Labor Day weekend 2009

This weekend I went to Fort Worth to spend some time with family and attend my nephew, Dylan's, 5th bday party. I also got to see some college friends that I don't see nearly enough these days.

Sunday night, after returning from the DFW region, Chris and I met the local chapter of AC alums for some sushi and a good bye celebration for Cathie. She is going to Chicago for about 4-6 weeks to do a rotation on maternal-fetal medicine at a hospital there. She leaves next weekend.

Cathie and I celebrated National Free Day of Yoga by attending our first hot yoga class. If you don't know what this means it is exactly what it sounds like. The room is 100 degrees and the class is an hour and a half long. It is critical to be hydrated before you go. I really liked it but I did have to sit down for a few minutes about 50 minutes into it because I started to black out. Regardless, I think I might buy a 10 class pass and keep going.

I am running another race in about 4 weeks. I need to start running again. I've been swimming, walking, biking more.

O-week 2009

We are winding down orientation week 2009 on the Rice campus. I have to say it's really fun and making me nostalgic to see the 900 new freshmen coming to campus. Afterall, I met Chris my first weekend on campus way back in 2002.

A fun thing about Rice is that there are no fraternities or sororities. Instead the dorms are referred to as colleges. Your college is your home during your time at Rice. It is what all alumni will ask you about. It creates bonds. It creates your college family.

Students cannot pick their college unless they are a legacy of that college. You can request a roommate but other than that you are randomly given a college. This prevents a student coming with 13 of their closest friends, all moving into the same dorm, and never branching out. Your meal plan works in your college's meal facility. No other colleges. You have to learn to live and coexist with your college mates.

All the students seem to love the system and it has bred a lot of college rivalries. Rice students are known for their pranks. Each college develops their own reputations and are taught which other colleges they prank and which ones they work together with to prank others.

Each college also has annual events they host on campus. These range from the traditional and classy affair all the way down to beer bike.

I think I might try to get involved in one of the colleges. Faculty and staff can be associates of the colleges and help out there. Toying with the idea.

Summer is over.

Chris started school Monday. The school year has begun. Routines are forming. I love it. Chris...well, let's just say he doesn't love it but it is necessary.

For our hurrah before he started this semester we took a day trip to Austin to see this:



I loved it; Chris tolerated it. He loved the two meals we got to eat out in Austin.

I may try out for a play here on the Rice campus. It is the same show I was in my freshman year in college and I didn't love the show then but maybe I'd like it more now. Who knows.

One week left in summer

We made it safely back from North Carolina but not without a few hitches. Sunday we got up at 5 am to drive Chris' dad and sister to the airport for their 7 am flight. We got back to the house about 7. Talked with his uncle and grandmother for a few hours. His aunt and her husband came over. Around 9:45 it was time to head to the airport for our flight. 11 am we said our good byes and hopped on our flight from Greenville to Charlotte. In Charlotte we were to have a 45 minute lay over then hop on a flight to Houston. Our tickets were confirmed but we had no seat assignment which basically means we're not making this flight even though we are there and ready.

We talk to the gate attendant who tells us we can volunteer to be bumped (since frankly we already are bumped anyway) and each get $350 flight vouchers, free meal, and standby tickets for the 3 PM flight. So we take it because the alternative is getting bumped and having nothing to show for it but a free meal and standby tickets for the next flight.

So we go and eat and then wait for the 3 PM flight. Unfortunately there were 14 of us with standby tickets and they were asking for volunteers to get bumped. It became very clear we were not going to get on this plane so we asked the gate attendant of US Airways would spot us another meal voucher because we were clearly going to be here for dinner. The complied so now we're up $700 in flight vouchers and $40 of free food. And we now have standby tickets for the 7 PM flight.

Eat our dinner, show up at the gate for the 7 PM flight to be met with the lovely "volunteers needed" sign. So we just take a wild guess that we are not going to get on this flight and ask for tickets for the 10 PM flight. In the meantime the 7 PM flight gets delayed to a 9:30 take off and the counter for the 10 PM flight gets packed.

