Day in the District - Fort Worth!

I received a LOT of culture on Saturday - I went to 5 different museums in one day! There is a Meetup group (http://www.meetup.com/ - they have groups in all areas of the country for all different interests, hobbies, activities - check it out!) that is called New-n-Town for people that are new to the DFW area and want to do fun things and meet people. Anyway, this meetup group made a day out of going to a bunch of museums in Fort Worth since there was a big promotion going on called Day in the District where all of the museums in the Cultural District of Fort Worth had free admission on Saturday. Yay!

We went to the Amon Carter Museum, the Kimbell Art Museum, the Museum of Natural Science and History (but only a small part since they are building a whole new facility right now), the National Cowgirl Museum & Hall of Fame, and the Log Cabin Village. It was a really fun (and hot!) day and I met some new friends too.

Here are some pics of our day in Fort Worth:

This is me at the Cowgirl Museum

Here are some really pretty views outside of the Kimbell Art Museum:

Here are some fun pics from the Log Cabin Village - a glimpse into the past!

Reflections of....Part 3

Well, as part of my resolution that I made in the back pew of a funeral today, I need to be better about not taking anyone for granted and letting people know they are loved and appreciated. So, today's 'tributes' are to Janis, Beth & Colleen.

To Janis - I don't know if I ever truly thanked you properly for all of your help, support and friendship when I first moved to Toledo after Paul left and I had to create a whole new life for myself. After only knowing you for a couple months, you took me by the hand and we went house/apartment hunting in the middle of January and were climbing through snowbanks in the freezing cold! You also helped me find a lawyer, a laundromat (next to the XXX porn store, by the way!) and anything else I needed. You watched Maggie whenever I needed to go out of town, invited me out to lunch and introduced me to CedarCreek Church because you knew exactly what I was looking for and wanted to help. Those are just some of the ways you helped me and were a friend to me. I cannot thank you enough for all you did for me during the darkest time in my life. I know I can't repay you for all of the ways you have helped, inspired and encouraged me, but I do want to make sure you know how much I appreciate all of it. Miss you and love you Janis! Here's a pic of a spunky lady - maybe you'll be this cool when you're older!

To Beth - Oh man, where I do begin...I have never met someone like you, Beth. You are one of the most genuine people I have ever met. You are caring, kind, giving, cheerful, smart, talented, generous, beautiful and honest. I am so honored to have met you. I miss you terribly down here in Texas and our long discussions and shoe shopping extravaganzas (wait - why was I usually the only one buying the shoes?!). You have given me sooo much simply by you being you and showing me what contentment, joy, boldness, generosity and transparency really look like. You have comforted me when I was at the bottom of a very deep and dark pit, and you have called me out on things when I was way off base on my views of life. I know that I can always count on you to have Godly, sound advice that comes only from a good place. What is so special about you is that you are REAL - you have just enough optimism to think there is still good in the world and just enough skepticism to make you grounded and genuine. Phil and Cookie really did do a great job bringing such a special person into this world and I'm lucky and honored to call you my friend.
To Colleen, my dearest Dandar - Wow, I just can't imagine what the last four years would've been like had I not met you. It was such a weird thing that you started at SeaGate just 7 days after Paul left. I was a mess, and I now know that God sent an angel to help me and that angel was you. You made me laugh every single day at work and you made each day easier when I didn't think I could get through another one on my own. We even laughed about me crying in the usher closet! You have such a spirit about you - the room lights up when you enter it. Your energy is infectious and you have one of the most caring, generous hearts. You are always willing to help, encourage, hug or do anything you can to make someone else feel better. You think of other people's feelings before your own and you make people feel instantly comfortable when they meet you. We have been through some weird and painful stuff together, as well as had some fabulously fun times....but quite honestly, I don't think that there was a single thing we talked about that we didn't laugh at! I still keep our Folder of Fun and take items out and laugh about them on a regular basis - what a blast we had! My favorite thing is hearing you laugh - not just laugh, but LAUGH. Your super deep laugh that doesn't stop - it's priceless and I always laughed at you laughing, even though sometimes I didn't even understand what you were laughing about (Erin-Go-Drop-A-Bratwurst-On-The Floor)! Experts say that smiling and laughing adds years onto your life - well I think I'm going to live until I'm about 900 years old (yes, 900 - Extreme Lauri still exists!) because you have brought that much joy to my life. I miss you tons and I love you to pieces, Pollyanna Dindor!

