Trip to Carlsbad

At the Living Desert Zoo
Carlsbad Cavern Entrance
The "Big Room"
Cave thing
Nasty Motel in Carlsbad
The Zoo Entrance

Exactly what type of martial arts?

I went to the book store this past Saturday night. I headed straight for the magazine racks to find the travel section. First I found the bridal magazines. I stopped and reminisced for a second, just long enough to remember that while that was an exciting phase of my life, I'm happy that it only happens once. Next I found the do-it-yourself remodel magazines, followed by the boring financial magazines, and then the nerdy gamer magazines. I rounded the corner to the next shelf in hopes of finding the travel section, but instead I found a whole rack of magazines wrapped in dark plastic bags. I quickly turned around, embarrassed that I was on the "dirty" isle. As I tried to find something interesting in the do-it-yourself remodel section, I noticed a man in the dirty section. He had three or four magazines tucked under his arm. He kept picking up different plastic wrapped magazines, holding them up to the light and trying to move the plastic around to see more than just the title. He looked like a serious shopper - like I do when I stand in the cereal isle at the grocery store reading the nutrition label on the side of each box, carefully inspecting the amount of sugar in a serving. As this man carefully inspected each of his selections, his phone rang. It must have been his wife because after he answered he said, "oh, I'm, umm, umm, you know, umm, looking for, umm, a martial arts magazine." As he was saying this, he placed all his favorites back on the shelf, glancing around to see if anyone was watching him. That's when our eyes met. It was an awkward split second of eye contact - my trying not to smile, his silent acknowledgment that I was completely aware of what was going on – and then he left. He never did find a martial arts magazine, but I don’t think he really wanted to.

At the park

Month Two

A week ago Wednesday, I woke-up at 4 a.m. to a shaking bed. The Texas flu epidemic had finally infiltrated my home via my husband. As Chris lay next to me shaking uncontrollably, all I could think was, "I don't want to get sick." Although I diligently washed my hands, drank Air-borne like tea, and made Chris sleep on the sofa for the next three days, it all seemed like a meager attempt whenever the sound of his nasty cough would fill our tiny 600 square feet of shared air. Somehow, though, I didn't get sick. Month two of married life has taught me that maybe I have the mom gene after all; I can care for my sick family while avoiding their germs.

Nerd, Dork, it's all the same

Today I decided to try out a new floor of the library. Yes, I know, my life is boring. The big news is that I ventured out of my usual cubby hole in the basement in an attempt to find a warmer place to strain my eyes and wear away the keys on my laptop. The spot I picked was empty at first: four wide tables, end to end, occupied by just my self. But after a couple of hours the empty chairs around me filled with eight men studying for the bar exam, who clearly claimed this area as their territory long ago. So here I am, one lone first year female student surrounded by eight third year male students. As they skim the pages of their review books, I am reminded of when I was studying for the LSAT.
I took a 16 week Kaplan course to prepare me for the exam. I had a stack of books almost 2 feet high that I would carry to the Kaplan study center to review. The routine became mundane…practice problems, timed section practice, strategy review, practice tests, and then more practice problems, timed section practice, strategy review, and yet another practice test. As the exam date drew closer, the stress within me became more palpable. Finally, it was two days until the exam. I made my way to the Kaplan study center to take one last practice test before relaxing my brain for the next couple of days. As I sat down to start the exam, my nerves were at an all time high. This was it, the last time I would open these study books. I was nervous about my preparedness for the real exam but also excited at the prospect of putting this phase of my life behind me. Toward the end of the practice exam, a large group of high school kids entered the room. They sat down and were waiting for a Kaplan proctor to administer a practice SAT. Most of the kids were quietly talking to each other, but this one kid…oh, this one kid…he was loud, and he was annoying, and he was sitting next to a T.V. Trying to be funny and garner the attention of his classmates, this kid grabbed the T.V. remote and began turning the T.V. on and off, on and off, on and off, on and off. The sound of the T.V. snow – that noise the T.V. makes when there's no reception – was too much for my frazzled nerves. I turned around and looked at this kid; without flinching and in an accusatory tone I asked him, "Are you using this T.V?" The chatter stopped and the T.V. snow filled the room. He sheepishly replied, "No." I reached over and slammed my hand down on the T.V.'s power button and rhetorically asked, "Then why are you playing with it?" Without giving him time to reply I turned back to my exam and didn't say anything else. The room was silent until I finished my practice exam and got up to leave.
Now, as I sit here surrounded by these men quietly studying their bar review books, I wonder if they are annoyed by this lowly first year student, hacking away at her computer keys, flipping through stacks of papers, and interrupting their routine?