Show up at the 10 PM gate to see "volunteers needed" so we just go and volunteer since we are clearly not getting on this flight either. Get another $700 in flight vouchers, more meal vouchers for dinner that night and breakfast the next morning, and a voucher for the hotel we will be staying in that night. Oh, and tickets on a 6 AM Continental flight to Houston since US Airways is apparently incapable of getting us home.

We made the 6 AM flight and I was at work by 9:30 AM Monday morning. I was completely exhausted and perhaps less focused than normal but I made it.

Chris family is handling Russell's passing very well. Everyone is understandably upset but taking care of things.

Chris' dad has taken this time to buy four funeral plots in North Carolina. One is intended for him and I'm guessing the others are for Chris, me, and Candice (Chris' sister). That's a little creepy and I don't think I want to be buried in North Carolina but for some reason buying the plots made Russ feel better so he did it.

And in other strange news, Chris' dad came back from North Carolina and sometime between Sunday and Tuesday decided he needed to get a Walt Disney World credit card to start building up points for a future visit. If you knew him you would know how random and completely fitting this is for him. I think he got nostalgic for family over the past week and thought about the happy memories he had with his kids there. So now he's saving for a future trip. I don't know when he's planning to take this trip or who with but I thought it was cute.

Sad week

Last week started with the unexpected passing of my bosses husband. They had been married for 35 years. He was an associate editor on my journal so I had gotten to know him a bit over the past few months.

She is observing the Jewish ritual of sitting shiva although she is aetheist. Because her husband mentioned that he thought he may be Buddhist before he passed she is sort of blending the Buddhist and Jewish rituals together. Maybe at a later date I'll write more on this since I did find this interesting.

On my way home from seeing my boss I called Chris to let him know I was on the way home. Less than 5 minutes later I walked through the door to find his dad just called to say his granddad passed away.

Tomorrow we leave for North Carolina where we will be until Sunday. Say a prayer for Chris and his family. Chris has never experienced a death in the family so this is particularly hard for him.

So many activities, so little time!

So much has happened since I last wrote so I think it is time to do a bullet update (and I will likely forget things) to be followed by pictures later.
- DC/NYC - On Wednesday, June 17th I took off to DC to meet up with my friend, Krista, for our girls trip to NYC. Lindsay Hoefer picked me up at the airport. It was fantastic to get to see her and see where she is living in that area. We drove over to Krista's and had a nice dinner. Bright and early the next morning we got on a bus for NYC.
- In NY we went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Natural Science, the Superhero Supply Store, Serendipity, Vinyl, a comedy show, a couple of parties, and the musical Rock of Ages. We stayed in Brooklyn with Krista's high school friend who was a fantastic hostess and super fun. Rock of Ages was not my first choice of show but since Guys and Dolls closed so close to our departure, most shows that I was interested in were sold out by the time we got there. I ended up loving the show and was totally impressed by a few of the cast members that were new to me. Wesley Taylor, in his Broadway debut, stole the show as Franz. See the show if you have the chance.
- July 4th we flew to North Carolina to see Chris' grandparents. I stayed for a week, Chris for two. We spent most of the time hanging out around their house.
- Saw 42nd Street at the Miller Outdoor Theatre. Saw Cabaret with new staging at the Hobby Center. This weekend I saw Phantom at the Hobby Center and it was absolutely amazing! The staging was spectacular. Very impressive.
- Sonya and her family came to see us this weekend. We went to the NASA Space Center and were really impressed. I would like to go back again as we didn't see everything. Sunday we took a trip to Galveston and spent some time at the beach in between rain storms.
-And finally, last night Chris' sister Candice came up to visit for a few days. We went to the Astros v. Cardinals game last night (NASA night in honor of the 40th anniversary of the first moon landing). Had a lot of fun and a little bit of a late night.

