All-Star Dave Stewart

Last night we got in toooooo late to post about the 10th annual "Smokey" Joe Williams Scholarship Banquet but I wanted to let you all know what a fantastic time I had!!! How can I even put all the things I learned and felt here. :-( I don't even know where to begin so I'll just start out by listing a few things I recall that made an impact on me yesterday. And these are things other than what you may already know about the man, like the fact that he won the World Series THREE times.

1. I felt privileged to have had a chance to meet up with Mark and Stew for lunch and that after calling him Mr. Stewart about 4 times, he said I had to call him either Dave or Stew. I liked Stew. That's pretty cool.
2. He is so down to earth, easy to be with and talk with, funny as all get out and just really neat to hang with and get to know. I felt like we had known him for ages instead of a couple of days (well, really just one day for me).
3. He and Mark had me in stitches the entire time I was with them and they made me feel so special. I mean, really....two wonderfully dashing men teasing me constantly about ditching them for a Spurs game....what girl wouldn't feel all warm and fuzzy? lol
4. He has a GREAT sense of humor and his speech was engaging, inspiring, fascinating and just filled with fantastic stories and if you weren't there, I'm sorry for you. If you were there, remember these: players staring up at the moon (same moon as the one at home or not?) and his teammate carrying a 24-inch TV with him during winter-ball so that he can watch "American shows" while in the Spanish-speaking country in which they were playing.
5. He has met the Queen of England.
6. He likes the Three Stooges a lot (Curly was MY favorite) and he's a big prankster. These two things combined actually got him an invitation to sit in the box with the Queen. Again, long story so I wish you were there to hear it at the banquet.
7. When asked what was his proudest moment, he told us a story not about his baseball accomplishments but rather, he shared his experiences of the Bay area earthquake in '89 or '90 and what he did to try and help. This man is just too awesome!
8. He was intrigued by the fact that Mark keeps bees and he had some really great questions about what he now calls Beeology. And then he shared his new knowledge with other people! He was hilarious. He calls Mark the Beemeister. :)
9. He's a caring man to his family and checked on them often. It was nice to see how family-oriented he is.
10. He was so engaging that he made our daughter, Melissa, laugh out loud many times --- I know she had a great time b/c you don't hear that carefree, natural, sweet sound often enough. AND a woman who has shown little interest in the speakers in the past actually had very nice things to say about Stew. Wow. Two hard sells and he nailed them both. We told him we were pretty impressed.

This photo was snapped while San Antonio's KABB sports reporter, Hector Ledesma, interviewed Stew for a news story. I was happy to see them there because for some unfathomable reason, SA media rarely visits our banquet despite speakers like Fergie Jenkins, Monte Irvin, Buck O'Neal and the list goes on...who wouldn't want to hear from these men (even if you weren't a huge baseball fan, these are sports icons!)? Anyway, thank you KABB for sending someone to cover the banquet.

Thanks, honey, for finding yet another wonderful person for us to meet! Let's go to Claremont and make him miss a Lakers game! :)

"Smokey" Joe Williams Scholarship Banquet 2009

Tomorrow night is the big night for baseball fans in Seguin. Mark picked up Mr. Stewart from the airport today and he will be our keynote speaker at tomorrow's banquet. One of the nicest things we enjoy about the banquet is that we get to host the players and really get to know them and their stories. And it's not just baseball stories that they share...their lives, in general, are pretty amazing and it's always a treat to have a few days with them. Hope you can join us tomorrow evening!

And since Mark was entertaining Mr. Stewart, I was sent off the the Spurs/Trailblazers game this evening with a friend. Though I missed Mark, it was also fun to have a girls' night out with my friend! I had a blast Andrea! Especially after I taught you how to properly cheer on the boys and high five for maximum impact. Good job! :) By the way, we had another marvelous game even without two of my favorite players - Tim and Manu. And Tony Parker had 39 points!!! He was amazing after a 37 point game against the Dallas Mavericks last night. I have to give it to him b/c he sure showed up this week. Let's hope the boys keep it up for the Cavaliers, who are in town Friday night. Also, our very own Seguin Sterling Silver Dancers were on hand this evening and I shot a small video bit so I'll see if I can load that up sometime if it is any good. The Coyote danced with them and they looked like they had a blast!

