The Road Less Traveled

It's Been a While

2008-02-08T23:55:00.000-05:00

I know, I know...it has been a while (okay a long while) since I have posted but something got into me today and here I am blogging again. And boy do I have a LOT to tell you about. Let's see...

First and foremost, John and I got engaged in October while we were vacationing in Las Vegas!! Yay!! I know what you are thinking..."it's about time!" Well...you are right (Love you babe!) and I am so excited and have enjoyed planning the festivities over the last few months. The big day is set for July 19, 2008 in Houston and we can't wait to celebrate with everyone. More details to come I am sure.

Jenn and Marc tied the knot in September and had a beautiful wedding here in Houston. It was so much fun to be a part of their big day and I enjoyed every moment of the showers, bachelorette party, and wedding. Below are a few of my favorite pics from the festivities!

John finally had his Housewarming Party in September and we had a great time with all the family and friends that came out to celebrate.

My mom and I traveled to Boston in August to take in the sights. What a beautiful part of the country. We spent a few days in the city a saw the Boston Commons, Freedom Trail, Faneuil Hall, and Newbury Street. We also took the train over to Harvard University in Cambridge and took a road trip to Martha's Vineyard. Great city filled with tons of history and I would definately go back!

Okay...that's it for now...G'night all!

Vote People!

2008-02-08T23:34:00.000-05:00

No, not for Hill or Obama or McCain...at least not yet...but for our fellow friend and blogger Ruth! Randomness of Ruth has been nominated for 4 Blogger's Choice Awards in the following categories...

Best Blog About Stuff
Best Humor Blog
Best Entertainment Blog
Best Pop Culture Blog

Hmmm...I wonder who the sweet nominator was? :-) Make sure you go online now (yes, NOW) and submit your vote for the best blog of 2008! http://www.bloggerschoiceawards.com/
Love you, Ruthie!

Mas Cerveza Por Favor

2007-05-27T00:08:00.000-04:00

Ah vacation....I cannot begin to tell you how much I love vacations. John and I just returned from a week in beautiful Puerto Vallarta, Mexico and had a muy bueno time. We had a georgeous Villa in Playa Conchas Chinas that was right on the beach, had its own pool and also had a great staff including Hector who always made sure we had plenty of margaritas and cerveza. Too bad he could not come home with us. :-(

The first day we just relaxed by the pool and hit the sack early...some people (who will remain nameless) went to margaritaville pretty early in the night. :-) The next day we woke up and after a yummy breakfast headed over to do the Dune Buggy tour through the rual areas of Puerto Vallarta. We had to wear goggles and bandanas over or faces to keep the dust out. We looked hilarious but had a blast!! We tried to stay dry but John managed to drench us as we drove through some of the rivers on our way to a tequilla factory. There we sampled some tequilla and dined on some real mexican food (althought Tex-Mex is still my favorite).

The next day we decided to be a little adventurous and took a bus ride into the Sierra Madre mountains for Canopy Tours (aka zip lines). I will admit that I was a little nervous about this since the cables looked really high up in the pictures. But let me just say...in real life they were even higher and more unbelievable. So they strap you onto the cables, tell you to get into a cannonball position and then they give you a push and you go flying off from one mountain side to another. Absolutely crazy but a TON of FUN!! One cable was almost a quarter of a mile long!!! Oh, and at the end we got to race someone down the cables and I am proud to say that I smoked John! :-) And I got to hold a monkey (a really small one)...which I have always wanted to do for some reason...so cool!

On Thursday we decided to go for a ride on a sailboat which was really cool. If for nothing else just to have another fun place to lay out and enjoy some refreshing beverages. Only bad part was we had quite a few people get seasick and this normally doesn't happen. But after a little nap most of it wore off.

The rest of the week we spent walking around the downtown area and hanging out at the villa. The trip was awesome and we had a great time hanging out with John's mom, stepdad, Renee, Charles, Joyce and Michael. I highly recommend this city (especially the zip lines) but if you are expecting turquoise water that you can see through and white sandy beaches then Puerto Vallarta is not the place for you. The water is darker and not see through. But still a muy bueno city!!

Is there a doctor in the house??

2007-05-26T23:49:00.000-04:00

Yes sir...there are now TWO new doctors in town. :-) Last weekend I had the pleasure of attending the graduation ceremonies at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and watching my bestest friend, Dr. Megan H. Street and her husband, Dr. Austin D. Street, receive their medical school diplomas. I am so proud of them both as this is the result of many years of hard work and dedication. They are going to be great doctors!! They begin their residency programs at St. Louis University Hospital in June...Austin is in the anesthesiology program and Megan will be in the pediatrics program. Best of luck to both of you!

And of course you can't have a graduation without a little bit of a celebration with fellow graduates. After a little rest we hit the town for Dr. Maria Falcon's graduation party and then headed over to Zen Bar.

Ruthie's Birthday...SO MUCH FUN!

2007-05-26T23:34:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago, the girls and I helped celebrate Ruth's 27th birthday with a night on the town. We had such a blast! Jenn, Jill, Jen, Ruth and I started the night at Front Porch Pub and then moved on to El Patio for some good Mexican Food (queso of course) and some yummy blue margaritas. :-) After that we headed back to Front Porch Pub and then over to...Wild West?? (yes, you read that right) I felt like I was back in College Station at the Hall but we really did have a great time. Thanks girls!