This weekend we are going to go to Abilene to spend time with my parents. Then we will have spent almost a solid month with some sort of family around. We will have a few weeks left before Chris starts school again. We have a few things we want to do before then. More on that later.

No guys and dolls

Well, looks like the commenter is right. Guys and Dolls closed early. Boo on that. I got the email that our tickets were being refunded right before the email about the blog comment.

On another note I realize that the WWW is open for anyone to read what's there but I always find it a little creepy when I get comments from folks I don't know. On the other hand I like comments so I know who is reading. Yesterday's commenter appears to run a blog with a high interest in Lauren Graham. I didn't read much just saw lots of pics.

Much to do today because, of course, I have packed nothing. I need to finish up at work here, then meeting Kassie for lunch, and then packing. Trying to fit in a swim workout in between there.

Mid June

Today is my sister's 29th bday. It is also the day my mother in law is getting her gland removed. They only found cancer in that one gland so good on that. There is a major facial nerve through that gland so as long as the docs don't hit that the surgery should be no big deal. And MIL is thrilled that this will all end with her getting a face lift. So go plastic surgery.

I finally got Chris to start swimming with me. I've been trying to convince him that swim workouts are the way to go but he wasn't having it. Until now. We spent at least three hours in the pool over Saturday and Sunday. For every hour I have him swimming laps I owe him 30 minutes of pool play time. It's a good trade off that makes us both happy.

I finished the entire Twilight series in a week and capped it off with the movie last night. I really enjoyed the series even if it needed to be severely edited down. The movie was alright. I didn't like some of the parts they added and I found Bella incredibly annoying. I didn't picture Edward as Robert Pattinson but I did like how he played the part.

Also saw "The Taking of Pelham 123" and "Away We Go". "Pelham 123" was good but not worth going to the theatre for. "Away We Go" was wonderful. If you haven't heard of it this has Maya Rudolph (SNL alum) and John Krasinski (Jim Halpert from The Office) staring as a couple preparing to have a baby and looking for where they want to live. It's funny and touching. There's one scene with a little boy that just absolutely cracked me up for it's sheer shock value. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to be showing on many theaters but if you are in Dallas or Houston go see it.

Wednesday morning (bright and early)I will hop on a a Jet Blue flight to go to DC. Lindsay Hoefer will pick me up at the airport and somehow we will meet up with my college friend. Then Thursday morning college friend and I will hop on a bus and ride to NYC where we'll stay with her high school friend. I'm super excited. We're going to see "Guys and Dolls" (currently starring Oliver Platt and Lauren Graham). I'm excited. I'm looking forward to our girls trip.

Extended family

My mother in law has a tendency to share information in ways that we find strange. For example, we frequently get emails clearly written to other people that contain important information (surgeries, moving, international travel, etc.) written to her boss, or other people we don't know. We are cc'd on the email and that is the only way we are informed. Then we get the lovely conversations between these random people and her because apparently they aren't familiar with the differences between "reply" and "reply all".

Since these, frequently dramatic and over exaggerated, emails come often we tend to not pay much attention. So on Tuesday when we were cc'd on an email she wrote to her boss letting him know she would take that afternoon off to go to the doctor about some swelling on her neck we weren't concerned.

Yesterday she got diagnosed with cancer in her parotid gland. They will remove the gland sometime in the next few days and then we'll see if that's it. Worse case scenario we think is lymphoma. Best case is this is all. We'll see how it works out. Of course she is now angry at all of us for not rushing to her side but when you cry wolf people don't know when to take you seriously. Hopefully this will all be taken care of by next week and nothing more serious is happening. We'll see.

Memorial day weekend and beyond

This week has been the busiest yet at the Chao Center. We hosted our first international conference. Between flying people in from China, India, Japan, Italy and a few US colleges we had to get them transported to the hotel and, well, everywhere all week. Not to mention providing meals, getting them around campus, rushing the schedule (academics are typically not known for their punctuality - that is why they have staff run the conferences), and just generally making everything look like it is effortlessly appearing and being perfect. I drove. I purchased power cords for profs who flew from China and forgot their laptop charges. I ordered food. I complained when the food was late. I praised when the food was early. I changed flight schedules. I figured out when the bathroom break would be on our bus tour of Houston. I boiled water. I recorded conferences. I read and edited papers. I maxed out my university credit card. I worked at least 12 hours a day. But it was a success.

