and I read that it's supposed to be made into a movie in 2011. How exciting!) My next book to read is The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks.

9. That's about all I've got for now. Thanks for reading, and have a great day!

Good/Ok

2010-01-28T21:52:00.010-06:00

Good book...

Ok movie...

Since I really liked the book, I thought the movie would be pretty good. It turned out to be ok. I should've known it wasn't going to be the best when I read that it was a made-for-tv movie.

Oh well, hopefully this movie will be better since the book was so good!

No Matter What

2010-01-20T08:49:00.004-06:00

This morning as I was driving to work, Jeremy Camp's There Will Be A Day came on the radio.

Part of the song is:
There will be a day with no more tears,
No more pain, and no more fears
There will be a day when the burdens of this place,
Will be no more, we’ll see Jesus face to face
But until that day, we’ll hold on to you always

This made me think of the people in Haiti and all the destruction they're going through. One day, we won't have tears or pain.

I thought about my life and how I feel really blessed. I have a wonderful husband, my family is healthy, we have food and a place to live and so many luxuries we take for granted every day. Then I thought, if I think my life is good right now, imagine how it'll be when we get to Heaven. Imagine what it'll be like to finally see Jesus. The things we'll hear. The colors we'll see. It'll be amazing.

But until that day, I will continue to seek God's will and follow Him. I will use what he has given me and blessed me with to bring glory back to him–no matter what. No matter if it's through tears, pain and destruction. No matter if it's through happiness and health.

Rejoice in the Lord always! I will say it again: Rejoice! -Philippians 4:4

"It's Not Your Fault"

2010-01-11T09:32:00.002-06:00

Happy New Year! I know, it's a little late, but it's my first post for 2010 so I thought I'd say it.

This weekend my family came to visit us. We ordered a new bedroom suit at Thanksgiving while we were in Dallas, and the nightstands were set to be delivered to one of the malls nearby. So my parents kindly picked them up and brought them to us this weekend.

We had a lot of fun with my family. It seems we kind of have a tradition every time they visit us. The girls go shopping all day on Saturday to all the local boutiques, and the guys stay in and watch sports or go to sporting goods stores. The girls also go to the bakery of the lady who made my wedding cake and pick up some cupcakes for our guys. Then we all meet up for dinner.

This time the girls went to a few boutiques we've never been to, so we'll add those to our rounds next time! And the guys went to an antique store and came back with a really funny story about some interesting lady who stopped to talk to them about how kids aren't learning the real stories of history in school anymore, and it's not their fault. She asked Jason how old he was and she responded, "It's not your fault."

We took my family out to eat at Abuelo's and then went back to our house. The girls lounged on the bed, did some online shopping and watched Bride Wars (really cute movie, by the way), while the guys watched a football game in the living room.

It was so fun having my family come visit. Jason and I are going to visit them this weekend to celebrate my mom's birthday. I love spending time with my family, so I can't wait to see them again!

Cream Cheese Treat

2009-12-31T09:38:00.005-06:00

I made this yummy treat on Christmas Eve for breakfast. It's a cream cheese/crescent roll dessert. It's so easy to make and is one of our favorites!

2 packages crescent rolls
2 (8 oz.) packages cream cheese
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup melted butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 Degrees. Spray 9x12 pan with Pam.

Spread 1 package of crescent rolls on bottom of pan. Mix both cream cheeses, 1 cup of sugar and vanilla. Spread over crescent roll. Layer the other crescent roll package over cream cheese. Spread melted butter on top.

Mix 1/2 cup of sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle on top. Bake for 30 minutes. Let cool. Refrigerate leftovers.

And don't forget to serve on a cute plate like the Christmas plates my parents got me last year!

Glory to God

2009-12-25T11:33:00.000-06:00

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."

-Luke 2:8-14

Merry Christmas!
Jason & Diana

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas Eve

2009-12-24T14:49:00.007-06:00

This morning we woke up to this:

Once the sun came up and the snow slowed down, we went outside to see how high it had piled up:

We also made snow angels in our backyard:

There are still little snow flurries right now, so hopefully we'll wake up to a white Christmas tomorrow!

