Keeping up with the Manns

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2010-08-27T08:53:00.002-05:00

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I'M MOVING!

2010-02-01T17:03:00.000-06:00

I'm moving on up, and headed over to my own domain!! The only thing set up at this time is my blog, but I just wanted all of you to know you can now find this blog at: kmanndesigns.com/blog

See you there!!

TASA Convention

2010-01-27T09:36:00.000-06:00

I spent the last few days in Austin for the TASA (Texas Association of School Administrators) Convention, also known as Midwinter. You're probably thinking why. Well, in case you didn't know this, my firm specializes in public education (K-12), so being at these conventions is a must. If not for anything else than to see your clients.

So this was our booth..

Steve is on the left talking with a guy from one of the companies we like to use for gym flooring, and on the right are Tim and Richard. I want you to notice something though...

This was our booth at TASB back in September:

And here's our booth now...

There are a few things that were new for this convention that I was able to be in charge of! We got new carpet, new counter tops, new chairs (because the old ones were beat up) and a TV. Before the TV we had a small projector screen with the projector inside playing a slide show from the computer. Now, we have the TV playing a movie that I made off of an AppleTV. If you've never seen one, they're pretty sweet.

Here's a better view of our new carpet:

Isn't it so fun?

I was so excited when I found out that Tim would be joining us again for the convention. Tim is one of our consultants and owns Yaggi (like Aggie with a-Y) Engineering out of Arlington. He and I got to know each other in Houston at TASB and I like to say he's my BFF so I had to get a picture with him!

Then Theresa stopped by...

Theresa and I have known each other for some time now. She works for one of the Construction Management groups we've worked with a lot recently and she is so fun! This is the look she gave Steve when he picked up the camera to take a picture of us.. she was also saying "oh geeze!"

The second day at the convention, I noticed something across the way...

See that guy in the yellow? Well, I didn't take a picture the first day, but he was sporting a bright red coat and an awful tie. When I saw him at first, I thought it was part of their booth... then I noticed the other people he worked with dressed normally, so I had to sneak a few pictures.

You can't see the tie very well, but the tie the second day was just as bad as the first. Please notice the other two guys he is talking to, they all work together.

We were joking that he looked like a used car salesman, or someone out of the movie Anchorman.

So that was TASA. It is so fun to see all of our clients and visit with them. Every person I have worked with since I've been with this company is just so great, and I love getting to know them through these various things!

Erika & Kanyon's Wedding

2010-01-25T18:10:00.000-06:00

Saturday evening was Erika and Kanyon's wedding. Erika and Kanyon are (well, were) two YoungLife leaders with me and I'm so happy for them. It is always great to see such God-fearing couples come together in marriage. They will do great things for His Kingdom.

Their wedding was so sweet and so perfect for them. They had the ceremony at the Chapel on the Hill at ACU.

If you haven't ever been to ACU, the Chapel on the Hill is so pretty. There is stained glass on two sides and the colors are just brilliant. My favorite memories of Chapel on the Hill are from the days of Sing Song. Before each show, we (Siggies) would always meet and worship together in there. The acoustics in that room are incredible especially when you put 110 beautiful women's voices in harmony worshiping together. It will bring tears to your eyes.

Enough on that, back to the wedding.

Erika wore her mother's wedding dress that was re-built/designed for her and it fit her perfectly!

Here's the front (well, I guess side)

and here's the back.

If you don't know Kanyon, you don't know that he's a true, full-blooded, country boy. It is rare to see him without his cowboys hat. In honor of this, Erika wore some white cowboy boots and they were perfect!

And here's the groom.. there was no chance I would get a pic of the two of them together unless I followed them around, so you'll just have to get over it!

We also ran into some old friends!! Hi Sawyer!

thanks Bryan!

I love this man!

and last, but not least!

I could have taken this precious thing home! He was the ring bearer and his tux with boots and cowboy hat combo were nearly too much to handle, then he started dancing!

Congratulations Mr. & Mrs. Brown! We're so happy for you!

I spent all day in the convention hall here in Austin and things have gone great! I'm headed out now to take about 30 clients to dinner! More pics to come on that later!

One down, One to go...

2010-01-24T19:53:00.001-06:00

I mentioned something last week about the chairs I'm re-upholstering... and I also told you not to mention anything about how long it has been since I started them. I have good news though! One is finished!

I had to order the tack strips online because Hancocks in Abilene either can't keep them on their shelves, or they can't manage to get them in their shipments.

The other night B and I went to Lowe's to get a legit staple gun because the one I had wasn't cutting it and I had been recycling the old upholstery tacks I had taken off the chair.

When we got home, I got to work and it was finished in no time!

This is what the poor little chair has looked like for literally 6 months.. the main seating area was finished, but the edges and back were not complete.

Here it is now, edging and everything! This was just a quick photo I took before I had to get ready for Kanyon & Erica's wedding (more to come on that later), so sorry about the quality! In the middle is a pillow I made with my scrap fabric and brand new sewing skills! I don't have a pillow form for it yet, and I don't know if I'm actually going to use them, but I was in the mood to sew and I had that fabric on hand!

Here is a quick close up of the welting and bottom panel! I am so proud of myself, and I'm very happy with the result! Most of all, I love that these chairs came from my grandmother.

I love older furniture for its character and the stories that each piece has. Going to a furniture store and buying everything brand new is nice, but to me, you can't beat the character of these older pieces. I love putting the life back into the furniture, and knowing that it is unique and no one else has it!

So there's one. I didn't have time to take a picture of it before, but I haven't started the other and I will be sure to before I do!

What I found when I came home...

2010-01-21T17:13:00.000-06:00

We live in a one bedroom apartment that is the top floor of a house. To get to our front door, you have to follow the sidewalk around the house to the back and then go up the stairs. There are many reasons why we like this, and many why we don't, but this isn't about that... We don't have a backyard, rather we have a side-yard on the side of the house. Up against the stairs (between the stairs and the lot behind us) is Bridger's kennel.

This is not your standard small kennel... this thing is spacious. It's about 10 ft wide and 15 ft deep. On top we have a sun shade made out of that special mesh stuff (i'm getting really technical here), so in the summer, the temperature in the kennel is fairly nice.

Inside the kennel Bridger has a concrete slab with about 5 inches of dirt on one side, a (what I like to call) trough for water, and a dog house to keep her warm from the north winds in the winter (i.e. now). We have to have this kennel for Bridger because she gets bored and will start to "explore" meaning, she will jump an 8ft fence, or literally figure out how to open the door to the kennel, or better yet eat her way out. This is the only kennel Bridger has not been able to get out of. It's one solid piece, too heavy for her to lift, on mostly concrete so she can't dig, has a roof, and the latch on the door is also reinforced with a chain and carabiner. And that could also be because she is 2 and a half now and just starting to mature.

Anyways...

Bridger is very content in her kennel. She has several times gone over to the door and asked to go in it when she's had the luxury of being in the house for an extended period of time (side note--that was before Santa brought her a bed, now I think she prefers the bed).

Bridger does a lot of things that are very weird for a dog to do. I wish I could video them and show you because she has B and I laughing at least a couple of times a day with something she does. One of the weird things she does is that she has probably only used her dog house for its intended purpose a couple of times. Yes, that includes days that it's pouring down rain and cold. Bridger would prefer to assume this position...

She loves being on top of her dog house. I don't know why, but she does. Sometimes she'll jump up on there the minute she walks into the kennel, before the door is even shut. Usually she can hear my car pull into the driveway (remember it's on the opposite side of the house), or hear the "honk" it makes when it locks and she'll jump down waiting patiently for me at the door to round the corner, but sometimes I think she just doesn't care.

Yesterday was one of those days.

She just sat there a top her dog house with her "manners" for me to let her out. One of my favorite commands that she has is her "manners." When we're at any door or she is in any kennel-type fixture, we can say (if she hasn't already assumed the position) "Where's your manners?" and she will immediately sit down and wait for you to tell her to "go inside" or "come here."

It's nice when you're fumbling with your keys, phone and purse and you don't have to deal with a ridiculously excited dog... until you release her of her manners.. then she goes wild. (only slightly kidding)

So that's what I found when I got home from work yesterday, Bridger trying to look as pitiful as possible right before she went nuts!

Tomorrow is Friday!!

A Day in the Oilfield..

2010-01-20T08:35:00.001-06:00

(Over a Year Ago)
So, I was flipping through the nearly 180 pictures on my phone the other day and I found so many that I had forgotten about. That's where this post originated. Last January, I was busy making last minute changes to what I wanted my hair to look like for the wedding, going to showers, and getting ready for my bridal portrait session--I can't believe that was a year ago! While I was busy planning our wedding, B was busy working at a fairly new job.

He worked in Snyder, TX for a year as an accountant at a big publicly traded drilling company where he learned that corporate America was not his cup of tea, neither was sitting behind a desk with the same schedule and tasks every month. But it was a learning experience for him, one that he had to go through on his own and ultimately one that would benefit him in the future.

So a year ago in November, B started a new job with a crude oil marketing company here in town (Thank God I didn't have to move to Snyder) where he became their lease manager and the operations manager for the energy company that company also owned. This job has been a blessing to us in SO many ways. B and I were talking the other day about one of his friends (Wes) from the company he worked for in Snyder, who B still keeps up with and splits a deer lease with. Wes has a wife and a 3-year old and has been working for this company for years. Over the past 6 months, poor Wes has had to work 60, 70, even 80 hour weeks traveling (from Snyder) to Dallas--sometimes driving, sometimes on the company jet--and then working to make up all of the things he missed of his regular duties back in Snyder on the weekends.

I can't imagine B being gone that much.. and working that hard at a job he didn't like. That is just one of the things I'm so grateful for with his new job, and there are plenty more to go around, but I'll get to the pictures...

So last year, B had to run out to one of their leases on a Saturday morning because all of the wells need to be gauged everyday, and his pumper (who usually does this) was sick and in the hospital. Since it was a Saturday, B asked me if I wanted to go out there with him and I jumped at the offer. I mean, I wasn't getting out of the truck... but I thought it would be fun! It was about 18 degrees outside with a 20mph wind, another reason for not getting out of the truck.

So if you're interested in what B does all day, here's a little snippet... (all these photos were taken on my phone with no editing.. get it iPhone!)

Just a couple of tank batteries.. nothing in the oilfield is clean--no kidding, I didn't get out and I still got dirty

here is one of their smallest pump jacks.. just 1 of something like 53.

Here's B gauging one of the wells.. and probably freezing. I made sure to enjoy the heater and seat heater.

and here is that pump jack

Here's the pulling unit (i think).. all this equipment is hard to keep up with.. I do know that this one is named Yarby 1--after the guy who owns it

and here is the only evidence that I actually got out of the truck, but I was bribed with a Dr. Pepper. I took this picture because my mom had been begging me to send her a picture of B's new truck.. this is clean for his truck, you should see it on a regular basis.

So that's what my hubby does on a daily basis, but not really. He does all kinds of things that I couldn't even begin to talk about, because I know nothing about them. The main thing is that he LOVES his job, and he loves that he gets to be out in the field--normally in the country--just being a guy.

FREE Blogger Backgrounds!

2010-01-18T17:20:00.001-06:00

Ladies and Gentlemen..
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                  Moms and Dads...
                            Brothers and Sisters...
                                        and ALL other bloggers out there...

I HAVE AN ANNOUNCEMENT!

KMann Designs

now has FREE (that's right, I said FREE)

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More will be added as the days go by and seasonally, but I wanted you to know about a SPECIAL I have going to launch the freebies!

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(that's 60% off)

Offer ends 1/31/10. Custom Header can include up to 3 personal pictures, title and subtitle of the customer's choice, and coordinating elements to the Free Background used from the KMann Designs Website. Email kmanndesigns@gmail.com for more details.

I LOVE Fridays!

2010-01-15T08:14:00.003-06:00

Well, Hello Blog! It's been a while! This week I've been incredibly busy for many reasons, and all of my spare time (when I usually write a post) has been filled by other things.

Many of you were asking how the interview went.. It went really well. We won't know for a while if we got the job or not, but things are looking pretty good! I really wanted to see the design the other firm came up with, but they weren't there at the same time so I couldn't. That being said, I'll let you know!

**UPDATE!!** We got the job!! We beat out the other firm solely based on our design over theirs! It's a HUGE step for my career here in town and a huge step for the company!!

In other news, things have been crazy for me at work. I have been busy since the end of December getting things squared away for a convention we have coming up in a week in Austin. I have done all kinds of things to get ready for this event including modifications to our booth, setting up dinner reservations with some school superintendents, and tying up loose ends.

On top of that, I spent the bulk of yesterday remaking a power point for an interview we had with another school board last night, and things went well.

Needless to say, I'm so glad it's Friday because I get off at noon!

Outside of work, I've been sick. Then I got better and got my brand new sewing machine (a Christmas gift from my sweet hubby) and went to work! There are no pictures of this because I was having too much fun to stop! I have sewed the welting for the chairs I'm re-upholstering.. don't remind me how long they've been unfinished. and then I practiced making something for my sister when she finds out in 10 weeks if I'm going to have a niece or nephew on some less expensive fabric and it turned out great!! I'm not going to disclose what it is I'm making her.. because she reads this, but it's SO cute!

Tonight I'm going to a special dinner for the West Texas Rehabilitation Center and B is headed out of town for some hunting with some friends. After my dinner some of the girls are coming over for a movie, and I'm so excited! Then tomorrow night B is coming back in town because he and I and the two partners and their spouses are taking some of the school board members from Ballinger ISD out to dinner at Perini's and I'm SO excited!

I'll leave you with this picture from this past Sunday when B took Bridger hunting...

I wish I was feeling better because I would have gone with him and brought my camera for some better photos, but the iPhone will just have to do!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Wish me Luck!

2010-01-11T19:39:00.002-06:00

I've been battling a spat of bronchitis for the last week and it's getting old. Waking up at 3:30am from a coughing fit and moving to couch to at least let my husband get a full nights' rest isn't really my idea of fun. Thankfully I'm on antibiotics, but unfortunately I'm not feeling them yet.

I am however feeling the abdominal workout I've been getting lately.

In other news, I've been really busy at work. About a week ago we got a phone call from a development group who had just purchased a building here in Abilene. If you're familiar with Abilene, it's the Chase bank building. After talking with the man for about 5 minutes, I had been told to come up with a proposal on renovating the lobby to present to the owners on Tuesday the 12th.

Unfortunately, the man didn't have any idea what they wanted to do to the lobby.. just that they wanted to change it.

So with no direction, Angela (a girl from my office) and I have been putting our heads together to get something going and with no days to spare, we're right on track.

We present tomorrow at 11:00 and as far as I know, there is only one other firm interviewing.

