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! :)

Visitor #2 from the North

It's official - a plane ticket has been purchased and my 2nd visitor will be arriving in mid-October: Claire!! Claire and I met in college in September 1995 (wow - 13 years!) and have been friends ever since. I thought she was kind of weird back then.......but so was I and I guess not much has changed - I still think she's weird (and I think she would agree)!! I'm super excited to host my next visitor and I know we will have fun in Big D. Claire is usually up for anything and might be as much of a tourist as I am. :) Maybe I'll even take her to Fuel City for an authentic award-winning taco! I am busy making a list of possible activities for us to do - Claire will get to pick which ones she wants to try, but I told her that she HAS to sit on Big Jake (the longhorn steer) at the Stockyards, since Allison didn't get to (we waited until too late in the day and Big Jake had gone home by the time we got to that end of the street!).

To commemorate Claire's upcoming visit, here are some pics (I didn't go back to the college days for these - just a few years back):

These are at Allison's wedding in Minneapolis - November 2007. Claire is the 2nd from the right in the super cute Wilma Flintstone dress. :)

This next one is Claire and I at Ford Field in Detroit (the Lions football stadium) in August 2005.

The picture above and below are Claire and I in Pittsburgh in December 2005. We went there for our big NFL game - the Steelers against the Bears at Heinz Field!

Here we are in Pittsburgh/Heinz Field - ready for the Steelers/Bears game (and the impending snowstorm that happened a little later in the day during the game)!

Now, for you Texas readers, here's what real football is like in the north - they had to use leaf-blowers along the yard lines to melt the snow on the lines so the players knew where they were going!! The only exposed skin on Claire or I was our eyeballs. But we had a blast!!!

God Bless Texas TACOS!!

On Saturday morning before the conference, Mayce and I needed a place to meet to drop off one of our cars before heading into the conference (to save on parking), so she suggested a gas station called Fuel City that is just on the edge of downtown Dallas. She chose that place because interestingly enough, they have a taco stand there and the tacos were recently voted the BEST TACOS IN ALL OF TEXAS!! At a truck stop!!!

So anyway, being the tourist that I am, I quickly agreed to meet there, since I needed to see this gas station with state-wide famous tacos. We didn't have time to look around in the morning, but I did get the feeling that this wasn't the best part of town (passing about 3 different Bail Bond places on the same street and an on-duty Dallas police officer on duty in the gas station). However, there were MANY noteworthy things about this place. Here they are:

This is the famous taco window - open 24 hours!

Very cheap gas there (it's sad that I think $3.37 is cheap, but lately it's VERY cheap!)

And you can't have a good gas station without a few longhorns behind it! I just hope they're not going to be in tomorrow's tacos! (Also - not pictured, but there were 3 donkeys back there as well. I know, very random.)

And as I was leaving, I noticed this sign - I guess it's also won an award for having the best view of downtown Dallas too! Although this is kind of a not-good thing.....if I go there late at night to see this beautiful nighttime view of the Dallas skyline, will I get mugged??

So after all of this looking around, Mayce and I had to partake in the famous authentic tacos - they were fabulous!!!

Keepin' The Faith

On Friday night and all day Saturday, Mayce and I attended the Women of Faith conference at the American Airlines Center in downtown Dallas. It was a great time and very inspirational! There were great speakers, fabulous music and the best part was that they converted all of the men's bathrooms into women's (for obvious reasons - 18,000 women and about 2 men in the arena!) Here are some pics:

And one cool thing that we saw was a live newscast. The Dallas CBS news studio is in the American Airlines Center and it's got glass walls so everyone outside can see them doing the news - LIVE. So during a commercial break, we got a wave from the male anchor!!

How Rude!

On Friday, Mayce and I went to the Women of Faith conference (see future posts about that), but we got downtown early and decided to have dinner at a restaurant that was very close to the American Airlines Center where the conference was happening (home of the Dallas Mavericks basketball and Dallas Stars hockey).

The place we chose was called Dick's Last Resort and it was one of those places where the staff is intentionally rude and mean to you - it was really fun! Our waitress wasn't really mean to us, but she did ball up my receipt in her hand and throw it at me when we were ready to pay! And I ordered chicken, but they don't give you a plate - it's just on this crumpled up thick paper (but they DO take the time to put plastic bibs on everyone). It had lots of interesting (and crass) stuff on the walls and their beer menu was very funny.

Here are some pics of our little dinner adventure:

Note: The drink I would've ordered (Smirnoff Ice) was under the "Wussy Sauce" category!


Don't we look cute in our bibs???


Mayce ordered nachos with chicken and what she got were some BEASTLY nachos!!