The Old Days

Lately we have been living in the past. What I mean is that I've been looking at old pictures. The digital camera era is super-fantastic BUT I still enjoy flipping through the photo albums once in a while. Some of my college friends started posting old pics on their Facebook pages so I went looking for some of my own in order to share with them. I also found some pictures that my mom brought with us when we left Vietnam; here's one of me. Last year I scanned in four albums worth of black and white photos for everyone in the family. I love looking at them.

Mark's been living in the past, too! He's making one more change in the book but he's pretty much done and it's now on the publisher's site (Janaway Genealogy Publishing) and I am thrilled for him!! [Congratulations, honey!] Mark's book is titled Slave Transactions of Guadalupe County, Texas and you can read a little more about it on Mark's blog about "Smokey" Joe Williams.

Is it Spring yet?

It sure feels like it is! It's been pretty warm lately and things are starting to bloom all around us. Though I do wish for more wintery weather, I must say the days are quite lovely with plenty of sunshine and temperatures in the 70s with little humidity.

This is a redbud in our backyard and as you can see, the blooms are out and will be followed by leaves soon. The one in the front yard is also in bloom as well as the mountain laurel; smells wonderful! I asked Mark if we could do something outdoors this weekend in order to enjoy the wonderful weather...so we checked on our bees and then drove around the countryside a bit. It was really relaxing and a very nice change from the hectic week at work. I will post more of our outting over the next couple of days. :)

Last week I had about sixteen meetings and conference calls. SIXTEEN. That's a lot for me. I'm not used to so many and they really took a bite out of my productivity. I must say, however, that they were all good for the team because we are finally connecting with people and teams that we work with or will work with and it's great to see puzzle pieces fitting together. And I still am loving what I do and that I get to have so much fun while I'm working. It's a real blessing.

Bee update: The Africanized hive is finally dead (we think and hope). The other bees are doing very well and were very active when we checked on them this weekend. If you want more bee talk, I'll post more about them on my La China blog.

Mark's Library Talk

I am so, so proud of Mark! Yesterday he gave his first book talk about his new book, which will be published next month. It's about the slave activities in our county and it's been almost one year in the works, though if you really think about how he got to this point, I'd say it was ten years in the making (when Mark first starting researching Smokey Joe Williams).

A couple of work buddies and I showed up at the Seguin Library and at first there weren't many people there. But folks started trickling in and all in all, there were about 79 people I was told! That was so great! I really enjoyed watching Mark share the stories we learned during his research -- stories of families and individuals, slaves and slave masters and mistresses -- really fascinating. AND the best part was that people in attendance asked some really great questions that allowed us all to explore our past. It was pretty cool.

I'm proud of you honey!! Can't wait to see the book in print.

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.

Happy Valentine's Day Everyone

Hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend so far. Be sure to let your special someone know that you love them, today and everyday. I am so thankful for my wonderful husband. This is a card that I made for him (it happens to be both our favorite color) and in return, he gave me a touching, beautifully written love letter. And yes, I cried. It means so much to me! Thank you, love!!! In the midst of my happy tears, Mark asks, "You're not going to post that are you??" He sure knows how to make me laugh. :) No honey, that letter's just for me.

Porcelain Insulators

Last night I finished a post. But then either Blogger or I had a hiccup and it was gone. Poof. Gone. :( I was so tired and drained from work that I didn't even re-write it. Blah. It was just one of those days. Work is trying this week. We're suffering a bit from the whole economic situation but I won't delve into here. Hopefully things will pick up by year's end for all of us.

Last weekend was great weather and I snapped a lot of shots outside. These are some of my favorite porcelain insulators. I have posted about the glass ones before but these porcelain ones have their own, unique beauty also. Sometimes just looking at them makes me happy because I give myself the moment to get absorbed by their rich colors. I love the olive and the blues and the mustard. And the different shapes always make them unique and interesting. When you look at an "old time" insulator, no two are alike. That can't be said for the ones we see today on the tall poles.

Wind-blown Bees

Today Mark went to check on the bees to make sure none of the tops blew off over night. Yesterday we had some fierce winds blow through the area and the gusts were pretty amazing. Luckily, all the tops were still on the hives and the bees were doing well. That's good. We were both worried about that quite a bit.

We actually got a bit of rain over night. Not much...we need so much more to help with our drought. Sadly, I don't think we'll get it. I talked to my friend in Hope, Arkansas today and she said it was raining buckets up there and they can't get their steel products shipped if it keeps up (which it's suppose to do until THURSDAY!). I sure wish there was a way to share weather.