This is a rendering I did today of our proposal for the lobby. This is a small portion of the lobby, but we think it has come together nicely.

Wish me luck!

Just HAD to share!

2010-01-06T10:30:00.003-06:00

So, I haven't cooked a "from scratch" meal in a couple of weeks because.. well, I've been busy and tired and getting home late and out of town and any other excuse I couldn't come up with off hand.

Thankfully it doesn't take much to satisfy B, so I'm usually ok if I decide to take the night off and just make grilled cheese.. or even worse, ask him to make pancakes--because pancakes have always been the job of the dad in my house, and even though he's not a "dad," I still like for him to do it!

Monday night I went out to eat with some of my YoungLife girls, and when I got home, I found my poor little husband eating oatmeal for dinner (which he was happy about). So I decided I needed to plan out our meals for the next few nights.

For Christmas, my Aunt got me one of my most desired gifts...

Ignore the produce bag and just look at the cookbook. If you don't know about Ree Drummond, AKA The Pioneer Woman, you should. She is a very talented woman, and I just love reading her blog--but don't worry, so do thousands of other people! Well she just came out with a cookbook about 3 or so months ago, and I've wanted it so bad! Then she went on a 6-week book signing tour and I almost called in sick to work to drive to Dallas and go. But thankfully, my Aunt Lynn went for me... and my mom, and my sister, and who knows how many other people, but I'm so excited about it!

and yes, you can be jealous that mine is personalized and autographed.. If you want to read about PW's stop in Dallas, and see a picture of my Aunt Lynn on PW's blog, you can go here, my Aunt is the lady in the second picture, and now she's famous!

So back to my story about my lack of cooking..

Last night I had planned on making pork chops, but I had a little extra time so I decided to make my first thing out of PW's cookbook: Pizza and it was DELICIOUS!

I hadn't planned on taking any pictures, or even sharing any of it with you, but it was so good that I just HAD to!

This is also the first time ever for me to use this cookbook stand.. I usually just lay the recipe on the counter.. or better yet, put it on the fridge with a magnet!

So I started with the crust. I've never made pizza from scratch before so I wasn't sure if my tiny little kitchen could handle it, but it was surprisingly easy!

I whipped out my lovely KitchenAid Mixer (that I have yet to use before last night) and had to find a place to plug it in. I have only two plugs in my kitchen, one for the fridge and microwave, and one for the coffee maker, toaster, and small convection oven (we have to alternate). I opted to unplug the microwave because it's the only plug close to an actual counter top and luckily I discovered my mixer fits sideways in front of the microwave--you have to get creative when you don't have much space!

I got to making the dough (I halved the recipe)
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp active dry yeast
3/4 cup warm water
1/6 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp kosher salt

Put the water into a bowl or (like me) larger measuring cup and sprinkle in the yeast.

Then combine the flour and kosher salt into another bowl (or your mixer bowl) and turn mix with an electric mixer on low speed.

Once the dry ingredients are all mixed up, drizzle in the olive oil.

Then, using a spoon, stir the water/yeast mixture really well and slowly add to the flour mixture.

Let the mixer run until it all combines to form a ball.

Now grab a clean bowl and drizzle it with olive oil. Once you've done this, place your ball of dough into the oiled bowl and flip it over to coat it with oil.

Place a moist towel over the bowl and store it in a warm dry place for 1-2 hours.

After you've let it rise a little, take your sheet, in my case just a small cookie sheet or you could use a pizza stone or whatever, and drizzle it with olive oil.

Place your dough on the sheet and use your fingers to spread it out to the desired thickness being sure to make the surface bumpy to receive your toppings.

You can really add whatever toppings you want here, this is just what I chose.
Put on a layer of pesto and then take slices of mozzarella and cover the pizza. Then add roma tomato slices all over the pizza and cover again with mozzarella and top with fresh grated Parmesan cheese!

When I saw this, I decided I needed to share.

And then I turned around and saw this, and decided I needed to share... I got lucky on this picture because I wasn't even looking!

Then I decided to show you the size of my oven. For a counter top oven, it's great.. but that is literally my only oven, so all baked quantities must be small.

Then I decided to show you this one last time..

And the finished product...

YUM! It was so good, I will definitely be making it again! I can hardly wait to get home for lunch to eat the left overs!

I hope you enjoy it! And Christy, I hope you could make it through without feeling nauseous! (She's 6-weeks pregnant with my little niece or nephew!)

New Years Festivities

2010-01-05T10:05:00.002-06:00

For New Years Eve this year, B and I headed up to Lubbock to spend the night with Grant and Laura before continuing on to Amarillo on New Years Day to see his Grandparents.

While we were driving I was playing with my camera and my new lens (thank dad!). I only took one picture while we were in Lubbock because we were all having so much fun playing games and wii tennis (by the way, my arm was soar for two days)! The one picture I took I'm atually not going to share because I think Laura might kill me if I do! It was taken right before we left and neither her or Grant had showered yet because they were cooking us a wonderful breakfast, so you don't get to see it.. sorry!

Have you ever wondered what it looks like driving to Amarillo?

Well there you go! There's hardly any trees and until you get closer to Palo Duro Canyon, there's not much change in elevation either.

When we got to Amarillo (after I stopped at Dillard's and bought my Christmas China) we all met over at Manga and Paw Paw's house for a little birthday party for Lindsay.

Here's the birthday girl with Manga, Paw Paw, and Granny.

And here she is with everyone else (minus me). When you're the one with the camera, it's not very often that you're in the picture.. but I don't mind!

Mississippi Mud Cake, by request. It's basically like a chocolate sheet cake with marshmallow in between the cake and icing. Very good, but VERY rich!

The next day everyone else from Brent's side of the family came over for lunch and to open Christmas presents. Before everyone got there, I sat on a stool at the island just snapping away pictures, but I won't bore you with all of them... just some!

Kirk was walking around eating things and making faces at me...

Connie was making pistachio pudding and cooking the garlic bread

and I sat on my stool because I was still sick with a cold and didn't feel like doing anything except holding the camera.

Granny is B's Great-Grandmother and is in her mid 90s. She still drives, still lives alone, and still cooks. Everyone in B's family is glad for that for the reason in the next picture.

Her picture perfect lemon pies!

Granny slaves over these pies for hours every holiday or time that the family gets together. She makes everything from scratch and as B says, "makes absolutely perfect meringue." People have tried to figure out how to make Granny's Lemon Pie for years, but even with the recipe have never been successful. I think it's the 70+ years of experience to make something so perfect. Either way, some one is going to have to figure it out.

Here's a shot of the inside. I'm not the hugest fan of lemon pie, but this one's pretty good. Maybe one day I'll try to make it.. but maybe not, we'll see.

It was good to see family, but I will say it was nice to be home and in my own bed on Saturday night. With all the traveling we've done lately, I just love the feeling of coming home to my own bed--especially when I have a cold!

I hope you all had a wonderful New Years!

New Years Day Sales!

2010-01-03T14:57:00.004-06:00

Everyone knows that on New Years Day there are usually some of the BEST sales of the year. Everything that's marked down already has additional markdowns, and there are tons of people out and about looking for the best deals.

Well, I have been looking at some Christmas China for some time now, and I just had to try my chances. I know what you're thinking... "Christmas China? Really? How often are you going to use that?" ...Well the answer is every year! Even if I only get it out to use once a year, I'm so glad that I have it.

I know that when we have kids, the idea of buying China on a whim is not even worth thinking about, and B and I didn't really see any China we liked enough to register for when we got married. But when I saw this line, I could not pass them up!

When I went into Dillard's I saw the display where they had been and it had been completely picked over. I was nearly heartbroken because as I was about to grab a box of 4 dinner plates, this lady pushed me aside and grabbed them for herself. Because I wasn't about to fight her for them, I just went back and found B and decided to settle for some salad plates that might mix well with my Fiesta Ware. When I was waiting to check out, I saw a girl shopping with her mom guarding her findings. In her huge stack I noticed she had what I was looking for. I said to her, "I just love those! I really wanted them, but they're all gone.." She quickly said, "Oh No! There's more over here!" and she let me to a separate area where they had EVERYTHING!

I grabbed all of the plates, because that's all I was originally going to buy, but then I just kept thinking, I will be so annoyed one day that I didn't buy the whole set. So I went pack and got the rest, and I couldn't be happier!

Here's what a place setting looks like. The dinner plates, salad plates, and mugs alternate saying "We wish you a Merry Christmas" and "Deck the Halls" and the serving plate says "We wish you a Merry Christmas."

They are so dainty and fun and they can be mixed with anything! I can hardly wait until next year when I can get them out and use them!

More to come later on our New Years Festivities!!

Some after Christmas Christmas finds

2009-12-30T08:35:00.005-06:00

I told you before about how our tiny little house doesn't really have enough room for any Christmas decor, at least any more than say a wreath on the door. But I also told you that I had every intention to hit up the after Christmas sales on all of the decor with the hopes that by Christmas next year we would be able to have a house to call our own and I could decorate.

Well, I haven't yet found a tree that I love enough to purchase (because let's be honest, at 50% off it's still a big investment), but I did make it to a few stores the other night and purchased a good amount of ornaments and other decor items. So, here's my loot!

This is not quite all of the items, I forgot about some and when I was packing them all away I remembered but I wasn't about to unpack and set it all up again.

A sweet little table runner (to add to my table decor I have over at the in-laws), some basic glass balls and then some decorative ones, and of course some precious little ornaments. I love the one that is hanging on the ornament box (I'm not taking them out of the package until the are hung on a tree to protect them) that says "JOY." I have been eying that little guy along with the other you'll see better later that says "PEACE," they've had them at Pier 1 and I have loved them since day 1. Check out those twig trees! They have so much texture to them and such a natural (nature) look to them, I just love them!

And that candle! I just LOVE that candle! It's so different from any other candle I have ever had, it's like I sent B out and asked him to chop off a section of a tree for me to add to my decor! I just love the texture of it mixed with the little twig trees. That sweet little star ornament was only $0.30, thanks to my designer discount at Pier 1, so I splurged and got 2! I think they are so sweet AND they reference back to the natural theme!

Yes, another picture of the trees... so sue me! Check out those white glass balls that look like sweaters! They had bigger ones too, but I didn't want to overwhelm my little tree that I don't yet have! In the bottom right corner you can see the edge of a little box that contains 9 little metal ornaments (kind of old school) of trees, snowflakes, and hearts. Then more plain glass balls in the background.

Here you get a better shot of the "JOY" ornament and the sweater balls... for lack of a better description. After typing that I feel like I need to buy one of those sweater trimmers, you know the ones that get rid of all the little fuzz balls (sweater balls) when your sweaters get old and ball-y... anyone?

Moving on.

More fun little ornaments! There's a little knitted mitten, a plaid heart, and beautiful decorative ball with trees and words on it, a silver bell-looking ball that reminds me of an ornament we had on our tree as a kid...

...a little sled that says "MERRY CHRISTMAS" down it.. there was another one that was gray and said "HAPPY HOLIDAYS" but for some reason it annoyed me that it didn't say "Merry Christmas" so I didn't buy it.

Another little knitted ornament, only this time it's a stocking... and that sweet little snowman...

That sweet, sweet little snowman! He's all covered in frosted, glittery snow, and he's made out of all natural materials! I just love how they exaggerated his corncob nose by making it turn up, and adorned him with a pine needle scarf.

This little Bird House just might be one of my favorite ornaments. The little metal snowflake that looks like it was made from a scrap piece of metal hangs down from the front. In this picture you can see a bit of B's stocking too.

Here's that "PEACE" ornament I was telling you about, along with a carved wood snowman, a hand painted glass ball, and the bottom of B's stocking.

Aren't these just precious? They are all made of natural elements (have you noticed the theme yet?) That reindeer is probably tied with the birdhouse for my favorite... and his wreath necklace is loose, so it moves around!

Here's a better view of our stockings even though mine is pretty much hidden. Plus there are two more decorative trees, only this time they look like someone took their old sweaters and reused them to make something the would actually use!

And even though I took it out of the box and put it straight into its nifty hard storage case, I wanted to take a few pictures of it because I had already talked about it before. This is the Christmas wreath I have wanted since October, maybe earlier! I just could not spend $45 on it..

Well, if you wait until after Christmas, everything goes 50% off, and if it's at Pier 1 (obviously one of my new favorite stores--because of the discount), I get an extra 20% off!! So, I could spare $19 for something I've wanted for months.. Also, if you don't already have these storage boxes and you have wreaths that you don't want to get crushed in the attic, you should get them. They are on sale at Wal-Mart right now and they're great.. They stand upright and your wreath fits right in and hangs. They had a convenient little handle on the top for carrying and they are just the perfect solution to store a wreath..

So that's our Christmas decor, at least what we have so far... I'm so excited that my Grandma is giving me her silver glass nativity set and some sterling silver ornaments to intermingle with all of my new stuff! I'm glad we will have some sentimental decorations as well as the new stuff and they all blend in nicely together.

Sorry if I seem a little over excited about my Christmas decor, it's just very exciting to get the things that will be around our house for next year! Plus, I think it makes a difference when we had absolutely no Christmas items in our house this year..

I do have my eye on some Christmas China that I have wanted this whole time too, so if I can make it to Dillard's for their New Years Day sale, then I just might get them (50% off is still quite a bit of money)!

Because we don't have any kids...

2009-12-29T08:11:00.003-06:00

Because we don't have any kids, we (well.. I) treat Bridger almost as if she were a child. I put bows on her collar, I buy her gifts from Santa... you know, the usual. Well, my sister (did I mention that she's pregnant?) has become a domestic sewing crazy head and has gotten really good at it. Well, one day she found a website that will give you instructions to transform one of your old tacky Christmas sweaters into a dog sweater. Genius!

A couple of weeks ago, I grabbed my measuring tape, followed her instructions, and got her Bridger's measurements. She started with one sweater that I think she found in the big and tall section of the Salvation Army (just to make sure she wouldn't run out of fabric). Once she finished the first one, she had so much fun and decided to make two more. She headed back to Salvation Army and picked out two more sweaters.

After making one more, she decided to go ahead an send the finished two in order to make sure they fit properly before making the third. They were in the mail with enough time to make it before Christmas, but unfortunately.. that didn't happen. They did make it on Saturday though!

The package was addressed to "Bridger Mann" and even included a letter!

Here's what the letter said:

Dear Bridger,
I hope you like your new
outfits. Make sure these fit,
because I saved the best
sweater for last...
I hope you don't get
made fun of while you wear
these. I happen to think
they are very funny and cute.
If the other dogs in Abilene
laugh it's because they are
jealous of your Los Angeles
style.
Hope you have a Merry
Christmas...

