Whirlwind Week

So, last week was insanely busy; lots going on, so this is gonna be a long one…with pics and all!  :)   Tuesday  night I went to the Nine Inch Nails / Jane’s Addiction concert with Anne, Sarah, and Ross.  Everyone who knows me knows that I’m MUCH more of a country person, but hey, why not try something new, right??  Everyone got a kick out of the fact that I knew NO songs…but whatev, it was still a great concert!  (Actually, I LOVE Closer by NIN…so I figured that the $60 ticket would be worth it to hear that….and then they didn’t play it!!!)  I LOVE JA’s lead guy….I mean, seriously, any guy who prances around in a unitard and tail is just great!!!  :)    OH!  And Dave Navarro was playing, too…H.O.T.

Jane’s Addiction:

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Then, Thursday night, Karen, Tenley, and I went to see Rent at Bass Concert Hall.  I.LOVE.RENT!  It is absolutely my all time favorite musical!  The first time I saw it was in New York at Nederlander Theater…what an amazing experience!  Now, anytime it is close, I go!  :)   Mimi and Angel weren’t the best I’ve ever seen, but it was still phenomenal!  The Angel we had was a bit too masculine for the part, but it’s ok  :)   Below is from after the show in front of some fountain at UT…Tenley, Karen, Me  :)

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I left work on Friday and drove to Navasota to see Jake play at The Western Club.  Great, as always  :)   John J is now playing drums for Jake, so it was a fun night!  The guys are below:  Jake Hooker, Rick Price (the best steel man around!), twin fiddles Snuffy and Rocky King (who is awesome!), and John J on the drums  :)

jakericktwin-fiddlesjohn-j

I stayed Friday night at Erin and Stephen’s with the intent on getting up at 6am to drive back to Leander and then ride to Ft. Worth with Jess, Sam, and Graham to go to Nika’s grad party.  Well, 6am didn’t happen after a night out, so I got up with Erin, ran some errands with the boys, got dressed and then hit the road to Ft. Worth.  It was so much fun seeing everyone, and now that Nika and Cody will be in SA for her residency, hopefully we will be seeing more of each other.  Congrats Nika on finishing med school…so awesome!!!  Love you!  :)   Below:  Colton and Wyatt chillin’; Colton, Wyatt, and Hai; Nika and Jenn

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Oh yeah, so this was cute.  Erin and I decided a long time ago that when Colton started talking whatever he called me would be my name for all of the kiddos.  Well, since he still wasn’t talking when everyone else started having babies, I’ve been “Aunt Hailey” to them.  Steph (Erin’s sister-in-law…and one of my friends) had her baby in August and named her…Haylee!  So…Colton’s had a lot of practice with the name, and they all call her Hay Hay.  This weekend, Erin realized that Colton has actually differentiated the two of us!  I am now “Hai”….I don’t get the second one!  Crazy that he came up with that on his own, but so fun that he figured it out, knows who I am, and so now I’m his “Hai.”  It was just so incredibly cute when Erin asked Colton “Who’s that?” and he looked at me, smiled and said “Hai!”

This week has been a bit more calm…EPA training course for work Mon-Fri, and then just cleaning the house and trying to get the office organized.  I’m getting a roommate (YAY!), and she’s coming over tomorrow.  She sounds awesome, is 25, and a teacher.  Can’t wait to finally  meet her in person, but it seems like it will be great!  She’s not moving in until July, so still time to actually get the office to where it needs to be.  Years of stuff has just been left in there because I haven’t felt like going through it all.  It’s amazing all the shit that we had accumulated…some of it important and I will keep…most of it not important (or not mine so I don’t care about it) and has gone in the trash!  Anyway, so Christina is coming by tomorrow, then on Friday I am driving to Erin’s to stay the night.  I have to be in Tyler by like 10:30 on Saturday morning, and Anderson is about 2 hours closer than Leander  :)   I can’t wait for Saturday!   JASON AND KATIE ARE GETTING MARRIED!!! Yes, my BFF Jase, is getting hitched.  I can’t believe it, but I am so incredibly happy!  I love Katie Mac to death, and can’t wait to share their special day with them!

After the wedding, it’s a 6.5 hour road trip to Bandera for good music, good drinks, good friends, and good times!  More on Bandera Memorial Day weekend next week, I’m sure!

Everyone have a safe and fun Memorial Day weekend….but also remember what it is we are celebrating.  To a lot of people it’s just a day off work, but please take the time to remember our fallen Heros who served, fought, and died for our country.  Please take part in the “National Moment of Remembrance” as well.  At 3:00 pm your local time, take a moment to observe the fallen.

