Walt Disney World

So I totally never blogged about our honeymoon. But that's probably because I didnt HAVE this blog 2 months ago. Anyway, I was looking through the pics again recently (i should really print them too), and thought to myself, well, i think we captured some cool stuff actually! Even tho we left a few days early, it rained on us like a hurricane every single day, and i just had a little point and shoot camera in my pocket, and not my good camera :(

so here's our trip.

We stayed at the pop century resort. Pretty cool photo ops at the hotel alone. I mean, just look at this place! It's colorful with all sorts of oversized items from different decades.





Day 1, we ventured to the magic kingdom. honestly, i was a tad disappointed. but then again, i dont have any kids, and if i was a kid, i would probably love it. Rain pretty much destroyed the usual parade and fireworks and i was really sad.





Day 2, we went to Epcot. Probably my favorite? Well, actually Hollywood would've been my favorite had i got to see more, but im talking about Epcot now... If you ever go, the ride inside the big golf ball looking thing is a MUST. Also - mission to space! That was justins favorite ride. Soarin' is really cool too. And at the time we were there, there were all these super cool disney character shaped bushes!







Day 3 ended up being our last day, because we caught an early flight out the next morning. We spent the morning at Hollywood Studios. I swear the park started flooding. We were in water above our ankles as we exited the park, and it just never quit raining. I was excited to see Lightning McQueen! and we ate at a "drive-in" that was really cool.





Our last night there, we went to Downtown Disney. We did all our shopping at the World of Disney store, and had dinner at Earl of Sandwich. And i then proceeded to make myself sick on a custom made candy apple, that i had no idea they were going to COVER in M&Ms.



I'm still glad we went there, even tho it rained, but I was super bummed we didnt get to go to Universal Studios. So we'll make a trip back one day just for that! :)

I braved the kitchen, and took out a stainless steel pan.

Ok so...my bridal shower was back at the end of March. Justin's grandparents gave us this Emeril stainless steel cookware set.

I wouldnt have registered for it, cause we'd bought ourselves a fairly nice non-stick set recently too, but Justin wanted stainless. So i said ooooook, and put it on the registry at Bed Bath & Beyond. It was the first thing bought. Of course, i knew who bought it cause his mom called from the store to ask us about them. haha! Justin's grandma and Aunt live in Florida and werent going to be able to make it to the shower, so she was shopping for them. Well, since the shower, i was soooo scared of these pans. I had heard these rumors of cleaning nightmares and stainless and i just did not want to clean them the first time and totally screw them up. so wish me friggin luck. leave some tips. tell me what to freaking do! im browning some ground beef in them. i thought that was the least harmless thing to do with them first. tell me. how. to clean the pan!!!!! ah!

PS - when they say "reduce heat" on the instructions - they should put reduce heat to "medium" or "low." Cause i reduced the hit and that chit was sticking.

My niece turned 1!

Time flies...Rylie turned one. And next month her brother Micah will be 3! Micah was my ringbearer, so cute! Rylie looks just like her daddy. and she has no hair. She's almost walking, and trying to talk. She's so much more fun to shop for than Micah. haha! Little girls just have all the cutest little skirts and dresses and glittery shoes. I got her a pair of silver sparkly velcro shoes. They're too big now, but i couldnt pass them up. Besides that, Target had them on clearance for like $3! haha! Since all of their birthdays are in the summer...it usually involves playing in a pool or slip and slide or something of the sorts, and this year was no different!

Here's Micah playin in the water


Rylie trying on a hat she got for her birthday


Blowing out her candle


diggin into the cupcake!

I think I love weddings...I do.