Aunt Christy
(and Uncle Mike)

So no, we are not serious when we do these things, but it just makes it funnier... I didn't get the package until about 6:00 Monday morning, so I decided to make her try one on really quick. I told my mom that she was yawning and leaning against me an stuff trying to figure out what was going on, but not really caring. It was like dressing a sleepy child, and very funny.

Then, last night after my Christmas shopping spree (I'll show you that later), I had her try them on so I could send pictures to Christy. *Sorry about the photo quality... all of these were done with my phone so I could text them..

This one is my favorite!

and the Brown one..

She is such a sport to let me have fun with her! B said he didn't really care what I did to her, as long as she still hunts, he's good.

Here are some of the other pictures from Christmas Eve and all the snow that I told you about yesterday..

This was our view out of our front door in the morning when it first started snowing.

and this was my car when it first started snowing..

I took Bridger to PetSmart to get a bath on Christmas Eve because they always do such a good job and I don't like cleaning the hair out of the tub... Plus, they love her so much! They were so excited that she was coming in! When I was there, I knew the sweaters from Christy were coming, but they weren't here yet. I saw this one on the $5 rack, so I decided to go ahead and get it (something I normally wouldn't have done... I promise). This is her looking out the window while B ran in to Lowe's to get some firewood.

This was about mid morning when we let Bridger out in the yard. The snow was starting to get deep!

Bridger was so thankful that Santa brought her a new bed.

Here's the snowman we were going to make... we only used our feet because we didn't have any gloves and it was so cold outside. When you don't have any coal for the eyes, cherry tomatoes seem to do the trick. Later on in the afternoon, I let Bridger out again because she loved the snow. She managed to find the snowman and eat his nose.. I stopped her as she was going for the eyes.

and this is a picture I took while we were driving.. it seriously looked like Colorado, except we don't have any snow plows..

Side note: There is still snow and ice on the ground from the snow we had on Christmas Eve, and guess what? It's snowing AGAIN!!

Christmas Recap

2009-12-28T09:19:00.006-06:00

This year was B and I's first Christmas together as a married couple and I just can't believe this year has flown by so fast! We're quickly approaching our first anniversary! This year we spent Thanksgiving in Houston with my family and Christmas with his. It's hard having our families so far apart, but unless you both grew up together, I think that's a common issue on holidays with couples. It is probably for the best that we didn't make it to Houston because I ended up coming down with a cold and with my dad in his 18th week (Daddy, YOU'RE ALMOST DONE!!) of Chemo, I would HATE to get him sick!

On Christmas Eve it started raining.. hard. Then it turned into snow which is probably a common theme for blog posts about this past Christmas, but it sure was fun! The last time I had a white Christmas was in Houston (surprisingly) my senior year of high school, but this one was MUCH different than the last! This one was more like a blizzard! I have pictures of all of that, but they are on my phone and not as good of quality, so I'm showing you these for now!

Jeff making "bricks" for their igloo

Brandon flattening out the surface

Then the Shaw boys showed up.. and the snowball fight began...

Abby chasing Carson

Oh No! Don't do it Abby!

Oh, Carson...

but wait...

what's this?

Revenge!

and now it's time for some tackle football!

Action shot!

Dog Piles necessary

Worn out kiddos, a must!

Then we started with the gifts, and since Brent works at ACU now, and every single adult in the room (minus Mimi and Papa) graduated from ACU, he decided we needed to put a stop to all of the UT garb and direct these kids on the straight and narrow path...

I tried to teach them the WC hand sign.. Carson and Trey still represented UT though

told you!

And because she is the only child in this bunch to love Texas Tech, I couldn't resist and I had to find her a Jersey to sport around!

Get your guns up!

Last but not least, I wanted you to have a taste of what all the men got from Mimi this year! You may never know what Mimi is going to get you (unless you buy it yourself), but you will always know it will be from Bealls!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! I'm so thankful to have a short week this week!

Last Christmas Party!

2009-12-23T13:00:00.001-06:00

My last Christmas party for his year was on Monday night with some of my YoungLife girls, and we had a blast! Not all of them could make it because they were out of town or busy, but we still had 8! We all had a good time at Bonzai (a hibachi steakhouse) for dinner and a gift exchange!

I didn't take any pictures while we were all eating because we were all so hungry we were just focused on our food, but here are a few of the girls before we left!

The only cute picture before they all started acting crazy...

I just love those girls so much! I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

If you're just browsing the internet on your days off from work and want to take a peek, I've updated my Design Site! Hop on over and take a look at some of my latest work!

Call Me a Slacker...

2009-12-22T14:39:00.004-06:00

because it's Tuesday afternoon and I still haven't posted anything about the state football game! I mean, I know that the majority of the people who read this actually watched the game on TV, but I still feel like I should properly finish out the football season with this post!

In case you haven't heard, Abilene High WON!! They are the Texas 5A Division II State Champions! This hasn't been accomplished by the school in 53 years. Here's a little history about the game, just to let you in...

Katy (the opponent) has won the past 2 years straight, so this weekend they were going for their 3rd consecutive win. The only 5A team to have ever won state 3 consecutive years was Abilene High in '54, '55, & '56 --the last time they won a state title. So this year, after a 53-year hiatus, Abilene High was able to defend their streak and knock Katy out!

Have I lost you yet?

An estimated 43,000 people packed the lower two levels of the Alamo Dome on Saturday night to watch Abilene High vs. Katy. It was quite possibly one of the best football games I've ever watched, and I don't think I've EVER been that into a game! The city of Abilene (only slightly exaggerating) stood on their feet the entire time screaming and cheering for their team.

I think the cheering could have been heard for miles when, in the second play of the game, quarterback Ronnell Sims broke free and scored a touchdown within the first 29 seconds. From that moment on, Abilene kept their lead, though there were times when the score was a lot closer than what we wanted!

I'll just let the pictures do the talking now... there sure are a lot of them!

Friday night after the pep-rally, Lindsay and I ventured out to find the last remaining bottles of glass chalk to write on the windows, and thankfully we found it!

I'm not really sure why, other than the fact that they thought it was funny, but Kirk and his friend Max have been saying "shred the gnar" all season so we had to incorporate it.

In case you weren't sure who we were supporting, we made sure you could see it from 5 miles back...

When we arrived in San Antonio, we went to lunch at Chris Madrid's and then headed to the hotel. Once we were all checked in, the girls went shopping and the guys went to the stadium to watch the Trinity/Westlake game (the Division I state final). When we had finally had enough, we decided to head towards the stadium. This is what we found in the lobby:

Obviously, some of Kirk's friends...

Lindsay is sporting her free Rally Towel that says "Take State!"

Out comes the team and the cheering begins

Look at this little precious face getting ready for the game to start! Her name is Lilly and she's been to the majority of the games.

Here she is saying "GO EAGLES!" and I wish you could hear it with her little voice!

This is where I stopped taking pictures because I was too into the game... but thankfully I remembered I had a camera on me for the last play of the game, the Victory Stance -- taking a knee!

final score -- Abilene High 28, Katy 17

All of the players were so excited, most of them were crying! If you look at the top right corner at the (not so) jumbo-tron, you'll see Boo Barrientes getting his trophy for defensive player of the game.

and here you have Ronnell getting his trophy for offensive player of the game. In case you weren't sure, he's the quarterback and had 3 touchdowns and rushed for over 200 yards.

The whole team around the State Trophy and holding the state banner that will go up in the gym.

Taking a picture

...and last, but not least! Our Kirk-y with his medal, so glad to be home and so glad to be a champion!

Now, if he can only wait for his State ring...

A few moments with Haelyn

2009-12-18T07:00:00.003-06:00

Meet Haelyn:

She is absolutely precious and everytime I'm around her, I just want to get my hands on her. She is one of the happiest babies I've ever met plus she's just ridiculously cute! I was so excited when Jenn (her mom) emailed me to see if I could take their family photo for their Christmas cards and then design their cards! Monday night we arranged a time for me to come over for the pictures and after I took a couple of the family (I'll get to that in a minute), I had to snap a few of Haelyn all by herself!

These are just a few of the ones I got while I was there, but I didn't want to bore you with all of them! I did a little bit of editing to them and they are fantastic! Jenn, I hope you're reading this!

Now to the family photo... this is not your typical family Christmas photo or your typical family! I just love these two so much! Mark was Brandon's YoungLife leader when he was in high school and Mark was in college (remember when I said yesterday that the relationships made between a leader and a kid were special? case and point). Mark and Jenn got married while at ACU and are such a fun couple. They can make a whole room laugh when they're around!

Every year since they've been married they have sent a funny Christmas card out. One year they were dressed up as hillbillies in their picture and another they were wearing sombreros and their entire card was in Spanish. Well, this is their first Christmas with sweet little Haelyn so they wanted to incorporate her into their tradition. They wanted all of the focus to be on her!

So, the fact that Haelyn is the only one in focus in the picture was not a mistake on this amateur photographer's part. The picture turned out perfectly and I was able to make them a card to complete the whole package!

Hope you like it! Thanks Mark, Jenn, and Haelyn for letting me join in on the fun!

Guess Who's Pregnant?!

2009-12-17T08:43:00.004-06:00

I know what you're thinking, but it's not me.

It's...

are you ready?

MY SISTER!!!

My sister and her husband have been going through the long adoption process, but their adoption method is not your typical adoption, they adopted 8 embryos (that's right, I said embryos) through an Christian Adoption Organization's program called the 'Snowflake Program'. Mike and Christy had their first transfer of three embryos on Friday, December 4th and yesterday she found out she was pregnant! We wont know if there are multiples (hence the three embryos) until the 6 week ultrasound after the first of the year.

I'm so excited to be an aunt! This is such exciting news for our whole family, especially my mom! :) If you could just say a little prayer for that/those precious little baby-(ies) growing inside of her, that they would continue to grow and develop and that the pregnancy would be healthy with no complications, I (and my family) would really appreciate it! If you would like to read more about this adoption process, you can follow her blog where she updates pretty regularly.

Moving on to other exciting news...

ABILENE HIGH IS PLAYING IN THE STATE GAME THIS WEEKEND!

That means we're headed to the Riverwalk for lots of fun and hopefully a victory over Katy! Here's some pictures from the last game since I'm so far behind!

Last week we play my high school rival (well from freshman year), Klein High School. They didn't have that big of a crowd, compared to us.

Funny story on the crowd size topic: this week at the A-High Booster Club meeting, a Houston reporter was in attendance and stood up to ask Coach Warren (the head football coach) how he thought his players would react to all of the fans that Katy would bring being from Houston. Coach Warren stopped, looked around at the room and then laughed a little and said, "I think it's going to be the other way around."

One day I will post about what it's like to live in west Texas and be connected in a community where high school football really is, a HUGE deal, but that's for later...

remember when I told you this would be back? only this week, the eye blacks say "shred the gnar" instead of Phil. 4:13

these two are not dating, and in fact, they are dating other people but they have been friends for a LONG time like most of the kids. I had to show this picture to you because I just loved it!

This could be my favorite picture of all time from a football game. This is Tyler, from Tyler. Ok, I just had to say that, but Tyler is a YoungLife leader with me and he has the junior guys (Kirk and his friends). He is such a great leader and really knows how to minister to these kids! You can tell that they love him and he truly loves the boys. This is a relationship that the kids will not forget. I have really enjoyed getting to know Tyler better on the Abilene High team and eating lunch with him every Monday!

Kirk and Jarvis with the trophy, which I'm pretty sure they announce about 576 times that it was presented by H-E-B.

I didn't take this picture, Brandon's uncle Jon did because I was on the phone making our hotel reservations.. and it's a good thing I did because one of the hotels we wanted was already booked. I like this picture though, it think it's pretty cool!

Here's the whole crew at the game! Tyler and Breanna got married back in August and came up from College Station to watch the game and we were glad they made it!

and lastly...

isn't this hat great? I wish I could have seen the front of it, but I thought I would at least document the back!

A very CADCO Christmas

2009-12-14T08:50:00.002-06:00

This past Friday was my company's Christmas Party over at our CEO's house. It was fun to get all dressed up again for a party and know that it's not our last one! Tomorrow night we have our final Christmas party with AIA (American Institute of Architects) out at Perini Ranch and I can't wait to eat a steak!

Here's some pictures from the other night!

Angela, Phil, and Chuck (the CEO)

Andrea and her boyfriend Grason

Steve, his wife Joy, Richard's wife Patty, and Richard

and finally Brandon and I! I hate this picture and I wish we had a better one, but this is all we had and I promised my mom I would put one up!

p.s. I dyed my hair... if you hadn't noticed!

Tomorrow I will update about the football game on Saturday! WE WON! WE'RE HEADED TO STATE NEXT WEEKEND IN SAN ANTONIO!

Getting into the Christmas Spirit

2009-12-10T08:00:00.003-06:00

First things first--and this is totally off topic--but when I was writing that title "Getting into the Christmas Spirit" I couldn't help but notice that when I typed the word spirit I said a cheer in my head to make sure I spelled it correctly... "S-P-I-R-I-T, spirit let's hear it!" You may be thinking I'm nuts, but I've noticed something in the past week or so. When you were young, and I'm talking about Kindergarten age... you probably learned little songs or rhymes to remember how to spell things such as the colors. Well, those have stuck with me over the years and I realized the other day that every time I spell words such as orange (I just did it) and together (and again), I am singing the song in my head! It's not that I am having difficulty spelling these words or anything, but it's that I honestly don't think I've ever spelled the words without the song... I just can't help it. Thank you Mrs. Mize (my Kindergarten teacher) because I've never had a problem spelling the word orange, and I still remember you teaching us the song! I guess my cheering days have transferred into spelling nuances as well!

Moving on! A couple of things have transpired lately that have made me realize it's nearly Christmas, and a few that have allowed Christmas to creep up on me without warning!

For starters, I'm still attending a high school football game every week (which, I'm sure you have noticed by now...). In all my life, I haven't been connected to a high school team that has made it this far in playoffs and continued to play into December. Because of that, I just have the mentality that I still will have a few weeks, almost a month to get things together for Christmas gifts.

The crazy thing is, the State game is next weekend. If Abilene High makes it through another week, they will play their final game of the season one day after they get out of school for Christmas break. Now, that's just nuts! This is almost year-round football since they started back in the Spring!

Lately it has been cold here.. really, really cold. It has snowed...

I appologize for the bad picture quality, I took this one quick for my parents with my phone as I was leaving to go to work, and it was COLD.

The temperatures for the past week or so have been COLD and the wind has been blowing unrelentingly. I meant to get the picture off of my weather on my phone yesterday, but this one is pretty similar..