The weekend before this madness my parents came for a visit. We had a fun weekend full of museums, movies, musicals, and a baseball game. They arrived late Friday night. We got up early and walked around Rice. I showed my parents the Baker Institute for Public Policy and all of the neat things on display then. Didn't go to my office since it was locked up for the weekend.

Then we went to the Houston Museum of Natural Science to see Terracotta Warrior exhibit. I have been looking forward to this for months and it didn't disappoint. After leaving the museum we hit up Angels and Demons. Liked the movie, need to read the book. That night Chris went to a friends wedding. My parents and I were supposed to go see "Happy Days the Musical" but dad got sick so it turned into a girls night.





Next day we went to watch the Astros get beaten by the Rangers. The stadium is beautiful. We hadn't been before.

Chris and I revisited the stadium this past Saturday to run in the Astros Race to the Pennant 5k. I was really glad Chris was willing to do the race with me although I think the free baseball tickets were the kicker more than anything. Our time was pretty bad but we had a lot of fun. The race course was a lot of fun. They shut down part of a high way so we could run on it. On the way back to the stadium we had wonderful views of downtown. The final tenth of a mile was a run into the stadium. After that they opened some of the food venues and had a band for the post race party. We finished the day with Terminator Salvation and a nap. Good day.

1 month in pictures

Well, I have seriously slacked on this blog so here is a quick post with what's been going on this past month.

Last month I got to attend a meeting at the Baker Institute called "America and China: The Next Thirty Years". James Baker and Henry Kissinger were featured speakers and were amazing.





I ran my first 5k. My friend Cathie ran too. In the finish picture you can see that my red face matches my clothes. Cathie doesn't sweat so she still looks gorgeous.




Chris finished his first year of dental school! Three more to go!





And last night I got to meet one of my favorite authors, Jen Lancaster.



Of course more has happened but there is a quick summary. Boot camp has ended. I have started a belly dancing class. It's fun but I feel ridiculous. More later.

A conversation with myself

I find that I don't understand people who truly enjoy working out. I mean, I sort of enjoy it but overall I think I would be just as happy sitting on the couch. But I like how I feel after it's over and how I feel more comfortable in my clothes now.

But everytime I hop on the treadmill or start a boot camp class the conversation in my head is something like this:

"Hmm, this isn't so bad. I feel good today. I can do this."

fast forward about 5-10 minutes depending on how intense the workout starts out

"This has to be about halfway over. What? It's only 5 minutes. I cannot do this. I should just go home/get some food/lay down."

few minutes later...

"Well, it's really not that bad. I'll make it through, but gosh this is boring."

and then...

"Ok, I'll do X more minutes/X more distance and then I'll let myself stop."

a few minutes before my assigned distance or time...

"Hey, I'm almost done...maybe I can do a little more. This isn't terrible."

And when I'm done I feel great and am glad I did it. But I know the next day that same conversation is waiting to travel though my head.

This past Saturday I ran/walked a 5k (not a race, just the distance) to prove to myself I could. It went pretty well. I did it again yesterday. I have a nice blister on my left foot and the start of shin splints in my right leg due to a weird gait I developed trying to ease the pain of the blister. I'll take a couple days off of running to recover. I'm trying to convince myself to sign up for Rice's 5k this Saturday. I need to overcome my fear of running in public.

Next post - Henry Kissenger and James Baker at Rice.