Unconditional Love

2009-12-23T08:48:00.006-06:00

I really enjoy reading books. I've heard several people talk about Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers, and it just so happens my good friend let me borrow it. I just finished reading it this weekend. If you've never read it, I definitely recommend it. It's amazing! The book is a retelling of the biblical story of Hosea.

I really like Redeeming Love because it shows God's love for us–no matter what we do. He is constantly forgiving, always in control and His love is unconditional. This book is a beautiful reminder of that. So if you're looking for a good read over Christmas, you should definitely check out this book!

Mess

2009-12-11T09:05:00.007-06:00

Remember when I said my house was a mess?

I wasn't lying...

The bedding from our bedroom was piled on top of the bed in the guest bedroom. And the black thing on the right? That was the top part of our entertainment center.

A dining room chair, living room TV, photo albums and more.

This room was the best! It was like a maze to walk through. You're looking at the other parts of our entertainment center, Black Friday shopping from the Container Store that I hadn't unpacked, new garland that we bought for Christmas and sooo much more.

Our floor was finished Friday, so we were pretty busy this weekend moving everything back to its place and re-organizing. We are still in the process of moving everything, but it's good to have a place to finally sit down!

A Little Taste of Heaven

2009-12-10T16:35:00.007-06:00

This is one of my most favorite dessert dips. It's called Chocolate Chip Dip, and it's super easy to make! I made it yesterday for my friend's Christmas party and everyone loved it!

1/2 cup butter
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 (8-ounce) package of cream cheese
1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
3/4 cup semisweet mini chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional) *

* I've never added the nuts. I'm not a huge fan of them, so I don't add them.

In a small saucepan, melt the butter with the brown sugar over medium heat. Stir continuously, until the brown sugar dissolves. Remove from heat. Whisk in the vanilla and set aside to cool.

Beat the cream cheese and confectioner's sugar for 1 minute. Slowly beat in the cooled butter mixture, and beat again for another minute.

Stir in the chocolate chips and nuts, if using. Pour into a serving bowl and refrigerate.

Garnish with additional chocolate chips or nuts, if you choose.

Serve with graham crackers, Nilla wafers or pretzels. My favorite is graham crackers! Spread it on the cracker and eat...mmmm...a little taste of heaven!

Wisdom

2009-12-09T16:44:00.002-06:00

But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness.

James 3:17-18

That's Life

2009-12-02T09:55:00.005-06:00

I don't typically blog a lot. My life isn't always very interesting. I don't have kids, so I can't post cute pictures of them or tell funny stories about things they said. I don't have any pets, so I can't upload videos of them running around. I don't take cool pictures either. Those are the kinds of blogs I read, so mine seems kind of boring to me right now. But since this is called Life with the LeMaster's, I'll just tell you what's going on in our lives right now.

Our house is a mess. Not a mess like we have dirty clothes on the floor that need to be picked up. Not a mess like there are dishes piled up in the sink. Not even a mess like I probably should've cleaned a week ago. No, it's worse. Much worse. We don't have any flooring. We're living on our concrete slab. Which would be cool if it was stained and looked nice. But instead it's stained with worker's shoe prints, spills and who know what else from when the house was being built.

So why don't we have any floors right now? Ok, I exaggerated a tiny bit. We have floors in the bedrooms because they're carpeted. But the rest of the house–concrete slab. Apparently there was too much moisture being soaked up through the foundation so it was causing the planks to curl up. So the floors are now ripped up. A sealer will be put down and we will get new flooring hopefully this week or next week.

Not a huge deal, but it's really hard for me because I'm an organizer. I like things neat and clean. Our house is anything but that right now. Most of the furniture is scattered throughout the three bedrooms so it's not in the way when the new floor comes. We can't decorate for Christmas yet, which is ok, except that Jason and I raided Hobby Lobby one weekend and bought some really cute decorations for Christmas that I'm dying to put out! I also bought a few things at The Container Store over Thanksgiving so we could get more organized, and I can't do that yet either.