I know I know...you're going WHAT?! But really...as much of a pain in the butt as planning is, i love seeing it all come together. and i love going to weddings and seeing what everyone else has come up with. and im super duper excited ive got 2 friends planning right now. This past weekend, I feel like I drove across the whole country, but it was really only a few hours through Texas, to attend a wedding in Belton/Temple. Texas is huge y'all. I think it was about a 4 hr trip...and i can make it to oklahoma in 8 hrs. Texas is huge. I drove from our house up through Tomball/Magnolia/Navasota, into Bryan/College Station, then through some back roads to Wheelock, and then to visit my great grandma in Franklin. I say visit, but i really needed her to sign the title to my car so I could put it in my name, and i only got to stay for like 20 minutes cause i was in a hurry to get to this wedding. So from there, i went through Bremond and dang near Waco and hit I35 and went onto Belton. Im driving super duper fast cause im thinking the wedding starts at 1. Til i look at the invitation at 12:30 and the dang thing starts at three! LOL Anyway, we make it early, and im glad we did. You see, the bride is a childhood friend I hadnt seen in quite awhile. Her dad used to be my preacher. She had the same earrings and napkins and colors as me. lol! It was nice to be able to talk to her while she was getting ready, and I promised her id take some photos for her too. They were on a strict schedule for photos and stuff, and so i think i was able to get some things her photog couldn't because she was shooting other things like the bridal party. Her photog was Crosswhite Photography, and she does some really nice stuff! There was no flash allowed during the ceremony, and the photographer had to shoot from the balcony. :( We were like 8 rows or so back, on the end, so i tried to get a few pics. There was a beautiful song sang during the ceremony. And the groom's grandfather is a minister, and the bride's dad is, and they split the duties of performing the ceremony! How cool is that!
I wish we could've stayed longer, but we left after the first dance of the reception. We'd been there so long already, and had such a long drive home. The way home...it was through Milano, into Hearne, and back through College Station and Navasota. Whew. At least Justin actually drove some this trip! :-p I want to go back up there. There were SO many cool things on the sides of the roads through the small towns. And every pasture of cows we saw, all the cows were huddled under the shade of the big trees. Cows are smart! And then there was this open green field with a deer in the middle of it. and there were lots of antique shops and old run down buildings. Oh, and lots of cops. Got the car in front of me in Milano. Whew. Anywho, it was an exhausting day. But my friend was beautiful, and the ceremony was beautiful, and I cant wait to see her again. Here's a few photos from Chad & Alisha's wedding!

Oh might i mention - the monitor im on right now sucks. So if the whites look really blown out to you too, your monitor sucks too. lol - cause at home they look perfect! And i dont think im going to resize using the html code anymore. The photos look kinda distorted booo :-/

The groomsmens bouts -


Getting Ready -










Alisha & Her dad


Such sweet stares :)


First Kiss as husband and wife


Mr. & Mrs.


Entering the Reception


First dance




Aaaaah I love weddings :)

I'm boycotting the Kemah boardwalk.

Ok, first of all, i havent been to the Kemah boardwalk since before Hurricane Ike hit us. i used to go every weekend. Be it the car show at Chic-Fil-A/Target (that recently got shut down and moved to Hooters... and i havent been to it since it moved, and now have no desire to go, wtf? but I bet Chic-Fil-A is really pissed off as well as the other businesses around there, cause it brought in a toooon of business and had been going on for years, wtf again), or rock the dock during the summers, or whatever, i used to love the boardwalk. In fact, I kinda wanted to do our engagement photos there or something. It'd have been a lot of fun. Well, we'd been talking about going for awhile, and the last few times we'd mentioned it, we just never went. Well we went last night. I thought maybe..maaaayyyybeee...with the UFC fight on and Eli Young Band playing at the dog track, that perhaps, just maybe, Kemah wouldnt be as crowded as a typical Saturday night. Boy was i wrong. I guess everyone decided to go watch the UFC fight at the restaurants in Kemah. All the parking lots near 146 were all full and im like, great, why even try to find something closer...We were really trying to get to the top of the parking garage and take a night photo of the ferris wheel spinning...so i proceeded to drive toward the parking garage. And I'm driving by the parking lots on the boardwalk itself and i see pah-leeeeenty of parking. So im thinking, what gives?! And then i see these security dudes, and then i see signs saying parking was $6. six dollars. to park, and go eat. now WHY the hell would i want to pay to park, and then go pay to eat, and play games. No thanks! Do they not make enough money on the arcades and the train and the new rollercoaster and stuff that they had to start making people pay for parking? Or are they just greedy sons of bitches? I'm betting the latter. Well they're not getting my money...ever. again. I turned right around and went home. and that's a long ass drive. But a refreshing one. Cause we were in the black mustang. Which has a fresh new gauge pod in it. Blog on that later. But we really just love driving the mustangs. anywhere. with the windows down. even in the summer. with the radio up loud. So ya, when the hell did Kemah start charging to park? Screw you Kemah. Screw. You.