It's been a while

I haven't updated in a while. Here's the summary -

-Chris had spring. He slept a lot. We had the mantel my parents gave us for Christmas installed (finally).
-I got sick.
-Went to three different McDonald's on St. Patrick's Day and they were ALL out of Shamrock Shakes. Completely disappointing. Yes, I could have gotten the vanilla shake, added green food coloring and peppermint extract myself, and made my own. But that is no fun. Calories saved, frown created.
-I took Wednesday off and we went to the driving range. That was fun.
-I went to Abilene this weekend. Saw a lot of family. Went to a wedding. Carpooled with Fowler.
-Am back at work; Chris is back at school.
-Am still coughing from my sickness and that is getting old after a week.
- Tomorrow I am going to see Les Miserables and am very excited!

Upromise

I have been meaning to write a little post about Upromise for a while but keep forgetting. I have been signed up with Upromise since 2002 but kind of forgot about it. I rediscovered it late in 2006. Since then we have saved more than $500. This money is transferred quarterly to my dear student loan company, Sallie Mae, to help pay down my loans.

The service is free. We have had the Upromise credit card for about a year and half and this is were the bulk of our savings has come from. (The card is in the process of switching from Citibank to Bank of America so I am not entirely sure if you can sign up for it right now.)

For those of you with kids of your own you can put Upromise funds in a 529 plan to save for your own kids college. Or pay your own student loans. Or save for your niece or nephew's college. The money can be transferred to anyone.

Upromise is a program that has been very beneficial for us and since it is free to use I encourage others to try it out for themselves.

Chris is on spring break.

This weekend my father in law came to visit. Unfortunately he was sick a bit but I think he enjoyed himself. On Friday I had to work but he and Chris made a day out of watching basketball. That night we rented and watched "The Changeling". So good.

Saturday we went to the Museum of Natural Science. Chris and I had gone once before but only to see a special exhibit. Saturday we saw 2 of 3 floors of the general exhibit. We also went to the Imax "Into the Deep 3D" show and "Passport to the Universe (narrated by Tom Hanks)" at the planetarium. We had fun but Chris' dad started feeling bad so we skipped the last floor and came back home. The basketball watching resumed.

He left early yesterday morning so we continued our laziness. We watched "Milk" first. This was a good movie. I'm pleased that Sean Penn won the Academy Award for his roll in this movie. Then we watched "Australia". I did like the movie but wish Baz Luhrmann had done a little more with Hugh Jackman's character. And maybe edited out about 30-45 minutes of it. At just under 3 hours it was a little slow. But beautifully shot.

In between the movies we went to see a few properties near us. There are a couple of condo complexes near us that just finished construction and are now for sale. Being our nosy selves we wanted to see what they were like. At the first one we almost immediately walked out and didn't look because the salesmen was hideously condescending. After insulting the way Chris was dressed and telling me I looked like I was 12 another sales person ran him away. After looking at the units we weren't impressed. They were priced too high for the quality of materials in the units. They tried to pass some obvious foundational settling off as hurricane damage. We then went to a second property that we were impressed with. It had great views of downtown and the medical center. Love it.

I think if Chris doesn't have to go to school I shouldn't have to go to work. Boo.

Student loan minor victory!

As you probably know many student loan lenders offer incentives that if you make X number of payments within X period of time they will decrease your interest rate by a certain percentage. Well, since I make at least two or three payments a month I have apparently hit that number on one of my two loans and the interest rate dropped by half a percentage point. This made irrationally happy this morning.

Krista, a college friend, and I have been planning a girls trip for a while. We originally were planning on Costa Rica but since we have both gotten new jobs and need to be more conservative with our vacation time. So now we're thinking long weekend in New York City. I think we'll go in late May or early June. NYC is a location that has taunted me for years. I have had more opportunities to go there than anywhere else in the world but for whatever reason something always comes up and I cannot go. I'm hoping this works out. We're thinking Memorial Day weekend or the first weekend in June. I'm so anxious for a vacation.

Bad at multi-tasking?

As I got ready for work this morning I had the Today show on as I usually do. I caught a segment discussing the multitasking habits of President Obama. Apparently some people are of the idea that he is doing too much and should focus on the economy only since it's going down the pipes so quickly.

