Ski lodge '07.

Yesterday was my 30th birthday. My fam threw me a really great party and I got more good things than I deserved this year. Everybody chipped in and got me a MacBook, which was totally unexpected and so awesome! And Leeanne got me a trip to go skiiing in Breckenridge over New Year's!

I suspect that trip will serve to just hammer home the point that I'm not as young as I used to be - I'll probably be wicked sore. But it will be fun!
Happy holidays everybody and thanks to all who wished me a happy birthday! It's okay getting older when you have good friends.

Oh - check out Leeanne and I in our new ski outfits...

Tis the Season...

I can't believe it is almost Christmas. This time of year always makes me really reflective and thankful for all the blessings in my life. I had a really bad few days at work this past week and weekend and I have to keep reminding myself about what really matters. Below are pics of what Jason and I are thankful for. I hope each and every one of our blog readers and friends have very happy holidays! We are very fortunate and thankful to have you in our lives.

The picture on top is my parents, Steve and Linda and my brother Jeff. Below are Jason's parents, James and Cathy.

The top photo is Jason's family, with his Grandma who unfortunately passed away in September. On the far right is Jason's sister, Lauren and her boyfriend, Michael.

Above is Jason's grandpa, Louis, who turns 90 this week! Happy b-day, Grandpa!
And below is my grandpa, Gogo, who is 95 years old! I also have another grandfather, Papa Jess, who I couldn't find a picture of but am thankful for him too!

This is us with my brother and his girlfriend Linde. We are very thankful she likes Jeff because we really like her!

And finally, we are thankful for Buddy and Ellie.

Even though Buddy sometimes has accidents and Ellie likes to get into the Nyquil, we are thankful to them for keeping our parents young and too busy to start asking for grandkids!

Batmobile lost a wheel.

This one goes out to all the movie/comic geeks out there.
Click here to see the trailer for The Dark Knight.

Santa Baby....

It's been way too long since our last blog. We haven't had too much to write about...I was sick then J has been sick this week. I went to Nashville for work last week and got to see my parents which was really nice.

Last, last Friday we went to the Mavs game and got our picture made with Santa on the way in. He is the Neiman Marcus Santa and he is really good, very real. So here is that pic...I look really goofy.


And here we are after the game...Mavs won!


So, I hope everyone is having a great December. We (and by we, I mean me) are sending out our Christmas cards this week!

Other good news...our friends Mike Kimbrel and Jenn Mancuso got engaged this past weekend. They are an awesome couple and we are so excited for them. Fun story...Mike lives in Tulsa and had the engagement ring sent to us in Texas to avoid the sales tax (smart shopper!) so we had this huge, gorgeous ring in our possession for about 3 days before he came and got it...very nerve-wracking...but Jenn, I do admit to trying it on once...or twice. We are so happy for them and can't wait for their wedding next year!

25 Days til the BIG 3-0!

This blog probably won't be up very long. I'm sure Jason will break into my account and delete it once he sees it. Jason is still with an agent in Dallas and got new headshots made this Fall. I thought they turned out great...what do ya'll think? Not too shabby for almost 30!

Time for your quarter-life crisis.

Today is Lauren's birthday!
And since this blog seems to have a thing about showing handsome people through the years, maybe we can show some pretty ones, too.

Little Lauren.

Isn't it about time for this haircut to make a comeback?

Teen Lauren.Hey, we all go through that phase. Hang in there.

Today.

We love you sis, happy 25th!

Dogwatch.

My folks are out of town this week and Ellie is staying with us. Which means that this week, the backyard is safe from birds and squirrels.
She's like border patrol, man, diligent and steadfast in her duties. She has even been checking cars pulling into the driveway to make sure no one's trying to smuggle any rodents in.













Not only that, she's kept her perfect record of no "accidents" in the house (the Nyquil incident doesn't count, Leeanne).
Keep up the good work, Ellie.
Look out squirrels.

McDreamy...

Here is a pic of Senior Year on the left (Class of '96) and sometime during Junior High on the right. Jeff, I know you love the turtleneck!

One month until the Dirrttty Thirties!

One month from today, my handsome and much older husband will turn 30. I reminded him this morning before he left for work that he has only 30 days left of his twenties to enjoy. And for your enjoyment, I will post pictures throughout the month of little Jason.

I really hope our kids get my hair!

O' Christmas Trees...

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! We went to Oklahoma for a few days and took a vacation from blogging. I was really excited to come home on Saturday and start decorating for Christmas. I have never been too into decorating but this year, I have become my mother!

I am putting a mini-tree in each room (much to Jason's annoyance) then we are doing a real live tree in the front family room (I've started recycling everything to make up for this environmentally poor decision of buying a real tree). I am done with the mini-trees and hope that Jason will have the Christmas spirit in him to take me Christmas tree shopping tonight!

This is our Texas Tree decorated with all things cowboy and Texas. My favorite ornament is the one below. It is a Chile Pepper with a mustache and a lasso...how funny is that!

This is my favorite Christmas tree because it is pink. I thought it looked best against the blue backdrop of the guest bathroom, Jason thought it looked best staying on the shelf at Target, I won.