Edit 7/13/09 - Well, apparently it's only paid parking on like Friday & Saturday. But still ridiculous.

America is Phat

Everyone always asks me HOW in the world I walk in these shoes. I don't know, I just do. I love these shoes. They are my favorite bargain pair of shoes ever. They are by Joey O. And I got them at Ross for $14.99. In case you were wondering. But that was last year, and i know they dont have them anymore, so I dont know what else to tell you. Feel free to make fun of my toes. Justin does, I'm used to it. I make fun of the too. Thank you biological father for nothin! HA! Anyway - I dont know how i walk in them either. It's fairly easy on carpet. I get a little nervous on hard flooring. But I can make it down the stairs. If my clumsy butt can make it down the stairs in these shoes...I dont know why other people can't make it down the stairs in shoes that look nothing like these. Oh wait! It's called laziness! Today, I carried a box up the stairs in these shoes, while two perfectly capable folks carried nothing but a cup from a fast food place through the doors of our elevator to go up a single story. Hence, America is considered a very fat country. Fat and lazy. (Seriously, google America Fattest Nation) Except these people I'm talking about weren't fat...just lazy apparently. But I see it every day. And some of the people are quite large, and should be taking the stairs. And I feel sorry for some of them, cause I have a large grandma and listen to her about her weight and back problems, but I don't feel real bad when you just keep eating fast food and taking elevators. Call it rude, whatev, it's totally true. And I watch it on TV all the time on Discovery Health because that channel hypnotizes me! HYPNOTIZES ME!!! But I dont really know anyone 1000lbs or even 600lbs and I cant even imagine that, but i still dont understand what drives these people to put on that much weight. And I hope I dont ever have to experience that first hand with myself or my grandma or anyone else in my family, cause it looks really sad. Sometimes I cry. No joke. But I still love you America. Thank you for discovery health and cable tv. I wonder if those shows make a difference to people tho? Like, I mean, I watch them, and think, holy. crap. I'ma go eat some veggies and hit the gym, a.k.a my living room and my wii, which is better than nothin thank you. But I did see a story on my dvr last week, where one woman had seen another man's story and it drove her to help herself, and that was pretty neat. Oh oh, and then there's the Biggest Loser. Show totally makes me cry. But i guarantee you they've helped a ton of people! oh! and then there's that one show..um..Inside BrookHaven Obesity Clinic. This show makes me mad sometimes. Cause there's people on there that are there because their weight is really life threatening and they know it, but then they dont follow their diet and excercise plans and eventually have to be kicked out cause insurance won't pay for it. It's sad too! And i dont mean any of this rudely (except the people i saw at work this morning, cause that's just irritating), but i dont mean any of it else rudely. I'm mesmerized really. Mesmerized. But I'm easily mesmerized. Lol Hence...i ramble alot. My bad. Didn't mean to write SO much, but there's no point in deleting in now. pft

Oh! And to further give meaning to my blog tag Whats Wrong With the World - yesterday, my neighborhood, truck broken into - GPS and gun stolen. This morning, my bff's co-worker - kidnapped and taken to ATM to pull money out of bank account. WTF PEOPLE. Work for you OWN CHIT! YOU LAZY MOFOS.

