Ice of Texas

Its an ice/snow day in Houston!   "Ice of Texas" is a silly hashtag I've seen for it, play on the 'eyes of Texas'.

The rest of the country may laugh at us, but we are simply not built for cold*.  Flyovers and bridges ice over and its dangerous, saddly people here can't even drive in rain!

I'm fortunate that I was able to make plans to work from home and saw this morning that my school is closed until 1 pm -- not sure why they plan to open mid day (and just for staff since classes are cancelled), but we'll take it, and lots of other schools and businesses are closed.

We've been watching news coverage all morning and ice is everywhere.  K's alma mater (Sam Houston) got some good snow, I love watching the kids (and adults) play in snow.   We just had ice on our picnic table from the rain that froze - and our umbrella is frozen solid!   We have a rare daytime fire going in the fireplace now.

I'm glad to be home, and make everyone (including first responders) safer by being one less car on the road.

If you do have to be out in it - drive slowly and stay safe!

I'm off to read my book, and be worse than a little kid - checking to see if there are updates on further closures of my school.  EDIT: my school did close all day!  got a phone call and text message near noon letting me know, so I had a full ice day and an unexpected 3- day weekend

*We do know how to deal with heat and humidity. I remember a trip to San Diego and a "heat wave" that all the people there were dying over and it was still chilly to us!  its all about what you're used to.

Bridal Show

Yesterday I accompanied my sister to the Bridal Extravaganza, and we walked all over the convention center!    I had never been to a show of this scale (thought it'd be too overwhelming when I was the bride to be).   It was quite an experience.  I am so glad she has already made some of her major decisions (venue) so we could focus on a few things she wanted to look for (photographer, linens, invitations) and see some of the things we'd never thought of that could be helpful (dance lessons).  Even though she isn't looking for a baker we did partake in of some of the cake samples and love to look at the beautiful cakes - my favorite: this mustache one (had to photograph it for my friend Delena), complete with a mariachi musician on the top.

We had a great time wandering and talking about all things wedding, and sat to regroup and review -- there are so many vendors they were already starting to run together.  Its fun to see her talk about weddings and all the different options she has before her.  I am glad that I'm a helper this time and not having to make the decisions.  I know she and Chris will make a beautiful wedding that reflects them as a couple, and they are starting early since their date isn't til 2015.

A great take away from this event was the idea of having an album made of the engagement pictures and using that as a guest book -- almost like a yearbook, guests will get to see more of the photos than they would otherwise and in putting it in something you'd want to look at anyway you'll see your guests and their wishes for you for years to come.   (kind of wish we'd done that!)

The show can be overwhelming but just having fun and seeing all the offerings is what its all about.   The ideas you never thought of and get from it make it worth it (the takeaway from the one we went to before my wedding was chocolate fountain as groom cake!)  Here is a photo of the future bride wearing her sticker showing she is a bride.

I got to see a lot of my sis this weekend (always fun!), we also went to a class to decorate coasters on Friday night and our dear friend Delena who came south from Chicago to escape the cold also joined us.   It was a fun night of chit-chatting and each making our own designs on the glass coasters, cannot wait to see the finished product.   I put a picture on instagram, not sure how to post that here....hmmmmm

welcome 2014 and resolutions

2014...time flies and its a new year again!!   It'll take me most of January to write the date correctly....make it a great year!!!

I'm not sure why I do it, but I still make resolutions, along with much of the country...

Looking back at last year's resolutions I realized that in addition to the resolutions I'd planned to make smaller/short term goals, totally forgot about that!   Much like people forget about/give up on their resolutions
a few weeks into the year.

I like the idea of smaller/short term goals, keep myself accountable, and so I plan to do better at setting them -- that way each month is a new start.   I've also learned to be very specific and measurable with my resolutions/goals to make them easier to achieve (and to tell if you did achieve).

We were not very successful with last year's resolutions -- though we did start over with our tupperware, have been using mint.com, and did keep up with organizing various places in our house.   We also did the better way of making a change - when we saw the need for it.   I've been trying to organize my digital life, my personal email was a mess with all the various newsletters/advertisements I receive.  I found this service called Unroll.me and love that it puts all the subscriptions into an email that I receive once a day and makes it really easy to unsubscribe from those I no longer want (some I didn't know I even had!).  Already I can see the emails that I do want to read and reply to much easier without having to sift through the junk.  Our efforts to improve our workout room will also help us as we work to get into a new routine.

The rest of our resolutions:

1) Pay off 'bad' debt – starting with finishing paying off the living room furniture (interest free period ends in April), and then moving onto K's student loans -- we paid off one in 2013!   We'll be 'paying ourselves first' this way rather than just saving and paying unnecessary interest.

2) Travel more – we'd like to take at least 2 trips this year, and plan that one will be to a place we’ve never been.

3) Lose 20 lbs (each of us) – K plans to work out at least 3x per week –  I'll also plan for that often and work on eating more 'clean' (still need to work on how to make this one specific/measurable).

4) one just for me -- I've realized I have my mom's short temper and take it out on K which isn't right, so I need to work on better ways to communicate with him and not just getting mad....we can probably both work on our communication skills with each other.

5) reading!  I didn't make my goal of 20 books in 2013, but will try that again.  K reads a ton already.

Edited to add:
6) take my lunch break at work -- sounds odd, but I often work right through lunch/eat at my desk which isn't good for my eyes, brain, or my stomach....so I plan to step away to eat, even if I'm still in my office.