[Kris, we have yet to be haunted by any bees. So we're good. :-) ]

What a Wonderful Day

Today was a wonderful day -- relaxing and fun. I watched our bees for a while in the backyard. Looks like they are doing fine, bringing in pollen and keeping busy. What's keeping them busy? Well, for one thing, I actually witnessed one of the nice bees fighting, yes fighting off the crazed Africanized bee from next door. Can you believe those bees are still not all dead yet? They are fiesty. They got out even with all that plastic wrapped around their hive and when they couldn't get back in, they started robbing the nice hive. I learned, though, that bees do know how to protect their hive; hence the little cat fight I witnessed. I wish my shots had come out clear so I could show you but with all the rolling around, none of the shots are worth posting.

This is a shot of one of the frames Mark pulled out of one of the hives. I thought it looked really beautiful and ever so golden. Mark told me that the light-color edges indicate new comb that the bees have made. That's good! And there's pollen in those little cells along with honey.

It was a lot of fun to do a little beekeeping with Mark today. I have been chilling out...beekeeping, photographing all sorts of things, working on a V-day project, even went by You're So Crafty to get some supplies for my project. I haven't had this much relaxing fun in ages! I can get use to this!

A Little Critter

Between home and work, I had passed this artwork many times and it really caught my eye. Mark's also. But either I didn't have my digicam or the lighting wasn't right or I was in a hurry or something. But I finally found a day to get a shot.

I don't know the story on this and I have no idea who the artist is but there's just something about it that is so appealing to me. The colors are so bold; the subject interesting. There's got to be a story behind it. My friend thinks it looks a little like a mosquito, a bit like a bee. I agree. But it also reminds me of the train, from Soul Train. LOL...who remembers that show besides me???

Today's Letters Are...

I haven't had alphabet soup in ages but I have always enjoyed it. It's fun food. You can get all caught up looking at the letters and making words. LOL. So when my friend at work was eating their soup, I was mesmerized and could not move my gaze from the letters. They looked so cool. Luckily most of my friends are used to my picture taking so out came the camera.

One of the things I have noticed lately during these uncertain economic times, is that more and more people are beginning to think about the following things:

1. Saving money by not eating out as much (hence eating soup in the office).
   
2. Planning out a grocery list rather than buying as you cruise the store (we have planned our weekly meals for years and that really does help you cut waste).
   
3. Saving, saving, saving...just in case you get a call into the office to say your services are no longer needed (everyone should save for a buffer on which to survive).

I think this is pretty responsible and they're the sorts of things we should be thinking about more often so that we don't take things for granted or waste resources. It's neat. It's one of the good things about the economy being the way it is.

Beekeeping News

Well, here are our two hives in the back yard, which I posted about before several times. The hive closest to us in the photo is doing well. I saw the bees carrying pollen in and there was constant activity. I have sad news, however. One of the hives, the strong one unfortunately, has become Africanized and they are super aggressive. Mark found it very difficult to work on them so after much deliberation, he decided he must take action....



It's time to go mean bees! This is the second wrapping he has done on the hive in order to kill the crazy bees by suffocation. They found a way out the first time Mark taped up the openings. This time it appears to be working. The reason for doing it this way versus poisoning them is that Mark wants to use his box again. They're not cheap and the boxes are pretty nice. So if you used poison, you wouldn't be able to use the equipment! I learn so much about beekeeping these days -- I love it! And I love sharing the information with my friends who often ask about the bees. BTW, our new bees (the hives we picked up recently) are doing great! Next time Mark checks on them, I'll see if I can go with him for pictures. And they are very nice bees; hardly a sting despite his hammering and such on their houses. :)

Knitting Again

One of the things I promised myself was that I would start knitting again. That means two things to me:

1. I want teach someone to knit.
2. I want to put a knitting project in my purse so that I can knit whenever I have five minutes or when I need a little stress relief.

I'm excited to say I have done both now. Last week, while in Dallas, I taught two workers -- one how to bind off, or complete a scarf, and another how to knit (her first time). They both did great! And we had a wonderful time and it did wonders to relax me. I get so focused on it that I let go of all the thousands of to-dos floating around my head.

Tonight, I am proofing different writings. Some from work but most importantly, I'm also proofing two chapters from Mark's book! It's so exciting that it's almost done. He's working on the index as I blog. :-) I'm proud of you, love!!

Maybe after my proofing and some work, I will knit a bit while watching some of the Spurs/Nuggets game. Go Spurs!

