Football and stuff, M'Kay

Oh the love for football.  So I’ve mentioned on a few occasions that I love me some football. I am a born and raised Texas girl and you know we take our football seriously. High school football on Friday nights, College football on Saturday’s, and NFL on Sunday’s. It’s a fun filled weekend everyday for a few hours.  When I was in high school in my small country town, Friday nights at the games would be filled. I was on the drill team and couldn’t wait to dance in the halftime performances.  The sounds of the marching band coming out from under the bleachers would start the excitement and then we followed them on to the field. We also had certain dances we had to do during the game while sitting in the stands. We had to watch the game closely to determine which dances we would do, like for defense or celebration, etc.  That’s how I learned about football by having to know when to jump up and down when we scored.

Last night my honey scored some free tickets (5 tkts exactly) to go to the Cowboys preseason game against Miami. I was so excited to go simply because I had never been to our new ginormous stadium yet.  They offer tours and stuff like that but I’ve never had the time to get over there until last night. Y’all it was beautiful! I just cant believe how huge it is and the biggest screen I’ve ever seen in my life. I tried to look down at the field but i caught myself staring at the screen more than anything.

Our seats were about 5 rows from the most very highest top of the stadium. They gave whole new meaning to nose bleed section.  My honey drove out of town to pick his kids up and I invited a friend of mine to join us. My friend Vicki met me at our place, then we met honey and kids (A and C) at his office then we all took one car to the stadium.  We stayed until after half time and then we headed out.  We parked at a go-cart place a few streets down the road and the owners of the place give us a ride in his pickup truck to the stadium.  It wasn’t too far but  add the walk from where are seats were, it was quite a hike.  I got my exercise in for sure.  I needed to walk off my 10$ chicken basket and 5$ bottle of water. The concession stands are crazy expensive!! One good part was if you buy their 10$ bucket of popcorn you got free refills. We filled that baby up 3 times to get our money’s worth.

Cowboys stadium

Pic taken from my seat

Vicki and me ( dang i need some lipstick)

me, A, honey, C

So who are your fave teams you cheer for? My honey’s son “C” plays freshman ball for his high school so I’ll be cheering them on, my fave college is University of Texas Longhorns, and of course The BOYS are my NFL team!

I’m taking a day of vacation tomorrow and we’re supposed to be heading to Oklahoma on the Harley. We’re going to visit my brother and all the girls (sis-n-law Sarah and my sweet nieces) and I am so excited to see them. Do you have any special plans for this Labor Day weekend coming up?

Have fun y’all!!

sidenote: i love Mr. Mackey from SouthPark. You'll get the M'Kay....

Bricks in the Wall- Go see them!

Last Saturday , my honey and I went to House of Blues to see a Pink Floyd tribute band called Bricks in the Wall.  I had won the tickets a few weeks ago at a Bike Night.  My honey didn’t want to go at first because we had been so busy and had plans almost every night (including seeing Willie at the same place a few nights before).  You see we always get the General Admission tickets which means you stand down by the stage for close to 3 hours.  You gotta make sure you’re wearing some comfortable shoes to do this.

  There is a small area for seating but you have to spend 100$ to sit there and you have a waitress that brings you your drinks.  For some reason we never asked what the rules were to sit there and assumed it was reserved seating. Another couple came in behind us and saw us looking for a place to stand the whole night and they asked if we would be interested in joining them at a table and we could split the bill.  We agreed because it doesn’t take much at all to run a 50$ tab for 2 people there. Their prices are pretty high for a drink. The seats are so close to the stage. Come to find out, the couple worked in the exact same industry my honey and I do.  We even knew several of the same people.  They were so nice ( Karen and Bill) and it was perfect seating behind the sound engineers.  AND no standing the entire time. From now on, that’s the way to do concerts at HOB!   

The band was absolutely incredible! They played for 2.5 hours straight and the vocals were awesome. They really did sound just like Pink Floyd. They are also based out of Dallas. They had this trampoline looking thing hung on the stage and they played cool videos to the songs the whole time. There were a lot of lights and laser show effects that added to the coolness factor.  The 3 women backup singers really added so much to the songs. We had such a great time and glad we went. If you see this come to your town , I highly recommend you going. They play at all the House of Blues locations and other places too.