Although it's hard for me to not clean and organize, I think this is actually good for me. Houses that are lived in aren't typically going to look like model homes or the living rooms you see in magazines. And Christmas decorations might get you in the holiday spirit and make your house look cute, but they're not the real reason to celebrate Christmas.

So when it comes down to it, we're living on our concrete slab, our house is a mess and nothing is organized or where it should be. But that's life. Things will look better, be cleaned up and get organized and back to normal. They always do!

New York

2009-09-29T16:28:00.017-05:00

Jason and I took a vacation to New York last month. Before we went to New York, we flew to Dallas to spend some time with my family. While we were there, we toured the new Dallas Cowboy's stadium. Yes, it really is that big! We were able to see the locker room, one of the suites, the press box and the club where the players run through to go to the field.

This picture was taken in one of the suites. The field wasn't down because they were doing some work on the stadium.

This was taken in the Miller Lite Club where the players run through at the start of the game.

After spending the weekend with my family, we were on our way to New York! Our first dinner in New York was at an Italian restaurant, La Bottega.

After that, we went to Madison Square Garden and Times Square.

The next day we went to the Today Show and then toured NBC studios. We saw Brian Williams' studio, the Saturday Night Live studio (which is much smaller than I imagined) and Jimmy Fallon's studio.

After that, we walked around Rockefeller Plaza and then walked up and down 5th Avenue. In the afternoon, we went to Late Night With Jimmy Fallon. We got lucky and were able to sit on the front row! It was really fun to see all the behind-the-scenes stuff, like how they transition between commercial breaks and how a make-up artist touches up Jimmy Fallon's face constantly.

We went to the Statue of Liberty the next morning.

This was my favorite part of the trip. I was so excited to see the Statue of Liberty and tour it. We bought tickets online to go all the way to the crown. I had read that you have to be able to climb about 30 flights of stairs to get to the top. I kind of thought, Oh they just say that; there's probably an elevator. Boy, was I wrong! We had to walk up all 30 flights on a tiny spiral staircase to get to the crown.

But once we were there, it was worth it. The views were amazing! Of course, we also had to walk all the way down the 30 flights too!

This picture looks a little weird because it was kind of rainy and it's taken from a window in the Statue's crown.

We went to Little Italy and ate at a pizza shop called Lombardi's which was probably the best pizza I've ever had! They say Lombardi's had the first pizza oven in the United States.

We also saw Chinatown, SoHo, TriBeca, the Financial District and Grand Central Station. We walked through a lot of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, but that place is so huge we couldn't see it all.

And, of course, we went to Serendipity and had their famous frozen hot chocolate–which was amazing!

We had our picture taken at the same table where the movie was filmed.

One of our favorite places in New York was Central Park. We walked all the way around the Jacquelyn Kennedy Reservoir and saw a beautiful sunset.

Jason and I had such a fun time in New York. We would love to go back one day!

Waiting

2009-09-04T16:29:00.002-05:00

"I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you." -Psalm 32:8

I receive an e-mail devotional every day. One of the devotionals earlier this week told a story about a woman who went to Bible College. She said while she was in class, a student asked the professor, "How do you know God's will?" The professor thought about the question for a minute and then responded, "If you want God's will with all of your heart, He won't let you miss it."

I think that sometimes it's easy to be impatient and do your own will, rather than waiting on God's will. Many times we don't surrender everything either. It's scary to just let go. But if we truly desire God's will for us, we have to surrender, we have to wait and we have to seek Him. That's where I am right now. Except I sometimes worry and stress instead of fully surrendering; I sometimes try to plan the future instead of waiting for God's timing; and I sometimes try to figure things out on my own instead of seeking God first.

But it'll come. Everything will fall into place. God will speak. He always does!

Two Years Ago Today...

2009-08-04T10:39:00.018-05:00

Jason was putting on a nice suit...

My mom and sister were helping me get dressed...

We celebrated with our friends...

And our families...

Jason walked his parents down the aisle...

My dad walked me down the aisle...

We said our vows, exchanged our rings...and...

We got married!

Happy Anniversary, Jason! I love you!