The Donut Palace

I'm back and have had a very peaceful weekend, catching up with Mark and other things around home. It's good to be home. After the long months of only occassionally traveling for a day or two to Dallas, an entire week away from home took a little adjustment. But I did have a wonderful time in Big D, learning all sorts of new things about work and meeting some very nice people.

Saturday morning I decided to pick up some treats from a popular place in town -- The Donut Palace. If you haven't been there, you should give it a try! They have awesome donuts as well as some savory options. Since we slept in, I decided a brunch might be nice since we had errands to run so I got fresh-baked glazed donuts, a cinnamon roll and two kolaches (with and without cheese). It was all fantastic!



Besides the food, you should try TDP because of the people who run it. They are so friendly and very hardworking. If you go, take cash or your checkbook because they do not accept any credit or debit cards. Friends at work have told me that they've gotten caught with no cash before but do you know what??? The folks at TDP just told them to bring the cash when they can. Can you believe that? Isn't that amazing to encounter such trust from a retailer? Very nice. It makes me feel good about people to know this so I thought I'd share it with you.

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.

Happy Lunar New Year!

Today is a big day for many Asian people -- it's Lunar New Year and this year is Year of the Ox, one of twelve Chinese zodiac animals (sort of like Capricorn, Taurus, etc.). Though I had to take off for Dallas today, we took time to celebrate the new year together before Mark dropped me off at the airport. I had a wonderful weekend with my darling man -- even went to the Hong Kong Market in Houston for some goodies. These are persimmon cakes; I'll have to let you know how they taste as we haven't tried them yet.

Below is a shot of the flags we saw as ate lunch at Pho Saigon in Houston, on Bellaire. (BTW, the food there is FABULOUS!) I included the shot because I am so happy to be Vietnamese, American and Texan (and I'm still North Carolinian, though I'll never be a Tarheel -- those of you who know of the NC State/Chapel Hill rivalry understand where I'm coming from on this.). LOL

I hope everyone has a wonderful week and a great new year. I love having the opportunity to celebrate two new year's days. And as my niece Clair said this evening, it's not every year we get to have two celebrations in one month! (Lunar New Year's day changes each year based on the moon phases.) Good thinking Clair!

Sky Watch Friday

Here's something we haven't seen in a while...gray skies! It's been sunny and beautiful lately in South Texas. BUT we do need rain around here so I wish it would get here. This is a shot from our front porch of the church across the way.

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend! Be sure to check out the other Sky Watchers!

Vogue Shoes

Here's a shot of my favorite place to shop for shoes. Sure you could go to a huge department store, discount outlet megashop or some other impersonal place to buy shoes. But I prefer to be able to park right in front of the store (sometimes on the side if it's "crowded") and also to have nice conversations with people who live in the same community I do. The staff at the store is wonderful and caring. They don't just sell you shoes. They talk to you about the shoes and what you do and what's best for that and whatever else that might come up. It's fun! And it makes me feel good that they take the time to make sure I have what I need. Without smothering me.

On the last trip, I got Mark a new pair of cross-trainers for working out. And I eyed some shoes I am going to put on my birthday wish list. I love shoes! Oh, and when I went, there was a big sale so I got his shoes regular price, and a pair of black pumps for 1/2 price. Cool! :)

Lunch on the Square

Last week I met Mark for lunch downtown on the square at Amy & Kathy's. I posted about this little eatery already back in 2007. It's a great place -- sandwiches, soup, pasta salad, great desserts. I was sitting at our table and thought Mark's silhouette looked cool with the store front and square behind him. I enjoyed watching traffic and people go by as we ate. It sure was a nice break from work.

I remember it was a beautiful day; perfect weather for parking around the block and walking over. I thought, how nice it is to work near home so that I could meet my honey for lunch. It was one of the nicest days for me.

MLK Banquet

Saturday evening was a special night out for us. We attended the MLK Banquet at the coliseum and had a great time with friends there. Dinner, a few speeches and a fabulous musical presentation by the group Spiritual Voices. They performed a tribute to Dr. King and then they wrapped up with selections from Porgy and Bess. Very nice! We had such a fun time!

Moore Bees

This is one of the small bee yards that David Park has in Moore, Texas. So technically it's not Seguin but since some of the bees are here now, I thought you would not mind. It was so pretty out there. Moore is located south of San Antonio along Interstate Highway 35. David told us his dad also keeps bees in Devine (north of Moore) and his cousin in Moore also operatest an apiary. David is a FOURTH generation beekeeper! Isn't that cool? I thought so.

