Everyone Should Have One of These....

Last year for an early Christmas present, my mom gave me one. At the time I thought it was awesome, but I hadn't yet realized how truly AWESOME it was!

What is it, you ask?

None other than the COCOMOTION!

In case you're like most people, you have no idea what I'm talking about. Let me tell you, this thing is life changing... at least in the way you judge hot chocolate! The Cocomotion is a hot chocolate maker, all you do is add milk and hot cocoa mix and watch it work its wonders! Perfect hot chocolate every time.

So last night Ms. Cocomotion made her 2009-2010 Holiday debut. It has been pretty cold here over the past month, and even more so within the past 2 weeks. We've had our first frost and our first day where the temperature doesn't make it above 65 degrees, both of which are criteria for her appearance.

Last night I had my Young Life girls over for Campaigners (a weekly bible study). I told them the week before that if it was still cold the next week (last night) that I would break out the Cocomotion and they would be in for a treat. So this is how the process works..

Start with all of your ingredients, milk, hot cocoa mix, and marshmallows (if you want them). Ellen brought over some fun Halloween marshmallows for everyone to put in their hot cocoa, so we used them!

Pour in the right amount of milk. Thank you assistant Ellen!

Now put in the hot cocoa mix. This is where there is a small change. Read the instructions on the hot cocoa mix and see how much you put in per cup, now put enough for the amount of cups you're making (in this case, 4) and then ADD ONE! You want the hot cocoa to be extra chocolatey and rich!

Put on the lid and push the "on" button! I know in this picture it looks like there is mix stuck to the sides, but don't worry, the cocomotion takes care of that! Sit back and watch it stir up and heat up your hot cocoa!

If you're not anticipating the hot cocoa enough to forget to take a finished picture of the hot cocoa in the pitcher, you're wrong. That's what I forgot to do.. take a picture before I filled up the mugs.

And this one is pretty blurry due to a slow shutter speed and no daylight (it was 9pm people), but you get the jist and you can see the Halloween marshmallows!

The cocomotion works like magic to make the best hot chocolate you'll ever have. Its at the right temperature (just hot enough where you can drink it and not get burned) and it is the perfect creaminess!

Because I think everyone should have one of these, you can purchase one online here or you can type in your zip code to see if it's in a Walmart Store near you.

Love you all, have a fabulous weekend!

Another Blog Design

For the past week or so, I've been working back and forth with another one of my ACU friends, Dabney to design her blog! It has been so much fun working with her and getting to visit with her (she lives in Ft. Worth) recently.

I'm so excited for her and her husband J.C. who just found out he has gotten his residency (he's on the tail end of medical school) in San Antonio--where they are both from. I know they are both excited to be moving closer to family!

I had such a good time on this design, because she challenged me! She had ideas of what she wanted, and I was determined to find out how to do them, and I did! Thanks Dabney for helping me to grow in my HTML knowledge!

She, her mom, and another friend Danielle started a photography business a while back and my next project if their photography blog. That blog is linked to on the navigation bar at the top of her personal blog if you're interested!

Click on the image to visit her blog and look around!

Coming Right Along

I posted before about the project I am working on a West Texas Rehab. This is the first (real) project I have done on my own, meaning if something doesn't pass inspection or doesn't work, it's all on me. Stressful? YES!

So for the past month or so, I have lost a little sleep thinking, "does that clearance meet ADA?" "did I remember to do this?" "what if something doesn't work out?" when I know that everything works--at least on paper. That's the scary thing, what if I measured wrong? See where I'm going? It would all be my fault! The day we got the building permit was HUGE in my book. It took a lot of work to get there and it was like that stress was just lifted. The closer we get to finishing, the heavier the symbolic bag on my shoulders seems to get. I will be able to breathe easy when all construction is finished and the ADA inspector approves it all.

Well, I couldn't have asked for a better client than West Texas Rehab. I have worked with them for over a year now on different projects and I've made some friendships I can fall back on if something doesn't work out. But enough of the nerves talking, everything seems to be going smoothly so far and they are really making some progress!

This was one of the restrooms a few weeks ago, now look at it!