I would like for you to notice the "feels like" temperature.. Yesterday I woke up and it said "Feels like 7." There is ice on the sides of every road and some people have forgotten to turn off their automatic sprinklers which makes even more.

We've gone to our first Christmas party of the year on Sunday night. It was the annual YoungLife Christmas party

This is all of the Abilene High Leaders! I love this team!

We have our next Christmas party tomorrow night and I will be sure to take more pictures, and hopefully we'll be having another Christmas party on the River Walk next week after winning the state championship!

And finally, I went and bought wrapping paper last night and started wrapping gifts while watching the best songs of the 90s with Brandon, which didn't take me long at all because I only had two to wrap. I am so far behind on gifts that I just realized I only have 15 days until Christmas and I have no idea what I'm going to do about it!

While I didn't take any pictures of the gifts all wrapped up, I did manage to make some use of a spare piece doomed for the trash...

So with that, I leave you. I'm sure you thought I was going to show pictures of our Christmas decorations in our house.. or maybe even our tree, but to be honest, we have none. You forget that we live in a tiny apartment, and a tree would take up enough space to really just be in the way, even a small one. And I did try to buy some lights and put a few up, if for no other reason than to better light our sidewalk at night, but then I realized that we have NO exterior outlets.. oh well!

My plan is to hit all of the after Christmas sales and buy all of our decor, lights, tree, ornament and everything for much cheaper with the hopes that maybe next year we'll be in a bigger place and I'll get to decorate.

2 Week Recap...

2009-12-08T08:36:00.002-06:00

So I know I didn't technically blog all week last week due to the giveaway, and last week I didn't even mention a thing about Thanksgiving or the incredible football game, but I'm making up for it now!

Thanksgiving was fun spent in Houston with my family. We were all able to be there this year, which is pretty rare considering where everyone lives! Unfortunately I didn't take hardly any pictures while we were there, and I don't know why... so here is my sister's post about the Turkey Frying that Brandon did, and it includes a lot of pictures!

The Friday after Thanksgiving we left Houston pretty early to make it up to North Richland Hills for the Abilene High football game, and boy was it worth it! The traffic was terrible around the stadium and we ended up just parking in the Taco Bueno parking lot which turned out to be a better solution because the spot we were in was actually closer than any of the ones in the actual stadium parking lot, AND we didn't have to pay the $5 parking cost, which was especially nice because we didn't know they were charging for parking and neither of us had cash.

I've tried to narrow the pictures down for both of these games so I don't overwhelm you. Cedar Hill was the number 1 ranked team in the state and number 2 in the nation up until November 27th, when the Abilene High Eagles dominated them. Take a look at the fans in this picture, both sides were completely full and I know the Abilene side was standing room only!

Just to give you an idea about these men (not boys) that were playing for Cedar Hill... they had two players that were 6'-5" and weigh 340 lbs and too many others to name that broke the 250 mark. Also, Deion Sanders, Jr. plays for Cedar Hill, as in... Deion Sanders who played in both the NFL and the MLB... yes, they were huge and good.

Now look at their fans... the stands are over half-way empty. There was still a good 7-8 minutes left in the game, but they were sore losers and didn't want to stick around until the end... so we scored another touchdown and it cleared out even more.

Victory stance taking a knee.

All of the boys were so excited, and you should have heard how loud all of the cheering was the entire game.

Lindsay came!

Family photo after wards for the Christmas card.

Lindsay and Lirkyy

You'll start to notice this is a re-occurring theme

These two guys are going to be famous, Herschel Sims and Ronnell Sims (they're cousins and they're both awesome!)

He's a local celebrity and doesn't even know it.

Now for week two! This past Friday, Abilene High played Arlington Bowie at Bowie's home stadium, UT Arlington. I didn't really know what to expect out of this team, I mean the last game everyone was nervous because the team we were playing was ranked as the best in the state, but this team's claim to fame was their nearly 4,000 yards passing from their quarterback.

Everyone in town was talking about the fact that there was not enough seating on the visitor side of the stadium, so they told AISD that if needed, they would open up a section on the home side for Abilene High fans. Who wants to do that? NO ONE! So everyone left early, and that's not to be taken lightly.

We pulled out of the driveway at about 12:50 and we were at the stadium before 3:30... the game didn't start until 7:30, and it was 30 degrees. We beat the team bus, but we weren't the first people there.

At about 4:15, when the parking lot was halfway full of Abilene High fans, Connie decided it was time to go stand in line. The rest of us joined her in the front part of the line about 45 minutes later for no other reason than we were tire of being in the car, and we wanted to go talk to friends.

I took this picture about 5:20 or so, and they weren't even letting us in the stadium until 6:00. By the time 6:00 rolled around, the line was well beyond the limits of this picture.

Here's Connie all bundled up and waiting in line...

Carly's ready to get her cheer on..

Just a few of my babies all bundled up!

Carly's sister Christen!

I should probably add in there that Arlington Bowie had no people in line until right at 6 when they were letting us all in, but thankfully for them, they had their own line.

The Jamesons came again! Here' sweet Abby in her adorable pink coat!

The hood was so cute I made her put it on for another picture!

And Jeff! He's getting so old!

Here's another re-occurring theme: fans that leave with half of the 4th quarter left to play because they're loosing so bad...

I told you this one would be back...

And do you remember the picture a few weeks ago when he had the cell phone? They loved taking this one!

So excited to be moving on to the State Semi-Finals!

This weekend we play one of my high school rivals, Klein High School for the last round before state in Waco! Wish us luck!

And the Winner is...

2009-12-04T08:56:00.000-06:00

NICKI & MATHIS!

Congratulations Nicki! email me at kmanndesigns@gmail.com to get your makeover started!

To see how it all went down, visit Dabney's blog!

For all of you who entered but did now win, I've decided that because it's only 21 days until Christmas.. because I haven't done any Christmas shopping.. because it's cold outside... and because it was supposed to snow and it didn't.. I'm offering 40% off any design packages (including custom packages built to fit your needs)! Email me at kmanndesigns@gmail.com for more information.

You must have entered the giveaway to receive the 40% discount.

GIVEAWAY!

2009-11-30T10:52:00.000-06:00

I'm doing a giveaway through one of my friends' blogs and my Blog Design Site! Make sure you go on over to her blog to enter too!

Here are the SPECIFICS:

One winner will be chosen at random from all of the entries to receive one blog design by KMann Designs. This design will include a custom background, matching header, font change for all of the post titles and sidebar titles, and a matching signature!

Here's how you ENTER:

Comment on the KMann Designs post and tell me what your favorite thing about Christmas is. (1 entry)
Comment on DABNEY'S post about this giveaway and tell her what your favorite Christmas song is. (1 entry)
Comment on THIS post about this giveaway and tell me what your favorite Christmas movie is. (1 entry)
Write a post about this giveaway on YOUR blog with a link to either KMann Designs or Dabney's blog. (1 entry)
Become a KMann Designs Follower. (1 entry)
Become a Follower on Dabney's Blog. (1 entry)
Add a KMann Designs Button to your blog sidebar! (1 entry)

So all together you have 7 chances to enter!

The giveaway will end Thursday, December 3rd at 6:00pm (Central time) and the winner will be announced Friday morning!

my latest design!

2009-11-25T11:40:00.001-06:00

I just wanted to share with you my latest blog design!! I just love this one, and I love the sweet girl I did it for! Her name is Cherry and she just had a baby boy a few weeks ago! We met back at ACU and have really been reconnected through blogging! Thanks, Cherry, I had a blast!

Don't forget to check out my Design Site!

We're headed to Houston in about an hour! Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Fall Decor & the Camera..

2009-11-23T17:25:00.000-06:00

I have been wanting a fall wreath for as long as I can remember... something with rich fall colors that isn't over the top of any specific holiday, but that could last from Halloween until Thanksgiving, and maybe even on into Christmas.. that is, until the Christmas ones go on sale and I talk myself into buying one for next year. In fact, I already have one picked out, I'm just waiting for the sale signs to go up.. or better yet, CLEARANCE!

So with all of my window shopping that I do (which is mostly Friday afternoons after work if we aren't leaving early for a football game) I know who has what and how much it all costs. I have been eying this one fall wreath for quite some time at Pier 1 and even though it went on clearance to almost 50% off, I just couldn't bring myself to buy it because I'm that stingy. Well, finally after about 5 weeks of seeing this thing on sale, I gave in and bought it! Did I mention that I get a discount of 20% on everything at Pier 1? So really, it took me over a month to convince myself that spending $18 on this wreath I had wanted for so long was worth the cost.

When it came to purchasing the wreath I decided that with the money I was saving I wanted to buy a cute little wreath hanger with birds on it.. a spur of the moment decision, unlike the wreath itself. Don't try to understand my thinking, you'll never get it. Ok, maybe my Mom does, but only because I learned from her!

I didn't take any full on pictures of the wreath because I didn't plan on even writing about it, but then I saw how awesome the pictures were (and I didn't even edit them) so I decided to show you too! I have to admit, I wouldn't have even thought to take these pictures if it weren't for the following events that perspired on Thursday and Friday. I'm sure most of you know by now that I got a new camera for Christmas... back in September.. from myself... don't judge me.

Here she is in all her glory.. at least all of her manufacturer's photo glory! So last Thursday I pulled out the camera to snap a few quick pictures and she would not take. If you've never used a Digital SLR camera, you should know that there is a setting that forces the image you are taking a picture of to come into focus enough before it will allow you to take the picture--In which it beeps at you to let you know it's ready. I know I'm not explaining that technically or anything, but you get it, right?

Moving on. So I'm sitting there trying to take the picture and the autofocus is working hard, coming into focus and then settling out of focus and not allowing me to take the picture. I thought to myself, this most likely has something to do with my battery... I had just received a new one because the old needed to be replaced, but I had yet to charge it. With that, I went home and charged the brand new battery that night. First thing the next morning, I popped the new battery in and gave her a go. To my disbelief, the same thing kept happening.

My stomach sank. I thought, "what have I done!" The entire drive to work I was thinking to myself, "what am I going to do.. this is NOT going to be cheap.. and right before Thanksgiving and Christmas?... right before my Brother gets home from deployment? Great." I got to the office and headed straight for the office of one of my co-workers who is a complete SLR guru. I walked in and said as miserably as I could, "Kevin, I need your help... my camera wont take pictures..." After taking a look at it for a while, he concluded that he didn't have a clue what was wrong.

In Abilene, there is no camera store.. you have best buy and then Wal-Mart. That's just how we roll here apparently. But thankfully I asked the right person. Kevin gave me a number of a guy in town named Bill and he is my new best friend! Bill is the most precious old man who used to own a photography store here in town, but now he works out of his shed in his backyard.

My heart sank when he told me he might get it back to me by Christmas. I just walked to my car trying to figure out what I was going to do. Within the hour he called me and said everything was ready to go! I could not believe it! When I got there, he told me that the problem was in the lens, which is a good thing and a bad thing. Good because I have another lens I can use for the time being, bad because the lens is the most important (and most expensive) part of the whole getup.

Thankfully Bill knows of someone who can get it fixed for me for much less than buying a new one, so I'm pleased. Hopefully I can get it back by Christmas, but I'm going to be patient. So back to the pictures... I had never used the other lens before, because it wasn't as fast and didn't have the range of the one that broke, so I spent a few minutes testing it out on Friday afternoon--after all, I had to be ready for Saturday's game!

And the wreath was the perfect subject! So there you have it, my lovely fall wreath and my other lens that I am growing fond of the more I use it. I just love the bokeh in this picture!!

p.s. Dad--if you're reading this, and you feel compelled to by me a new lens for Christmas, feel free to check out the Nikon 50mm 1.8. It's what I want next, and it's not expensive at all, in terms of lenses. :)

We're in Business!

2009-11-18T16:32:00.002-06:00

So, over the past two weeks I've been working on something, and that some thing is this:

KMann Designs! I've started my own blog/print design company! I never really thought it would turn into much back when I started helping people design their blogs for fun, but then I sat back and realized that I had a waiting list, and I really enjoyed doing it so, I decided to start KMann Designs!

Go over and see what it's all about, grab a button if you'd like, and follow me!

Behind the Scenes

2009-11-17T20:51:00.000-06:00

Friday I let Kirk take my other camera with him to take pictures of the Cowboys' Stadium, so these are his pictures.

This one's a little blurry, but you can see that it is Tony Romo, Jason Witten, and Miles Austin's lockers in the locker room.

And these next few I should have known were coming...

When you give a high school boy a camera and let him go in the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders' locker room, you have to expect pictures!

boys will be boys

This is Herschel, he's an awesome football player. In fact, he usually manages to average just about the same amount, if not more rushing yards than the other team's total. Kirk was trying to get him to do the Heisman pose, but he wouldn't, so I just like to claim that he's too fast, that's why he's blurry!

This might be the coolest thing there.. ok, maybe.. but still, I think it's pretty cool that they put their names up on their lockers!

In other news, this morning we woke up to the first freeze of the season! In light of that, I decided to go ahead an break my number one rule and turn on the Christmas music before Thanksgiving... I know what you're thinking, but I wouldn't have even considered it except that XM Radio sent me an email yesterday with all of their holiday channels so it was fresh on my mind.. and I'll saw this, and I happily sung along at the various times in my day that I was driving!

Hooray for cold weather!

Can You Guess?

2009-11-16T13:59:00.002-06:00

Can you guess where we were on Friday? I'll give you a hint... it involved football.

Any guesses?

No?

OK, well here are some more hints:

There were a whole lot of these...

a ton of this...

a handful of these...

Any guesses yet?

no?

OK, maybe this next clue will help you...

a pair of these... and they were MASSIVE!

Have you guessed yet?

Hopefully!

Did you guess this?

That's Right! The new Cowboys' Stadium!

So now that you know, I'll tell you the story, and show you all of the pictures! (WARNING! This post contains a high volume of pictures. Proceed at your own risk).

Friday night, Abilene High played their first play off game in the new Cowboys' Stadium. Can you believe they sold over 20,000 tickets on the Abilene side alone? That makes over a fifth of the city! and you have to factor in that Cooper and Wylie both had playoff games this weekend as well! Leave it to Abilene to show everyone else how it's done! I wasn't kidding when I said before that West Texas football is in a whole other league, and I LOVE it!

We left right after lunch and headed to the stadium. We were not the first ones to get there either, by far... and we showed up about 2 hours before game time. So after we waited in line to get in we headed to save seats (we were saving 19, so you can imagine how difficult that would have been if we were any later). Using every piece of removable clothing and accessories we had (i.e. purses, jackets, our own bodies...) we managed to block off enough seats on 3 rows. And this was our view.

Not bad for $8, but then again all of the tickets were $8 if you bought them in advance!

