I'm pretty sure that National Geographic has a monopoly on the more beautiful pictures on earth.  So wonderful to look at. :)

Beautiful photography

A Woman from Inside Out

I thought this video was really awesome!
 
A Woman from Inside Out

Close Friends

This week was the last full "free" week that David and I had together for the summer, so Monday we decided to head to downtown Houston.  We visited the Holocaust Museum (very sad, but I highly recommend seeing it) and the Health Museum.  In the exhibit at the Health Museum there was a 'game' that would compute how long you were supposed to live.  It began at the average age of males (77) and females (80) in the US and then proceeded from there. It was quite simple-you just answered yes or no questions. 

"Do you smoke?" No + 5 years
"Do you wear a seat belt while in the car?" Yes +2 years
"Do you eat red meat or pork?" Yes -1 year  (they can have that year because I'm  not giving up a good burger, lol)

"Do you have 4 or more close friends?"..............I don't know ??

I just stood there and did not know how to answer this question. 

I mean, define the term 'close friend'.  I have a lot of friends, but what makes them 'close'?  It is the amount of time you spend with them each week?  And if that is true, are you're friendships therefore always going to be determined by where you live and who is nearby?  Maybe it's the people you've known the longest.  Like those that you grew up with or went to school with, but even then you often lose touch with those people after high school.  Or maybe it's the people you hold the most dear in your heart.  Life is busy and sometimes you forget to make time to call friends and get together with them, even though you are thinking of them often.  But does just thinking of somebody really make you 'close' friends with them?  And then I started to feel bad.  I mean, what if I hold certain people as really close friends to me, but they don't even think so because I'm not calling them enough or going out with them for coffee.  How can one little question be so hard?!


Does this make sense?  What do you think defines close friendship?  I would love to know everyone's ideas on the question....


(Oh, and by the way, I'm supposed to be around until I'm 86 years old.) 

Vacation

For summer vacation this year David and I packed our kayaks and drove around Texas.  Well, kind of.  We had a total of three stops: Corpus Christi, Laredo, and Austin.  I had the most fun in Corpus.  The waves were really big on the beach so kayaking was out for me-but David LOVED it.  I was so afraid that he was going to turn the kayak over, but it never happened.  (Thank you Emotion Kayaks for being so stable!)  The above is a picture of David at the lake in Laredo.  We camped there the first night and it was raining the entire time from the tropical storm that came in.  Our tent held up well and it actually kept the temperature in the low 80s, which David says is a blessing for the Valley.  After two days in Laredo we drove to Austin. (The border patrol officer liked our kayaks as we went through the check point.)  We stayed with David's mother and went to Lake Travis.  I was amazed at the million dollars houses everywhere on the lake.  Finally, we ended our vacation in Houston at Hotel ICON for our anniversary.  Usually we stay at the Magnolia hotel, however they're prices were extremely high so we decided to try something else.  I am SO happy that we did.  ICON used to be an old bank, and they converted it into a hotel.  The decor is absolutely beautiful and the staff there was so friendly.  I highly recommend it to everyone!

So, that was our vacation.  I'll try to upload more pictures from it later.  :) 

Change

I hate change. 

I don't know why....when big things in my life change I usually want two or three weeks to think it over before I'm really okay with it.  David has an interview for the the head director at Anahuac HS this week.  It's a good job and the money should be better, AND I've had an entire week and a half to think about it but I'm still not used to the idea. I keep trying to fight his reasoning as to why it's a better situation than Cleveland.   Maybe it's because I have such an emotional connection to my band experience in Cleveland (even though it's not the same now).......I'm not sure, but please pray for the best for us right now.  I can't seem to discover the best in the situation myself.

Graduation

My sister graduated from nursing school this past weekend from S.F.A.  I'm so, so proud of her.  She will be starting her new job at the hospital in Nacogdoches in June!!

This is David and I waiting for her name to be called.  :)

Camping

David and I went camping this weekend in Coldspring.  I loved every minute of it.  We stayed Friday and Saturday night.  Heather came to stay with us (willingly) Saturday and we forced Steve to stay also.  It was his first camping experience and I believe he enjoyed it very much.  Heather also brought her kayaksalong, which confirmed that David and I need to buy two for ourselves.

I have lots of pictures, but for some reason my computer will only upload one at a time to my blog...??? 
Any suggestions as to why?

Life goals.  We all have unique goals in life that we want to accomplish.  We want to be at a certain point in our careers before we retire, we want to vacation at a certain spot in the world, we want to see certain things in our lifetime.  Yesterday, I accomplished one of mine.