Laser light show at concert

Bricks in The Wall

Honey and Me. Look how close we are to stage.

Blue skies smilin' at me, Nothing but Blue skies do I see

I went to see Willie Nelson this past Tuesday at House of Blues in Dallas. We were SO lucky to get tickets because it ended up being a sold out show and there were scalpers begging for tickets instead of selling them.  If you paid any attention to the news you would have heard that Willie had to cancel his concert in Colorado and went to the hospital because he couldn’t breathe.  So we were a little nervous that he would cancel our show too.

I’ve seen Willie perform at least a dozen times or so but it had been at least 15 years that I saw him recently. He always starts all his concerts with Whiskey River and it’s perfect tempo to get the crown going.  I couldn’t believe Willie’s stamina and energy during the concert. He was fantastic and played tons of his old classics. He even broke into a few gospel hymns. It was probably one of the best concerts I have seen of him.

My honey had Willie on his concert bucket list of people he HAD to see and my friend Panda had never seen him perform either. The 3 of us got to HOB early and had dinner before the show.  There was an opening act who was this young guy named Drake White. He was awesome!!!  He was a cross between Amos Lee-Jamey Johnson- and Chris Robinson from Black Crowes.  Drake’s from Alabama and I hope to hear more from him –preferably on the radio.

honey and me

Drake White w/me and Panda

Tomorrow night we’re going back to HOB to see Bricks in the Wall with the free tickets I won a few weeks ago. Busy weekend!!

Dear God- Jam With Me Thursdays

I’m linking up with Bonnie over at Faith Barista. Every Thursday she has Jam With Me Thursday’s. She post’s a topic every week. This week is a letter to God.

Dear God,

I feel your presence most of the time and I’m grateful for that.  I know you must think to yourself ” whoa I got a live wire here” as I ramble on to you all throughout the day. That’s what I love about you the most. I can talk and talk and I know you’re there listening. I’m never alone.  I do sometimes feel that you must be distracted listening to the rest of the world when I’m praying to you about my Dad.  I understand that you have a plan and then you’re in control. I get that.  Why are you ok with me getting so sad then to the point where I’m mad at you? My Dad is so full of life and he has a purpose in my world. To watch him continually struggle with his lung disease and be confined to a wheelchair is too much for me to take sometimes. Dad is only going to be 63 in November and he’s looking so much older now.  My stepmom is amazing by running the ranch, taking care of Dad fulltime and also working as an account manager fulltime in her career.  She told me last week that she also feels that you are ignoring her pleas and prayers for healing. I know you were  right next to me when I responded to her with “Be patient and Trust in HIM”.  I  was thinking to myself, I’m telling her to Trust but I am not doing that myself. I feel guilty when I get so mad at you but I also know you have thick skin and you can take it.  Luckily, my anger doesn’t last but a few minutes and then you’re there to remind me how blessed I really am.  

I cant even imagine what life would be like without you in it.  What I’m asking is for you to speak louder.  I’ve practically been slapped in the head by you a few times when I was asking for you direction and I listened.  What am I doing wrong now? Am I not being still enough to see or hear you? My family is in such despair and desperation and you’re our ONLY answer. That’s a lot of pressure but you’re the Miracle Worker. We’ve used up all the resources for treatments and so now we are just putting it in your hands totally. Not like we didn’t already. I know that you were there to provide what he’s received so far.

 This month has been really rough physically, emotionally, financially and all around. It’s because of my Faith in you that has kept my chin up. I’m just telling you that I adore you and worship you but that doesn’t mean I cant have a temper tantrum every now and then and talk back to you. It’s not like I ever win any of our arguments.  You and I have our best talks every day on my way home from work so we’ll continue this conversation later.  By the way, I love you so much.

Christian groups- we're not perfect either

I’m seriously struggling today. My mind cant slow down from running in every direction.  I am so torn from reacting like I want to instead of how I should. Last night, I actually walked out of an officer’s meeting in a Christian organization I belong to.  You see, my group has a monthly newsletter that the officers are expected to submit the articles too.  I was asked numerous times to turn in my article specifically about the women’s retreat that I had just attended a month ago.  I don’t know if I mentioned it or not but let’s just say that it was not the best experience for many of us and we didn’t want to discuss it.  Simply because we didn’t want to come across negative it was better to keep quiet. I wrote my article about my personal experience and even said that I needed the weekend to focus on God but that Satan knew it and took it from there. I mentioned that it was not a complete flop and the speakers were very good.  I added many verses from the bible that truly spoke to me about the situation and said that I know we were there for a reason. God is in control no matter what and HE has his plans for us that we don’t have to understand but just TRUST in.