(I've Got The) Funeral Blues

Today I attended the funeral of a friend/co-worker who's Mom I blogged about last week (the one who's Mom was struggling and was ready to die). I wanted to go to the funeral to support my friend Maggie, even though I had never met or known her Mom.

As it got closer to the time of the funeral, anxiety set in about going. Most of you know my intense fear of the physicality of death and everything surrounding that. Add to that the sadness/grief factor and it makes for a very stressful and upsetting experience. So as much as I was fearing it and feeling a TON of anxiety about going into the church, I was pleasantly surprised. It was a packed church and they had a blown-up picture of her Mom on an easel at the front of the church which was very nice. The service was very different than other funerals I have been to - it was not super formal and sad, but rather light, humorous at times and very informal. The people who spoke were very conversational while they talked about my friend's Mom and there were lots of moments that everyone found themselves laughing. It was definitely more of a celebration of the life rather than a preoccupation with the death.

That is exactly how I want it to be when I die or anyone I love dies. I want people to remember when I did stupid things or when I encouraged, helped or supported people - not be sad that I'm having the time of my life with God! Then I started to reflect on how people would describe me after I die. At that moment, sitting in the back row of the funeral, I decided that I needed to improve on some areas if I really want others to think of me how I would like to be thought of. I haven't been the best at communicating with people (calling/emailing), even though I think of people in my life all the time. I love to sit on my back porch swing and remember fun times with friends and family - but yet I don't call that person and tell them that I was thinking about a fabulous memory of them. I need to get better at that.

99 Red Balloons (errrr......maybe not 99, and none of them were red....)

On Saturday night, Mayce and I trekked up to Plano (a northern suburb of Dallas) for a hot air balloon festival that is an annual weekend-long event. It draws thousands of people and had activities and balloon launches all throughout the weekend. We just went for Saturday evening, which included a balloon launch at 6pm, then after that (in the dark) they did some displays of balloons glowing or "burning" as they call it. Then they had a Beatles tribute band perform on the stage (they were not very good), followed by fireworks.

We got into a terrible traffic jam getting there, so we basically sat on the highway and watched the balloon launch from the car, but it was neat to see the balloons lit up in the dark.

Maybe someday I'll be brave enough to take a RIDE in a hot air balloon! Has anyone been in one??

Child's Play

I saw this pottery piece hanging in the Arts Afire studio on Saturday - I thought they were pretty funny since one of my pet peeves is misbehaving, rude or disrespectful children (well, more so the parents of misbehaving or rude children who allow the behavior).

Is this anyone else's pet peeve???

Embracing my inner child

On Saturday, I went to Irving (right next to our offices at work) to meet up with an Arlington single women group that was doing a "paint your own pottery" afternoon. I have always wanted to try this, but never got around to it. The place was called Arts Afire and you just pick out your piece of pottery and they supply all of the materials, paint, instruction, etc. Then when you're done painting it, they put it into the 'oven' (there's probably a technical term for the special oven) and you pick it up in a week. How fun!

I decided to paint a little circular pot with a cover that resembled a Christmas bulb/ornament. I suppose you could use it for candy or whatever. The hard part for me was that when you paint it, the shade is much lighter than it will be after the 'baking' of the pottery, so mine was pink and white instead of red and white (the pink will become a deep red once it's baked). I'm super excited to see the finished product! It was a really good time and I would totally try it again.

Have any of you tried this?

The Humpty Dance

Today I realized that good intentions are just that - intentions. Innocently, I thought I would give Maggie a treat and take her to the dog park near my house in Grand Prairie. It's a fabulous park with poo poo bags, water stations and separate areas for small dogs and big dogs. I was very impressed with the park, which is relatively new and it's only about 5 minutes from my house! So I walked Maggie in and unleashed her. There were only 2 other dogs in the small dog area and I thought she might be able to play with them.


Well, within a minute or two, it became apparent that one of the other dogs was a male and he was quite smitten with my little Maggie. He rushed up to her, they sniffed each other like normal and then he got up behind her and began the 'humpty dance' - just totally going to town! I don't think that this 'new friendship' was 'consumated', but it all happened so fast! I'm very glad that Maggie is spayed so at least I don't have to worry about that aspect. I was just shocked! I guess I'm just not used to boy dogs and their way of showing dominance! The look on Maggie's face was one of despair and a little fear - poor thing!