Building a Patio = Let's Sit in the House & Do Nothing All Day

All week long we'd talked about starting the back patio today. We wake up, Justin's dad calls, and he's set to come over at 8:30 to begin laying it out. 8:00 rolls around and Justin decides that it's not getting done today. He never really said why? The heat maybe (which aint getting any better til Halloween...). Either way, today was full of laziness. Good for me - I got to catch up on the DVR (So You Think You Can Dance, Extreme Home Make-Over, and stuff). SYTYCD - killer episode Wednesday and I agree with who went home this week. Extreme Home Make-Over - Absolutely THE saddest show on television. I'm serious. How can you not just cry your eyes out every time it comes on? I think this season's the worst too. They just get sadder and sadder. One i watched, was this little 8 year old boy that this family had adopted who has a dwarfism and breaks his bones waaaaay easily. He was the most cheerful boy I've ever seen! And you watch that kind of stuff and you just sit back and take a good long look at your own life and go wow. Wow. and Wow again. Between watching that makeover episode and The Dizzy Feet Foundation announcent on SYTYCD, I'm like, totally inspired. Or I wish to be inspiring. Something. I mean, i do the whole donate to Goodwill thing, and done my fair share of volunteer work in the past, but what am i doing now? nothin. I need/want to change that.

My hand is feeling a tad better - but i think it's only because i sat on the couch and did nothing with it until i started typing this. I've had it all wrapped up and stuff and it really helps. I hope if feels 100% better by Monday, cause i dont want to see a dr. haha. who does? I'm like...ill go in for this..and he'll tell me something entirely different is wrong that i dont see coming. I think that runs in my family. lol

So it's Friday. I've had the whole day off. And accomplished nothing. It feels kind of nice on one hand, til the other hand comes along and im like....ugh what a waste of a perfectly good day to get chit done. But tomorrow - tomorrow...We will hang curtains in the bathroom. And i will order my prints for the walls. Yes. If you go to my knottie blogger links at the bottom of the page, you'll see one called Making Baby G. Her latest post is about the flower photos she's hanging up in her nursery. i've been meaning to have my flower photos printed since i took them back when Hurricane Ike rolled through, and i had nothing better to do while the electricity was out, but to take photos of anything and everything i saw within reach of the 100mm macro lens. So it's been awhile. So im taking her post and using it as a kick in the butt to finally do it. Thanks Z! haha

But now i gotta go make dinner (AH!!!)

Here's a photo i've been meaning to take for awhile and finally did today, where i was outside a total of about 10 seconds, thank you hot cement and bare feet and texas summer.

I Don't Like to Fail, who does?

You know how everyone always says, if you put your mind to it, you can do anything? Well, i just said it again. haha. but i think it's true. My entire life, I've been so used to success. However, success can mean many different things to different people. I didn't have an easy childhood. We shopped at goodwill and i was a nerd with glasses and braces. But I was successful. I made the honor roll and won awards at school. I was in UIL Spelling and always placed. 5th grade started band for me. I played trumpet. I practiced and practiced and I was first chair. Jr year of high school, I was section leader! I was a squad leader as a sophomore. I won awards in theater for best actress and competed in district/regional/state competitions for the performing arts. I moved out, and got my own place, and worked 2 jobs to keep it that way. I've been at my current job for 4 years, and recently got promoted. I started school not knowing how to crop a photo on the computer. And now i do photography, and love to edit photos, and im graphics teams for clubs. All of that is success to me. If I want something, I go for it, and I don't stop til I get it. I started thinking about this last night when Justin was showing me some guitar chords. I was getting so frustrated. But I'm going to learn. He taught himself, and I'll do the same. I taught myself piano, and I'm going to teach myself guitar too. Yep. I know i can. And I'm going to. Just dont expect to see me on YouTube.