a blast from the past

while we were packing up things and dwindling down the clutter (somehow that seems to happen every time we move...), i found a few old photos. for those of you who care, here is a little glimpse of me from over the years. for those of you who "knew me when" just have a good laugh...i can hear it now.

random family vacation, circa late 1988/1989. like the pigtails?4th grade pee-wee cheerleading. the beginning of it all. my dream of being a cheerleader had finally come true. seriously, from the first day of kindergarten that is all i wanted to do. so, i went on to do it for 8 years.senior portrait. the bangs. oh the bangs. so long past their prime and so so not fashionable in the least. oh well.hope you enjoyed that stroll down memory lane!

these are a few of my favorite (random) things

with the lack of exciting blog/photo-worthy, i feel like i need to redeem myself with some kind of post. here is a list of some of my favorite things we have been up to lately:

- connecting our computer (that has the blu-ray player) to the tv
- rewatching season 5 of LOST on blu-ray
- beginning beth moore's study at first baptist (this is a lindsey only thing since lee can't go) :)
- working out together (and trying to work out more often)
- enjoying a much-overdue trip to Le Peep for breakfast
- sharing news about our future in san francisco with lots of family and friends

the 365 blog needs to be updated and will be...soon. just give me a couple of days.

stay tuned in the month of february...our super bowl party, a trip to louisiana, opening day of aggie baseball, and more are all to come!

a new blog to read

for those of you who love blog-reading as much as i do, i have a new blog for you to check out. i have started a project365 blog. "what is that?" you may ask. this new blog is where i hope to take pictures everyday for a year and journal about them on the blog. each day will only have a couple of sentences for each picture, and i will probably only update new ones every few days or every week. however, if you would like to follow along a year in the life of us, then check it out from time to time. the link will always be in the top right corner of this blog.

there is a little more detailed description on the other blog, but i am (hopefully going to) document the second year of our marriage...in case you are wondering why i didn't just wait and start on january 1.

enjoy!

interesting conversations with students

two algebra 2 students on my first day...

student 1:"where did you teach before you came here?"
me: "well, i actually moved here from alabama so i haven't taught anywhere in texas."
student 2: "so that's why you talk that way...?"
me: "what way?"
student 2: "that way."
(i am sure some non-native alabama readers just got a nice laugh out of this)


sometimes, students ask me how i like living in houston. one of the first things i mention is how warm it is here and how i know it will not be very cold during the winter to which i received this comment one day...
student: "oh, it gets cold here! it will get all the way down to 40 degrees!"


PUH-LEASE! 40 degrees barely justifies a scarf!



i can imagine there will be more blog-worthy students comments to come. who knows, maybe lee will even chime in with some of his! he has elementary students that almost always have something hilarious to say.

math, anyone?

as most of you have heard and for those of you who haven't, i am officially employed! i was hired as an algebra II teacher on monday and start on tuesday, october 13.

i know this might seem a bit surprising to some, but after realizing that my job search was not providing any results, i knew i needed to broaden my search to include what i am qualified to do. this decision quickly resulted in a job!

an added bonus to my new job is that it is in the same district as lee's school so we will get to ride to work together! the biggest downside to the job is that my school days will start at 7 which means i will have to be there even earlier than that, and those of you who know me well know the early morning stuff is not my favorite. oh well! guess the workforce doesn't always start when we would like it to... :)

one last note...thank you to all of you who have been praying for us during this time. God's timing is always perfect, and He has taken care of us over the past few months and will continue to do so. i so appreciate the wonderful support system we have through friends and family, and i hope you know your prayers and thoughts have not gone unnoticed.

fall

football

cooler weather (which we are still waiting on in houston)

colorful, changing leaves (again, still waiting here)

caramel apple spice at starbucks...thank you, shauna :)

decorations of pumpkins, scarecrows, cornucopias and more are everywhere you look

alabama football

caramel green-apple suckers on sale in stores for their once-a-year appearance...yay!

birthdays

our anniversary

new seasons of our favorite tv shows

time with family

the first cool night that requires long-sleeves and a warm drink

football :)

...these are just some of the things i look forward to this time of year. i can't wait for all of them to actually happen (specifically, the cooler weather in houston).

to those of you already enjoying a true season of autumn, enjoy it for the rest of us and send any extra down here!

the best show you're not watching...or maybe you are

i try not to get too crazy with the number of shows i regularly watch, but i decided to officially add a new one this fall.