Girls Weekend

2009-08-02T12:41:00.006-05:00

Last weekend I went on a girls weekend vacation with my mom and sister. We went to Florence, Georgetown, Round Rock, Austin and Salado. We had a ton of laughs, did a lot of shopping and had a great time!

Our first stop was Florence. We went to a winery there and had lunch. The winery was in the middle of a neighborhood and is based on Italy.

We also went to Georgetown and did some shopping at their town square. We saw this statue outside one of the stores and took a picture with this nice gentleman!

We decided that since we were so close to Austin, we would do some shopping and tour the Capital.

I had so much fun with my mom and sister on our girls trip! I think we should make a girls trip an annual event!

Newness

2009-07-13T13:54:00.014-05:00

I've been going through all of our pictures since I decided to make a book of each year we've been married. I recently came across all of our honeymoon pictures. It was fun looking at those and remembering how excited we were to go on our honeymoon in Las Vegas. Here are two of my favorites:

Our honeymoon will always be special to me, not just because it was our honeymoon, but because it was the first vacation we've ever taken together. When I remember that time together, everything was so new to us–a new step in our relationship, a new life together, a new "normal" way of living. Now almost two years later, we're still settling into our way of life, but we still experience new things like new responsibilities, new friends, new traditions and new habits.

God has blessed us more than we ever thought through our marriage. Sometimes it's easy to get comfortable and overlook those blessings. I don't want to do that. I want to always remember and feel the "newness" of everything.

Pictures are nice to have because they capture some of our favorite memories. A lot of times we just take pictures of the big events in our lives. But the truth is, sometimes it's the small things in life that give us the best memories. I'm trying to live each day with a "newness" and hold on to my favorite times, big and small.

Random Thoughts

2009-06-09T08:46:00.009-05:00

Jason worked at an event on Saturday that his job sponsored. When he came home in the afternoon, he suggested we go on a spontaneous trip to Hobbs, New Mexico. So we called our friend Tim, all hopped in the car and drove to Hobbs for the evening. We went to Black Gold Casino and played the penny slots and 5-cent slots...high rollers, I know! We had a great time, but unfortunately, Jason and I didn't make any money. Tim, on the other hand, did! Right before we were about to leave for dinner, he placed a bet on #1 in Roulette and won $35! After that, we ate at Tia Juana's, the same place we ate after our Carlsbad trip earlier this year. Then, we headed back to Lubbock and watched Home Alone 2!
__________________________________________________________________

I try to workout regularly, but that doesn't always happen. When I do workout, I do Pilates. I realized recently that I don't really get my heart rate up very often, so maybe I should start doing some cardio. So I bought The Biggest Loser workout last night and tried it for the fist time. It's so hard, but I feel great after doing it (although I am a little sore)! If you're looking for a challenging workout, try The Biggest Loser!
__________________________________________________________________

I'm sometimes really bad about getting pictures printed. Now that everyone pretty much just has digital cameras, it's so easy to not get your pictures developed. Before, when everyone had cameras with rolls of film, you just take the roll of film out, get the pictures printed and put a new roll in. Now that we don't use rolls of film, it's easy to just dump all your pictures on your computer to make space on your camera. So I've been thinking lately that I need to get all of our pictures printed that are just sitting on our computers. But then, my sister gave me a great idea last week. She is using www2.snapfish.com to make photo books of all the trips she and her husband take. So after thinking about it, Jason and I decided to do that, but make yearly books. Our books will start the year we got married–2007. We'll design a book that has all the things we did that year: wedding pictures, honeymoon, our first apartment, etc. Then we'll do the same for 2008, 2009 and so on. I've started to collect all the pictures that I want to put in each book, and then we'll start designing the book. I think this will be a really cool way to follow our journey in life!
__________________________________________________________________

This weekend, Jason and I are going to Dallas to visit my family. We can't wait! We always have so much fun seeing my family and just relaxing with them. It's a nice get-away for us!
__________________________________________________________________

Until next time, have a great day!

Surprise!