Baking

I baked this pound cake...it looked so pretty and it tasted really good. Just call me Susie Homemaker.

Month One

This coming Sunday will make four weeks that Chris and I will have been married. As we march toward this relatively small land-mark in our married life, I find humor in reflecting on the adjustments living together has necessitated.

First of all, we are newly-weds in the truest sense of that term. I'm sure our neighbors are tired of seeing us flirtingly race each up the stairs on a regular basis. Chris does the dishes each day and cleans on Sundays so that I can study or relax. I cook dinner, trying out new recipes or requests from Chris (the latest was a fresh pot of home-made beans). The other night I burned broccoli, my first burned meal, and Chris just scraped-off the burned parts and ate it anyways. Oh, the love and bliss that fills our home, everyday, all day, until...bedtime.

Chris likes to go to bed between 10 and 10:30. I usually go to bed between 11:30 and 12. It's not fun going to bed an hour later, rummaging around in the dark to find your pajamas and set the alarm. Then when you crawl into bed you find out that your loving husband, in the innocence of his sleep, has claimed the middle of the bed, relegating you to the small space between his knobby-knees and the edge of the mattress. Fortunately, because I no longer spend an hour each night talking to Chris on the phone, and because I've stopped watching late night TV, I've been able to move my bedtime to coincide with my husband's. I get more sleep and I no longer waste time watching re-runs of Friends and Everybody Loves Raymond.

Since we both go to bed at the same time now, we often spend 15 or 20 minutes talking to each other as we lay in the darkness waiting to fall asleep. Just last night Chris made a comment about this trend. Those few minutes are the closest thing we have our hour-long phone conversations of the past. Don't get me wrong here: I'm not complaining that we don't talk to each other all day, because we do talk to each other during the day. During the day, however, we are doing other things as we communicate. As we lay in bed, there are no distractions.

The other night, as we were laying in the darkness, we got into a somewhat heated discussion about why we wake up multiple times during the night. Chris is of the opinion that the bed is too small, and thus we are constantly "touching" each other. I, on the other hand, believe the problem is that our blanket is too small, and therefore, we are constantly playing tug-of-war. In an effort to prove myself right, I decided we would sleep "Norwegian Style." Norwegian style means that rather than sharing one blanket, each of you has a separate blanket. At the time, I didn't know we were sleeping Norwegian style, but when my Norwegian friend at church explained to me that we were sleeping Norwegian style, I told Chris that he should not complain about the separate blankets because I was actually trying to "culture" him. Anyhoo, we've both decided that the blanket on our bed is too small, although Chris still believes that a bigger bed would also be beneficial. I think we need a bigger apartment first. Our 650 square feet can't accomodate both a king size bed and a home office.

As an alternative to the bigger bed, I have jokingly suggested that we get a smaller bed, adjust to that, and then our queen size bed will feel just right. For some reason Chris doesn't like that idea...

It's Saturday afternoon and I feel fabulous. Right now I'm sitting in our rental "cabin" in the Appalachian mountains in Blue Ridge, Georgia, which is about 100 miles north of Atlanta. As we left our lovely room at the W Hotel in Dallas on Monday morning, I was perplexed when I found out that we would be flying to Atlanta.

We landed in Atlanta just in time to make it into the city for a fancy dinner at the top of Atlanta's tallest building. We left the restuarant stuffed and awed by both the view and the food. Once we arrived at our cabin, I understood why we were in Georgia. It's gorgeous. What a wonderful way to spend the first week of married life.