JR's 25th Birthday Party

2007-05-26T23:19:00.000-04:00

So my brother celebrated his 25th birthday at the end of March with family and good food (oh...and a few margaritas and cervezas). We had dinner at La Hacienda back home and then myself, JR, Jamie and Mom and Dad headed over to L'Auberge du Lac casino in Lake Charles to win some money. Well JR and Mom won money at least. I don't have the best of luck when it comes to gambling. But it was a great night! Here are a few pics...

Okay...so it's been a while...

2007-05-26T23:16:00.000-04:00

...since my last blog posting. I will do my best to catch up on the last couple of months so read on and enjoy! :-)

The Latest News

2007-03-19T22:15:00.000-04:00

I hope everyone had as much fun on St. Patty's Day as I did at our cooking class and Keneally's Irish Pub!! It was great hanging out with my girls (and you too Jay and Jason and Trip) and having a couple of drinks. I can't wait to see the pics, Andy! Forward them to me when you can and I will post them for everyone.

I also wanted to congratulate Megan and Austin on getting their first choice in the residency match last week! Its off to St. Louis you go. I will miss you both very much but I will just have to come and visit you often so don't put in too many hours in the hospital. I am so proud of you both! :-)

And thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers. I am happy to say that my grandmother is doing MUCH better and is off the ventilator and back to her old self. She will still be in the hospital for a little while though while she builds up her strength and gets physical therapy but I saw her this weekend and she looked great and her spirits were high!

And finally the last bit of big news to report...John finally has a washer and dryer at his house(they are installing it as I type) so no more laundry days at my house where I somehow end up doing most of it...yay!!

Have a great week everyone!

Prayer Requests

2007-03-13T23:49:00.000-04:00

My family could really use all of your prayers right now.

My grandmother has emphysema and suffered from a collapsed lung and minor heart attack last week. She has since been in the hospital on a ventilator but is slowly gaining more strength to breathe on her own which we really hope she will be able to do at the end of all of this. She is getting better every day so we are very hopeful. My mom, cousin Melissa and grandma's boyfriend, Cowboy, have been taking turns staying around the clock at the hospital so they are all pretty exhaused.

My Aunt Rissa is currently experiencing her own health issue so please pray for her strengh and healing in the coming weeks as they meet with doctors.

This is pretty stressful on everyone in the family so if you could please pray for all of us it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks :-)

JT Brought Sexy Back

2007-03-13T22:05:00.000-04:00

After months of waiting, Lynda, Ruth and I FINALLY got to see Justin Timberlake in concert at the Toyota Center. And let me just tell you it was FAB-U-LOUS!!! He is such a great entertainer and man is he fun to look at. ;-) My favorite part..."make you wanna say my name...girl..." (Lynda and Ruth...you know what I'm talking about). H-O-T :-)

He played a good mix of his two albums and I was surprised to find songs from his new album that I really like now even though I did not like them before the concert. A few not yet played on the radio but that you should check out...
Love Stoned
Summer Love
(Another Song) All Over Again

Here are a few pics (look under my pictures link to see a few others)...

What I'm Reading Now

2007-03-12T19:12:00.000-04:00

Okay...so I like to read a lot (and use "..." when I am writing if you haven't ever noticed) but tend to find too many good books and can't wait to finish one before I start another one. I read just about anything but my favorites are Non-Fiction (anything about the CIA or the middle east conflicts...sounds boring, I know), "girly" novels by Jennifer Weiner and the murder-mystery-who-done-it books particullary by James Patterson. Seriously, I probably have at least 25 books in my queue and just know that by the time I get to them, at least for the non-fiction ones, they will be out of date and no longer talked about.

So on to what I am currently reading...

Are Men Necessary by Maureen Dowd
~I know it just sounds like man bashing but...it's not (well for the most part). It is an interesting survey of gender relations in contemporary settings such as the workplace, the White House, the mall, and the media.
*The Good: A good read if you don't have a lot of time to sit down and read for hours...you can read a few pages at a time without getting lost on the story.
*The Bad: You can read a few pages at a time without getting lost...in my opinion...not a page turner.
*Progress: Almost half-way done (one day I will finish...)

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
~So far this is an interesting book although I have not read enough to really figure out what is going on...so still a little confusing. What I can tell is that there is a man who travels through time and meets up with a girl/woman at various points in her "real" life.
*The Good: This was a recommendation from a freind so I have hope that it will get better.
*The Bad: So far, not a page turner either.
*Progress: May-be 25 pages into the book...

Mardi Gras 2007

2007-03-12T18:42:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago John and I went back to my hometown to participate in Mardi Gras Port Arthur 2007...fun times! Friday night we rode in my Dad's company's float "Krewe of Tankies" and had a blast throwing beads (although we thought we were going to freeze our toes off...literally). Saturday night we went to a party at Mardi Gras with some family friends and Sunday we celebrated my brother, Lance's, 14th birthday...man how time flies.

Here are some pics from the weekend...

My First Blog

2007-03-12T00:12:00.000-04:00

Okay...so I decided to give this a try. In case you were wondering about the title to my blog, it comes from my favorite poem by Robert Frost. No...this blog will not be all poetry but I thought I would share my inspiration. :-)

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveller, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference

...Robert Frost