Then we saw Kirk! Yes, I know they're just stretching.. It was so nice of him to wear my initial and last name on his jersey wasn't it? Good thing I was wearing the shirt I had made that matched!

a little warming up..

When I was sure that our seats were not going to be taken, I headed on over to see the girls!

They love me!

But really, they were all so excited to be there!

...and they were excited about gummy life savers

Then I saw the Senior Girls!

Next was the Alma Mater

You can't even fathom how big this screen is..

a lot of family came to the game (hence the 19 seats we saved) and I got to sit behind sweet Abby.

She had specifically saved that sucker from being thrown away to bring to this game. She even made her dad hid it in his boot to get past security! This was when she had finished it, which I'm sure you can tell by the blue tongue and sticky fingers!

either a sugar-high, or just happy to be there.. which one?

I think the sugar had something to do with it...

This is the face Carson gives me just about every time I say his name..

...and this is one of the many reasons why I love him!

Grant must have stolen some of Abby's other candy she and her brother smuggled in..

It was such a good game, not because Abilene High won, but because this screen put a whole new perspective (quite literally) on the game. It was cool to be able to see their faces as they were getting lined up and everything. Most of the time, I found myself watching the screen because of just how BIG it was! ...and between plays, they would video people in the stands much like at a professional game. You should have seen what people did when they were on camera!

Here's Kirk (he's on the bottom left). There were a couple of times that he was up close on the screen, but I kept missing it with the camera..

This one was pretty funny. You remember the senior girls from above? Well, they were on the screen cheering and waving their "rally rags" around when Hannah (the blonde on the right) smacked Molly (the brunette holding her forehead) right in the head! I was so glad that I got this picture, and don't worry, I've put it on facebook and tagged them in it!

It was SO BIG!

such cool views too!

afterwards, the team got together to take a picture on the field

and sing the school song!

then I ran into Ellen and Drew!

and finally, we took a group picture--minus my husband who had wandered off somewhere! ...and those people on the bottom of the screen who I couldn't crop out.

Cowboys' Stadium, it was real. Thanks for providing me with a cushioned seat and a $5 Dr. Pepper. I hope to see you again soon!

So next week we're headed to Midland for the next game on Saturday! Wish us (well them) luck! Stay tuned for Kirk's view of the stadium tomorrow--I gave him my other camera to take some pictures and while he didn't get as many as me (I mean, I guess that's ok, he did have a game to play) he got some from behind the scenes!

Remember that time I was a consistent blogger?

2009-11-11T07:49:00.005-06:00

I know it has certainly been a while, but I assure you, it's for good reason! I'm not yet going to let you in completely on what I've been doing, because it's still getting set up and everything, but I'll give you a hint: one day soon you'll be able to add one of these little guys to your blog if you want...

Do you know what it is yet?

Ok, that's enough about that. Just be looking in the next few days, maybe a week or two!

So, moving on! I have some pictures for you from parent night at the football game last week! They even let me on the field because I looked borderline "professional" with my camera, ha!

Kirk was getting annoyed at me taking so many pictures, I'm such a good big sister!

Then I headed over to the student section to see some of the kids!

And then walking back I ran into these lovely ladies..

When you give a kid a camera....

This is what you get!

Have a happy Wednesday!

Everyone Should Have One of These....

2009-10-30T11:24:00.004-05:00

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

2009-10-29T07:00:00.000-05:00

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

2009-10-28T10:44:00.003-05:00

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

2009-10-27T10:52:00.002-05:00

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

2009-10-26T08:54:00.002-05:00

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?

2009-10-21T08:22:00.002-05:00

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!

2009-10-19T09:53:00.003-05:00

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

2009-10-15T16:56:00.005-05:00

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!

I haven't forgotten about you

2009-10-14T16:14:00.003-05:00

Pictures from Friday night football in Weatherford will be coming soon, maybe tomorrow.. I want to edit and go through them first.

I haven't posted much this week (well at all) because I've just flat out been busy! Things at work have been crazy! I finally finished playing catch up from being gone for the convention a few weeks ago and I've been in meeting after meeting after meeting. I can't complain though because time flies when you're busy! ...and I definitely want time to fly this week because Brandon and I are headed to California on Friday to visit my sister and her husband! We are so excited, and even though Brandon is still in disbelief that he is actually going to California (even more, LA), I know he's going to have a BLAST!

In other news, even though I've been busy, I've somehow found spare time to help another friend out with a blog design! This one was for Jessica. Funny story about her and her new husband, Andy.. I have known Andy for a while now because he is a job superintendent for a general contractor here and was the superintendent on a few of our jobs. I had worked with him on a nearly daily basis, so I felt like I knew him pretty well. I had met Jessica's (at the time) fiance before, but never once put it together that he was the same Andy from work. The weekend we got back from our honeymoon, we were out shopping for furniture when we ran into Jessica and Andy. We were sitting on some of the couches in the store just visiting when it clicked. I stopped and said, "Wait... you're Andy.. like Jeff Luther Construction Andy.. Bonham Elementary?" which he responded with, "yes.. but I don't really like to associate myself with that job when I don't have to.." (it had been a long, stressful, job with vandalism and a lot of unknowns). From then on, working at Bonham was so much easier because I felt like he was my friend!

Jessica is such a sweet girl and grew up in Abilene. She and Brandon have known each other for a long time and were even Young Life leaders together! I was so excited when she contacted me to design her blog! I hope you love it Jessica! (click on the picture for a link to her blog!)

Check out my newest Design

2009-10-08T09:00:00.002-05:00

So, I've been making blog designs/custom headers in my spare time, just for fun. This one is my newest one and probably my most extensive one! I made everything from the background to the sidebars and the header! It's fun for me to be creative in other ways while at the same time, helping people achieve what they want with their blogs, but don't know how to do it! Maybe one day I'll do this on the side (and charge a little for it).. you know when I have kids screaming in the background, but for now, I just love doing it and making people happy (for free)!

Katie and her husband Jason have been married for 2 years and last March their lives changed when they welcomed beautiful twin girls, Ansley Grace and Kinley Kate. It was so much fun working with Katie to get what she wanted and even more fun seeing all of the pictures of the babies! Maybe one day, when I'm completely over this cold, I can meet those precious little girls (cause they still live in Abilene)! Katie thanks so much for contacting me about your site!

If you click on the picture, it will take you to Katie's site so you can see all of the things I did!

TASB/TASA Convention

2009-10-07T07:56:00.002-05:00

Like I said in the last post, I was in Houston last week for the TASB/TASA Convention. Every year my company has a booth at the convention since we specialize in school Architecture and Interior Design. I am the first full time Interior Designer for the company, so the partners wanted me to go along with them this year seeing as I meet with the clients on a very regular basis. It was funny to me that while I was in Houston, I read my sister's blog and she had just been to a convention and posted pictures of their booth. Christy, I promise I'm not trying to make our booth look more intense.. you should have seen our competition..

A few of the LARGE architectural firms from the area were there, and let's just say the cost of their booth could buy about 3 brand new cars. They were huge, came with a "road crew" and were packed into frieght boxes and loaded into an 18-wheeler after the show.

If I would have been feeling better, I may have taken more pictures, but this is what you get!

This was the first morning before the show began, I'm on the left drinking hot chocolate to soothe my throat. Richard (one of the partners) is sipping his coffee in the middle, and the man to the right is Tim Yaggi. Tim is an Electrical Engineer and is one of our consultants. He owns Yaggi Engineering out of Dallas, and he's my new BFF.

The shoulder to the left belongs to Steve (the other partner) and the guy in the middle is David Perry. David is one of our most recent clients, he came by to say hi. To the right is Richard.

Here is a view from the side. Tim is writing something down on a piece of paper, but what he's using as a table is something that CADCO is known for at these conventions. That is a 1/16" scale model of the PK-12 building that is being built in Robert Lee I.S.D. We build the models in the office for some of our clients. This one inparticular is the one I helped with. I did all of the trees, cars, and people (even though you can't see them in this picture). Back behind Tim (on the wall) is another model of a competition gym in Coleman we did a few years back.

This picture is just of the guys talking, but you can see the scoreboard in the background. When the show was about to start the first day, the buzzer on that thing just went off. Those buzzers are SO loud when they aren't mounted on the wall way above your head! I was really afraid that was going to be a reoccuring thing during the show, but thankfully it only went off when the show was closing.

Here is the other side of our booth and another model. This one is Bosqueville Elementary (near Waco) and this one is actually the first job site I had to wear a hard hat on. On top you can see our business cards and someone's bag--the models work out to be the perfect height to stand and rest your hands on, which is what we did a lot of.

Here is one of the side panels of the booth. To the left you can see a blue hard hat, next year I will be replacing it with my new PINK one courtesy of my dad! There will be a picture of that soon too!

Overall the show was a success, we talked with many current and past clients and got some good leads on some upcoming projects for some other school districts!

I think the funniest thing to me was seeing the trailor we pulled all of the stuff in being pulled by the small Honda Pilot we have for a company car. The trailor was nearly twice the length of the car, and since it's front wheel drive, there were times when you started to go uphill and didn't have enough weight in the front for the right amount of traction and it would give all kinds of warning lights. Not safe, I know, but that only happend if we were sitting at a standstill on a hill and had to then go!

Business Trip

2009-10-06T08:00:00.004-05:00

Thursday through Sunday I was in Houston for the annual TASB (Texas Association of School Boards)/TASA (Texas Association of School Administrators) Convention. My company specialized in building and remodeling schools all over the state, so this convention is an every year thing.

Everything was great in terms of the convention (I'll post pictures of our booth tomorrow), the only thing that wasn't good was that I got sick while I was there. No worries though, my mom came to the rescue and stayed with me in the hotel. I said to her, "doesn't it feel good to still be needed?" and I think she agreed.

The main thing I missed out on was dinner. Every year my company will take a couple of school boards out to dinner to show them our appreciation for using us as a firm. This year I was responsible for finding the restaurant and setting up all of the reservations. The restaurant I chose was Vic & Anthony's Steakhouse, and from what I hear, that place is perfect. There was nothing bad to be said about the meal, everyone had a great time--so much so that we will be using them again next year! Hopefully I'll be able to make it to the meal then!

Anyways, we stayed at the Hotel Derek across I-610 from the galleria and it was a beautiful hotel, so I thought I would share with you what it's like on a business trip with a couple of architects.

This is the room when you walk in.

This was the bathroom, I didn't feel the need to take a picture of the shower and toilet for you.. that would be a little odd.

On the other side of the room was a window seat that was more like a couch than anything.

and of course, the flat screen

But even better, was the view I had of the William's Tower (formerly Transco Tower). And you see that CVS in the bottom left corner? Yeah, I walked there in the middle of the night to get medicine.. I was just glad it was that close.

One of the benefits of taking a business trip to Houston is getting to spend some time with family. Everyone in my family has an app. on their phone called Loopt where we can run the app. and see where each other is. On the app, there is a feature called Ping where you can send someone a text message to let them know to run their Loopt and see where you are. When we got to downtown on Thursday and started unloading our booth (a 3 hour process) at the George R. Brown Convention Center, I "Pinged" my brother Jason (who is in law school in Houston). He was a little confused to recieve that from me so he looked to see where I was.. we were 0.5 miles from each other! You can imagine how confused he was since he didn't know I was even coming to Houston!

That night, my dad came to pick me up from the hotel and we met Jason for dinner. It was a lot of fun hanging out and talking about anything and everything! Thanks for dinner dad!

Even though I got sick, I was glad I was able to go to the convention. It's such a priveledge for me to be able to go.. seeing as very few from my company have ever had the chance. Plus, I got to spend some time with my family!

Last Monday

2009-10-05T10:46:00.004-05:00

Last week I was super busy, so I didn't really get a chance to post. This week will basically be catching you up on last week, starting with Monday.

Monday night was Round Up for Young Life. Round Up is Young Life's annual fundraiser dinner and requires a lot of organization and help from a ton of different people. We had a HUGE group of kids there, which was awesome! Because of that, our area director promised them he would let them wax his chest on stage at tonight's club. Sick.

Anyways, it was such fun to see all the kids there and they all got a free shirt! Enjoy the pictures.

All the kids stand outside and welcome everyone coming in

Yes they really did make about 60% of the adults run through this victory tunnel. It was pretty awesome!

This is such a special picture. Rebecca, the lady running through is the mom of one of our current leaders and a couple of our kids. Last year right before Round Up, she was diagnosed with a tumor in her ear and couldn't make it. Through the past year she has gone through all kinds of treatment and God has been glorified in her and her family's lives. This year she led the closing prayer and everyone was so happy to have her there again.

Yes, I layed on the ground for this one.

Sometimes I claim him as my Brother..

FOOTBALL!

2009-09-28T14:11:00.002-05:00

This weekend we went to Burleson to watch Abilene High dominate.. Here's some pictures from the game!

Some of the girls talking to the police man about standing up to cheer..

Cheerleaders getting ready to run!

Football Team about to run out

This picture was pretty funny.. All of these guys play on offense together and they are all good friends. We just thought it was funny that Kirk is the white kid with strawberry blonde hair.. haha!

Some of the girls watching the game -- Seated (remember that cop?)

a few more

Then the Volleyball Team showed up just before half time.. excuse the shadow of the rail across their faces..

That's a little better

Ellen wanted to take a picture cause she like my outfit.. I wouldn't stand up for her because I was at the very bottom of the bleachers in front of everyone, so this is all she got..

Then I helped Abby text a boy in spanish

Bryan came! they both got tired of me taking pictures!

about to sing the school song

Kirk not paying attention.. like always.

My only little brother!

Brandon and Kirk

Family photo

the Jameson's came!

and Abby is losing all of her teeth!

friends! It's funny, when you have a good camera, everyone asks you to take a picture of them! I love it though!

These two have literally been friends since they were in diapers

sweet little couple

And that's about it! I hope you got to watch a little football this weekend!

One of the Most Rewarding Things

2009-09-23T16:26:00.003-05:00

One of the most rewarding things for me is walking into a building under construction and seeing something I've drawn up come to life.

Take this one for instance, this is the West Texas Rehab's Board Room. Not much right now, I know but give it 2 months (because it has to be done before Thanksgiving) and it will be completed and my drawings will no longer be drawings, but rather a permanent (until they change it again) representation of the long hours put into the design and drafting.

Just last week, those drawings were just drawings.

And now look at it!

When I was there, I noticed some original paint on the walls from when the building was a pharmacy, doctor's offices, and...

A Soda Fountain! I wonder if my Grandmother ever went in this building when it still served that purpose. Did you Grandma? Does it look familiar? It's on the South Side of town.