New Bees, New Home

I am happy to report that the bees are here! And now it's official. We are big time beekeepers now....twelve hives. :) Well, for us that's big time. We went from two in the backyard to an additional ten kept on an acquaintance's property out in the country. This is the spot Mark picked out and he worked last week to prepare the area for our new bees. I will share some more pictures this week but since they are not technically of Seguin, I may post them on my La China blog in case you want to read that one. Or, if you prefer photos only, you can check out my Flickr photo set of our beekeeping activities.

We picked the bees up on Sunday from a really awesome beekeeping in Moore, Texas. David Park owns Cold River Apiaries and he spent a lot of time with us; not just getting the bees ready for the move, but also just talking to us about beekeeping and also about his operation. We learned so much and had a really fantastic time! And he gave us a jar of the honey his bees produced....DELICIOUS! You can really taste the difference from Cold River Honey and the brand we get from HEB. Hopefully, our new bees will like it here in Seguin and start producing some honey for us. :)

Hope everyone's had a good week so far. I just got back from two days in Dallas at our corporate office. Had a blast, really! But glad to be home. And tired. I'm going to go read a few chapters of my James Patterson Cat & Mouse book and then roll on to bed. Good night.

400th Post - Woo hoo!

I finally made it to my 400th post! I was going to post earlier this week but I wanted my 400th one to be special and not just some rush job. Work was busy this week and tiring too, so saving this for Friday made it a special treat for me.

This is a shot of part of the Goodrich House, a property owned by Second Baptist Church. It's located on Goodrich Street, behind the church, and behind the house is Walnut Creek. We use the church for celebratory events and sometimes even for a youth sleepover. It's a nice old house with wood floors and lots of windows. And this wonderful chimney. I just love the brick work and the lines you see in the chimney and siding. It's one of my favorite photos.

I love red brick. I grew up in North Carolina and brick is used a lot there for building. I went to North Carolina State University (go Wolfpack!) and on campus, there must be millions of bricks used for buildings, walls, courtyards, etc. As a matter of fact, we have a beautiful area near the main campus library that is a hub for campus life. We called it the Brickyard. I love that place.

We were leaving the Goodrich House one day after an event and I remember the day was just beautiful. Crisp, chilly day with endless blue skies. And I remember looking up and seeing how beautiful the house looked against the sky. So I took out my camera and shot a ton of photographs. That's what blogging has taught me. How to really see all the wonderful, beautiful things around me. I have learned to better appreciate many things since I started this blog and I am really happy that I am still photographing and blogging.

Thank you everyone who has visited here. And for those of you who have left comments, for those who have seen me around town or at work and talked to me...thank you for letting me know you enjoy the blog and the photos. It was what kept me going. Just when I get lazy or tired of doing this or I start to wonder if anyone cares what I post, one of you tells me in some way that you like this. And that fuels me. So thanks! :)

Lippe Tire Company

No, the Camry is not back in the shop. This is a shot I snapped when we took it in for the Lipple Tire guys to check things out for us after I ran over a huge piece of tread on the highway one night. I love Lippe; they are really great (I've mentioned them recently). I have always been fascinated when I go to a shop and the car goes on the lift. It's so cool. Big, heavy car...lifted up high like it weighs nothing at all. Pretty neat.

Luckily, there was no bad damage that made it dangerous to drive but I did manage to do some harm to something that now flaps once in a while. Going to have to take it in to Shanafelt. Now there's another great business in Seguin. I'll snap a picture when we take the car in. They handle body work and do a great job. And they have a really neat business sign that I really like for some reason. It's very nicely done. And yes, even I think it's funny to like a sign so much. LOL.

Today was another busy, busy day at work but I am enjoying my new role tremendously. All of a sudden, we have projects coming out the ear. I felt so exhilerated, overwhelmed and totally exhausted all at once most of the day. It certainly makes my day fly by fast. And I actually forgot to eat breakfast again (a yogurt at work). Well, I remembered once my stomach started growling at me around 10:30 or so.

Big Bird

Lately I have seen plenty of big birds around Seguin, including a variety of hawks but also many vulptures and buzzards. I don't know all their names so I won't try but if you want to share with me what this bird is, that'd be nice. We saw him out in the country on a ride out to one of the bee sites. He was so regal out there. Mark turned around so I could snap some shots from the car but I wish we could have gotten even closer.