2009-06-02T12:54:00.009-05:00

This past weekend I threw a surprise birthday party for Jason. I had been planning his party since April, and wanted to tell him about it several times–but I didn't! I almost blew it the day before the party because I convinced myself Jason knew everything. I was so nervous he would find out about the party, so I was looking into every move he made! But again, I didn't say anything.

Here are a few pictures from the party:

Jason opening presents

Jason and me

My family came in town for the party. Jason and I were so excited to see them! Jason didn't even know they were coming into town.

My good friend Abie helped me with all the planning. I couldn't have pulled off the party without her!

Some of our good friends and their cute babies

Happy Birthday, Jason! I love you!

Survey For Married People

2009-04-20T12:02:00.005-05:00

I was tagged by Lindsey for this survey. Here goes!

1. When is your "engagement" anniversary: November 4, 2006
2. When is your "marriage" anniversary: August 4, 2007
3. How long have you known your spouse: About 5 years
4. How long did you date/court before you were engaged: 2 years
5. Where did you meet your spouse for the first time? In our Sunday School class at church
6. What is your spouse's full name? Jason Robert LeMaster
7. Do you have any children? Not yet...maybe a few more years!
8. How many? None
9. Do you have any house pets? No pets either...yet
10. Do you own a house or rent: We own
11. Do you live in a country or town/city: City
12. What is one of your favorite activities together: We like to watch movies and cook together. We also have a thing about driving around and going in houses that are being built.
13. Do you have a favorite vacation spot: We had a lot of fun in Las Vegas for our honeymoon!
14. How many siblings (including in-laws) do you have? I have an older sister, two brothers-in-law and one sister-in-law
15. What church do you attend: First Baptist
16. Is this the church you were married in: Yes, this is the church where we met
17. What town is your current address at: Lubbock
18. Do you work or stay at home? I work
19. Where did you go on your honeymoon: Las Vegas
20.Who drives when you go out together? Jason
21. How long have you been together? We've been together for 5 years and married almost 2
22. How long did you know each other before you started dating? About one day
23. Who asked who out? I kind of initiated it...
24. How old are each of you? 23
25. Whose siblings do/did you see the most? We see Jason's family more because we live in the same town
26. Which situation is the hardest on you as a couple? Figuring out God's will for us
27. Did you go to the same school? We both went to Texas Tech University
28. Are you from the same home town? No, we grew up about 6 hours away from each other
29. Who is smarter? I think I'm more book smart, and Jason is more "street" smart
30. Who is more sensitive? Definitely me
31. Where do you eat out most as a couple? We usually stay home and cook, but when we do eat out, we love Mexican food
32. Where is the furthest you two have traveled together as a couple? California for a Mission Trip while we were in college
33. Who has the craziest exes? That would be me!
34. Who has the worse temper? Probably me again...
35. Who does the cooking? We both cook
36. Who is more social? Jason
37. Who is the neat-freak? Most definitely me
38. Who is the more stubborn? Probably Jason
39. Who hogs the bed? Jason! He says because he is bigger than me, he should get more of the bed
40. Who wakes up earlier? I do
41. Where was your first date? We went to Coldstone Creamery and walked around the Tech campus
42. Who has the bigger family? Jason has more siblings, but I probably have more aunts, uncles and cousins
43. Do you get flowers often? Occasionally
44. How do you spend the holidays? We alternate back and forth between our families

The Flood

2009-04-20T10:59:00.006-05:00

We've been having some crazy weather recently. Every day is different. It might be warm and windy, dusty and windy, chilly and windy, a nice summer-like day, or raining, hailing and causing a flood. I was driving home from work on Thursday and had to get under a gas station cover because I thought the hail was going to bust through my windshield. Here are a few pictures I took while I was stuck in the car for an hour.

As you can see, the intersection was completely flooded. There was no way Jason could come get me. He might have gotten stuck too. In the third picture, the small tuck sitting there was unfortunately stuck.

After the hail stopped, I was able to get on a side street and go home. On my way home, most of the streets were somewhat dry, like nothing even happened!

You have been a refuge for the poor, a refuge for the needy in his distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat.
Isaiah 25:4

In the past month...