So......I had her play in another area of the park for a while and then she walked to the gate, indicating she had had enough of this crazy canine swingers club!


I felt really bad for her, so we stopped at McDonald's and shared a vanilla cone. Here are some pics of her waiting for the ice cream cone and then her nearly jumping through the window to get it from the drive-thru cashier!

Decorating the house

Well, since a few of you asked about the decorations, here are a few pics of the decorations I put up in my house:

We had joy, we had fun, we had 'Seasons in the Sun'...

September is more than half over and I finally realized that it was time to put up my fall decorations! Normally in the north, I would have them out starting on Labor Day weekend, but I guess since it has been hot through September, it just didn't occur to me that it was autumn already! So, I dragged out the totes of pumpkins, acorns and other decorations and had a blast putting them all over my house. It was kind of a fun new adventure since this is a new place and I had to find all new locations for my fabulous pumpkins that I love so much. Fall is my FAVORITE season for a number of reasons:

**warm days, cool nights

**pretty harvest moons

**the smell of dry leaves and fireplaces

**apple orchards

**pretty red/orange/yellow leaves on trees

**carving pumpkins

**Halloween decorations

**fond memories of my Dad taking Kristi and I Trick-or-Treating with our plastic pumpkins

**football on lazy Sunday afternoons

**apple cider with a cinnamon stick in it

**Mom making wild rice soup (I still cannot get it to taste exactly like she makes it....)

**lots of school supplies at Target (I know, I'm a nerd, but I love office/school supplies)

**getting out your favorite sweaters and blankets as it gets cooler

**corn mazes & hayrides

**haunted houses

Mother's Day in September

My heart has broken for two friends this week who are dealing with the loss of their Moms. One friend's Mom died of lung cancer this past Saturday (the funeral was today in Minneapolis) and one friend's Mom is still in the hospital struggling terribly with several life-threatening health problems, but has already lost the will to live and is declining in health very quickly. The end is approaching and my friend is just torn with many emotions.

I don't typically mention prayer requests on my blog, but maybe it's time to start. A woman's Mom is a very important person in her life and that is a terrible, very painful loss (I am still VERY lucky and fortunate to have my Mom, but I do know what it's like to lose a parent and it's devastating). I would just ask that you keep these two women in your prayers as they struggle, grieve and seek comfort during this tender time.

Puppy Love

I just finished reading Marley & Me - a book about a guy and his dog. He describes life with his furry friend from the time he and his wife got Marley as a little puppy until the time when they have to say goodbye. Oh man, I have been sobbing for about a half hour now. I haven't cried this hard since I was going through my divorce several years ago. It is just absolutely heartbreaking how he describes the end-of-life stage. Ugh.........

Has anyone else read this book??? Did anyone else cry loud and hard at this one like I did???

http://www.marleyandme.com/

Port Aransas, TX - My first trip outside of DFW in 6 months!!

Well, as Mayce and I were preparing to head to the Texas coast last weekend, I realized that I hadn't left the Dallas/Fort Worth area in 6 months - since the 2-day trip down here when I first arrived in Texas. This was alarming to me since I've never stayed in one area for 6 months straight before! But there is soooo much to do here that I didn't even realize that I hadn't left....until I was leaving!

Anyway, last weekend Mayce and I joined 8 of her friends from San Antonio (including her younger brother David) and headed to Port Aransas/Mustang Island just outside of Corpus Christi on the Texas coast. I'm so glad we went that weekend and not this one since we enjoyed the coast just before Hurricane Ike destroyed it. Mayce and I drove down to San Antonio on Thursday afternoon and hung out there with her brother and friends that night. (BTW - we stopped to get gas in Austin on the way down there, so now I can add that to the list of cities that I've been - but I still need to go back to explore and be a tourist).