Well last night in the meeting, I wasn’t there 5 minutes when I was informed that my article was too negative and that the newsletter editor was going to edit it and change it around. I then said to yank it because it’s either my own words or nothing at all. I am not going to have someone alter my feelings I was writing about.  Then as the meeting got started, our chapter president announced that nothing negative will ever go in our newsletter and if anyone wanted to vent, the officers meeting is the place to get it out.  Myself and another lady who was there at the meeting and also the retreat  was asked to discuss what happened. The chapter had noticed that 5 of our ladies came back from retreat but not one person wanted to gush about it instead we chose silence.  The president still never actually read my article before he told the editor to change it.  What happened next was that he mocked me in front of all 20 people in the meeting. I’m already taking the longest time to get to my point and I’m not going to get into all details.  The bottom line is that I have always kept it real folks.  We’re always wanting our chapter to grow with new people and many of our members are new Believers.  Our mission is to witness to the biker community and anyone else that could use a prayer.  I don’t know about you but I would think for a new person, it would be refreshing to know that every day is not rainbows and unicorns.  My article was sharing that Satan had a firm grip on me and that I fought everyday to beat him and see GOD  next to me.  I don’t see that as being negative, I see it as being real.

My heart just hurts that in a Christian group and surrounding last night, I was ridiculed and mocked. I am so ANGRY! My reaction is to sell every single shirt, vest, hat, etc from the group and walk away. I know deep down that I need this group because they normally surround me with prayer and love. It’s too soon to attend the bowling tournament we’re having this weekend but I’ll go to the group’s monthly meeting next week. I know that our president is human and Satan attacks anyone he wants. I have to calm down and forgive more than ever.

On a good note, I’m going to see Willie Nelson tonight and I’m very excited for that. 

Sorry for this post if it seems negative but it’s my blog and I will cry if I want to!

It's Ok

It’s Ok that I refuse to share my political views with anyone. You know me enough that it’s NOT because I don’t have an opinion.

That I saved money this week on breakfast by buying a bag of mini donuts and I’ve ate them every day. Good on the wallet but bad for my waist line.

It’s Ok that for my birthday I was given a gift certificate for Boston Proper online store. I received my 2 dresses (on sale) in the mail yesterday and I’m just as excited about my 16.00$ dress from Ross as I am for these much more expensive dresses. I’m not ungrateful its just that I could have bought triple amount of dresses from Ross than the 2 dresses I got from BP.

That I am ECSTATIC for the rain we are finally getting in Dallas. I purposely did not bring a rain jacket to work today. I want to feel the rain on my skin.  It’s worth my hair being frizzy.

That I’ve been home for 2 weeks and I still have a few boxes to unpack.  Not in a hurry now that I’ve got the majority done.

I’ve had 2 of the best evenings this week hanging out with a few of my closest friends.  My friends truly nourish my soul and I smile for hours afterwards.

I’m excited that I have a new fave wine that my friend introduced to me the other night.  It’s called Poppy and it’s the Pinot Noir. Yummy!! Your welcome! J

I got my Save the Girls necklace yesterday in the mail. I’m so excited!!

This weekend is our Tax Free for back to school shopping and I’m staying far away from the shops.  It’s not worth the crowds to save a few dollars on the taxes.

I signed up to take a meal tonight for a friend that has pneumonia. I don’t cook so I’m calling in an order at Salt Grass for some baked potato soup.  Oh my, it’s delish!  I will be joining her for dinner too.

I had to attend a funeral yesterday that made my heart heavy.  I spoke a few posts ago on Doc Molhusen that passed recently.  He died while trying to save his wife Margie who was in a wheelchair due to her stroke. Margie had been in ICU and never knew that her husband had passed. She passed on last Friday and joined Doc at the pearly gates. Their kids ,Amy and Kurt have lost both their parents in this tragedy and their childhood home.  It’s OK that I know they have tons of friends and family to help them with this and that I’m Ok knowing that Doc and Margie are reunited.