Really? We're in the middle of two wars, have one of the most ridiculous health care systems in the world, are constantly ranked as behind other countries in education,and he's supposed to only focus on the economy? Granted the education and health care systems have been horrible for so many years I don't think a few more will kill us, but I found it surprising that anyone would accuse him of doing too much by focusing on more than one task. Unfortunately the economy won't be fixed anytime soon. It took years to dig ourselves into the position we're in and it's going to take time to repair it. We can't just sit back and not participate in world affairs because of it.

Something new every day

Chris and I have been married for over four years and I just learned today that the man didn't know how to pop microwave popcorn. Granted I am the popcorn eater and therefore I usually make it but how is he 25 and never popped popcorn in the microwave!? I'm shocked!

In other news We Cheer is a super fun game. If you have a Wii you should look into it!

It's Friday!

I have had a stressful week at work and am very pleased it is finally Friday.

I got my car out of the shop this morning. The damage wasn't too bad but we were reminded that my water pump is leaking a bit and so in a couple of months we'll put it back in the shop and get that replaced.

Chris has one more week until spring break. Two more tests to go. My father in law arrives Thursday and he'll be here until Sunday I believe. We're probably going to go to the Museum of Natural Science and see the Genghis Khan and Birth of Christianity: A Jewish Story exhibits. Chris has already planned all the restaurants he wants to go to with his dad. Beyond that we have no plans.

I aggravated my shin splints again this weekend so I'm going to go to a running store this weekend to get fitted for shoes. Maybe that will help.

I found a boot camp that meets on Saturdays. Since my normal boot camp was canceled all week (Rice's spring break) I think I'll go to that tomorrow and see how it is. It's a women's only group so that is probably good. That is from 9-10 so I have plenty of time to come back and go to hip hop at 11. Or maybe I'll walk in the stroke 5k. I'll do something tomorrow.

Then tomorrow night I'm going with a group to see Watchmen at the IMAX. I love superhero movies so I'm excited.

Happy weekend!

Updates: the shopping challenge and weight loss effort

As the weather starts to change I find that I am in short supply of professional attire for the summer. In the past I have always been able to get by with tshirts and other less than nice clothing. In the past few weeks I have purchased a few short sleeve shirts, some skirts, and a few dresses that I can wear to work or really any occasion. I actually like some of the clothes out this season so that always helps. Some slightly more classic looks are in fashion instead of this 1980s crap that has been around the past couple of years.

Since the beginning of the year I have been running, doing boot camp, and taking the hip hop class. And I haven't lost a pound. However I have some muscle definition in my stomach that hasn't been there since high school, my arms and legs are tighter and I've lost a couple inches in my hips/waist so I'm pleased. I'm right around 2 miles in running now. I'm trying to work on running outside more but that is a lot harder for me than on the treadmill. We are having really high pollen counts and it keeps triggering my asthma. It drives me crazy. I probably need to schedule a doctor's appointment to see about a different inhaler but I am procrastinating. I haven't been to a doctor in at least 5 years.

My tomato plant is in bloom again so I'm pleased. My oregano has spread like crazy so I need to figure out what to do to keep that under control. I also want to look into some other kinds of veggies I can grow. I may see if I can get broccoli and lettuce. I'll have to make a trip to the nursery this weekend.

The Current State of the Union

The economy clearly is in a mess. Our fearless political leaders have chosen to "stimulate" the economy by handing out billions of dollars of bailout money to banks and organizations that couldn't run themselves properly to begin with. Since they weren't careful with their own money it's perfectly logical to assume that they will be very careful with taxpayer money, right? Yea, I thought so too.

And now info has been released that dear Ron Kirk, Austin College alum, former mayor of Dallas, and Barack Obama's pick for Trade Secretary, is also behind on taxes. Does this make the fourth or fifth potential cabinet pick that couldn't be bothered to pay their taxes? What's going on there? I know it's not fun to write a check to the government but come on!