On Friday morning, we packed up the car and met the others and caravaned to the coast. We bought a bunch of groceries and settled into the 3-bedroom condo. After hanging out for a while, I walked down to the beach with two of the guys on the trip to look for sand dollars. When we were playing in the water (which was like bath water, by the way - wonderful!) we came upon a huge coconut/pod-type thing. We were scared to touch it, but eventually the guys carried it up to the condo and everyone speculated about what was inside of it since it was huge and didn't look like a regular coconut. We were kind of freaked out by it and most of us joked that aliens were going to pop out of it at any second. On Saturday, we decided to crack it open, so the guys beat it against lots of hard objects until it opened. Inside there was a bunch of bark and then a coconut! I think it was rotten because it stunk, but our theory is that it washed up from Hurricane Gustav and it was originally from Cuba or Haiti or something! Here's a picture of our "pod"/coconut!
On Saturday, we played in the ocean and also in the two pools that were at the resort. I didn't get too sunburnt, but I did get somewhat pink in the sun. Our condo was right on the beach, so it was very breezy and we had fabulous sunny weather. In the afternoon, we headed into town and shopped for souvenirs and got sno-cones.

Here are some pics of our view from the condo, the beach and the pools!

Here are pics of the 'boys' and the 'girls' before we went out for the evening on Saturday:

In the evening, we got dressed up and went to The Crazy Cajun, a small restaurant that serves something called The Hungry Cajun - a family style meal where they just dump the food on the table and you just eat it off the white paper. Everyone liked seafood (except one other girl), so they dug in and ate all the nasty crab legs, crawfish, shrimp, potatoes, sausage, etc. Elvia and I are not seafood fans, so we ordered ribs. I was thinking that I would get a plate, but NOPE - our ribs, corn on the cob and potatoes were dumped on the white paper too. It was really fun!! But it was a VERY messy meal - definitely not a "first date" kind of place. :)
We then went to a bar/club called Sharkey's and had drinks and listened to music....a very interesting place!
On Sunday, we packed up and headed back to San Antonio to switch cars and drive back to Dallas. That weekend with the 10 of us was just what I needed - to get out of town, hang out with a group of friendly, fun and wacky people and see several new cities in Texas!! They go every year on the weekend after Labor Day (much better rates after the holiday) - I can't for next year!

Let There Be Light!

Well, I have graduated to a new level of home improvement skills - I installed 5 new light fixtures (wiring and everything!) all by myself!! I didn't get electrecuted or anything! Jeff (Teresa's husband) taught me how to do it when we put up a new chandelier together. Then the next day, I used my new skills and knowledge to do 5 other ones on my own! YES! These small victories give me the confidence to tackle new projects by myself. I also fixed a towel bar in my master bathroom too.

Whisk Me Away

This is kind of a random post - but there is a chain restaurant around DFW that is called La Madeleine and it's decorated like a french chateau. They have a bakery in front and then it's cafeteria-style with salads, sandwiches, soups and breakfast items too (like quesh, etc.). Allison and I went there when she was in town - I love it! It even has a fireplace in the middle of the restaurant.

Anyway, this is a picture of their door handles - aren't they cute??


PS - In the bathroom, they have a recording going that teaches you french words and phrases. Love it!

The Doctor is In!

On a road trip due west with Mayce recently (to drop off our dogs with her Mom so we could head to the Texas coast), we stopped to get gas in Dublin, TX. I thought it was just an ordinary town until I learned that there is a Dr. Pepper bottling plant there (amazing!). It is the only Dr. Pepper bottling plant that uses real pure cane sugar in their pop (and yes, Texas readers - I did say POP). It's a little building and reminds me of a preserved old plant, but it is still operational! Mayce bought a six pack of the pure cane sugar Dr. Pepper for us (the pop comes in little 8oz glass bottles!!). I couldn't tell the difference in taste, but I guess there are people from around that town that will only drink the Dublin Dr. Pepper. Ha!

Back in Black (ooorrrr...in RED)

OK, I will continue blogging - but you all better leave comments!! That's what makes blogging fun. :)

Protest!

Lately I haven't blogged (as my regular readers probably have noticed) because I am boycotting my own blog. This may seem weird, but I found that I was spending a lot of time writing it, uploading pictures, formatting it (and having fun with that, by the way) but most people who read it don't comment on it. I currently have over 3,200 hits on my blog since July and not that many comments. The reason I enjoy blogging is the interaction that I get from the comments from readers, who are almost all living very far away from me. It's an easy and fun way of staying connected, but I felt that it was one-sided and so I started up on Facebook to interact more. I would love to continue the blog, because I'm starting to meet people, explore and have lots of great things to blog about, but I really want the interaction with the readers...

Thoughts? I miss all of you terribly and I want to hear from you! :)