This last 2 trees aren't very creative. This tree is decorated with hearts and stars and goes in our bedroom because that is where the love and magic happens. I apologize, that's inappropriate, sorry mom and Cathy.

This is the guest room tree, there is really no theme for this tree. I am going to try to get to Hobby Lobby this week and find some ornaments to give it a purpose.

I hope you are as excited as we are for the holidays. We are so blessed to have every one of you as friends and family. xoxo

Just in time for Santa

We are the proud new owners of a brand new roof. Bert's Roofing and crew arrived about 7 a.m. on Friday morning, they spent all day ripping off the old, replacing the rot and putting on the new. The didn't finish completely on Friday so they came back bright and early Sat. morning and finished. I am posting before and after pics.

Our original roof was almost the same color as our brick...not cute. So our new roof is a dark brown with flecks of mahogany, better known as "Burnt Sienna" (I think I had this exact color in my crayon box, if I remember correctly).

I don't think these photos do the roof justice. Really the difference is amazing. We don't have much pitch to our roof so it is hard to get a good photo. Jason and I plan on climbing up there this weekend to get a good shot. He is never home before dark anymore...I miss daylight savings.


Before

After

King cobra.

Michael Wayne Kimbrel, Jr. No one can hold a candle to this guy. Truly one of my favorite dudes of all time, in no small part due to his skills on the dancefloor and his love of all things U2.

Note the cameo by Mr. James Craig Buchan. Frontrunner in the Best Supporting Actor category for his work here.

Our #1 Fan

We really appreciate you all taking time out of your day to read our blog and sometimes comment. We are fortunate to have a friend whose commenting is giving us motivation to keep on blogging. Thanks Craig!



Craig is the one on the right.

The Biggest Losers

I am addicted to The Biggest Loser on NBC. These people work so hard and lose so much weight, it is very inspiring. At my last weigh in, I was appalled to find that I have gained approx. 12 pounds since I got married. I blame it on the stress-eating from living with Jason. Jason has not necessarily gained pounds, but unfortunately some of his muscle has converted into fat from all my delicious home-cooked meals and his love of Dr. Pepper's.

Well, we are sick of griping about it, so last month we joined LA Fitness. It is about 5 minutes from our house and has really good classes and equipment.

To show you all how dedicated I am to this blog and it's accuracy, I smuggled my camera into the gym this weekend and took some action photos of us working on our fitness. Jason asked me to take the camera into the ladies locker room but I refused.

The hardest part about the gym is that we have to smell Mi Cocina and Picasso's Pizza on our walk back to our car.




Here is Jason after 45 minutes of ab work on his ball.



No caption needed.

We will get the roof pics up tomorrow.

Chuck Norris only uses one chopstick.

Recently at Mediajuice I've been working on a project for the World Combat League.

The WCL is a full-contact, team-based martial arts competition founded by international movie star and all-out bad-a Chuck Norris. It's like the UFC without the grappling and submissions - the goal here is knockdowns and knockouts, people. Similar to my philosophy on life, love, and child-rearing.

Anyway, I'm having to do a lot of research on the man, the myth, the legend that is Chuck Norris.
What keeps popping up most on the web are "Chuck Norris Facts." One of which states that "Google won't search for Chuck Norris because it knows you don't find Chuck Norris...he finds you." They're pretty hysterical.
Click here: Top Ten Chuck Norris Facts

What's even cooler, is Chuck's reaction to the whole phenomenon. Commenting on two popular Chuck Facts, he says...

"Faster than a speeding bullet ... more powerful than a locomotive ... able to leap tall buildings in a single bound... yes, these are some of Chuck Norris' warm-up exercises." I've got a bulletin for you, folks. I am no superman. I realize that now, but I didn't always. As six-time world karate champion and then a movie star, I put too much trust in who I was, what I could do and what I acquired. I forgot how much I needed others and especially God. Whether we are famous or not, we all need God. We also need other people.

"Chuck Norris' tears can cure cancer. Too bad he never cries. Ever." There was a man whose tears could cure cancer or any other disease, including the real cause of all diseases - sin. His blood did. His name was Jesus, not Chuck Norris. If your soul needs healing, the prescription you need is not Chuck Norris' tears, it's Jesus' blood.

Now that's an international movie star and martial artist. Take notes, Jean-Claude.

Cobra Comes to Town

Last night, Jason's good friend from college, Mike Cobra Kimbrel stayed with us while in town on a business trip. J always gets really excited when he sees Mike (see above pic). We had a great dinner at The Porch (sooo good), then came home and the boys got to visit and watch Arizona beat Oregon--woohoo for OU!

I really wish his girlfriend Jenn could have come down too:( She is really sweet and very fun to hang out with. I felt like a bad hostess because roofers started working on our roof this morning at 7 a.m. and it is loud! But the boys had to get up and go anyway. I will post before and after pics of our new roof tomorrow....I never in my life thought I would be excited about a roof.

(This is their morning ode to Chuck Norris. Chuck would not be impressed.)

It's turkey-lurkey time.

Hey kids, if you're thankful and you know it clap you're yams...
If you're thankful and you know it donate hams...
If you're thankful and you know it then for cryin' out loud show it,
If you're thankful and you know it get off your cans.