Yesterday I wrote it was 83F degrees. Today it said 48F on the way home from church. Cloudy and windy. I'm not complaining! I love it!!!! :) Tomorrow's suppose to be pretty cold and possibly rainy, which we really need around here. I hope everyone has a great week.

A little beekeeping in the new year

Here we are in January and it reached 83F degrees today; can you believe that? Amazing. It's not that I don't like warm weather. I just like a little seasonal weather. Anyway, I know a friend of mine up in Indiana wrote that she sort of missed the warm Texas weather so sometimes maybe we just want what we don't have at the moment. The cedar and juniper levels are high so it's still giving plenty of us fits with the sneezing, congestion, drippy noses and stuffy heads.

So what do you do in such warm weather? You work on frames for the bees! :) Mark is getting things ready for more bees. We've decided to add ten more hives but we won't be keeping them in our yard with the other two hives we have. Mark's found two locations out in the country on land owned by people we know or have met through another friend. It's very exciting and I'm so thrilled that Mark's decided to increase his beekeeping activities. It's nice to see him doing things he enjoys so much.

He's gotten some boxes prepared and lately he's been putting these frames together with the wax sheets. The frames go inside the boxes and then the bees will continue to build upon the sheets once they are in their new homes. There is another beekeeper nearby who we will buy the bees from soon. I can't wait to visit his place and see what kind of operation he has!

Yep, that's my feet. It was warm enough to walk around bare feet today.

Happy 2009 Everyone!

I am still not sure how 2008 managed to get by me so quickly but here we are again at the beginning of a brand new year. It's exciting to think of what is ahead for me and for Mark; but I am also overwhelmed by all that happened in the year past. And I am so grateful.

Mark's home now and we get to see each other and actually spend quality time together more than when we both worked in San Antonio, him at such a demanding job. He's pursuing his research and writing, beekeeping, a workshop-building project and other interests that had to take a back seat for work. I had a fabulous year at CMC and still L-O-V-E it. I have learned so much about so much! LOL. I have developed friendships and laughed so much and enjoyed it all...sometimes it makes me wonder how I deserved all these rewards. I will share something with you now that means more change and more learning for me in 2009. Today, I officially become the Global IT Training Manager for our company and I am so thrilled to have a chance to contribute in a leadership role. I will have a mentor who is pretty amazing so I know I will learn much from her. I'll keep you posted on where this new job takes me. I'm a little nervous but in a good way; it'll keep me on my toes. And so will Mark. Thanks, honey, for your loving support!

A final word on how we rang in the new year last night. Our church, Second Baptist, has a Watch Night service that starts at 10:30 p.m. We were joined by Wesley Harper Methodist Church friends and we sang and gave thanks for all the blessings we received in 2008. The singing was fantastic, the fellowship was awesome and warmed my soul and then the food we enjoyed filled our bellies and when we got home around 2:00 a.m., we were all ready for bed. It was so nice to see all our friends. I have not been to church for a couple of weeks since I have been under the weather and I really missed seeing everyone. When I was with them all last night, I felt warm, as if I was wrapped in the arms of everyone there. If you haven't ever been to a service at Second Baptist, I invite you to come as my guest. The people are amazing. Mark and I were hooked by our second visit! Pastor Flakes is an awesome man and the youth ministry is really doing amazing things for the kids of our church. I think 2009 is going to be a great year for all of us. I hope it will be for you also!

Another Sleepless Night

It's 6:26a and I've been fully awake since 4a so I thought I would take this time to finally do some catching up on my online activities. Prior to 4a, I spent more time coughing or trying not to cough than sleeping. And when I did sleep, I had to sit and sleep b/c once I went horizontal, my throat starts to tickle and then the coughing ensues. :( I really, really am tired of being sick. Usually I am not down for too long but Mark and I have been under the weather since Christmas Eve. Enough already.

So the nice thing about being awake is that I have time to do things. Like notice how pretty the Christmas lights look, reflecting on our old wood floor in the living room. So I fixed up my digicam to my new SLR-size Gorrilapod and practiced some shots.