SSG Pugh, thank you for everything you did.  I miss seeing your smiling face popping in on the webcam, listening to your advice, and hearing your laugh!  I still think about you every day, and miss you so much!  You are, and always will be, my biggest Hero!
KIA 17 July 2006, Baghdad, Iraq
*Hugs*

Happy Birthday Dad!

Today is my daddy’s birthday, so I decided that he deserves a blog post since I’m not at home to celebrate with him.  I’ll see him next weekend and we’ll celebrate then, but since today is the day, I just wanted to wish him a Happy Birthday.  (Don’t worry, I already called him to tell him Happy Birthday, because there’s a 95% chance he’ll never see this post!) 

fam

Happy B-Day, Dad!  Love you!

:)

Things around home

I’ve been needing to paint my address out on the curb for quite some time now.  Having food delivered can really be a pain because my painted on numbers are long gone.  I was very happy when I got home on Wednesday and there was a flyer on my door stating that this company was painting street addresses on my road the next day, and if I would like to have mine done, to check the design and replace the note on the door.  For a mere $20 I now have freshly painted A&M address numbers!!  Gig ‘Em baby!!!  :)

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On another note – no Helotes Cornyval tonight  :(   I’m trying to kick this stupid sinus infection and have KT Mac’s bachelorette party downtown tomorrow night, so I thought it would be best to stay home.  Boo.  I hate missing Jake when he’s so close!

Ok, off to the bank…yay…I really do need to set up direct deposit, it makes life so much easier!

*Hugs*

Lots goin’ on

I’ve been crazy busy lately, all stuff that I’ve wanted to do….I’m just paying for it now  :)   The past two weekends I’ve been in Anderson.  Two weekends ago, it was to help Erin out with the boys.  Her and Stephen had the Anderson VFD fundraiser and she didn’t have anyone to watch Wyatt, her 6 mo old baby, so she called and asked if I could come down.  You have to understand that Wyatt isn’t the easiest baby, so Erin isn’t comfortable leaving him with very many people.  At all.  So, I made the drive down on that Friday after work, and got very little sleep all weekend…because when there is a 6 mo old and a 20 mo old…they like to wake up early and often.  I got back last Sunday night, then ended up sick on Monday.  Went to the nurse on Wednesday, talked her into a z-pack because I was going BACK to Anderson for the weekend to keep both boys and to see Jake Hooker on Saturday night at the crawfish boil.  (Of course, I couldn’t tell the nurse that I needed to get better to go drinkin’ and dancin’…so I was “going to be in a wedding”…ha!)

Colton bug Happy Wyatt

The boys were great Saturday morning – both were happy and we had a great time.  I’m still exhausted and seriously don’t want to have kids any time soon…which as you all know, coming from me, says A.LOT.  Saturday night was interesting, to say the least…some walls are up even higher and some were brought down just a tad….   Jake was fabulous, as usual, on Saturday night.  Rocky’s playing fiddle with him and he’s just phenominal.  Talked to Rick for a while after the show…I am supposed to be watching Nights in Rodathane before I go see them this coming Friday.  Hopefully I’ll get around to that tomorrow or Thursday…I started feeling like crap again today, so it’s just about bed time!  I really like all of the guys in the band, and it’s so fun catching up with them when we see them.  I think I’ll be seeing them every weekend for the next 3 or 4 weekends….gonna be a great summer!!!  :)

This coming Friday night Erica and I are going to Cornyval in Helotes….to see Jake play, of course.  I’ve never been to Cornyval, so hopefully it’s a good time and the weather cooperates!!!  Saturday is Katie Mac’s bachelorette party!!!  WOOOO HOOO!!!!  (For those of you who haven’t met Katie yet, she’s marrying my best guy friend of all time, Jase, and I love her pretty much as much as I love him!)  :)   I am SOOO excited for her bach party – even though she’s subjecting me to being in a baithing suit out on the lake, and I’m so not ready for that yet!!  lol, love ya KT!

OH!  I almost forgot about my tramtic night last night!  So, my house backs up to a drainage ditch and park…and aparently a bunch of mice have now left their homes and have moved into all of ours on our street.  The little shits (and that’s a nice word right now) ate through the water lines on my fridge, so I had a lovely water leak…which went all the way into my bedroom…which is carpet.  So, I’ve put out traps and poison, but haven’t killed any…YET.  Well, last night, I was laying in bed, and long story short, Midge chased a mouse into my bedroom.  So, after a very traumatic phone call to Michael (just b/c he’s the only one I can be a stupid girl on the phone with without being told to grow up (that’s what my dad would say))…I caught the mouse!!!!  I took him on a very long walk and let him go at the park.  Yes, I know I should have killed him, but I AM a girl, and I AM NOT killing a mouse…sorry.   Here’s a pic of it:

icky mouse

Ok, time for some warm apple juice (according to the nurse, that will make me feel better…) and bed!  If anyone’s up for taking a road trip on Friday to Helotes, call me – I’m sure it’ll be a lot of fun!!!