Anyways, back to my topic. There is just something about designing a space, drawing it up, and seeing it in real life. That is probably the best thing about it because I get to say it's mine, I did that. When I was in school I got to design all kinds of things from hair salons, to grocery stores, to homes, even handicapped accessible homes, but this is different, this is real. It always makes me stop and think, they really trust me to do this enough to spend the money.. WOW!

This is another example. Yesterday I went up to Sweetwater to check on a number of projects we have going up there. While I was there, I stopped in to the Elementary School to take a look at the progress.
This is one of the classrooms. The colors fade out to white the further in you get from the door, and you can see the wall tile in the hallway was not left out!

This is the library and most definitely my favorite part. Once all of the construction is finished, I will be sure to have better pictures taken, but I wanted to give you a teaser.

I hope this feeling never goes away, as long as I'm doing Interior Design. I hope I always arrive at a job and say "WOW! I did that!"

FYI - This Isn't The Bash-Mobile

2009-09-21T13:05:00.007-05:00

This weekend I ended up going to Dallas to go over some things for some space planning I'm doing for my mom's office. It was great to see my mom and visit for a while!

When she had to be at work, I was glad that two of my favorite people came to join me! Kevan and Katie are my best friends. I have known both of them since Freshman year of college and I just love them so much! They were married in May and I was happy to be in the wedding.

So Saturday morning I got up early and headed out of town. I met my mom at her office and we hung out and worked on the space planning. Later, Kevan and Katie made it into town and we met them at the North Park Mall for some much needed shopping.

After spending some time there, we headed over to my Aunt and Uncle's house to drop off a car before more shopping and dinner.

We were on our way to Irving to go to a specific Dillard's our navigator Kevan was not very clear so we took away his duties. Thank God for iPhones!

I promise this is totally safe..

Meet Katie. She's amazing and I love her.

Meet Kevan. This is Katie's husband and my friend. He's silly.

And look who else came! This is Baron, he's a friend too and was one of Kevan's roommates in college. Baron lives in Dallas now so we thought we'd spend some time with him too!

We had a good dinner at Saltgrass and then headed over to see Baron's new apartment. Later we all ended up back at my Aunt and Uncle's house to hang out.

Sunday we had to finish the trip with more good food so we chose none other than Pappasito's. Mmmmm...

I don't think Kevan knew I took this picture of him reading the menu, but it is a much more normal picture of him than the last one.

I love you Katie!

Then I started to kill time while we waited on Baron to meet us so I was taking pictures of everything.

Doesn't that look so good?

Baron finally made it and we had a good time. This is a much more normal picture of the two of them together.

It was so much fun getting to see friends and just hang out. I hope that we get to do it again real soon!

On the way back home, I stopped in Weatherford because I had time, and they had a Ross so I figured they would probably have a different selection than the one in Abilene. After going to Ross, I was waiting at the light to turn onto I-20 when the woman behind me reached for her lipstick and rear-ended me. Not cool. Luckily for me, she had been at a stop so I wasn't jolted hard or anything, but unluckily for her, it's not going to be cheap even though the damage isn't that bad. I called the police to get a police report on file, and I was glad I did because she didn't have her license or a valid insurance card. I want to believe that she is a good person, but with my previous experiences I know you can't trust a stranger, no matter how nice they seem.

We had just finished exchanging information when the police officer pulled up and I was VERY dissappointed with him. He didn't ask to see either of our driver's licenses or insurance (two tickets she would have had) and he told me that he couldn't file a police report because it wouldn't make any difference. Now, I mean c'mon. Isn't that part of the job when called to an accident? At least check to make sure the drivers have valid drivers licenses... They apparently do things a little different in Weatherford.

I got the police officer's information and the "call number" that shows I called it in, so hopefully that will be enough.

I've been battling back and forth with myself on what to do about my bumper. The damage is not that bad. If I had to describe it I would say it was more like deep gouges and scratches, but not dents. My biggest concern is that my parking sensor right there might have been damaged, I doubt it, but I haven't been able to test it because it would require someone putting their hand in front of it while I have it in reverse and I just haven't had the time. I'm not out to make her pay a ton of money. Had is been my old car that I dubbed the "Bash-Mobile" because of the dents it had, I wouldn't have cared, but I've only had the car for 7 months and I haven't done anything to it. The problem is the only way to fix a bumper is to replace it--and that's expensive.

I told you it wasn't bad. Part of me feels like I'm being a little ridiculous, but I know it's there and it's going to drive me crazy. I've come to the conclusion that this is just an example of why we have insurance so I'm going to get it fixed.

In lighter news, as I was getting close to Abilene, I was watching a good sized storm off to my southwest and I started to notice some cool things the with the sun and the clouds so I had to capture it.

I love the way the sun made a hole in the clouds!

Then a few minutes later it got even better!

There was something about those "God Beams" that I had to capture. They are just beautiful! I felt like I was watching a scene from one of those Bible movies where they show God talking but they just show the sky with a deep voice.

All in all it was a good weekend and I'm so glad I was able to see some friends!

A Whole New Game

2009-09-16T09:57:00.002-05:00

I've been watching quite a bit of volleyball lately and I have noticed how different the sport is from when I played.. and I'm talking about Junior High. I was the starting setter that was about 4'-11" and 65 pounds that could barely serve it over the net.. underhand.

Growing up I watched a lot of volleyball because my sister played all the way through high school and even a little bit of intramurals at the Naval Academy, so the rules have always been a no brainer for me.

I played some sand volleyball here and there for fun over the summers in high school with a group of friends, but I have learned over the past month or so that my competitive spirit has not left. I get into the games and cheer on the team like I'm sitting on the bench... ok, maybe not that loud, but still.

One thing I had never heard of was the libero. For those of you who don't know, the libero is a designated back row player that wears a contrasting jersey and can sub in and out an unlimited number of times. When she subs, it's not a typical sub, in other words, it's not recorded. She cannot attack but she can basically play the entire game from the back row.

Talk about confusing the first time I saw it! I mean, the last time I played it wasn't rally scoring and you only played 2-3 matches!

Last night, the Eagles did an awesome job against Weatherford and won a tough fight in the last game!

You can see the libero, Danielle in the white jersey... in case you were wondering!

A Rivalry That Can't Be Explained

2009-09-11T09:34:00.004-05:00

High schools across America today all have rivalries when it comes to sports, and some of those are a little more intense than others. Being involved at Abilene High over the past year or so through YoungLife, I have been able to witness some of this on a different level than I ever thought existed.

The amount of school spirit campus wide blows me away. Everyone is at every sporting event, regardless of the sport, and they're cheering for the team! It's much different than just attending because it's the social thing to do. There is so much history wrapped around Abilene High that it is not just a high school thing, but a community pride. Every football game is just about sold out, and every pep-rally is packed with students, faculty, and parents.

And then there is Cooper High School.

Cooper is not as old as Abilene High, but it still goes way back. Every since it's inception, there has been a rivalry between the two. It seems like the entire town attends the game every year, and doesn't stop cheering the entire time.

The unexplainable part to me is that the two schools have so much rivalry, but if it came down to it, there is still respect on both sides. I thought I understood it my freshman year of college when a group of friends bought tickets and went to the game, but I didn't even graze the surface.

I don't know if I'll ever fully understand it, but it is fun to watch everyone and how much fun they have! This morning was the pep-rally to get ready for the game tonight and the theme was (and always is) Blackout Cooper.

I found them!

Cheerleaders getting ready!

Hey Kirk!

So much Pride!

Then the started turning out the lights one by one with a boom!

A little darker..

Almost completely black

All the kids had on glowsticks and they were dancing around. The cheerleaders did a pretty cool dance and some stunts too!

School Song

Some of the girls

And some more!

Max and Kirk!

Colorful Chicken Alfredo

2009-09-10T08:19:00.003-05:00

I always hoped I would someday enjoy the art of cooking. I have never really cared that much for cooking before, but it was wedged its way into my life. It all started when Brandon and I were dating and he told me that he "hates" eating out. He would choose a thrown together dinner at home over a 5-star restaurant.

That being said, I hardly ever cooked for us during the dating/engagement process. Lately though, I have come to love cooking. Maybe it's the idea that I am able to have an impact on how healthy we eat when I cook, who knows? Regardless, I love it now and I'm always looking for a good recipe to try and this one is no different! I got this recipe from one of the blogs I frequent, Kevin and Amanda, and I used her pictures for this (she had good daylighting and the sun starts to set earlier these days, I was only able to come away with about 4 good pictures of my own.. when we buy a house with a bigger kitchen, I'll be more inclined to take more pictures). I had this recipe printed out and on my desk for two weeks waiting to make it, and it was well worth it!

This dish is SO good. The colors and flavors are just amazing together. It's so fun to make and smells delicious

First off you'll need the following:

1 lb chicken breast - I used boneless, skinless because that's what I had, but she used bone in so you can do whatever you prefer
9-10 bouillon cubes (or 3 tsp bouillon granules if you don't like to peel the wrappers)
2 cups farfalle pasta
1/2 cup reserved chicken broth
4 tbs butter, divided
1 cup half and half
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 red, 1 yellow, and 1 green bell pepper
6 leaves fresh basil
salt and pepper

Start by placing the chicken and the bouillon cubes (or granules) in a large pot with 2 quarts of water and bring to a boil. Let simmer over Medium heat for 20 minutes.

While the chicken is simmering, take the 3 bell peppers and julienne them, or slice them into small strips.This recipe serves 2-4 people, depending on the serving size, so I only used about half of the peppers. The rest I placed in a plastic bag to freeze for the next time I'll need them.

Aren't the colors so beautiful?

When all the the bell peppers are sliced, and the chicken is done, remove the chicken and place on a plate to cool. Grab your wire mesh strainer and get to straining that chicken broth. You'll only need 1/2 a cup, so you can freeze the rest if you want, but if you're the wife of a hunter, you know that freezer space is limited due to fish and dove breasts this time of year.
After you've strained the broth, you should probably go ahead and get those noodles going with a dash of salt.
Now, place three tablespoons butter and your 1/2 cup of chicken broth in a pot to begin the sauce.

Let the butter melt completely and stir to combine the two. Then add 1 cup of half and half to the mix, whisking periodically. After the half and half, add the minced garlic, 1 tsp salt and 1 tsp pepper and then slowly whisk in the Parmesan cheese. Simmer on medium low heat, whisking occasionally.

Now for the bell peppers, melt 1 tbsp butter in a pan over medium high heat and start the bell peppers. While you're cooking the peppers, go ahead and cut up the chicken that should be cooled by now. Continue to saute the peppers until they are crisp tender like this, but don't forget to stir the sauce!Once the peppers are finished, add the chicken to the skillet and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Then add the creamy sauce to the mixture, turn down the heat and let simmer.
Drain the noodles and place them in a large bowl. Pour the alfredo cream sauce over noodles and toss to combine. If you're feeling fancy, chiffonade 6 leaves of basil and sprinkle them on top. And Viola!
Print this Recipe.

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I did!

A little bit of Encouragement

2009-09-09T07:50:00.003-05:00

My dad is the best dad anyone could ever have. He is a knowledgeable, spiritual and loving man of God. My entire life, my father has taught me things, some random and some with a purpose. I love him dearly and I pray for him daily.

Recently, he was diagnosed with male breast cancer. He has been positive the whole journey, at least to his kids and I admire him for his courage. More than anything else, I admire him that he is still focused on Christ and spreading His love. It is easy to get wrapped up in a pity party about yourself in a time like this, but he is not. He continues to serve God in every waiting room.

He is a man I will always look up to and I am so thankful I've had such a Christ-like example growing up. The reason I am writing this is because today marks the start of his 24 weeks of chemo and I know there is fear and concern of the unknown for everyone. My dad checks mine, my sister's, and my brother's blogs daily, so as he's flipping through, I wanted him to be encouraged.

I love you daddy! We're all praying hard!

If you are interested in reading his story and keeping up with the process, you can do so here.

"...Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go."
Joshua 1:9

P.S. Christy, thanks for the pic!

Wedding Weekend!

2009-09-08T13:41:00.002-05:00

This past weekend was Brandon's cousin's wedding. She is the sister of the cousin who got married 5 weeks ago. Brittany and Jack have such an incredible story and I'm so excited I have the opportunity to watch them grow in ways I can't even imagine! First thing Saturday morning we packed up the car one last time and headed out!

I was having fun playing with my new camera!

Saturday night was the Rehearsal Dinner and it was country themed. Being a "West Texas girl" these days, I was ready to put on boots and go dancin' (said with an accent). I'll just let the pictures do the talking..

I could take her home with me!

Yes, I made him coordinate me..

Sunday morning we went to a family brunch around the corner from our hotel at one of my favorite restaurants, Perry's Steakhouse.

Cherry-- doesn't this make you excited to have a little boy?

Miss Abby

The wedding was beautiful and so indicative of both of their personalities. We danced the night away and spent a good amount of time being entertained by Mimi and her dancing!

Katie, Look at my dress!

I told you I could take her home...

Go Mimi!

She was having a BLAST!

And then she found the groom!

John and Magan are precious, but not quite as precious as their 3 kids!

Then my carpet rep. showed up and ushered the wedding...

Hahaha!

See Ya!

Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Hooper!!

To finish off the weekend, we celebrated Jackson's 4th birthday before heading out of town!

Happy, Happy Birthday Jackson!

This has been a crazy, fun year with 3 weddings and a 50th anniversary party!

I took this picture at 70 miles per hour out the back window.. I thought it was pretty cool!

I hope everyone else had a wonderful 3 day weekend!

Gameday Shirt

2009-09-04T08:46:00.004-05:00

A while back I got the idea for a good gameday shirt for the football season. I went last week and ordered it from Athletic Supply and I was so excited when it was ready!

Kirk, Brandon's little brother, is a junior at Abilene High and is number 13 on Varsity. On the front I wanted just the plain "A-High" logo, but the back was where I was getting creative!

There is another guy on the football team with the last name Mann, but of no relation. Since I didn't think the number alone would determine which Mann I was related to, I wanted to put "K. Mann."

You might be thinking, that's not creative at all.. it's just his name and number... WRONG! It's my name!!!!! haha! I told Kirk I was getting his name and number, but not really. I was really getting it because it was my initial and name! He laughed at me and said in the typical high school fashion, "whatever..."

I'm pretty excited for the debut of my shirt this evening at the game, and don't worry, I've told everyone I know the reasoning behind my shirt!

All in a day's work

2009-09-01T17:27:00.006-05:00

Yesterday I got to go out to a couple of job sites, which is not uncommon, but the difference with one of them is that it was in the stage where you still had to wear a hardhat because all of the joists and decking wasn't complete. I've only had to wear a hard hat on a job one other time so it was a little fun for me to do it again!