We have sucessfully split our time between busy and relaxing activities. On the busy side, we went to the world's largest aquarium, which is located in Atlanta. We saw some beluga whales, some electric jelly fish and a giant tank home to over 55,000 fish, including a hammer head shark, 4 whale sharks and some black tip reef sharks. We also went to the World of Coca-Cola, a museum commerating the history of the world's most famous soda. The museum is cluttered with memorabelia and art, all dedicated to Coke. After watching a montage of Coca-Cola commercials from around the world, the consumerism of the place became a bit overwhelming - all I could say was something about how I really wanted a Dr. Pepper. But the best part was yet to come - the tasting room. There we filled our stomachs with different sodas from all over the world, only to discover that most of them are either the same as the ones we drink, or else they are really nasty. We also went for a lengthy hike one day and later drove into town to wander around historic blueridge.

On the relaxing side, we have thouroughly enjoyed our cabin. We have enjoyed the ping-pong and pool table, as well as the hot tub in the evenings. We finished a 1000-piece puzzle yesterday. The abundance of windows in the cabin allows us to enjoy the view of the river that runs by outside. We have watched half of season three of the office and have done plenty of sleeping-in. Chris was especially excited on Wednesday morning when we awoke to a blanket of snow. Since then the temperatures have warmed up and today is beautiful. Not sure what's on the agenda for tomorrow, but I am not looking forward to leaving on Monday. Too bad life isn't one big honeymoon...

Are we ready to get married?

This afternoon I finally called the insurance company to get some renter's insurance. Yes, I konw, I've been living in the apartment for 15 weeks now, but it's better to be late than never. I mentioned this to Chris over the phone this evening, and his reaction caught me off gaurd. "Renter's insurance," he said, "We don't need that." He then said something about how he was surprised that I bought insurance without asking him first, because he was certain that if he had bought something "substantial" without consulting me first, I would get mad at him. Thinking in my head that this is related to his desire to buy a Play Station 3 because he will "need it" when he moves out here, I tried to justify myself by explaining that insurance is somewhat of a necessity, and that it costs less than $20 a month. He just responded by saying that he was okay with what I had done, but he warned me that he now had the go ahead to go out and buy something that "costs $1,500." He said all of this in his sarcastic tone, so I figured he was just giving me a hard time. We continued talking about some wedding details, but in the back of my head I was thinking about the insurance and how now that I'm practically married, maybe I should have run this by him first. Was this my first lesson in learning to make joint decisions? As I mentioned something about the quote that I received from the florist today (don't even get me started on that), Chris casually responded, "Well, now I don't feel so guilty about buying a new transmission." What? A new transmission? I couldn't help but start laughing. I suddenly understood his reaction about the insurance - he was just getting me ready for what he had done. We had discussed getting him a new transmission, but never anything too serious, so I thought. Of course he denied that the insurance reaction had anything to do with the fact that he had yet to tell me about the new transmission he bought yesterday, but I'm not completely convinced. I guess this just proves that we both have something to learn about making joint decisions.

Not even married yet and already adjusting to "married life." Ha! Bring it on because I'm ready!

How to Find a Pawn Shop

When you're driving around some place you don't know so well and you think to yourself, "boy, I could really use a pawn shop right now, but I don't know where one is located," here's a fail proof plan of action (fail proof based on one personal experience):

1) As you approach a red light examine the cars stopped in the lane next to you

2) Pass-up the SUV filled with women and the fancy old-man car driven by a well-dressed man.

3) Ah! Stop next to the dirty, beat-up turquoise Ford Escort driven by a man who doesn't seem to comb his hair or shave on a daily basis.

4) Roll down your window and make a motion at the Ford Escort (Bonus if the man has to move his arm in a circular motion to roll down his window once you have his attention)

5) Say, "Hey man, do you know where I can find a pawn shop around here?"

6) Watch his eyes light up as he says, "Yea, there's one on the otherside of the freeway, not far from here."

It works.

Target

Due to an unfortunate nationwide malfunction with the Target wedding registry, Chris and I received quite a few duplicates at my wedding shower a few weeks ago. Knowing that I didn't have gift receipts for all of the duplicates and that Target requires a receipt for returns, I knew that convincing the local Lubbock Target to correct for the nationwide mistake could require some forcefulness on my part. Preparing for a fight, Chris and I emptied the trunk of my car and made our way to the customer service counter. As it turned out, the deficient returns were the least of our problems. The problem was our lovely toaster oven, meticulously selected for its unique proportions, exquisite color, and modest size. Upon unpacking the toaster oven, we realized the little baking tray that fits perfectly inside it was bent to the point of uselessness. So we loaded it in the trunk with our extra shower curtain, two mixers, two sets of Pyrex bake ware and two sequence games.

