I Couldn't Make This Up If I Tried

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!

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

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...

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

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

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

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!