Things that are happening right at this moment:

1. It's raining! Yes. Really raining. With lighting and rumbling thunder, too! It's been wonderful to hear it and to see the water collecting. We've gone without rain for too long so this is a real blessing.
2. Mark put on a pot of beans in the slow cooker last night and now it smells delicious. And makes me want to eat.
3. I'm listening to some of my favorite, favorite jazz. Stan Getz, Diana Krall, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Charles Mingus, and many others. Very nice.
4. I am checking out all the pictures that my Flickr friends have added. Wow, I've been slacking on that; there are tons of photos to see.
5. I am thinking I should also post something on my La China blog. Haven't done that in a while.
6. I am also thinking I have not made a single earring since my little vacation started and I had said I would definitely do that. Yikes. Only got today to live up to my word on that point.

Okay, I am done drinking another cup of Theraflu so I'm going to try and close my eyes and see if sleep comes my way. I hope everyone has a wonderful Sunday! :)

Gift wrapping trappings

Merry Christmas Eve everyone! Well, I finally finished all my wrapping! Hooray! And I made a little time to finish off my David Balacci book I've been reading for about a month. The Whole Truth, it's awesome. I hope everyone is ready for Christmas and enjoying time with family and friends.

This is a gift tag that was on a gift from my sister's family to our daughter Melissa. I L-O-V-E beautifully crafted things such as this and it's always hard to decide if I will keep things or not. I have about 7 or 8 hatboxes of old letters, cards and other mementos that I have received and I love going through them once in a while. I may put this in a box. ;)

I am so blessed with all that I have in my life. I lack for nothing materially; I have a career I am passionate about at a company I have grown to love as if I've been there 20 years. And most importantly, I have a wonderful man with whom I share it all. I could not ask for any more or for a better person to be my partner. I just want to give thanks for all I have.

I love chicken!

Is this my idea of Christmas cheer?!? You bet! :) We had a gift exchange so the team at work decided to do it during lunch at Clear Springs, which is a restaurant I'm sure I have mentioned before here. It's on Highway 46, between Seguin and New Braunfels. Their mountainous plate of onion rings draws the crowds, along with all the other great food they have. I just can't eat like this too often; that's for sure.

So this is a regular order of the chicken tenders plate. It was divine! I got garlic mashed potatoes and the corn to go with it. I ate three pieces and took the rest home for dinner...for BOTH me AND Mark. LOL. It was still finger-licking-good.

I have been wrapping Christmas gifts but we are mostly done. Except I have four boxes for Mark that are awaiting me...they've been sitting on the couch...I don't think he realizes they are HIS! Better go wrap 'em up before he reads this. I'm off work the rest of the week so I hope to have many photography opportunities. I hope you are all doing well and that you are not too stressed this week. HAVE FUN!!!

Kitty, Kitty

It's been so busy! Here's a pretty kitty I met while visiting Mark's brother. That's one of the nicest things about the holidays -- seeing relatives you just don't get to visit with during the rest of the year. Life just gets you busy and then before you know it, it's been a year again. We had a great time with them, however.

Gifts for family have been bought, wrapped and shipped as of today. What a relief. I was just so unmotivated this year but not because I didn't want to find something special for each person. At any rate, it's done. Now I can take some time to enjoy pulling together some small things here and there for Mark and some local friends. I love looking for just the right thing. It's so fun!

Christmas Activities

Well, I finally got into the spirit. Normally, I am all about Christmas but this year was a bit different. So, I am behind in terms of shopping, wrapping and decorating. Mark boosted me along last week by bringing down all the Christmas boxes and we got started sorting through things.

Here's one of my favorite things to do this time of year...fixing stockings for family members. I love finding little goodies to put in there! We kicked off gift-giving yesterday by spending time with my stepdaughter with dinner and a gift exchange. She will be headed up north for a few weeks so we did an early Christmas and had a really, really nice time with her.

Sky Watch Friday

I shot this one a couple of weeks ago on the way to work on Alt 90 right past Texas Lutheran University. It was one of the most unusual skies I had ever seen and I tried in vain to capture the full effect of the rolls of clouds. It was fascinating.

Check out other sky watchers for more cool photographs of our great skies.

Moon Over Seguin

Nothing takes your mind off being blue or feeling overwhelmed like staring a the big, beautiful moon. Before I go dig through more decorations boxes and then head to bed, I want to post a shot of tonight's moon. I would have missed this opportunity to see its beauty if a friend from work had not taken the time to call me to let me know that tonight would be a great night to get a few shots. Thank you, Alison!

Thanks to my wonderful man for fixing my tripod for me! I couldn't have gotten these shots without it honey. You rock!