The lady who got in line just behind us at that Target customer service counter instantly became inpatient upon hearing me explain that we did not have receipts for our huge cart of returns. She began gripping at the man working the customer service and continued to complain to other customers in a loud and offensive tone the whole time we were there. Luckily, the man behind the counter knew exactly how to do our returns, and after crediting us for the duplicate merchandise, we began to ask the man what we could do about the toaster oven and the bent tray. The grumpy lady behind us commenced to complain more as he explained our options. In an effort to streamline the process, we told the man behind the counter to just return the toaster oven and we would use the money to buy a replacement from the shelves. The whole transaction, from start to finish, took no more than five minutes. The lady behind us was just a grouch.

Leaving the customer service counter, we were glad to get away from that grouchy lady. We were not glad; however, to discover that our good taste in toaster oven preference is shared by others. The only toaster oven like the one we wanted was the display model. Not wanting to purchase the display model, we removed the tray and returned to the customer service counter. Thankfully, the grouchy lady had moved-on, presumably to complain to other people about insignificant annoyances. Not so thankfully, our friendly, competent, helpful customer service man had gone home. We explained to the new guy that we had just returned the toaster oven behind him and that we wanted to take it home with the tray from the display model. He replied by telling us that the display model was not for sale. "No," we said, "We don't want to buy the display model; we just want to take the little tray out of it." He said the display wasn't real and that we could not have it. Again, we explained that we did not want the display model; we only wanted the little tray. He said we could not have the little tray because it was not real. At this point Chris held up the tray and waved it around and said, "Yes, it is real, see, here it is." But the tangible proof was not good enough; the tray was not real, therefore we could not have it. As we returned the "fake" tray to the display model, Chris decided that we were going to go home with our toaster oven and a good baking tray. He went back to the customer service counter and told the guy that we wanted our toaster back since there was no replacement. After a serious complication about how to do this since we didn't have a receipt, which involved frustrating the new manager on duty and attempting to call the man who had helped us, we finally got our toaster oven back. Then, as I walked over to the checkout lines to pay for the rest of our stuff, Chris took our bent tray to trade it out for the "fake" one in the display model. As Chris pushed the cart out the doors with our toaster oven on top, and the new baking tray thrown haphazardly inside it, the little baking tray slid out of the box and onto the floor, as if to say, "don't take me..." Chris was determined though; he grabbed the tray and quickly exited the store not looking back.

And now that we have our toaster oven and a good tray, I'm sure the tray will work fine, even though it's "not real."

Vacation from being a student

This weekend was fantabulous. I worked like a machine last week so that, come Friday, I could close my books for the weekend and hang out with Chris, who came in for a weekend visit. By Friday afternoon I was restless with anticipation; it was torture waiting for him to knock on the apartment door. Once he was here, time seemed to go by too fast. We went to a movie; I showed him around the law school; I impressed him with my ability to get around Lubbock; and I sent him home with a stomach full of home cooked meals. I can't wait until I'm married...

The Texas Tech 40

For those of you who don't know and those of you who don't remember, I am now a proud student at Texas Tech University in Lubbock. Now that I'm settled in and classes are in full swing, I'm finally making time to blog about daily life in Lubbock...

Today I learned first hand just what it means to attend a University notable for having the largest campus nationwide in terms of acreage; over 1,800 acres to be more precise. All of my classes are in a building that is located in the southwest corner of the campus. This afternoon I decided to walk to the student union building, which is located on the opposite corner of the campus. As I set out I was naive about the distance. I estimated ten minutes or less however after I had walked through two over-sized parking lots, crossed a major intersection and wasn't even half way there, I realized I had underestimated just how far I had to go. Upon entering the student union building, I realized I would need energy to make it back. I bought some water and a snack in preparation for the return trip. All in all, it took 40 minutes walking at a quick pace to get to the student Union building and back. This wouldn't have been so bad had it not been the middle of august, 4 o'clock in the afternoon and had I worn something other than a black t-shirt. Next time I think I'll just drive. For now though, I'm thankful that the school uses real air conditioners and not those wanna-be swamp coolers because after my journey, I was sweating just as much as my bottle of water.