Its OK that I didn’t mean to be a downer on that last comment but its’ what’s on my heart.

That I’ve eaten Mexican food pretty much every day this week except yesterday.

That I STILL don’t have an iphone because I’m impatiently waiting for the iphone 5. I seriously feel so behind without Instagram. I have mentioned this before but nothing has changed.

That I’m only 10 followers away from having 100 and I am challenged on fixing my email subscription.  (note to all reading, if you’re following me that way, sorry it’s not working).

I’m so excited tomorrow is Friday.  It’s an approved day for my team to work from home. Joy to the World!

Family and Friends this past weekend

What a weekend! I was out and about starting on Thursday. Every Thursday a local radio station in Dallas 92.5 sponsors a Bike Night at a different bar each week. We jumped on the Harley and met up with some friends at a bar that is very close to our place. The station always gives out tickets for events and swag like tshirts,etc. I fill out a raffle ticket every time i go (which isnt often because of my traveling). The most i get is usually a Koozie or keychain that is free giveaway to everyone. My luck changed though this time and i won 2 tickets to a Bricks in the Wall at House of Blues later this month. Thats a laser light show done by an engineer of the Pink Floyd band and i'm so excited.

I'm the fluffy girl 2nd from left

 I went to a “Passion Party” on Friday night and I took 2 of my cousins with me, Monya and Lauren. It had been years since I had a been to one of those kind of parties and they are such a hoot! The theme of course was 50 Shades of Grey and she even sold the books. I will be honest that I read the books and there were a few toys mentioned in the book that I had never heard of or saw in person to visualize. The party was handy to see some of those things in person. Just looking at those nipple clamps made me shudder. Ouch!! The most entertaining part was the rest of the party-goers.  There was about 20 ladies of all ages and professions. It was the first party of this sort for many of the women and I laughed so hard at their expressions and comments. It reminded me of myself at my first Passion party ( this was my 3^rd).  It was just a fun girls night out with my cousins and I ordered a few little things to support the Hostess for the party. No, I won’t tell you what I ordered but I will say it dang sure wasn’t nipple clamps or anything that requires batteries. J

Lauren stayed the night with me  so that I could introduce her to my fave places the next day in Grapevine, Tx.  I first took her by the Red Shed Antiques store because I knew this would be Heaven for her. Lauren is really into the French décor and the Red Shed specializes in that.  She bought a few vintage books written in French and  of course a cute small Eiffel tower. I bought a few vintage metal clips that I use on my make up mirror to hang my funny bumper stickers and Johnny Cash patch.  We walked most of Main street and bought a few things here and there but neither of us went too crazy. We both had to buy a new lip balm simply because of the name of it: Lip Shit. Mine is coconut basil and Lauren’s is grapefruit with a Cowgirl on it.

 I also ran her by one of my favorite thrift stores a few blocks away at Graceful Buys.  I found a Scrabble game with most of the letters in the bag. I was excited because have you seen how much those letters are sold for lately on Ebay and at local craft stores? I found a cute birdcage for 5$. Oh Yes- because I always NEED another bird cage. I’m seriously obsessed.   I  also picked up a pair of brand new Nike men’s shorts for my sweety pie  to distract him from noticing that I brought home another bird cage.

Later that evening (Saturday), my honey and I met a girlfriend Amanda (who I call Panda) in Dallas at Ozona’s for dinner. Her son is the drummer for a heavy metal band called Maldevera and they were performing at Across the Street bar at 9:30 pm. My honey is also a drummer and is all about showing his support.  It was an outdoor stage and the bar had no air conditioning which was not very good for business in the Texas summers.  The music that they play brings a lot of mosh pit dancers which is very entertaining and frightening at the same time. The kids look like they’re about to get in huge fight but they just shove and roll around each other. I actually should have tried it out because they were all skinny and fit. Maybe next time I’ll wear some body pads and give it a whirl. LOL- not really.

Panda and me. I only had water i promise. My eyes look drunk. LOL

Yesterday was a nice day of church and relaxing most of the day. Another girlfriend of mine has a son that is in the Marines and was home for a week. They had a small meet and greet gathering in their home and I stopped by to hug his neck and show my support.  So really this weekend was all about showing my girlfriends son’s some love.