Reflections of - PART 2

It is because of the comments to my first "Reflections of" post that I feel I must write Part 2. I have actually been thinking about this a lot since I wrote that post last weekend and I need to thank a few people specifically for stepping in at that time and helping me heal - when I felt I was unlovable, inconsolable, unworthy, and basically a pathetic mess. In addition, I feel very strongly that I want everyone in my life to know how much they mean to me - I never want to leave anything unsaid for fear that if something happened, they might never know how much I love and treasure them. (Note to self: make this a regular on-going feature on the blog, otherwise this post would be WAY too long!) So here goes:

To Lindsay - I thank you a million times over for all you have done for me and how supportive you have been since I met you. You were the one who was there when I found out my Dad died and were the best roommate and friend a person could ask for when I was grieving. You were also the one (and Abby) that got in the car and drove from Minneapolis to Toledo, OH in the middle of winter on a moment's notice and spent New Year's Eve with me right after Paul left. I could never repay you for that and I will remember and appreciate that forever. That's what true friendship is - not going to the mall or talking on the phone about silly stuff, but rather a person who is unequivically there for you when you are at the bottom of the pit. I'm so lucky to have you as a friend!!

To Abby - We worked together and had been friends for several years when I had my crisis in Ohio and I was so honored that you would drop everything and drive out to Ohio with Lindsay to spend New Year's with me. Sorry that it wasn't a very fun time that year! I know you have had some tough things to deal with as well and I truly hope I have been a good friend to you. You deserve it and you have a heart of gold - always giving to other people endlessly. I am so glad we have kept in touch even though we don't sit next to each other at BI anymore!

To Shooter - I'm so thankful that I met you and that we escaped to Building 2 way back when. You, Abby and I were a great team. You were and still are an awesome friend that I can count on for advice and words of wisdom. You are a strong woman and that is exactly what I needed to see and hear during these growth years! I appreciate all of your comfort and support when I needed it most after my Dad died and since then. Love you Shooter!

To Allison - Where do I even begin??? I was kind of kidding when I called you my "therapist" in college....but it turned out that I would need your "services" more than I ever thought! You have been there through thick and thin over the last 13 years and I can't even tell you how much I value your friendship. I know we don't get to talk or see each other very much these days, but you have a very special place in my heart and mind. When Paul left, you came out to Ohio and spent time with me in the dead of January and helped me shop for new furniture and the other things I would need in my new place on my own for the first time. I was scared to death and you comforted me like you had always done in the past - what a blessing! And of course, we both had lots to work through during 2003 when we both lost our Dads - it was such a comfort to have someone that understood what I was feeling, even though it was very sad that both of those great guys had to leave us for Heaven.

I will have to split this up, but it's a start to this *future* regular segment on my blog. I hope that we all let our loved ones know how we feel about them on a regular basis, for none of us knows when God will need us more than this world does.

Note: I used all animal hugging pictures because they are cute and quite honestly, I wanted to convey the feeling of unconditional love that animals/pets give each other and to us humans.

Burning the midnight OIL!

Well, today on the way to church I saw evidence of an oil rig site near my house and I am thinking that it's the one that would be connected to my gas lease that I signed in May. Here is a picture of the site:

Obviously there isn't a full rig there yet, but there are orange signs around it that say "Caution: Seismic Activity ahead". That sounds like progress to me! I guess they drill down and send out seismic waves and then measure how long it takes to get the signal back and that will tell them where there are density changes, indicating oil or no oil. I sure hope they decide to install the rig soon so they can start paying out the monthly checks to the property owners who signed leases!! They estimated that the payments would be $50-$150 per month. It's not a fortune, but that will definitely help pay utility bills, cell phone bill, cable bill - all of those everyday luxuries that cost money!

Here are some pics of fully operational rigs and the anatomy of a rig. Those of you that watch Ice Road Truckers will recognize a lot of the terminology since they moved an oil rig across the ice roads. I never would've known what a derrick was if it weren't for the show!! Right, Stacie??

Reflections of....what used to be

This post is not intended to be sad, depressing or bitter - just reflective. Today would've marked my 5-year wedding anniversary, had I still been married. I actually forgot about it in the last few days, but just happened to see something today that said "August 16, 2008" and then I remembered that something magical happened on that date just five years ago. It was a bittersweet day for me on my wedding day....I was marrying the man that I loved with all my heart, but I was missing my Dad who had passed away just 6 months before. It was probably the hottest, most humid day of 2003 (well, you Texas readers wouldn't think so) in Minnesota, but I didn't care - it was the most important day of my life. I had an absolute blast with all of our friends and family - only good memories of that day.

.........And now fast forward five years........