He's not so sneaky

This past week Chris and I went on a little road trip. On the way home we stopped at a gas station to use the bathroom and get a snack - Chris specifically requested donuts. While I was "taking forever" in the bathroom, Chris' impatience got the best of him. He bought a package of those little, white, sugar coated donuts and ate half the package while he was still waiting for me. Upon seeing that only three donuts were left, he decided to eat the last three really fast before I came out. As I walked out to the car he looked at me coolly, as if to say, "I've just been waiting for you and I certainly have not been eating donuts." Unfortunately he forgot how messy those little white donuts can be. His white, sugar coated grin gave it all away. I couldn't help but laugh as I said, "so, did you have some donuts?"
Nice try Chris.

Proposals and Such

This is such a monumental occasion in one's life that I am for once at a loss for words, or rather there are so many words that I don't know where to start. Let me just say that as I type this blog I frequently find myself glancing down at my hand in excitement. No, I'm not excited about that nasty curling iron burn that finally healed. I'm excited about what Chris gave me this past Saturday night.

After our flight from Puerto Vallarta landed, Chris, Heather and I headed over to Enterprise rental to get a car. Chris wanted to cash in on his free luxury car rental. As he took the keys for the fancy old-man Volvo from the rental worker, I couldn't help but be a little disappointed that he passed up the powder blue, convertible bug. Chris however had other plans in mind that I was completely unaware of. As it turned out, the weekend was pretty rainy so the convertible would have gone to waste in the end. Saturday morning we went to church in Arlington to support Heather as she preached about women's ordination in the Seventh-Day Adventist Church. It was a good sermon and it was looking like an ordinary Sabbath. That afternoon we hung out at Chris's house, looking at our pictures from Mexico. We had no plans for the evening. As we sat and debated what to do, Chris's brother came in the room to tell us he was leaving. Upon asking him where he was going, he said that he was going to hang out with some friends. I asked him who and he just said, "oh, some friends." I immediately thought of the empty house he was house sitting and his absent girl friend but didn't say anything. Left to ourselves, Chris suggested that we take the fancy old-man car for a drive, just to enjoy having a 40K dollar car for the evening. As we got ready to go, he was so busy deciding what to wear and getting some music that he forgot to gel his hair. As we backed out the driveway I looked at his puffy head and said, "You're not going to gel your hair," at which point he exclaimed, "Oh, I forgot!" FYI - Chris is more particular about his hair than some women I know. Once the gel is set, no one is to touch it for fear it might get puffy. And in the three and a half years we've been dating I can't recall a single instance in which he left the house without gel or a hat. So as he exclaimed, "Oh, I forgot," I couldn't help but udder something about his mind being preoccupied. As we drove toward Fort Worth and then toward Arlington, Chris kept reading new text messages and sending what looked like responses, all the while saying nothing about their content. He did however comment on how nice the evening turned out and how happy he was that it stopped raining. After ignoring his preoccupation with his phone as long as I could, I finally asked him who kept sending him messages. He calmly replied that George was sending him some dirty jokes. They must not have been very funny jokes, because not one of them made him laugh, smile or want to share it with me. And then we pulled up to a very familiar place - a place of significance for the two of us. As Chris turned off the car in the parking lot by Lake Arlington, I tried to act cool and unsuspecting, however my emotions got the best of me as we approached an empty blanket with some cushions, roses, lit candles and rose petals scattered about. As I turned away to keep myself from crying, I caught a quick a glance at the open ring box in the middle. And the rest is between Chris and I. All you need to know is that as I sat on one of the cushions he knelt before me and asked the monumental question, and of course I said yes. It all made sense - Jesse's secretiveness about his Saturday night activities, the lack of hair gel, the tex messages and even Chris' insistance on getting his free fancy car rental for this particular weekend. An hour later as we gathered everything together to leave, I couldn't help but jokingly thank him for not proposing earlier that morning at the Filipino church.

Pics from Puerto Vallarta

Me & a Monkey

On the zip line

Puerto Vallarta

The past few days have been full of activity. I left for Puerto Vallarta on Monday, June 11 for Ashley & Freddie's wedding. After sitting in traffic, standing in a long check-in line at the airport and rushing through security, we made it to the plane minutes before the scheduled departure time, only to see that the Ashley and her family were lagging behind us. As we sat there anxiously watching the front of the plane for the bride to round the corner, I thought to myself, "what a story we would have if everyone but the bride made it to the wedding." But alas, Ashley and her family made it with a couple of minutes to spare. And we were off to Mexico for a week of vacation!