Just waiting on the stall walls to put in the plumbing and ceiling panels!

This is what the main board room used to look like...

and now!

another before...

and another after looking the other direction!

They were putting up the crown molding yesterday and from there, all they need is the wall covering, chair rails, base boards, doors, ceiling panels, carpet and tile.. We are thinking it's only about two and a half weeks now until completion!

I get so excited every time I walk into the room and see the progress. It is my first little baby, and I'm proud of it! I can't wait until the Staff "Thanksgiving Dinner" when I get to see everyone's faces at the changes. It has been a well kept secret about what is going on in the Board room and everyone REALLY wants to know. I can't wait until it makes its debut!

Brrrrrrrrr.... It's getting COLD

This morning was the first morning of it being REALLY cold! I took this picture after I had gone to a job site this morning, so it had warmed up a little bit! The forecast says it's supposed to be up to 68 this afternoon though.. wow! I hope it's not that cold on Friday night at the football game!

A Little Loot for Baby Lofton

My friend Cherry and her husband Elliott live in Nashville and are expecting their first little one, quite literally within the next week and a half or so. *Cherry I mailed the package last week, but if you haven't received it yet, you can stop reading.. or I guess if you want to spoil the surprise, you can continue...*

I have had so much fun watching her little belly grow in anticipation for this little guy to arrive! And I'm also looking forward to doing a blog design for her once he gets here and they get some Family photos done! Last week, Brandon and I traveled to California to visit my sister and her husband. While we were there, we (my sister and I) made some things for friends.

You see, my sister has been doing this for a while for various friends she has who have or are having little ones, so I saw the perfect opportunity to do the same. She has gotten so good at all the things she's been making, it's going to be impossible to find something for her when she has one of her own!

These are the two I (we) made for little Lofton Raines.

L is for Lofton!

They're long sleeved onesies, because it's going to be winter when he wears them.. and they have the little cuff at the ends of the sleeves to protect his little face from getting scratched.

...and an L for the back

He's going to be such the little gentleman!

And just because they were so small and cute, I had to put a point of reference for you to see their actual size.. they're so cute!

Funny story, I was so proud of them that I forgot to put them in the mail on Monday.. maybe that was on purpose.. but I was showing them to some people because they were just so cute. I realized that might have been a bad idea when one of my young life girls saw it in my purse. I pulled them out to show them and they started yelling "KELLY'S PREGNANT!!" I made them stop and made sure everyone around knew it was not true! They were in the mail first thing Tuesday morning to prevent any further rumors!

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

Remember what I said about PINK?

Like I said before, October is Breast Cancer Awareness month so there are a lot of activities that go on during the month to show support of a cure. You can imagine my surprise when I showed up to the volleyball game yesterday and everything was pink!

Both of the teams had special pink jerseys on, they were using pink towels on the bench, the decorations were pink, the cheerleaders' bows were pink, and even the warm up balls were pink!

It was really cool to see all the pink everywhere and it surprised me that BOTH teams would spend that kind of money just to support a cause! They had originally purchased the pink jerseys with the intent of wearing them in every game in October, but some changes in the UIL rules limited them to only one game, and last night was it.

Most of the people in the stands even had on pink!

To top it all off, it was a great game. Burleson is a good team, but it only took 4 games for Abilene High to beat them. The stands were full of football players trying to be as obnoxious to the other team as they could and it somewhat reminded me of when I was in high school. It was fun to see the bleachers packed without a break in the cheering the entire game.

That's Max in the middle, don't mind him.

After the game we stood around like always to talk to the team and, of course, take some pictures.


These are some of my babies, Ellen (#1) and Tori (#23). I was so proud of them so we took a picture.

CALIFORNIA!

This past weekend, Brandon and I traveled all the way to Los Angeles, California to visit my sister Christy and her husband Mike. It was so much fun, we just wish we could have stayed longer! Being "new" at my job, I don't earn any vacation days for a while, so I couldn't take any days off--the weekend was all we were left with! I was so excited to see Christy and Mike's house that is new to me.. not so new to them!

