A Feel Good Story

That's Major Pena and that's a jar of our honey he's holding. In Afghanistan!!! Thank you for your service to our country, sir, and thank you for sharing your picture with us. The Major just happened to see it in the breakroom at a time when he was feeling homesick. Seeing the label and his hometown listed on the jar made him feel better. We are so honored to be a part of that and we pray he will soon return to his family safe and sound. And we hope we get to meet the Major when he's home!

New Love's Truck Stop

I went with friends to the new Love's today so they could get some Arby's goodness for lunch. We checked out the shopping area - holy cow! You can find a lot of stuff in there. lol. From tires and the usual gas station fare to purses, shirts, crystal figurines and yes, even some gear for tonight's rodeo in San Antonio. :)

Team USA Rocks!

Today Team USA was welcomed home when they arrived at San Antonio International Airport, which is about a 40 minute drive from Seguin. It's either here or Austin. I pick SA every time. :-) Very manageable traffic and airport. This is the softball gold medal team that beat Russia in the championship round of the Special Olympics World Games in Athens! I work with one of the team coaches and his son is a team member as well. We are so extremely proud of everyone. I just had to share!

Circus Train

Here's what Mark saw passing him as he drove to Marion to restock the honey shelves - the circus train! I wish I could have seen it with him. He said there were passenger cars, then animal cars, then equipment cars. Neat! I haven't been to the circus in so many years but it's always a fond memory I have of elementary school and going with my class. Though I do recall not volunteering to go down to walk around on the floor because no one explained to six year old who just came over from Viet Nam that participating with the circus folks won't mean that they'll take you away for forever.

Hello All

Greetings, I'm back and so is Mark. Last week I had to go back to Virginia but this time it was awesome since Mark was able to go with me. It turns out he has been wanting to look for confirmation that Joe William's (Seguin's baseball Hall of Famer, 1999) grandfather, Calvin Williams, had once been a slave in nearby Orange, VA. It was about an hour's drive from where I was for work so it worked out great. Anyway, while we were there, look what we got to enjoy together!? SNOW. It was so awesome and not enough to make travel a truly huge ordeal - I was still able to get to work and Mark was still able to get over a mountain that separated Orange from Harrisonburg. So, we were thrilled to be there for the ocassion.

We're back in Seguin and I'm still a little weirded out by the drastic change in climate, to be honest with you. Today we were up in the lower 70s and had a lovely time out at one of our bee yards. I'd show you a shot of it but there's something funky going on with my laptop, which I unaffectionately call PC (you know, like in the Mac commercials) and I think my internet connectivity is spotty. Maybe it can't handle my large photo files. Who knows but your warm weather shot will have to wait. I'm off to figure out why I can't transfer files from my desktop to a thumb drive. PC, you gotta just love it or else you end up throwing it out the window.

Welcome Back!

To us, that is! Hi everyone. I wanted to get a quick post in before I head to bed. It's been a busy week and an even busier day as we spent most of it tending to the bees at the farm location. That was a lot of fun. I had not seen any of the bees in over a month since Mark checks on them during the week typically and I'm at work those days.

We've been traveling quite a bit lately to get supplies and equipment ready for this year's beekeeping activities. This last trip took us to Georgia but we took a detour to visit my side of the family in Florida. It was wonderful to see them even if it was just for an evening and the next morning. This is a shot from my parents' front yard and in the shadows, you can make out Lake Louisa. Very pretty. So yea, I know it's not Seguin. But since I wasn't in Seguin this week, I've got to share this one with you.

I hope you all have had wonderful weeks and that your weekend will be even better! :-)

Home Sweet Home & Happy Days

Greetings from Ocracoke Island on the Outer Banks of North Carolina! I am so happy to be at the Outer Banks and to finally show Mark the island I love so much. For my big 4-0 birthday, Mark is taking me on this trip and I can't tell you how much we are enjoying ourselves. I can't post everyday even if I wanted to because we don't have wi-fi where we're staying AND there is absolutely NO AT&T service anywhere on the island. At least none we found. Yesterday we took the ferry to Hatteras so that we can see a few text messages so people know where we are and to call our moms for Mother's Day. By the way....HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY moms out there. :)

Anyway, we just enjoyed some beverages here at the coffeehouse and checked some personal email. I refused to log into work though I thought about it for about 3 seconds. LOL. No work. It'll just have to wait.

This is a shot of us on the two hour and fifteen minute ferry ride between Cedar Island and Ocracoke, crossing the Pamlico Sound. I so enjoyed it, as you can tell by the big ole grin I have on my face. Didn't spot any dolphins this time but I hope to before we leave. Having a blast and will upload more pictures when I get home. It's gorgeous and perfect for another dip in the sea after lunch. I love the Atlantic waters.

Hope you are all enjoying the weekend and hope that the new week will be a great one. Catch you later!

Greetings from NC

Hi everyone. Before I get on to do some work, I wanted to get a post up for you. I'm in NC so I'm going to have to dig through some pictures to share with you from afar. I am L-O-V-I-N-G visiting my home state again. It's wonderful to be back and see all the changes in the area as well as some good ole things that haven't changed. AND I got to have lunch with my best friends from college as well as dinners with my sister and her family. I love snuggling with my nephew.