In total there were over twenty people in the wedding group. We had a lot of fun crossing paths at the resort and eating dinner together every night. The ocean temperature was perfect and the resort was beautiful. The wedding was picture perfect. We spent plenty of time on the beach, swimming and playing in the sand. One day we went into town and explored a little bit of "real" Puerto Vallarta, complete with a roller-coaster bus ride through the narrow and winding city streets. We also took a small excursion up into the Sierra Madre Mountains to enjoy the scenery of the port below via zip lines. What a rush that was - a sweaty, bug filled, fun and exciting rush. I celebrated my 25th birthday at a Brazilian restaurant. As I'm not a huge fan of meat in large quantities, my favorite part had to be the fire show and of course, my surprise birthday cake and birthday song. The night before the wedding all the girls and ladies gathered in Ashley's room to do our nails and such - and of course there was some giggling and silly antics. It was the perfect way to spend the evening. It was a great vacation and as I packed my bag Thursday night, I couldn't help but wish we had a couple more days to enjoy each other. Of course, I didn't know what was waiting for me at home...had I known I may have been more eager to board the plane for Texas Friday afternoon....

Chris Finishes Grad School!

Graduation Celebrations

Waiting for Laura Bush and the Cannon

Sand and Sun

This past weekend was absolutely lovely. Late Friday afternoon Chris and I decided we would drive down to Surfside to meet up with some friends who were already down there. It was nice to escape the usual circus of errands and places to be that usually fills the weekend.

The plan was to camp on the beach; however it was just too windy and too sandy for our comfort. Being that we're no longer the spring chickens we used to be, our bodies were tired from the 5 hour drive to the coast followed by another 5 hours spent splashing around on the beach. The thought of going to bed without a shower on the hard ground inside a sandy sleeping bag was not appealing. As soon as we made the decision to go a hotel for the night, I began to fantasize about the warm shower and the clean sheets awaiting me. I was anxiously looking forward to a blissful night of peaceful slumber. The high school kids in Surfside were not however, looking forward to a blissful night of peaceful slumber. We saw them earlier that night running around in their gowns and tuxedos at the local civic center. It was prom night in Surfside and the after-prom festivities began around 1:37 am. I know this exact time because this is when I was wakened from my blissful slumber to the sound of laughter, doors slamming and walls rattling. After two calls to the front desk, a quick visit from a police officer and 40 minutes of lying in bed trying to get back to sleep it looked like they were going to party all night. I could hear them on the balcony and I couldn't just lie in bed and take it anymore. I jumped out of my bed, exclaiming to Chris that they were "on the balcony." I walked over to the window and pulled the curtain back just far enough to see the cluster of people outside. Without any hesitation I began knocking on the glass as hard as I could. It was a frustrated attempt to get their attention. One guy slowly turned around and I can only laugh as I imagine what he saw. There I was – half awake, half asleep, with puffy eyes and crazy hair that had dried as I slept on it. Most of my body was hidden by the darkness of the room but my face was illuminated by the lights that shone in on me from the balcony outside. As I made unflinching eye contact with this kid I gave him "the look;" the look I give in moments of extreme agitation and anger; the one that Chris swears by. Then I swiftly rose by right hand and made a swiping motion across my neck, as if to say, "Cut it out now." The whole time I didn't move my lips nor did I dart my eyes away from his. I imagine I looked as crazy as I was feeling. Thankfully it was quiet about 10 minutes later and we slept blissfully and peacefully the rest of the night.

Upon arriving home late Sunday night I learned that my mom thought Chris and I had run away to get married. I guess she felt the need to confess this to me after seeing that I had come home alone and spouseless. Hmmm….I didn't really know what to say to her except that she's crazy. I guess I come by it honestly.

Lay Activities

Yesterday afternoon I took a delicious nap. I slept for almost two hours and when I woke up I felt great, until I realized I had been sleeping on one of the Butterfinger eggs that the Easter Bunny gave me. Body heat plus chocolate equals a big giant mess. Who knew that those little eggs could spread out so much when melted....yuck!