On my way home I pulled into a salon in Dallas and got a much needed relaxing pedicure. It was a perfect way to end my weekend.  I’m not traveling for the rest of the month so I’m excited not to be packing on Sunday nights.

My 1st guest speaker: The Crazy Life of LT

Hey y'all, so my sweet cousin Lauren who i've mentioned more than a dozen times in my posts , just moved to Texas. I couldn't be happier! I asked her to be a guest speaker on my blog so you can get to know her too. Her blog is The Crazy Life of LT and she was my inspiration to create my blog a year ago.
I asked her a few questions  interview style:

So what do you love most so far about Texas?

The obvious is that I love being closer to my family. But the "Texas" answer would be that I seriously love the land. I love driving down a road full of pastures and open fields. In my ideal world I would live on a farm. I don't want to do any "farm" work, I just want to live on one. Can you imagine the photo possibilities I could do with that?! So yes, definitely the scenary. And cowboys. And cows. 

Are you missing Georgia tons?

I miss parts of it...mostly my friends that I saw on a weekly/daily basis. My job in GA has allowed me to work remotely from home in Texas, but I'm having to learn how to transition into not seeing people every day. I'm missing familiarity and my confidence in that, more than anything. It's weird...I kind of feel like I've always lived here, except I don't know where anything is! 

What brought you to Texas?

Well, I have some pretty awesome family in Texas and I've really been wanting to be closer to them. So once we started praying about that, my hubby had an awesome job opportunity fall into his lap. He is now the Art Director at LakePointe Church in Rockwall, TX. We had a very quick hiring process - like seriously 3 weeks from the time we got the offer to move in date.

How long have you been a blogger?

I've been blogging since August of 2008. And I feel like I've come a long way! 

Are you a football fan because its practically a religion in Texas?

I am totally a football fan. I haven't always been tho. When we first got married, Chris was the chaplain for our local high school football team, so we were at the games every Friday night and I really developed a love for it. He had to spend every game in my ear giving me a play by play of what was going on. ;) Chris was always a SEC college football fan, so I jumped on that band wagon too. It's kind of a "thing" for me and the hubs. We LOVE our Georgia Bulldogs....so I guess now we'll be Longhorns fans! I'm hoping to open up a new adventure into NFL this year, so let's go Cowboys!

What are your favorite drinks – non alcoholic and with alcohol?

Ok, I'm pretty boring on the non-alcoholic drinks. I love me some sweet tea, but seeing as it's not the greatest for my figure, I tend to stick with water with lime. Yum!

As for alcoholic - I'm a one and done kind of girl. I love Woodchuck cider. It's my fave pre-made drink. Oh and a margarita! And of course there was the "special punch" I made for the hubs b-day party last year which we all got addicted to (vodka, sprite, cranberry juice and orange juice). Wow, I sound like a lush. But I'm really not....I maybe have 1 drink a month! Honestly.  Haha! 

So last time I checked, you were obsessed with the color Teal. Are you still ? and what have you done to incorporate that color in your lifestyle?

Ah yes, teal might as well be a love language for me. What's funny is Chris is now completely obsessed with it too!

How have I incorporated it into my lifestyle you ask? Well let's see, it's my business color, the main color in my bedroom and bathroom, i have a teal watch, clothes, shoes, jewelry, Chris just got a custom made teal desk for his office, we have it in various wall art all over the place. To make it simple, there's a little teal everywhere! But I love all shades of it. So that makes it seem like it's different in each room, lol! And except for our bedroom, I have tried to have just random little pops of teal here and there so it doesn't seem overwhelming. 

Tell us a little about yourself:

Well, let's see. We've established that I'm a lover of all things teal. I love Jesus. Chris and I have been married for almost 8 years..no babies yet. We've got two ktties - Jackson and Molly. They're our fur-babies. I love all things vintage. Antiquing is the way to my heart. I am a photographer (www.bubblybeard.com). I love me some Audrey Hepburn. Laughter is one of my all time favorite things. I hate cilantro. Like really hate it. I make decisions on whether or not to eat at a Mexican restaurant based on if they have cilantro in their salsa. I use exclamation points way too much. I think there is nothing better than a good cheesy photo. I love my family. I love my friends. I love life!

Here's a pic of us last year in Atlanta while i was on business and we met up for dinner.