It's crazy to me to think of all the things about design and construction that I have learned over the last year with this company, and I'm excited to learn more! The looks I get while walking in a skirt and heels on a job site never get old either. The reason they don't get old is they are not the looks you would "expect" on a construction site. All of the workers look at me like, "Who is this person? She looks important.. and How can she walk around here with those shoes on?" It's pretty entertaining, and I will say, it take some pretty good skill to maneuver around the pier holes and materials in the loose dirt in my heels!

Today I drove out to another job and got to climb up on the roof, and all this afternoon I have been working on the model of one of the building in that picture that's under construction. We are taking the model with us to the TASBE convention in a month in Houston, and I cannot wait!

Living the Young Life

2009-09-01T08:21:00.003-05:00

I often mention something about Young Life, or my girls on here so you are probably familiar with at least the fact that I am a leader. I'm so excited to see what this school year holds for the girls at Abilene High!

This past weekend was our leaders retreat at Lake Brownwood and while I didn't take many pictures, I left my camera out. Here's a sampling of what happens when you leave a camera around some of the wonderful people I get to hang out with on a regular basis...

Last night was Muck Fest! Muck fest is probably one of the grossest things we do in Young Life, or at least I think so.. You start off the fight with water balloons. Next you move to flour bombs, after that is the muck. Let me describe to you what Muck is, oatmeal, dog food, maple syrup, flour, horse feed, sauteed tomatoes, corn, and little bit of water all mixed together in a large trash can to bake in the sun. It. was. gross.

After all the muck is the shaving cream. The only thing I don't like about the shaving cream is when it gets in your eyes it hurts! Overall it was fun. I'm glad I wore a swim cap because I couldn't imagine trying to get it out of my hair! Here's a picture of me and two of my girls.. I look so clean because I had just washed the shaving cream out of my eyes for the second time, if you look closely, you can see my red eyes...

Have a wonderful Tuesday! I know my husband is, he got to go hunting this morning!

West Texas Hurricane?

2009-08-31T13:29:00.004-05:00

So I meant to post this on Friday, a day after this all happened.. but life gets busy and so do I! So here's the story:

Thursday evening, I was making dinner when Brandon got home. One of the first things he said to me was, "There's a pretty big storm coming!" I hadn't even paid any attention, which if you know my father, you'd be shocked. I looked out the window to the north and saw the huge black clouds coming and thought sweet! We need the rain!

We sat down to dinner and watched the sky around our house get darker and darker. The wind started to pick up and you could tell it was just about to get pretty bad. I mentioned to Brandon that I had always wondered where we would go in the case of a tornado. We are on the second floor and there are literally windows in every room of our house--including the closet. As we sat there finishing up dinner, the lights started to flicker. We looked out the window and saw the trees nearly bending in half from the wind while pulling and tugging on the power line that comes to our house from the alley (hence the lights flickering). Brandon said, "well, I guess we could go over to my parents' house..." So that's what we did.

I took a quick video of the trees right before we ran out the door, but unfortunately it wasn't during one of the BIG gusts of wind, and I'm talking up to 80 mph gusts!

Literally second after I cut off this video, we ran out into the storm. Trash and trash cans were blowing down the street, big tree limbs were down all over the place, it was a powerful storm!

It started to rain the minute we got in the car. So I pulled up the radar to see what we were up against.. and it showed me this from about 45 minutes before...

In the car I turned around to see how Bridger was doing back there amongst all of the random things Brandon had back there and this is what I saw

Poor thing! She was balancing around empty cardboard boxes! I was laughing so hard at her, and then I moved them for her! We got to his parents' house and ran in the door to watch it rain. The storm brought more wind, hard rain, and a little bit of hail, but after about 45 minutes it was over. We decided to head back home and we had a double rainbow!

Excuse the huge crack in Brandon's windshield...
I thought it was pretty cool!

We returned home to find that we didn't have any power. In fact, one of the street lights nearby had fallen from the wind. I was shocked to see what the wind had picked up and thrown around. There was a metal bench that was flipped over and the back snapped off of it, large tree limbs everywhere, and at the ACU game (I'll get to that next) an entire set of bleachers had flipped over the fence, and all the way into the endzone, tearing the fence down in its path!

Honestly we were a little nervous to come home for fear of what might have ended up on my car, but thankfully there was only a shingle from our roof!

Since we had no power we decided to go buy some cookie dough and go back to his parents' house to make some cookies. They had all gone up to the ACU game by the time we got there so we decided to watch it on TV. That's right, I said TV.

#5 ACU played #2 Northwest Missouri (the team they lost to last year in the playoffs) and Fox Sports Southwest chose it as their Division II game of the week. I guess we could have actually gone to the game seeing as it was less than a mile away, but we would rather watch it from the couch...

I decided to change Bridger's bow to purple just for the game and she was so good for letting me take pictures of her with it.

Then she got pretty annoyed at me so I stopped.. but congrats to ACU for the win! Tonight is Muck Fest for Young Life, so look forward to some pretty disgusting photos soon!

Thanks, Christy!

2009-08-25T08:53:00.004-05:00

My sister Christy has gotten into sewing lately and she is making some really cute things! For my birthday she sent me an apron that she had made and it's adorable! Last night I wore it for the first time while cooking dinner.

Thanks, Christy! I love it!

Now, on to what I was cooking.. Chicken Fajitas! This is such a good recipe, especially if the only way you've been making fajitas has been buying the pre-marinated chicken.

First, make sure you put on a college T-shirt to celebrate the first day of school that you don't have to go back.. and because all of your t-shirts now consist of college activities. Excuse our old cabinets that don't shut right.. it's a rental so we don't care.

Now, grab some bell peppers. The color is completely up to you, I happen to think that the flavor of the red bell pepper compliments the taste of the chicken perfectly. I add some green in there for more flavor and color, so it's really up to you.

Then cut up an onion. Make sure you cut it into long pieces, because that's what the Mexican restaurants do..

Once you've cut up your onion, place it and the bell peppers into a Zip-Lock bag.

Am I allowed to show you a picture of an actual Zip-Lock bag without their permission? oh, well, consider it free advertising. I like this kind of Zip-Lock because it's bigger on the bottom than it is on the top and it stands up better.

When you have the bell peppers and onion in the bag, it looks like a little Mexican flag. Put on your sombrero and dance around for a minute, then place your cut up chicken in the bag. I used breast tenderloins cut up into inch and half slices.

Now time to add some more ingredients.

First, soy sauce.

That's right, I said it. Soy sauce. You weren't expecting that? I promise it's great!

Now some lime juice.

And some chili powder.. (I'm a wimp when it comes to spice, but this is more flavor than anything)

Now, zip up the bag and shake, rattle, and roll all the stuff around to mix it really well.

Then let it sit for a few minutes. Sometime I use this time to make Homemade Guacamole, thanks to the recipe passed along from my sister. The guacamole is good, but it makes a mess (without a dishwasher) and I didn't want to have a Mexican food themed week trying to finish it, so this time I made some Lemonade.

After a few minutes, flip the bag over.

I know seeing that makes you thirsty...

Now, back to the cooking. Pour a little oil in a skillet and get it really hot, and I mean really hot. If the skillet isn't hot enough, the chicken will not brown correctly.

Once your skillet is hot enough, open up your bag and fish out some of the strips of chicken. Make sure you have an extra plate ready to put them on when they've cooked thoroughly.

You may have to do two batches of chicken depending on the amount you're cooking and the size of your skillet. There are only two of us, so I'm half-ing the recipe and using a smaller skillet.

After about a minute, flip the chicken over to cook the other side. If you're doing it correctly, it will smoke just a tiny bit and you will not realize it until you go into the other room, traditional Mexican food style.

Doesn't that look good?

When you've finished the chicken, remove it and place it aside for a few minutes. Add the rest of the contents of the bag to the skillet and get cook them until the vegetables start to become soft.

Once the vegetables have become tender, add the chicken back to the skillet and stir it all up. Turn off the heat and serve immediately.

I like to take the skillet to the table because it's still sizzling like at the restaurants.

I didn't take any pictures of the finished product because I was feeding a hungry man, but they were good.

The best thing you can do is to buy fresh tortillas, they make all the difference in the world.

Now for the recipe:

2 lbs. Chicken (cut up)
1/2 Medium Onion
1 Bell Pepper
1/8 cup Soy Sauce
1/8 cup Lime Juice
1 tsp Chili Powder

1. Cut up the onion and bell pepper and place in Zip-Lock with Chicken.
2. Add Soy Sauce, lime juice, and chili powder.
3. Mix well and let sit for up to 30 minutes.
4. Heat oil in skillet.
5. Cook chicken and remove from skillet.
6. Cook remaining vegetables until softend.
7. Return chicken to skillet.
8. Serve immediately.

I hope you enjoy the recipe!

So Much LOVE..

2009-08-24T15:43:00.004-05:00

I have noticed over the years that a dog, regardless of the breed will form a bond with one person that is stronger than any other bond that dog will have in its lifetime. Most of the time, that bond is formed within the first year of the dog's life, so timing is everything. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that if you don't get a dog as a puppy it will not love you because that is most definitely not the case, but if you had that dog from the time it was a puppy, how much more do you think it would love you?

Bridger was Brandon's dog, and to be honest with you, is the main reason I walked up to Brandon and talked to him at that College Drive Halloween Party--she was chasing a rat terrier dressed in a dinosaur costume all over the yard, tell me you wouldn't find that funny. When I met Bridger, she was about 5 months old, and I think that has everything to do with the bond she has with me too.

Brandon will always be number 1, especially during the few months of bird hunting every year. They are companions and she would do anything he told her to, but recently I have noticed how much Bridger has bonded to me as well.

Friday I took her to the vet to get all of her shots ready for hunting season, and we spent the day together. After the vet, I took her to Petsmart to get a bath, hence the bow (I love that I can do things like this to her and Brandon doesn't complain).

She was ready to be picked up at 11:00 and I still had an hour of work left, so I went and picked her up and she joined me at the office. I put down an old beach towel for her and she was in heaven.

I thought that was so funny.. the flash was a little bright for her.. excuse my wall covering samples and project files!

I began to realize how much she had bonded to me when she started following me around in the house while I got ready and when she would come lay in the kitchen while I was cooking or doing dishes or she would concoct her body to make sure she could see me while I cleaned and packed.

More than anything though, I realized that bond when I was leaving for work one morning, and every morning since. This is what I saw:

It may be hard for you to see because she's so small and the lighting isn't right, but look in the bottom right corner of the window. You will see the curtains are moved, then continue along the window sill to the middle of the window and you will see a small brown circle with a little white spot on it.. Bridger watches me leave EVERY morning! It's the most precious thing ever!

Sometimes she may be a little odd..

...but that is just what makes her so much fun!

All she wants is someone to talk sweet to her, scratch her favorite spot,

..or snuggle with her!

As much as she loves me, I will be quickly replaced in a matter of days. Hunting season starts next week, and I'm not even going to try to compete..

In other news: excuse the sticker Brandon had to put on the refrigerator, and look what I got! No more random scrap pieces of paper! My grocery shopping days have never been so lucky!

Have a wonderful rest of your day!

Are you ready for some Football?

2009-08-21T20:28:00.005-05:00

Thursday was the Eagle Extravaganza for Abilene High and the official kick-off of the 2009 football season. Eagle Extravaganza is where the Abilene High varsity team gets officially introduced and every other year there is a scrimmage. This year was not one of those years, so they just practiced in the stadium. It was the preview to the community, parents and die hard fans of what the year will hold.

This year is Brandon's little brother Kirk's first year to be on varsity and we are thrilled to watch him play, because let's be real, we'd probably be at all of the games even if he wasn't playing, but this way we get to watch him too! Living in a small town, especially in West Texas, Friday night football is the thing to do. Everyone in town knows who all the players on the team are and how they did in the previous game, it's just a fact of life.

Here's the 2009 A-High Varisity football team

And there's Kirk.. since I knew you couldn't find him..

Some chit-chatting on the sidelines.. do you know which one he is?

There you go!

About to go on the field

Just in case you hadn't figured it out yet!

How's that water taste, Kirk?

I love football and I love friends, so combining the two into one night of fun every week sounds spectacular to me!

Back to School Blues

2009-08-20T13:19:00.002-05:00

This summer has really flown by quick with all the weddings and trips we've taken, I can't believe it's already time for school to start up again. Thankfully, I'm done and don't have to go back, but it's weird that it's already this time of year again! Brandon and I are singing the "back to school blues" for other reasons than us having to go back to school, we're singing it for all the people going back to school. I think if we lived in a larger city, or even in a different part of town we may not notice it as much. Living "on the hill," as some native Abilenians say, opens your eyes to when school is in session and when it's not.

Abilene has three universities that welcome new and old students every fall. Living in a town with a population of about 115,000, you tend to notice the rapid increase of nearly 12,000 people in a matter of a week.

Last Saturday was move-in day for all incoming ACU freshmen. Somewhere around 1,000 people (I'm guessing) around the age of 18 are branching out and taking that giant leap into adulthood. It's weird to think I wont be walking around that campus and meeting all the new faces. In a matter of a couple of years, I will hardly even be able to recognize faces, much less know people's names. But enough thinking about college, really I'm just tired of the long lines at wal-mart and the hundreds of people walking around the track every night... and we aren't even half-way there in terms of the number of people that will be here this weekend!

With the back to school season comes the start up of YoungLife again from a 3 month hiatus due to the summer, and for that, I'm thrilled! I love the football/volleyball games, club, and most importantly, seeing all my lovlies' faces on a regular basis! To fight off the blues they were singing, I got a group of my girls (who are all juniors and DRIVING!!) to meet at Olive Garden on Tuesday night. It was such fun being together and hanging out before we all headed to the volleyball game to watch some of the others who couldn't come!

They are all bummed out that school is starting next week, but I'm SO excited for what this year holds! Tonight is the Eagle Extravaganza and Kirk is playing on varsity! Don't worry, there will be pictures!

Boomhauer

2009-08-18T10:44:00.001-05:00

I have lived in Abilene for 4 years now, and before then I was every bit a "city girl," wait, who am I kidding, I still am.. so anyways, there is this show that you've probably heard of before, King of the Hill. It's pretty dumb, but when there is nothing else on tv (i.e. Family Guy) Brandon enjoys watching it.

On that show, there is a guy named Boomhauer (or Boomhower, I don't know) but he is one of the main character's best friends. I googled Boomhoauer and he came up on Urban Dictionar y which led me to believe that whoeve wrote this either has a sick obsession with King of the Hill, or needs to get some friends.. maybe both. This is the definition I got:

Hank Hill's back-woods talking neighbor and one of his best friends, from the show, King of the Hill. From what I have pieced together. His full name is Jeff Boomhower, he is an electrical engineer, has a deceased father but mother is still alive. He has a brother name Patch. He has never been married but came close with at lest one girl. He is a ladies man and has a '76 Dodge. He was a quarter-back on his high school's varsity football team and, according to the odometer on Hank Hill's F-150, lives exactly 1/10th of a mile from Hank's house.