2009-03-26T09:04:00.006-05:00

I can't believe it's already been a month since I last posted! I can't believe March is practically over and it's almost April! How is it that days seem so much shorter and time goes by so much quicker as you get older?

To catch up, here are a few things we've done in the last month:

We've started Netflix so we've been watching a bunch of movies. Changeling was really good; W was too political for me so I didn't really understand everything; The Promotion was pretty funny; Transporter 1, 2 & 3 were entertaining, but the fight scenes were unrealistic; I thought Madagascar was cute, but Jason wasn't impressed; we both liked Horton Hears a Who!
I helped host my friend, Jacquelyn's lingerie shower. She received edible underwear from someone and her mom said, "How many calories are in those?" Haha, so funny!
We celebrated our good friend, Jessica's birthday. We decorated like they did on The Office. We had barely blown up balloons hanging around and a sign that said "It is your birthday."We made 5 chickens on the grill, beans and salad. Our house was jam-packed, and I loved it!
I went to Austin with Jacquelyn for her bachelorette party. We caught up with her cousin (another bridesmaid) in Salado--which is a really cute, fun town!
We made dinner for some friends who just had a really cute baby boy!
We visited my parents, sister and brother-in-law and had so much fun! The girls shopped while the guys went to the gun range. I also ate dinner with two of my cousins and had fun catching up with them. We ate at Hully & Mo, the restaurant owned by Brett Hull and Mike Modano from the Dallas Stars. I also ate some good, home-cooking from my mom! I can't wait to see my family again!
We went to a fashion show at David's Bridal. Jason's sister, Jessica, was chosen to be a model for their prom dresses. She looked beautiful! It's hard to believe that I met her when she was only 12. I can't believe how much she's grown up and how beautiful she is!

That's about it! By the way, it's supposed to be in the 70s today and snowing tomorrow! Crazy weather! Maybe we'll get snowed in and won't have to work...probably not...

Carlsbad Caverns

2009-02-24T22:04:00.013-06:00

Last Thursday when I got home from work, Jason said we should take a day trip to Carlsbad Caverns on Friday (we both took the day off just for fun). So we woke up Friday morning, packed some sandwiches and headed on our way to Carlsbad!

This was our first day trip together! I was really excited because I've never been to Carlsbad Caverns.

So we made it to New Mexico...

Then to Carlsbad Caverns...

They warned us it was a strenuous hike. We were really worn out afterward! Our legs and feet were sore for a few days.

The opening of the cave. This is where you can sit when the bats fly out. Too bad the bats are in Mexico for the winter. But, I think I would have freaked out a little if we had walked in the cave and bats had been everywhere.

Jason and me before we went into the cave.

One of the columns in the cave.

I kept telling Jason to stick his hand in the random holes in the cave. This is probably one of the holes I told him to stick his hand in. Of course, he never did it. I don't blame him...I wouldn't do it either.

These were really tall stalagmites.

After we finished walking through the caverns, we drove to Hobbs, NM and ate at a Mexican food place, Tia Juana's. It was really good! Then we drove back home. Jason and I had a great time on our day trip. I'm really glad we got to go!

25 Random Things About Me

2009-02-24T13:21:00.003-06:00

So I got tagged by The Metz’s to write 25 random things about me! Here goes:

1. I eat Milk Duds almost every time I go to the movies.

2. If I could go anywhere in the world I would want to go to Dubai.

3. I love playing card games and learning new ones.

4. I’ve been keeping a journal since 2004 in hopes that one day my kids will read it and see what life was like for Jason and me.

5. My husband had a huge afro when I met him—and when I fell in love with him.

6. I could probably count the times I’ve bought things online on one hand. I just don’t trust it.

7. I'm a really good proofreader—and I'm hard-core about it. I once got a flyer in the mail from a man running for city council. I totally corrected his grammar mistakes and misspellings in red ink and sent it back to him with a note saying, "I will not vote for someone who does not proofread his materials."

8. I have never dyed my hair before—I've highlighted it before, but never dyed it.

9. Sometimes it’s hard for me to relax because I constantly think of what needs to be done or what I could be doing besides relaxing.