I have always wanted to see a bald eagle.  Not one in the zoo or one that has been hurt and now is cared for by an educational handler-but an in-flight, untamed, wild bald eagle.  I've been to Yellowstone National Park three different summers in my life in hopes of seeing one and always left without accomplishing this goal.  So then I hear that there was a bald eagle in Baytown.  I thought 'sure, it's probably just a brown eagle and if I go I probably won't see it. I'll just be disappointed blah blah blah'......  Then yesterday, David and I actually went to check it out.

I saw my bald eagle. 

Not only that, I was an entire family of them.  We spotted the mother first, about 50 feet up in the top of a tree.  Of course, eagles are huge birds (8 feet wingspans) but you never really get the true grasp of that until you see one personally.  Then a lady (there are consistently 15-20 people at this site at any time of day) around us pointed out the nest to us in a tree further away.  We could make out the dark forms of the babies standing up in the nest.  And finally, across the street is a golf course with a pond.  The father landed on the far banks of the pond and another visitor pointed it our to everyone.  It was so magnificent.  Just the size and the beauty of these birds is enough to leave you speechless.

Of course, I didn't have my camera during the entire thing, but just seeing it was enough for me at that time.  David and I are going back today and I will bring it with me this time.  I'm going to charge the battery right now. :)

A purpose.

Today David was in Cleveland all day for the band BBQ, so I was left to find something to do on my own.  I decided to go to the Baytown Nature Center Festival and was GREATLY rewarded by it.  Besides seeing some really cool exhibits of animals and fish native to the area, I also met a lady named Stacey.  She is a volunteer for the Bay Area Wildlife Rehabilitation group in the area.  As I was talking to her about the birds she had there that had been rescued, I asked about volunteering myself.  Long story short, I emailed her and will be attending a class April 17th to learn how to become a volunteer myself.  I'll be personally taking care of and rehabilitating animals to release into the wild!  I'm so excited about it.  I love animals and helping out whenever I can.  I feel like this is perfect for me and will give me such a great feeling of purpose besides just going to school.  I really needed this because I've been feeling a little lost in my long journey of seemingly endless classes lately AND this would be a perfect introduction into compounding medications for animal care one day. 

Thank you God for new opportunities in my life!

P.S. I will post pictures of the festival later.  I'm on my netbook while writing this and have no way to get them off my camera. (So far this the only disadvantage to my little laptop) :)

Baby birds

We have two parakeets, Perchy and Wally.  I found Perchy flying around in our back yard about 2 years ago.  We bought Wally at the pet store so that they could be friends (apparently birds get depressed).  A few weeks ago we discovered that Wally wasn't a boy like we thought, but instead a girl who had just laid 4 eggs in their cage.  As of now two of the eggs have hatched and are alive and well.  I took pictures, but to be honest they look like little aliens to me and kind of gross me out.  Think about when you buy a whole chicken at the grocery store...except these are only about an inch long.  I shall spare you the torture of seeing them.....

This is the beginning

Two weeks ago I bought a grape vine. I have been wanting one for a very long time, specifically a "Spanish Black" grape vine. Eventually I want to have an entire vineyard, and make my own wine. I certainly have the chemistry background and I believe the perseverance to see it through (it should take about 4 years to get anything good out of the vine, so I'm told).

This weekend the first leaves appeared, which gives me hope that one day this will come true.

Thank you stranger....

Tuesday morning I woke up early to go work out before everything else that was going on that day. As I was waiting at a red light, a guy next to me started honking his horn and trying to say something to me. I at first thought he was crazy, but I rolled down my window to see what was going on. Apparently when I left the house I had forgotten my wallet on top of my car. :( Of course, it had flew off my car about a mile back and the guy was trying to tell me. Thankfully when I went back I was able to find everything. I had to run around Hwy 146 for about 10 minutes and it probably looked like I had lost my mind (I'm surprised somebody didn't call the police) but nothing important was lost and my credit cards are just a little scratched up now.

So thank you random Dodge truck driver. You didn't have to tell me about what happened and I would have spent the rest of the day trying to figure out where I left my wallet if it wasn't for you. It's good to know that there is still kindness out there in our sometimes crazy world.

January 14th, 2010

Last night David and I renewed our vows in the church. David grew up Catholic and it was important to him and his mother that we make it valid in the church. It was a really small ceremony with just a few people, but it meant a lot to us and I was happy to do it for David. We had it yesterday because January 14th is exactly 6 months from our wedding anniversary July 14th. I thought it was a neat idea. I have pictures, but they just haven't made it to my computer yet. :( They will make it on here soon.