And today the Senate voted to keep $410 billion of earmarks into their spending bill. Excellent use of money the government does not have. These types of earmarks are sometimes good for the constituency but often are for ridiculous projects that could be paid for with nongovernmental funding. However it's very important at election time to tell your constituency that you brought in $X to the area. What has the opponent done for you? Probably nothing since they are running against you and most likely haven't had a chance to get their hands on government money yet.


I am fine with higher taxes but I'm concerned about exactly how high they will have to be to pay for all this crap.

A busy weekend

I needed a weekend to recover from last weekend. I had a lot of fun but did too much stuff and was very tired.

The quick recap: Friday I worked, then came home and ran 1.75 miles (yea, I can do that now...I'm amazed), then drove to the airport to get Lynn. We went straight from the airport to a bachelorette party. I have to say I'm a bit weary of bachelorette parties since the last one I attended resulted in way too many drunk chicks, but that's cool. We had dinner, gift exchange, and then went to a bar and danced a bit. Fun night. Made it home about midnight.

We got up the next morning and shopped a little, visited the Houston Holocaust Museum (where I will be a docent in a short 6 or so months but that's a different story), then met with other friends for dinner and Legally Blonde. Laura Bell Bundy, the original Elle Woods on Broadway, performed the role of Elle and it was such a fun show.

Sunday I got up far too early, took Lynn back to the airport, hit up a showing of "Confessions of a Shopaholic" with some friends, grocery shopped, got the condo set up for another week, and then headed over to Cathie's to watch the Oscar's.

Then I was basically exhausted. One day maybe I'll expand on some of the finer points of this post but for now I am just getting it all out there before I forget. Oh, and I met Renee Fleming at Rice this week.

Vacation planning

Last night I booked some hotels for our December vacation. You heard me, December! I booked so early in part because it is a busy travel time of year and I want to make sure we have somewhere to stay but I'm also just really excited. This is the longest I've been in the US without an international trip since I was 17. I can't wait. Once flights are available in late March/early April we will use our airline miles to book tickets. The plan is a few days in Paris, then to Vienna, Christmas in Prague, and back to Paris for New Year's 2010.

I can't wait!

Now, I need to do research and book some restaurant reservations for Christmas and New Years meals since everything I've read leads me to believe I won't be able to find things easily unless I book reservations way in advance.

I wish there was still money to be made in the travel industry because I love planning trips. From restaurant picks, transportation options, cost cutting tricks - I love it all.

Movie weekend

I'm on a mini quest to see as many of the Oscar nominated movies as possible before the awards show. This weekend I saw The Reader, Slumdog Millionaire, and Vicki Christina Barcelona. Thumbs up on all three but I have to say that The Reader was my favorite. And I simply adore Kate Winslet. I won't go into detail since whoever may read this might not have seen it.

Also had a choir concert on Sunday. Well, an organ recital/choir concert/our director's 50th birthday celebration. In honor of himself our director threw the recital. Since the organ in the church is hidden in an alcove they set up cameras on his feet and hands so you could watch him play. This was actually pretty cool. The choir's part went well and I'm looking forward to our May concert.

Thoughts on getting married/marriage

I have several friends getting married over the next few months and valentine's day coming up and it got me nostalgic for my own engagement period. I remember talking with friends and family and sharing our news. Of course when this happens at 20 it comes with a fair share of doubt and judgment. I think my favorite comment was that I talked about marriage like it was a business arrangement.

Frankly, in many ways, marriage is a business arrangement. You are entering into a partnership with another person that will completely alter the way both of your lives go. This person will make almost all of your major life decision with you from now on. Do you have kids? How many kids? Where should we live? How do you spend your money? All part of the partnership.

Movies show us the couple that falls head over heels in love with each other. They have cute meetings and neat things happen to them. Of course in the movie they will have one stupid argument or a misunderstanding that they are incapable of talking about with each other and they will inevitably break up for a scene or two before they run towards each other across the park to kiss/propose to each other/get married. They don't show the couple sitting and discussing what they want out of life and if it's realistic that you can walk through life together in a way that will make you both happy.