The Village Church Denton will continue Grace Temple's 20-year tradition of providing the community with Thanksgiving Dinner and our Clothing Closet. Clothing donations, food donations, and volunteers are needed.

Items include: 125 Frozen Turkeys (By Sunday Nov 18th), 360 Brown and Serve Roll Packs, 175 Pecan Pies, and 175 Pumpkin Pies. Also, slightly worn clothing.

For food donations, please email thanksgiving@thevillagechurch.net to let us know what you are able to donate or sign up at the tables in the church foyer by Sunday November 11th. You can drop off your food donations at the Denton campus the November 17-21. Turkeys should be dropped off in Denton by Sunday November 18th.

Clothing donations can be made at the Highland Village campus the weekend of November 11-12 and17-18 or at the Denton campus November 12th and November 18-21.
If you would like to volunteer the week before or on Thanksgiving Day, please email thanksgiving@thevillagechurch.net.

My football fantasy fandango.

I like to think of myself as athletic. Back in the day anyway. Lately, I can't even count on my body to get out of bed without suffering a minor injury.
So, this football season I've taken to living out my dreams of sports glory online and in my imagination! Fantasy Football!
The only activity I know that can bridge the gap between jocks and computer nerds. Great for me, because I've always been a little of both jock and dork - a jork if you will.
After a stunning 6-0 start, I've lost 3 games in a row and last week kissed the proverbial sister with a tie. But it has still been a lot of fun. I'll definitely do it again. Much to the annoyance of Leeanne (you see when you're in a fantasy league you have to watch all the games!).
Yup, fantasy football is fun. But what I'm really looking forward to is when the technology catches up with my fantasies and this is what we see come Monday Night Football...

More of Linde's Work

I wanted to add these pics of our bathroom cabinets that Linde glazed for us. We had our master bath redone this summer and are very happy with the results. www.lindebrowningdesign.com

My Brother's Super Talented Girlfriend

My brother Jeff has a really sweet, super-cool and extremely talented girlfriend (I know, we don't know how he landed her either!). She specializes in children's rooms and furniture.

Currently she is finishing up a room in Preston Hollow for a little girl. I would have loved to have a room like this as a kid....although I did have a very trendy Strawberry Shortcake room (thanks Mom!).

The really cool part of this room is that she painted brown and cream diamonds with paisley's on the hardwood floor. The house is new so they just finished over it and it looks awesome.

My turn.

First of all, I've never been very good at journaling either. Leave that to Anne Frank.

Second of all, I think the fact that we don't lead incredibly adventurous lives or have any kids right now - cute or otherwise - will be the main reason people will want to read this. I think the market is really clamoring for a blog that's not about the adorable little things kids do and say or amazing trips to South America where we have to make our own hammocks from banana trees and eat a beetle. This is that blog!

So, this weekend. What can I say? I know people. There's something about a Cuban cigar...so I hear. I can't tell the difference, are they spicier? I guess you have to be a cigar expert, my lungs aren't black enough to really appreciate it, I guess.

As for Saturday, very productive. Everything on my to-do list marked off! Watch football - check! Take a nap - check! What a day. I should point out, as productive as Leeanne was, a little early to be raking the leaves. Today the yard was once again covered. That tree in the front is relentless!

The Dog Park. I like it, you get to play with dogs, but not clean up after them. Although it did kinda feel like going to a playground to play with kids that aren't yours - you can come off a little weird that way. For the record, this is a chug:
Cute maybe, but check out the bug-eyes.

First Blog (Hope you are happy Micahl!)

I was never good at keeping a diary as a kid, looking back at them, there are many year+ gaps between my entries but I am really going to try to keep up with this blog. We don't have any cute kids to tell funny stories about or hollywood gossip to dish but hopefully this is a way for our friends to keep up with us between phone calls and visits.

So...this weekend...Friday night went to Javier's with our fun friends Tim and Christy Nutter. Jason knew people who knew people so after dinner, we were shown to the humador (sp?) where the guys picked out some nice Cuban cigars and chose smoking those over getting kisses from their wives for the rest of the night. Christy and I had fun watching the guy from Prison Break who was alone (!) at the bar and laughing at the cougars on the prowl. I thought I was doing my good deed for the night when I stopped a girl who I thought had left the size sticker on her dress but it was actually a pocket. I think I have been shopping too much at Target and The Gap, Tory Burch dresses come without size stickers. Oops.

Saturday was productive....raked the lawn, did laundry, nagged Jason, met for bfast with Micahl then we went over to our California friends, Rob and Kay's house. We had a great dinner complete with a fried turkey. We ate way too much but had a great time. We always have so much fun with Kay and Rob.

This afternoon Jeff and Linde came over and we went to the dog park. We saw some really cute ones and got the wanting a dog out of my system for the week. I met a Chug named Jake and an Italian greyhound named Luigi. We finished the afternoon off with my favorite...TCBY then hung out and had dinner later on (thanks Super Suppers!..I will have a whole blog dedicated to Super Suppers in the near future, it has changed my life).

Have a great Monday and enjoy J's version of the weekend. xoxo