i, no we, greatly enjoy The Biggest Loser! lee pretends he does not like that fact that the show can make you all emotional by the end, and he says he only watches it because i do. however, i know the truth, and i know he enjoys the show too.

for the past couple of seasons, i have been an inconsistent viewer, only catching it when i happen to stumble across it while channel surfing. but this year i was ready and committed. if you are not watching it, you should. aside from the contestants' stories, i love that the trainers include practical weight-loss and fitness tips for the viewers. plus, i love seeing jillian yelling at someone besides me while i do her 30 Day Shred.

tuesday nights. 7pm. nbc. watch it. i'm pretty sure you'll love it too. or do you already?

monday night football

we got to experience our first Houston Texans NFL game tonight. yes, it was a preseason game but a first, nonetheless, for us. it was actually my first NFL game ever! we would love to go back for a regular season game because if the energy tonight was just a taste of how it is during the season, a future game should be destined to be a great game.

the texans were playing the vikings so we got the special treat of also seeing the never-going-to-retire brett favre play. the fans seemed pretty excited at the opportunity to boo him at every opportunity, but we just thought it was pretty cool that we got to see him play, too.

looking forward to future NFL games!

pre-game show complete with flames. and below, toro and demeco ryans (roll tide!)

favre on the big screen...

(so sorry for the blurriness of the pictures!)

just keep swimming, just keep swimming

last saturday was our 9 month wedding anniversary...it is ok to acknowledge less-than-one-year anniversary marks, right? i thought so.

last saturday also happen to be the day we decided to go to the aquarium here in houston. we have talked about going pretty much since we moved, whenever we would drive by. the aquarium is surrounded by huge tall buildings and major interstates, but it is a fun little adventure tucked away in downtown.
we got to pet rays and see so many different kinds of fish, some crazy-big turtles, even bigger catfish, sharks, and white tigers. yes, tigers. at the aquarium. they are a special exhibit i think. we wanted some really good pictures of the tigers because they are such beautiful creatures, especially up so close, so lee decided to try to grab the attention of one of the tigers. who knew that a white tiger would be particularly attracted to a guy tapping on the glass?! needless to say, the tiger was so aroused that it jumped at the glass at lee! i wish i'd had my camera ready because it was the most bizarre thing that has ever happened to us. at an aquarium.it may seem hard to find something to follow up such the shock of a tiger jumping at you, but we decided we would try by hopping on the train to ride through the shark exhibit. the sharks were awesome even if the only thing separating us and them was the (probably) thin layer of glass with gallons & gallons of water pressure against it above our heads. we did get some cool shots & had a great time. too bad it was too hot to take a ferris wheel ride...

our new home

after a week, we feel like we are right at home with everything in its place and unpacked. we still have the few random boxes or piles of things that still have not found a permanent dwelling place...but soon will! we are very excited to start our life in houston here and look forward to the memories that will be made.

for your viewing pleasure, i have included some pictures of the living room and kitchen areas. the first is a shot of the couch and decor above, along with the awesome built-in shelves and desk to the side. the second is a better look of the built-in area, as well as the bookcases lee put together a few days ago and look into the HUGE bathroom (trust me, it is huge). the last is a shot of part of the kitchen and the nook for the table. enjoy and welcome to our home!
p.s.-we have recently discovered the fun of video chatting! if you have a web cam, we should totally video chat sometime because the chances are pretty good that we are in different states than you and would love to see you smiling face in our computer :)

part 2 of the p.s.- you probably did not know this, but i was taking an online class this summer that i still needed for my master's, and i would just like to announce that i am officially done. it could have lasted all summer, but i finished things up early! woo hoo! and that is all.

keeping my promise

the original intention of this blog was to keep family and friends informed of the progress of our move to texas. it has also come to include the events of our lives, which no one seems to mind so we will keep that part coming :).

however, the moving process has sort of not been mentioned much since the initial post once we got here (remember the picture of our crazy storage room...). for those of you who don't know, lee was hired to teach 5th grade math & science in humble, tx! this is a huge blessing not only because it means he has a job, but it means he has a job this early in the summer (last year he was not hired until after the school year had started in alabama).

another big piece of news in regards to us getting settled in houston is that we found an apartment and we move in today! we had some pretty intense apartment searching, along with rental house searching, and in the end we found a really great apartment in cypress, tx. we are really excited about starting our life in texas in such a nice place. unfortunately, this means we get to move all of our stuff one. more. time. BUT, it will totally be worth it because we will be moving into our apartment!