Thank you sweet cuz for sharing your time with me on this blog. I love you bunches and so glad you're local now! Go show Lauren some love on her blog. :)

Happy Anniversary to my Blog

I wish i could say that for my one year anniversary to my blog , that i would be doing some fabulous giveaway prize or that i'm going to Wow you with a great story today.  I'm not.  I probably shouldn't even be posting right now with the mood i'm in. Unfortunately, i'm about to leave my home in less than an hour to go to a very dear friend's funeral. Dr George Molhusen was one of the 2 of my mom's most bestest closet friends in the whole world. Mom was a nurse in his family clinic for several years.  I even worked with his daughter Amy at the same resturant in college. My mom hired my cousin Monya to work the front desk for a year or so after her high school graduation. "Doc" came to my high school graduation, my brother's graduation, my great-grandmother's funeral, my grandfather's father, etc. He was there for my Mom in every large event in her life which happened to be tied to my family. When Mom moved to Wyoming, Doc and his wife Margie would come and visit on their vacation.  I had free health care from him up into the time i moved farther away and it wasnt convenient to go to his clinic and that i had grown up and had insurance with my job. I have many fond memories of going to the clinic at closing time and Doc and i would have dinner afterwards and get caught up. He was like an uncle to me and genuinely loved me like family.  I seriously could go on and on and on on what a huge loss my family is feeling but also all his patients and friends that knew  him and had experienced his kindness and gentleness.
What happened? Apparently there was a kitchen fire in their home a few nights ago and it got out of hand. Margie had a stroke a year ago and is confined to a wheelchair. Doc actually sold his practice a few years ago so that he could take 100% care of Margie. He was so dedicated to his wife and family. Margie is currently in the hospital but Dr died a few hours later after the fire. He died a hero while rescuing his wife.
 The worst part of all this my friends is that i had to be the one to inform my sweet Mom on this horrific news. I can barely breathe from replaying the sound in my head of her grief on being told that her best friend died. No daughter should have to be the bearer of such bad news. With Mom living in Montana, she's pretty unplugged so to speak from the rest of us and especially from the local news in Dallas.  She's in poor health herself and just was not able to come last minute for the funeral. See, i find out about Doc on Friday morning after returning from Canada. I was reading Amy's facebook with all the condolences and then realized what had happened. If i had not been out of the country , i would have seen it on the news and heard a little sooner than when i did. Oh well, i know we are all going through life with its huge ups and downs. I probably wouldnt have even mentioned this in my blog otherwise but i wanted to post today on my anniversary.
So not to end with all doom and gloom- i won the contest of sending the most bras to Danielle at Secrets of a Sweet Southern Girl , that also partnered up with Mrs. Pates blog- to FREE the GIRLS.  I won the cutest necklace that Danielle made. I havent received it yet but this is what it looks like. So cute!!

It’s OK that I had a productive week in Toronto but I’m ready to get home tonight.

That late flights are not my fave because I don’t sleep on planes.

That I read an entire book  on the flight here and finished last night ‘cuz  I downloaded 2 books last night on Kindle App so I’m prepared.

That I packed flip-flops to change into once I get to airport so I’m not schlepping around in my heels that I’ve been wearing since 7 am.

That I didn’t hit a girl who was literally smacking every bite while eating her salad at the airport. I just moved away to another seat and gave her a quick stink eye.

It’s OK that my honey has family plans (a formal dinner) tomorrow night that I wasn’t invited to because  I’m hanging with my cousin Lauren who is now a Texan. Lauren moved to Texas last week.

That I’m broke and don’t need a thing but I’m going garage sales jumping with my high school bestie in Ft Worth on Saturday.  I’m going to hang out for more girl time.

It’s OK that I’m trying to smuggle a bag of maple cookies in my suitcase tonight without getting caught. A sweet coworker gave them to me here made with Canadian maple.

It’s Ok that I miss my honey and am excited that I’m not traveling for the next few weeks.

It’s Ok that if you really knew me , you’d know that I used to BEG my boss to send me out of town every week. Now I have someone worth staying home for.

It’s Ok that I have the option for people to follow my blog via their email but I have no idea how to manage it (if anyone subscribes,etc). I got to figure that out. LOL

It’s Ok that I am craving Mexican Food and must have it ASAP

Happy Thursday!