10. I’m not a good runner. I feel like I run funny.

11. I never have—and I still don’t—completely understand what MP3 players are.

12. I want to someday be as good a cook as my mom.

13. I truly believe it is impossible for me to move up a level on Guitar Hero because I can’t reach the 4th button. I think my hands are physically too small. I don’t understand how 9-year-olds do it!

14. If I try, I can write exactly like my dad. It looks almost identical.

15. I keep my office lights off at work. It’s much nicer to work with the light of lamps and not the overhead lights.

16. I think I could eat Mexican food every day and never get tired of it.

17. I can’t watch scary movies anymore because they freak me out.

18. I have never had a broken bone.

19. A lot of people have thought my sister and I are twins. I usually don’t see it, but every once in awhile when I look at a picture, I can.

20. If I could change one thing about myself, it would probably be that I could sing.

21. God has—and continues to—change my life all the time.

22. I absolutely love Hobby Lobby.

23. I really enjoy going to the movies and seeing the previews before the actual movie starts. I think I could watch previews for hours. I’m always disappointed when they’re over.

24. After I set the alarm on my phone to wake me up in the morning, I have to check it at least 3 to 4 times to make sure I actually set it and have it set for the right time.

25. I have never played real golf—only Putt-Putt.

The Pancake Festival

2009-02-23T10:55:00.004-06:00

Photo by Geoffrey Mcallister/Lubbock Avalanche-Journal

On Saturday, Jason and I went to the annual Lions Club Pancake Festival. Lubbock has been in a competition to break the Guinness Book of World Records on most pancakes served in 8 hours. Lubbock held the title in 2002 with 30,724 pancakes served. Last year, a Kiwanis Club in Fargo, N.D. set the record at 34,818 pancakes. This year, Lubbock broke the record by serving 66,459 pancakes!

In the local newspaper, it said that State Rep. Delwin Jones of Lubbock, a Lions Club member, said he and State Rep. Carl Isett will introduce a resolution to the Legislature this week designating Lubbock as the "Pancake Capital of the World." Delwin Jones said the resolution would also recognize the Lubbock Lions Club as the "World Champion Pancake Lions Club of the World."

So, it's interesting to me that Jason and I live in the "Pancake Capital of the World." Pretty random!

We Have a New Entertainment Center! Well, Not Yet...

2009-02-11T09:08:00.007-06:00

So after continuing our search for an entertainment center, we decided to go with the one from JC Penney's that we really liked. Too bad it's on back order until April! Oh, and we ordered some drapes, too! Those are on back order until May!

Funny thing: While we were doing research trying to find entertainment centers, we came across one at Pottery Barn that we really liked. We also liked the one at JC Penney's. When comparing them, we realized that they were the exact same! They both even come in black or mahogany. Take a look:

Which one is which, do you ask? The one from Penney's is on the bottom. It is also about $1,880 cheaper than the one from Pottery Barn! So this just goes to show--do your research!

New Pictures of Our House!

2009-01-28T14:59:00.017-06:00

Here are some new pictures of our house! We still have quite a bit left to decorate. Most of the walls are bare, but I thought I'd show you our progress since we moved in.

This is the new entry table we bought.

Foyer

Living room

The fireplace. We're trying to find something to put on the other side of the mantle.

Kitchen

Dining room

The guest bedroom. We still need a comforter and bed skirt.

Guest bathroom

Our bedroom

Our bathroom

Shower

Garden bathtub

Not Our Weekend To Buy Furniture

2009-01-21T10:22:00.005-06:00

Jason and I have been looking to buy an entertainment center. We've pretty much gone to all the furniture stores in Lubbock! We found one at Oak Express we really liked. After sitting on it for a few weeks and looking at a few other furniture stores, we decided to buy the one at Oak Express. So we go in the store, look at the entertainment center one more time, and tell the salesman we want to buy it. It's a 4-piece set and we think we understand what is included in the price. The salesman decides to go over it with us so we know for sure what 4 pieces are sold in the set. Turns out, you get the two towers with shelves that sit on the sides, the very top shelf and the tiny, little slab of wood that sits underneath the top shelf.