pictures to come soon!

lose it!

i am obsessed. there, i admit it.

even though i am not the actual primary user of the iphone that has recently made its way into lives, i fully admit that i try to use it as often as possible. i love the apps! my favorite time to play use it is when we are in the car because lee is driving and cannot use it. therefore, i take advantage of the perfect opportunity to play a little sudoku and word wrap or put in the meals i have eaten for the day.

are you now thinking it seems a little strange to input the meals i have eaten in each day into the beloved iphone? never fear, i have an explanation. lose it! has become my new favorite app, and the best thing about it is that it is free, ladies and gentlemen! it keeps count of daily calories and calories burned through exercise (p.s. - walking around the office or house counts as exercise! so does vacuuming! wow!)

sorry, i got a little carried away in my p.s. in my defense, i already told you i was obsessed.

back to the point of this random post....in the ten days i have used this app, i have really become more conscious of what i eat. if i splurge on a really good Zaxby's meal and then put in as one of my meals, i can see the insane amount of calories those tasty boneless wings & fries hold and i am a little less satisfied by the meal. ok, i lied. i am still completely satisfied by the meal...i just wish i could make about half the calories disappear. seriously, i hope a more conscious effort in keeping up with calories will actually put me on the right track towards losing a few pounds...because who doesn't love that?!

writer's block

i have come to the conclusion that my 10+ day lapse in blogging is due to writer's block. well, at least writer's block in my sense of the term. all i have done for the past two weeks is my literature review for my research proposal for grad school. almost every ounce of writing ability has gone into that colossal annoyance and anything left has gone into the work i have on a regular basis for my actual classes. i have a deadline on this phase of the proposal and that deadline is tomorrow so i feel a break in the clouds of my foggy brain coming and silly details of our life pouring into the blog oh so soon.

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a random side note: "the weather according to lee"

i love my husband, but we have quickly come to realize that we can be sitting in the same room and have extremely different takes on the temperature of that room. if lee is comfortable, i am freezing. if i am comfortable, lee is hot. without fail. however, this does not simply apply to the temperature inside a room. our polar opposite temperature gauges cover inside AND outside temps. therefore, you think i would have learned by now that just because lee leaves in a short-sleeved shirt and says he will be fine for the day without a jacket does not mean i should do the same. in his defense, at 3 o'clock yesterday the accuweather said today would easily reach 66 or so. i think the high for today is now only about 60. awesome. so what do i have on today? a short-sleeved shirt and flip-flops (with pants, of course). i have a rain jacket but it is not exactly insulating to the cool breeze outside. maybe i have learned my lesson. maybe. lee is probably perfectly comfortable today :)


p.s. - we have a few pictures and videos that may make an appearance on the blog soon. my sister may also be paying us a visit this weekend, and i will be sure to document her visit to tuscaloosa...aka her favorite place ever! (side note: she is an auburn fan and will be attending auburn in the fall...tuscaloosa is not even on her list of favorite places except for the fact that it is our current location of residence)

muggles, quidditch, spells, & more!

that's right. i have become one of them...one of those who has fully embraced the world of harry potter. no, no...contrary to what some said in the height of their popularity, the books in no way change my religious beliefs or cause me to want to practice magic or any other silliness that some might associate with the books.
the books do, on the other hand, keep me quite compelled to follow the lives of harry, ron, hermoine, and the other students and teachers through their years at hogwarts (this is actually the link to the upcoming universal studios harry potter-themed park). i am currently on the third book and it is by far the best (in my opinion) of the first three. i feel strongly that i will be caught up in plenty of time for the newest movie to arrive in theaters later this summer. lee is beside himself with the fact that i am growing to enjoy them more and more with each book. he was right...i did not know what i was missing.
due to work and school, this is essentially the only reading i am doing at the time (that i enjoy). it sure beats anything out of here . yuck.

6 Days!

maybe it's silly to post about a show, but i am pumped about this premiere. there are plenty of shows i like, but this one is so great and so different than many others out there. if you haven't watched it, you should start...you have 6 days to watch 4 seasons, so you better hurry! season 5 premieres wednesday night, and whether or not lee has caught up (he's got 21 left at the moment), i will be watching it. there are lots of questions to be answered and only 2 seasons to answer them so i'm ready to get started!