Basically, Boomhauer is that guy that no one can understand through his accent and mumbling, and honestly, I have always thought he was just mumbling giberish to be funny.

Here's an example of what I'm talking about:

I was wrong.. he is speaking full sentences (well, Texas style sentences), no joke. You can imagine the shock on my face when I came to this revelation. We were watching it on tv last week and I wasn't really paying attention when Boomhauer came on and started talking. I understood every. last. word.

Is this a result of me living in Abilene? maybe. Is it a result of my capability to understand and translate the mumbling Brandon does when he's bored or tired (even to people like his mother)? Absolutely.

There you have it, the official transition from "city girl" to "country wife" has begun. This is going to be a very interesting ride!

Metrocon and Deja Vu

2009-08-17T13:45:00.003-05:00

Last week I went to Dallas for an interior design convention at the market hall. I was so excited that Rebecca was going to come with me, even though she works for a different firm. We had a blast catching up and walking around the convention as well as shopping at the best Dillard's in the WORLD!

We got to stay on the 24th floor of the Renaissance right there at Market and just had a blast! Sorry, no pictures.. I forgot to charge my camera battery.

Friday, I drove back to Abilene to come home and get ready for Minor and Lexi's rehearsal dinner. Brandon came and picked me up after the rehearsal and we were on our way! I think he really enjoyed me all dressed up in his favorite dress after not seeing me for two days!

On the way to the dinner, Brandon was telling me all about the rehearsal. I didn't know this, but Lexi grew up in the Episcopal church like I did, and her parents still attend there, so it was an Episcopal wedding. I almost lost it laughing at Brandon's stories about what they "had to do" in the rehearsal/wedding. He and all of the guys had never been in a wedding like that, so you can imagine how different that might have been for them!

The Episcopal church uses The Book of Common Prayer as the foundation and order for its services, and there are many different prayer such as the Nicene Creed and The Lord's Prayer that are said every week. Once you have gone to the Episcopal church for some time, you begin to memorize these different prayers and don't need to open the Book of Common Prayer when it comes time for them in the service. Brandon said at the rehearsal, when things like the Nicene Creed would come up, all of the girls in the wedding party (most of whom grew up in the Episcopal church) would be saying every word, and all of the guys would be standing there silently looking around at each other with weird looks on their faces. I was laughing so hard thinking that this was the first wedding, administered by a Priest, that Brandon had ever been to, and up until about 3 years ago, I had never been to one that wasn't.

The dinner was sweet, fun, and filled with all kinds of people! And even better, Perini's catered. YUM!

Saturday morning, Brandon and I woke up and the first thing Brandon said to me in the morning was, "what's with the peace thing?" I had no clue what he was talking about and then he said, "the Priest says something and then we were all like, (insert mocking voice here) peace, peace, peace, peace" He continued, "we had no idea what the heck we were supposed to be doing and so we started shaking each other's hand and saying peace!" I laughed and told him that was the Episcopal way of saying hi and introducing yourself to someone around you.

After going to watch some of my YL girls play volleyball, I ran around picking up all of the things Brandon needed for the night, including his tux. Poor thing, I go out of town for two days and he can't go get it himself..

When he had left and everything was fine with his tux, I called my parent's to tell them all about the stories he had said concerning the wedding at the Episcopal church, and we had a good laugh! I finished getting myself ready and headed to Abilene's social event of 2009. The interesting thing about where the wedding was is that it was the church my Grandparents were married in (not the same building) and it was the church where my grandfather's funeral was when I was in second grade (and the place I got the chicken pox). I hadn't been in there since then, so I was curious to see how much of it I remembered.

The Church of Heavenly Rest
*obviously, not my picture, once again.. the camera battery*

The minute we walked in and sat down, I could remember it. I even remembered where I had sat for the funeral. It's a beautiful church with Gothic architecture that makes it look as if it we hundreds of years old.

I only got one picture of Brandon and I (because of my camera battery) and it isn't even very good.. we're on the trolly headed over to the reception.

The wedding was beautiful and the Bride and Groom were nothing but glowing all evening! Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Alexander! We're so happy for you!

*and yes.. I stole this from facebook.. still the whole camera thing

A little bit of Randomness

2009-08-11T07:51:00.002-05:00

I have been incredibly busy at work lately, so my free time has mainly been spent relaxing, not blogging! So, sorry for that, but I'm back! I'm finishing up some plans and specifications for a new school, and I'm about to start up the first big project that is just mine! woo hoo! I'm renovating a big board/conference room for a non profit organization here in Abilene. I'm very excited about it because I'll get to show off my skills as a designer!

Enough talk about work though, what I want to know is...

Does anyone else do this?

When I go grocery shopping, it seems I just grab whatever paper is closest that I can write on... Sometimes it's envelopes, sometimes its a wedding card, you never know what it's going to be!

I wish I could say I was one of those people with a cute little paper pad with a magnet on it stuck to my refrigerator, because let's be honest, that makes much more sense. But I'm not. I have thought numerous times that I should invest in one of those things (is is an investment?) so that as we run out of things, we can write them on the little note pad and I wont have to try and remember everything before I make the trek to the grocery store. But oh well, at least I keep myself on edge and have to cook with what I've remembered! You could stretch it and say that I'm "going green" by recycling old paper.. but don't say too loud, I live in West Texas and I'm a designer. I know that most of that stuff (not all, to you eco-friendly people) is just a hype to get you to spend more money for a "green" product.

So I'll stick with my envelopes, cards, and miscellaneous papers to write my grocery lists on, it makes me a better person.

On another note, I have been on the mission to recover two chairs that I have had for some time now. They were originally my Grandmother's and then passed down to my mom, and then put in storage only to be taken out and cleaned up for their debut in my college house. When I got them, I bought some inexpensive fabric and did the cheap and easy way of "recovering" them, but it looked more like a slip cover. I wanted to bring the true character of these chairs back, because nothing is more fun than updating old furniture!

The original fabric reminded me of a toile but it had historic buildings from the colonial days on it. I was searching and searching for something different fom what I had. Something bright and fun. I looked for weeks and weeks.. even in Dallas, with no luck. Then one day I saw a sign that said "half price sale" infront of Hancock's fabrics here in Abilene, so I decided to go in.

I didn't want to spend all that much because the point of re-doing them myself was so I could have something unique and not have to spend very much. I could probably just buy two new chairs for a couple of hundred dollars, so anything above $20 a yard was out of the question, but I also wanted something that was uphoulstery grade and would last for a while, because I wasn't going to be re-doing them again.

I found it! The perfect fabric that was what I was looking for! And guess what! it was on sale for $10 a yard! I bought up enough for both of the chairs and some throw pillows for our couch.

We have two of these chairs and a big chocolate leather couch! I can't wait until they're done!

This one obviously isn't finished, you can tell by the bottom, but I can't wait until it is done and I start on the other! Don't you just love the fabric?

I guess that is all for now! I hope you have a spectacular Tuesday!

Oh, What a Wonderful Weekend!

2009-08-05T16:20:00.004-05:00

This past weekend was so fun and so filled with tons of activities!

The weekend started on Thursday morning when we loaded up the car and piled in to head to Houston. We got there and checked in to the hotel around 3:00 where we had about 2 hours until we needed to leave again. In those 2 hours, Brandon and I found a Sports Clips (because he wont go anywhere else) and got his hair cut so he would look clean cut for the festivities that awaited.

By 5:00, everyone was dressed in their pastel colors and met at the photographer's studio to have family portraits made, all 29 of us! The studio was really cool, it was an old craftsman style house with all kinds of cool furniture around to use as props. I can't wait to see how all the pictures turned out.

Immediately after the photography session, we all headed back to the hotel to change clothes and get ready for Mimi and Papa's 50th Wedding Anniversary party. Thankfully, most of the events of the weekend were spent in the same town center as our hotel so we were able to walk.

The Anniversary party was so fun and such a good time for Mimi and Papa, filled with all kinds of surprises. Their wedding cake had been recreated just like in their pictures and the actual topper had been used. All of the grand kids and great grand kids were given a letter to come up with a word that made them think of Mimi and Papa. They all stood in order and told their stories that went with their letter and at the end of the line, the letters spelled out "LEGACY FULL OF LOVE." It was such a sweet representation of how special this couple is and has been to each of their grand children.

Mimi and Papa loved every bit of it. Afterwards, all the letters were put into a scrapbook for them to have and all of their stories were written in the form of a letter on the back.

Here's Brandon and I at the party

Thursday night, we went and stayed with my parents so that we would at least be able to see them. There wasn't much to do since we didn't get there until about 11:00, but Friday morning we woke up early to go have breakfast with them before they flew out to California to visit Christy and Mike.

Friday night was the rehearsal and the rehearsal dinner. The theme was Fiesta so I went with it! Ha! it was fun, everyone was dressed up in their bright colors for some good fajitas!

Saturday (Mimi and Papa's actual 50th anniversary) was the wedding day. Breanna was such a beautiful bride and both her and Tyler were glowing! The wedding was gorgeous, and I got the pleasure of sitting neat Mattie Claire (Breanna's 2 year old niece), who was one of the flower girls. I had a blast watching her throw all of her rose petals out of her basket after she sat down!

I love the song that Breanna walked down the aisle to. I had neevr even thought of something like it, but it really incorporated worship into their wedding like their faith is in their relationship. They had a mixture of a string trio and a worship and praise band. She walked down to the song "Before the Throne of God Above" in the end part of the song during the "hallelujahs." It was just as beautiful as she was!

Here's some of the pictures from the photographer and from other people there.

The wedding reception was so much fun with probably one of the best live bands I've ever heard at something like this. We all danced and partied until late in the evening.

Everything was so much fun and I can't believe we get to do it all over again in a month for Brandon's other cousin's (Breanna's sister's) wedding! (well everything except the family photos and the anniversary party, but it's so much fun to see everyone!)

SITES I LIKE

2009-08-01T10:08:00.001-05:00

Through my process of learning HTML code, I have found some of these websites to be very helpful and fun, so since they are all free, I thought I would let you in on them too!

Kevin and Amanda

Shabby Blogs

Aqua Poppy Designs

The Cutest Blog on the Block

I'll continue to add to them as I find them!

CUSTOM HEADERS

2009-08-01T10:01:00.012-05:00

I have recently ventured out and started making custom headers and designs for other people. I have always made my own, but as I began to learn more and more, I decided to start helping out others. At this point, I'm not selling these abilities, just helping out friends!

If you would like a custom header, or help with one let me know by emailing me (blogspot/blogger only please)! I can't guarantee I'll be able to turn something around immediately because I do it in my spare time, but I will definitely get back to you about how long I think it will take!

Here's a few examples of some of the things I've done so far. All of these were made to match free backgrounds from some other websites. You can click on some of them and they will take you to the blog they were made for (if they aren't old)!

CONTACT INFORMATION

2009-08-01T09:57:00.000-05:00

If you would like to contact me, you can reach me at:

keepingupwiththemanns@gmail.com

ABOUT ME

2009-08-01T09:49:00.001-05:00

On March 14, 2009 I married the man of my dreams and haven't looked back since. Originally growing up in Houston, Texas, I have embraced the relaxed culture of the "West Texas" way of life and I don't think I'll ever let go. Brandon and I love the town we're in for its people, community, and fun we can have.

I'm an Interior Designer for an architectural firm here in Abilene that focuses on commercial, mainly educational projects. I realize everyday I am so lucky for what I have and am so thankful to have a job like this. I'm looking forward to taking the NCIDQ exam in the very near future to further my career and get my lisence from the State of Texas as a Registered Interior Designer.

We're on this journey called life and we're having so much fun together! We can't wait to see what God has in store for our lives and our little family!

Thanks for stopping by!

Tie Tying: Learning to tie a tie

2009-07-29T07:45:00.002-05:00

Tomorrow we are headed to Houston for number 2 of 3 weddings in Brandon's family this year (our's being the first, Breanna and Tyler 2nd, and Brittany and Jack third). Through all the hustle and bustle of daily life, we were all able to find just the right outfits for all of the different events surrounding the wedding and Mimi and Papa's 50th wedding anniversary!

Last night Connie was finally able to check off everyone she needed clothes for off her list after a good 30 rummaging through the tie section in Dillards. We were after something for Kirk to wear to the wedding. We found the pants and then the shirt, all that was left was the tie. Who would have thought finding a tie in a place like Dillards would be so hard?

We searched and searched and even put two of the sales people to work. Everyone would walk around the tables grabbing ties they thought would go as the passed and then bring them over to the shirt and pants we had placed on one of the display tables. It was so much fun picking out different ties and seeing what they would look like.. even seeing the opinions that came out was entertaining. Between Brent, Connie, Myself, and two sales people (only I wish you could have seen the ties one lady was picking out.. I think at one point I had an audible "bleh!" with emphasis on the throw up face, before I realized I had made any noise at all), I think we looked at a good 50-60 ties.

If someone found one that looked pretty good, we all would bring our voice levels up a notch, so by the end of the 30 minutes, we were pretty much yelling from excitement. We had found our match. Then we looked at the price tag--$50 for a tie that he would most likely wear once. $50 wouldn't be so bad if there were 3 whole tables of ties $20 and less. So we started again--only this time limiting ourselves to the sale tables.

We were able to find one pretty quickly, fortunately, and the price was right! The sales man however, had been trying to push us over to the register to check out since we made the first decision. He kept saying, "I'll take you guys right over here." as he held the clothes and tried to lure us away. I think he saw the atomic tie bomb we set off durring our search, hoping to find the best tie there was, and wanted us to get out of there before we moved on to another section. Afterall, it was 8:30 and he thought he had a nice easy closing ahead of him. Little did he know we would be coming and coming with a force.

So as happy as we could be, because we found Kirk's outfit and we still had time to go to Old Navy, we walked out of the store.

Later that night, we made Kirk come home and try on all of his clothes to make sure they fit so they could go to the dry cleaners first thing in the morning to be ready before we left.

Everything fit perfectly, all that was left was to teach Kirk how to tie a tie.

Brandon went to his dad's closet and pulled out his Santa Clause tie, a staple I think every father must have at some point in his life, and through frustration, he finally got the idea of it.

Sorry these pictures are blurry, I had to take them with my phone.

"Kirk, watch me..."

He's getting it!

First knot!

A new found sense of confidence

This is Brandon's "what!" face to Kirk for tying a more difficult knot.. haha! I just love a mann in a Santa Clause tie and a Goodwill t-shirt.