Shopping

I saw this on one of my few shopping excursions this year. At first my sister and I just liked that it was a "Tini" toy, since my step-kids and close friends call me that. But then I see the dog is kind of over the top. Toys these day sure make our stuff look tame. LOL

Off to a Spurs game. Go Spurs!

Fall Along the Guadalupe River

We love to drive along the river, especially next to the golf course at Max Starcke Park. My eyes were so drawn to the colors and I would have walked along except for my fear of allergies. LOL. It's no fun to have to think about pains such as that when the view is so wonderful. We've been staying out of the great outdoors until Cedar Fever season is way past. That stuff is so fun for sure!

Guava-Mango Pop Tarts in Seguin

Who would have thought it. Not only is there an exotic fruit flavor of Pop Tarts, but it's right here in our local HEB! HEB stands for H.E. Butt Grocery Store, a huge chain here in Texas. If you want, you can read a history of the store on their website.

So last week, Mark and I were cruising through the frozen foods section when I spied this unusual sight in the clearance carts. I like mango and I like guava but I don't know what to think about both flavors in a Pop Tart. I didn't try it. Has anyone out there tried it? I was just surprised to see it in little ol' Seguin. :)

Pecan Trees in Fall

In contrast to the recent big, blue skies, we did have some cool dark days here and there. On the day I shot this, it was a cool gray in a dozen shades. I really liked it. Though I can't capture it really in a photograph, the pecan trees looked crisp and oddly golden and alive against the sky. Speaking of trees, the leaves are falling and piling up nicely everywhere. My plan is to wait until all leaves are off before raking. If I rake now, they'll be back! And with some wind action, maybe there won't be much to worry about later. ;)

I'm off to do more online Christmas shopping. Yesterday Mark and I did THREE stores in 1.5 hours at the Quarry in SA and we were tired. LOL. I used to be quite the in-store shopper but not today. We had a good laugh about it and went on to Big Kahuna where we had some really wonderful Vietnamese food. If you want to see and read on that, visit my La China blog.

Golden Fall Color

This redbud is next to the red Crepe Myrtle from the previous post. If you look at both trees and they are aligned with one another so that you see a great mix of gold, green and red, it's just really breathtaking. I can see this mix when I see at our kitchen table because I have a direct line of sight out our front door. And when I see our fall colors, it makes me happy and very appreciative of the beauty around us in the world.

Some Signs of Fall

We don't get fall colors here in Seguin like I knew in North Carolina, but we do have a splash here and there this year. I love this red color of the crepe myrtle in our front yard.

Still trying to play with the camera and I'm really enjoying it immensely. I love the zoom (15x) and the Smart Feature. Most of the time, I turn it on and really just point and shoot. Literally. It handles almost all my settings just right. That firmware update also made all processing super fast. I love it.

Currently it's about 42F degrees, but feels like 34F. Nice. I love this cold weather. And the Spurs are ACTUALLY 20 points up on the Nuggets at halftime. Also nice, considering the way we've been playing lately. :)

I'm a lucky girl

Thanks for the picture Laurie! Now I know how you guys must feel with me pointing a camera at you all the time! :)

There I am with a flat at work. These very nice CMC men came by to provide assistance by putting air in my tire so I could drive it to a shop, though my good buddy Tod did offer to change it for me and Mark even said he'd come to the mill to change it. Gosh, so many options! It all made me really appreciate my husband and my friends. Thank you for makiing me laugh about it all! It was the most stress-free flat I've ever had. Mark even headed over to Lippe Tires to make sure they knew I was swinging by there so they stayed opened and fixed me up in about ten minutes!

By the way, if you have never been to Lippe, I highly recommend them. Their staff and service have been great over the years for us and the pricing on tires are pretty good also.

December is almost here!

Sorry! I'm being bad about blogging...I know it. I'll try and get back into it soon. We've had a great four-day weekend! I don't know the last time I had so many days off. I have enjoyed seeing family and friends, watching a ton of college and pro football and basketball (despite losing to the Rockets last night....badly), exercising, reading (Baldacci's The Whole Truth), talking photography and digicams with my best friend Sonia (I hope you get the Z1015 too!) and preparing for Christmas. Fun stuff.

And nothing like a little pressure. The bags of gifts have been sitting in our office, right by my desk since JUNE!!! My sisters are so industrious, they get together during the summer in FL and do their Christmas shopping (most of it) and then they even wrap 'em up. We happened to be visiting last June so Mai sent the gifts back with us. Can you imagine? June. Sigh. I am still working on figuring out some gifts for several family members. LOL