My life now is completely different than I could have ever imagined on that day five years ago. I was very naive (although I would've told you I wasn't if you asked me then) and I thought that people didn't change and they don't break promises.......but what I found out was that that they did and they do. However, like I said above, this isn't intended to be a sad or bitter post. It's just me saying how I feel in an honest way. I remember that day very vividly, but maybe I shouldn't be able to, considering all that I have experienced since then. I don't regret marrying him, but wish that I could have back the piece of my heart that seems to be gone forever - the part that believes in absolute commitment, trusting completely in someone.
However, as much as I could say that I am permanently damaged by the choices of someone else who I trusted and gave my heart to, I could also look at the things I have experienced since December 2004 when he made that life-changing decision to leave. Here are just a few of them:

*a very interesting job at the convention center in Toledo that was different than anything I had done before.
*travels to Ohio, Michigan, West Virgina, Pennsylvania, Indiana, New York, Canada, etc.
*meeting some absolutely positively wonderful friends in Toledo who I miss terribly
*finding out who my real friends are, who will be there no matter what...and who won't
*exploring my faith in God (which hasn't been an easy or smooth road, but at least I'm on it!)
*discovering that I can live and persevere through so much more than I ever thought possible
*realizing that I was stronger than I thought and I would be able to get through anything life would throw at me
*then realizing that I couldn't do it alone, so I slowly learned how to reach out to others when I couldn't go any further on my own (I'm still really working on this one)
*Developed a tremendous respect for my Mom during these tough years since we both lost our husbands (and everything she has been through in her life) - she's the strongest woman I know
*I have found several wonderful male friends who have encouraged me, loved me and restored my faith in men when I didn't have any left
*having the opportunity and freedom to move to Texas, where I have wanted to live since early 2002
*I bought my first house on my own - something I thought I needed a man to be able to do

I am very thankful for the good things in my life and I do not want to let a very devastating occurence in my life dictate my future and how I live it. I'm certainly not "cured" from what happened - I will never be able to "go back to" the person I was before it happened, but that may not be a bad thing in the end. I'm a work-in-progress and God's not done with me yet.......so I must be patient.

Don't Bring Me Down (I hate that song, by the way)

OK, I'm going to spend about 10 minutes on a soapbox right now (I know what a lot of you are thinking - 'she spends more than 10 minutes on a soapbox!!'). But I will try to keep it short. Here are two pet peeves that I experienced on Sunday and they have always annoyed me but I am now putting words to my feelings. I bet some or all of you (well, mainly the ladies) have felt the same way at some point...

Pet Peeve #1 - When you decide to go shopping for clothes and you find a ton of stuff that you want to try on and once you have gone through the whole clothes section, you head to the fitting rooms. You probably have 15 things you want to try on (like at a TJ Maxx, Ross or Marshalls type store) and you are shopping alone. So you go up to the fitting room Nazi---oh wait, I mean the nice fitting room attendant--and ask how many items you can take in. She says 6. UGH. Now you have to pick out the 6 you want to try on first (and multiple sizes of the same clothing item all count separately - annoying) and hope no one steals the other remaining items from your cart while you're in the fitting room. Then you come out and the fitting room Nazi-attendant lady counts the items back with cat-like reflexes and accuracy. Then you trade some of the clothes out for other items - and make SURE they total exactly 6 again for Round 2 in the fitting room. This goes on FOREVER and then you finally come out and some nasty guy is leaning on your cart with his butt on the handle, waiting for his girlfriend to come out. When you go to escape the insane fitting room area, you grab the cart handle and realize it's all warm from nasty guy's rear end that has been keeping it toasty warm for your hands. ICK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pet Peeve #2 - Untrained bagger boys at Kroger (or any grocery store that has people bag your groceries for you). I never knew that bagging groceries in a strategic way was something that took a lot of training or brain cells, but apparently there should be a training school. First of all, why does idiot bagger boy put a single box of pasta in a plastic bag, along wtih a packet of muffin mix and call that a 'full bag' - whew, that must be getting pretty heavy, that bag might break if we put even a pack of gum in it! However, immediately following that buffoon move, idiot bagger boy then completely fills a plastic bag with about 10 big cans of soup (and maybe throw in a jar of pickles while you're at it - don't want to waste any space!), making it weigh about 900 pounds (OK, that's a little much, but I'm keeping it in here for dramatic purposes). In addition, it is apparent that idiot bagger boy has not taken a science class yet in high school because any SMART bagger boy would know that you bag freezer stuff together because it "sweats" as it starts to melt in the warmer air during the ride home. It is NOT smart to put bags of frozen vegetables in with items that have a thin cardboard box that will get wet and gross when set next to frozen food in a hot car ride home when the weatherman says it's 106 degrees outside in late afternoon!! Agh!

OK, I need someone to help me off this soapbox......I need a nap now............

101 Dalmations (wow - that ties into the 'fire' theme too!)

OK, not dalmations, but this IS my 101st blog post!!! Woo hoo!

Anyway, to answer your comments - the date went alright, but I felt absolutely positively no chemistry for the guy. He was nice and rather polite, but just in that limp sweaty handshake kind of way. I loved the concert though!! Back to the dating drawing board...............

Ring of Fire/Man in Black

In keeping with the 'fire' theme on Saturday.....I went on a date and we headed to the House of Blues in downtown Dallas to see a Johnny Cash tribute band called He Wears Black. It was AMAZING!

The man who plays Johnny Cash was, of course, in all black and he sounds EXACTLY like Johnny. Turns out, he is a distant cousin of the Man himself and has the same body shape, look, sound etc. Anyway, here are some pics of the concert - they turned out GREAT!