What's missing? The base TV stand! Which would be another $300-500 more! So we decided not to get the entertainment center. To help ease our disappointment, we decided to get an entry table we found at Kirkland's earlier that day. Jason and I loaded the semi-heavy table into our car and took it home. Jason cut the box open and we lifted the table out. All of a sudden, we heard a cracking sound. The base of the table was stuck in the styrofoam and was being ripped off the bottom of the table. So Jason called Kirkland's to tell them about the bottom coming off the table. They said they would refund us $50 or we could exchange for a new one. So we loaded the table back in the car, man-handled it through the doors of Kirkland's (while employees watched and didn't help hold the door), and asked for a new table. This time, they took the table out of the box and let us look at it. We got back to our house and put it in the entry where it looks great! We love it!

However, we are still looking for an entertainment center...!

What Will 2009 Bring?

2008-12-23T08:55:00.011-06:00

I think it's interesting when you look back at the last few years. You can see all the big changes and milestones you went through. At that time, you had no idea what was coming. Jason and I have been through several changes, adjustments and transformations in the last few years:

2006 -- We got engaged. I graduated. I decided to stay in Lubbock and find a job so we could be together for our engagement. I moved in with Jason's parents.

2007 -- Jason graduated. We got married. We moved from Lubbock to Dallas. I found a job. Jason found a job. We made our first big purchase--a new car. We started to think about moving back to Lubbock.

2008 -- We moved back to Lubbock. We started living with his parents for what we thought would only be a few weeks. I started a new job. Jason started a new job. We decided to build a house--our second big purchase! We celebrated our one year anniversary. After six months of building the house (and 8 months of living with his parents!), we moved in.

What will 2009 bring? We are hoping for a much calmer year; time to settle and get comfortable before more big changes come--whatever that will be!

Jason and I hope you have a Merry Christmas
and a very happy New Year!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-12-01T21:35:00.007-06:00

Jason and I stayed in Lubbock for Thanksgiving and had dinner with his family. Jason made the turkey this year! He tried a new recipe (brave of him after my disaster! but he is the better cook). Jason slathered the turkey with mayonnaise and seasonings.

Jason put the turkey in a brine the night before. He put the turkey in a bag and set it in a (clean) trash can to soak.

The turkey before it went in the oven.

Cooking...

Our second Thanksgiving!

Disaster Dinner!

2008-12-01T21:25:00.003-06:00

So, I decided to try a new recipe recently....it didn't work! I tried a fried chicken recipe I've never made before. I also made a pasta side to go with it. The chicken was only supposed to take about 30 minutes in the oven, but I kept it in for longer because it didn't look done. I kept the pasta cooking so that it wouldn't get cold while I was waiting for the chicken to finish. That dried out the pasta. As you can see from the pictures below, the chicken--and pasta--did not turn out at all! Needless to say, we threw out the mess-of-a-dinner and went out to eat.

As you can see, the flour on the "fried" chicken, never set right, the edges are all burnt and I don't think the chicken is cooked all the way through--even after over an hour in the oven! Oh, and the pasta is really dry!

The Polar Express

2008-12-01T20:49:00.008-06:00

A few weeks ago we went on The Polar Express train ride with our friends Jordan and Jessica and their kids Gavin and Madison. The train went all the way to the North Pole! Then Santa came on the train and all the kids got a little bell--just like in the book. The train was two stories and we all sat on the top. What I didn't expect was that being on the top story, and going as slow as we were, the train swayed back and forth a lot! Here are a few pictures of our adventure on The Polar Express!

Jason and me on the train

The North Pole

Santa, Jessica, Madison, Gavin and Jordan

Our New House

2008-11-13T14:42:00.010-06:00

Here are a few pictures of our house being built. David Rogers was the builder. They did such a great job!

In the beginning...

Standing in the living room, looking into the master bedroom.

The front of our house

The fireplace is taller than me!

We love our kitchen!

A few weeks before we moved in. The big box in the living room is the range. They brought the wrong range, so they were waiting on the new one.