I'm kind of tired of hearing of people getting divorced because they are just not happy anymore. Who's fault is that? In a business if you didn't like how things were going would you not try a different strategy? A new business model? Or would you just fold?

I think a lot of people would be happier if they could be less idealistic and more pragmatic.

My condo's being sold :(

Is it bad that I'm sad that a condo that I liked but never had a true intention of purchasing is under contract? Probably.

Hockey day

Apparently Houston as a minor league hockey team. Who knew? Tonight I'm going to go to a game with a group of people. I know Cathie will be there but beyond that I have no information. Literally. I only found out where the game was last night. I just know when to be ready and Cathie is going to come whisk me away. I've never been to a hockey game and don't know what to expect other than ice, big men in skates, and fights. There better be fights!

I've been insanely unproductive this week. Oh well. Better luck next week.

I think I will try to shop a bit this weekend. I'm kind of dreading it. Maybe I'll find someone that can come with. I stink at shopping but I need to replace some clothes that I've been trying to pass off as professional meanwhile knowing they are a little too faded to still be considered nice clothes. I have started to wear more dresses though. They are fantastic. One piece of clothing and you're good to go. I also have a $30 coupon to DSW shoes. Shoes I get. I can shop for those. And I love DSW. The one I have been to here in Houston is absolutely massive and I could spend hours in and still not see everything.

Weekend goals: hit up hip hop class, visit DSW, TJ Maxx, Marshall's, and maybe some of the boutiques in Rice Village and come out with at least 1 or 2 articles of clothing and only 1 or 2 pairs of shoes. Resume scrapbooking. I'm still in Asia. Only about 3 years behind. Not bad.

Falling behind

Well, I apparently have blog guilt. Since I haven't sat down and finished the post about Christmas/New Year's I feel like I cannot progress. So I will resolve to move on and I will finish that post (yes, I've started it and just sat it aside) later. Those who use a blog reader will notice. The rest of you probably don't care.

Since my holiday ended on January 5th I have been very busy! We had some in house drama that first week back that nearly pulled the rug out from under both Chris and me. That was resolved and now we're back on track.

The following week I started boot camp at Rice. Every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon I head to one of the intermural fields to get my butt kicked by two very petite blond girls. The class consists of about 30-40 people ranging in age from 18-60. I am super out of shape so I figured I had to do something drastic to fix it. The workouts make me feel like I'm a contestant on "The Biggest Loser". I didn't know my body could physically do some of the things I'm doing and it's a pleasant surprise. We have different work outs each time but it's a variation of running, push ups (who knew there were so many ways to do a push up?), ab exercises, leg focus, and arm focus. I enjoy it about 60% of the time so I figure that's not bad.

I have also started going to a hip hop dance class on Saturday morning with some girls here. It is at the Houston Metropolitan Dance Company. They teach adult classes in about five different types of dance and offer a wide range of skill level in each. Hip hop only offers a beginner course so there is a wide range of skill level. From those that have been dancing years and pick everything up very quickly to those of us that are just there to have fun and really have no idea what we're doing. Very fun.

I've also been to the opera to see a dress rehearsal of A Midsummer Night's Dream and went to see Spring Awakening twice. Loved it!

The Chao Center (my new employer) officially launched yesterday. I'm excited to be involved with the new center from day one.

I leave you with a link to a youtube video of the Spring Awakening cast at the 2007 Tony's. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcMxyIAQeW0

A new day, a new president

George W. Bush is now officially Former President George W. Bush. President Barack Obama has been in office one full day as I write this. I watched much of the pageantry (to the detriment of my work) yesterday. It will be interesting to see what happens in the next few months as the new agenda is put into action.

Utility companies don't want our money.

I posted recently that our electric bill for December was $1.28. Well we just got the internet bill and it is $1.44. I'm not sure what it is we've done that has made all utility companies avoid our money, but I'm definitely not complaining.