Brandon never, in a million years, thought he would ever go to California. That all changed when I saw a break in the Abilene High football calendar, and the trip was planned! He even told me how his friends were laughing when he said he was going to LA... for the weekend... We had so much fun and were so glad to spend time with family! Thanks Mike and Christy for letting us come! Now for the pictures!

Saturday morning we woke up and headed for Bill's Pancakes on Manhattan Beach, a staple in Mike and Christy's weekends at home. Afterwards we walked down to the beach to see everything (there are no pictures, because we decided to go "grungy" and not shower).

After breakfast, we cleaned up and got ready for the day. The first thing we did was head for the hills! I wanted a good picture of Brandon and I with the Hollywood sign, and Christy knew just the spot. Last time we (Christy and I) took pictures with the sign, we did it from the Kodak Theater so it was pretty far away, but this time was VERY different. We were so close, it was awesome!

Look what I found exploring in the woods! Are you surprised? I decided to take him home with me.

Such a Beautiful view the other direction

Later we headed into Beverly Hills for lunch at the Urth Cafe, and then a walk down (up?) Rodeo Drive. I have already seen this area so we didn't spend too much time here, but I wanted Brandon to see it (like he cared...), so we went. We had a good time in the Louis Vuitton store listening to a woman talk about he recent botox-type injections in her lips. This is the same lady who, just after walking in said to the sales person, "let's spend some money!"

In front of the famous steps! and yes, my purse does weigh about 30 pounds..

This is his "yes, I'm really here, and I'm really still breathing" look

After our trek around Beverly Hills, we headed back to the house for a little napping, because we're all getting old... then we went back to Manhattan Beach. There we walked around the beach and put our feet in the Pacific (something Brandon had never done). We watched people surf while the sun set before heading to an Italian restaurant for dinner.

I love this picture!

...and I'm most definitely framing this one!

When we went out in the ocean to get our feet wet for a picture (Christy has those on her camera.. maybe I'll post them later.. or she will), my rolled up jeans proved to not be rolled up near enough when the wave hit.. leaving me with soaked pants.

Then we walked down to the pier for some more pictures, fighting our way through the sea of photographers

another beautiful sunset picture

waves splashing on the the pier columns

sisters..

..making faces at Mike..

..and having fun!

Sunday we woke up to Stan's Donuts, headed to church, and then to El Abejeno for lunch. California Avacados make all the difference in the world! Around 3 we said our goodbyes and headed for our plane.

A quick stop in Albuquerque, NM

We made it home around 1:00am to an extremely happy dog, and the warmth of our bed. We had so much fun and can't wait for another time to travel, see family, and have fun!

In Honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, and if you've never been affected by breast cancer, most likely you haven't really notice the many different companies, sports teams, and events held in support of finding a cure. My dad was diagnosed with breast cancer back at the end of last spring, and ever since, he's become a familiar face down at MD Anderson in Houston. The prognosis is good and he is working one day at a time through chemo. If you want to read further on his story, he is keeping up with a Caring Bridge site you can find here.

Back when I was in Houston on business, I met my dad and brother for dinner. I have been wanting a pink hard hat for quite some time, because #1: I didn't like wearing extra ones from the job sites, gross.. and #2 I thought it would be cute! Even though I wanted one, I wasn't willing to buy one for myself, thankfully I have a wonderful dad who loves me and thought it would be equally funny. Plus, it would give him an opportunity to put some stickers on it after all of the hard times he gave me for having such a 'clean hardhat' and 'looking like a rookie.' I also found it to be perfect that the person who gave me the pink hardhat is battling the cancer we're creating awareness for!

So after dinner we got in the truck and he reached behind the seat to pull out my brand new PINK hard hat!

I took it and had our company logo put on the front, so I'm official! My dad put some stickers on there for me too.

Can't forget the Texas flag!

Have you ever wondered what my office looks like when I'm in the middle of a bunch of projects? Well there you go, be glad you can't see the boxes on the floor full of samples! I had to include the heels, it finished off the package! Sorry this isn't out in the field.. I wanted to get it posted, I was too busy the last time I was out!

So in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month, I'm proud to wear my pink hardhat on every job site! Thanks Daddy, I love you!