And now to the picture....guess what I got to sample before leaving Texas?!?! Mark's first batch of honey. OMG it was DELICIOUS!!! I wish I had taken some with me. In this shot, Mark is scrapping the wax off the top so that we can get to the honey. This is called "capping." The bees seal up the little compartments (sorry honey, I don't know the official name and you're not sitting across from me for me to ask) once it's full of honey. This is my simplified explanation. Anyway, it was really neat. That one little frame produced quite a bit of honey. And at first, I thought it looked really dark so I assumed the honey was dark. BUT that was not so...check out this shot below. The comb is dark but the honey is very clear. Cool. I love being married to a beekeeper! Miss you honey (my man, not the bee stuff)!

I'm back!

Hi everyone. Just got home from Dallas so I need to unpack and also get ready for work. So a real quick post before I go....



This is what it feels like in my neck and shoulder blade area lately. :( I need to find another good chiropractor.

On the road

Hi folks. I'm up in Dallas this week. Wow, New Year's Day was a blur and now it's Wednesday already. Hope everyone's having a great week so far.

Home Sweet Home

Hello, hello. I'm home now! Been busy trying to catch up on things --- work, house, emails, blogs. LOL. Busy. Since I've got home, we've done the following:

1. Watched a movie, had pizza and enjoyed a nice evening together.
2. Went to Sams in San Marcos, which is about 20 minutes from here.
3. Went to HEB for "regular" groceries.
4. Watched NC State beat East Carolina. Go Wolfpack!
5. Swiffered (we like to go barefoot, we have hardwood floors, I do not like walking around on dust).
6. Prepped ingredients for King Ranch casserole for a lunch meeting tomorrow.
7. Currently watching the Texas-Rice game and baking a chocolate cake for a bake sale tomorrow.
8. Did NOT take any naps as I planned. hee hee

The compass is a gift from one of my new coworkers from Fontana. It reminds me of all the travels I've had, especially lately. Four weeks is a really long time and we had some great times as a group but I'm sure our families are all ready for us to be home. I'm lucky Mark has not minded my being gone so much (thanks again honey!) and I'm also glad that he postponed his own business trip so that we could have next week together. Then it's off to New Jersey for me and Rosenberg (TX) for him!

I'll try and get around town this week and catch up on the pics and bloggging. Hope you are all having a great weekend so far!

Greetings from Route 66

Hi everyone! It's my last night in Claremont and I am ready to head home tomorrow though it has been a good trip. All papers are signed and now we have new CMC family members...CMC Regional Steel. I love meeting new people and welcoming them to the company.

I kept forgetting to tell you that I have a travel blog that I share with other folks (despite the fact that they told me they'd post travel entries if I create it, I see I am still the only person posting...hint, hint). If you want to check out my travels, you can visit Ta-Ravel Blog. If any of you have interesting travel information or stories to share, let me know and I'd be glad to post your entry.

On the Road Again

Ah, nice and neat. All my scattered things were starting to make me feel cluttered and messy. Up to about 5 years ago, I would be packed and ready for travel a few days before the trip. Sometimes even a week, depending on how excited I am about where I'm going. And today? I leave tomorrow morning and here I am just now getting everything in the suitcase. I've mellowed these days.

As you can see, I am about to hit the road again. I am so excited about being a part of this project at work because my fellow IT Trainer and I get to conduct the IT orientation and training for employees of new sites we recently purchased. I used to oversee new employee orientation at the library in San Antonio and I loved it. Being one of the first persons to welcome new folks and having the chance to start them off on a positive and enthusiastic note. I really missed it when I moved on but here we are again. :)

I will be gone most of the next 28 days so I don't know how much blogging I will be able to do here. Mostly because I won't be in Seguin enough to take pictures! :( That's the down side I guess. I will be home most Fridays and Saturdays so you never know, I might have something to share.

Take care and have a great week!

Back Home

I'm back in town but with a lot of unpacking and washing to do, I must do only a quick post. This is from our garden a few months ago. I wanted to share something bright and cheerful since I'm happy to be home even though it was a great work trip.

Since I've been gone, we've actually had some rain in town, hooray! And we trekked out for dinner even though it was pouring this evening. I love the sound of rain and sometimes we just love riding around in it. It's been a nice departure from our summer drought.

Hope everyone's having a great weekend! For you local readers, look for some information in the next day or two of a Bloggers Social at Chiro Java. Some of us would like to finally meet over a cup of joe. Everyone's invited and I'll post some info once we firm up details like where and when. Fun!

The Traveling Thien

:) I'm cheating. It's not really Seguin behind me, is it? Does it count since I'm a Seguinite at Lake Tahoe?? I loved the weather there. Chilly at night and early morning, then warming during the day. Still, it's good to be home.

San Geronimo Cemetery Angel

One last look at the angel. I liked this shot a lot and after I applied the nice effect, I thought I'd share it. I did this frame using Picnik on Flickr in case you want to try it also.

I'm back home now but beat. I think 5 days, 4 nights, 5 flights, 10 connections, 4 hotels, 2 vehicles, 2 work sites and 3 states later, I am just tired. However, it was a very successful work trip and I think it was all well worth the fatigue to meet such nice coworkers and to finally have faces to go with folks we conference-call with for months during a Kronos rollout project. Not to mention getting a chance to see some beautiful country I haven't seen before! I'm not complaining. :)

My Welcome Home

It is so, so good to be home. It was a really rough week of travel and training although everyone we met was so wonderful to us at our company site in FL. Here's what I saw when I walked into the house. This week I had a birthday and edged a bit closer to 40. :) Mark and I will celebrate before I leave for SC on Sunday. (Exciting garden news to be posted on Sunday despite my having to travel that day.)