*Hugs*

Oh, and I’m registered for classes at A&M!  Frontiers in Research and Methods of Technological Change.  I really wanted to go ahead and jump into some international ag classes, but I have to have the Methods class first…so I’ll be extremely excited for next semester!!!

Gig ‘Em!!!

I got accepted to A&M for my masters in International Ag Development / Extension!!!!!!!!!!!! 

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

That’s all.  :)

*Hugs*….and WHOOP!

O.M.G.

As we established a short while ago in my post…I’m IMPATIENT!  So, I e-mailed the woman at A&M that I have been dealing with for grad school and nicely asked if our admission decision would be posted online on the applicant site, or if she would be letting us know.  Um, it’s NOT going to be posted online…they will be sending us a LETTER…In.The.Mail.  That they “hope” to have sent out by the 6th.  NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I am SOOOOOOO incredibly anxious about this – and now they’re making me wait another week?!?!  I need a few xanax to make it until then…let me know if you have any!  lol

Impatient…

Not much to update on, just wanted to say that I am on the verge of throwing my computer through the window.  Not because of anything it’s done…just because I am so ready to hear from A&M about admissions and they haven’t updated the website.  I was told that I would know anytime between last Friday and this coming Friday…so, of coure, I’m SURE it will be on Friday when I find out…so they should just have said that!  I’m surprised I haven’t crashed their system by checking it so frequently to see if it’s been updated.  I really hope they hurry….and more importantly, I REALLY hope I get in!!!  :)

*Hugs*

Thanks Kate!!!!

Welcome everyone to my brand new blog!!!  One of my besties, Kate, set me up with my own domain and the awesome layout!  Her photoshop wasn’t working, so one of her friends, Gregg, created the awesome dragonflies for me.  :)   Thanks so much Kate for getting me all set up, and thanks Gregg for making girlie dragonflies for me!!!  *Hugs*  Now that I’m all set up, I’m going to make an effort to blog more frequently!!!

SO…I might as well start now!  Rodeo season has been in full swing, so I am totally exhausted now.  I was in Houston for 3 performances and so far have gone to 3 in Austin…with one more tonight and possibly tomorrow as well!  I absolutely love going to rodeos, and even though I’m tired, I wish it wasn’t coming to an end for this year around here.  We’ve seen the traditional country performers after the rodeos with the exception of one night here in Austin…we saw Akon!  Yes.  Akon.  At a rodeo.  Let me tell ya – that was the BEST concert!!!  He called everyone down to the arena floor (which I’m sure security wasn’t too happy about…but whatev)…and Erica and I ended up right next to the stage.  After the performance, we got drumsticks from his drummer…how fun!!!  :)    Wednesday night of this week, we made an unplanned trip to the rodeo to meet Sammy Andrews, one of the stock contractors.  My parents met Sammy and his wife, Rena, in Vegas at NFR, and since they were here in Austin with horses and bulls, what better time for me to meet them!?  Well, Rena ended up not being able to make it in, but told me to call Sammy and meet up with him.  He’s such a nice guy, and it was really neat to meet him, I’m sure we’ll be seeing more of him throughout the year.  Rena is trying to make it to Austin tonight since Erica and I will be there again, so I’m hoping that works out…with this weather, though, I’m not sure.

If you’ve followed my other blog (which, honestly, doesn’t have much on it) you’ll know that I am waiting to hear from A&M about starting my masters there.  The professors are meeting today to make admission decisions for the Fall semester, so I will know something by next Friday, April 3.  I am SOOOO anxious to find out if I got in…I sure hope I do…if not, girls, you better be ready to go drinking!  :)

I looked at my calendar last night, and the next two months are crazy – I have something going on every weekend except next weekend!  My best guy friend, Jason, is getting married in May, so I have his wedding and his fiancee’s bachelorette party both in May.  April is crazy with just random things every weekend…and a road trip to go see Candace is in there, too…finally!!!  I can’t wait!

Anyway, that’s pretty much what’s been going on lately.  Thanks again Kate – I love my new blog!  :)

*Hugs*

Waiting, Waiting, Waiting

O.M.G. I just wrote an incredibly long blog about everything that’s been going on…and it’s gone!!!!! Going.to.scream.

So, now it’ll be much shorter. So, on Feb 13, I went to A&M for Prospective Grad Student Day. I met with 2 professors that I am very interested in working with and the meetings were great. I really want to do my Master’s in a combination of two program areas, which is why A&M is one of the best places for me to go. I want to concentrate in International Ag Development and Extension. I’ll post another blog about what I would like to do (or what I think I would like to do) sometime soon, hopefully. Thanks to everyone who helped review my Statement of Purpose – your suggestions were invaluable! The day went wonderfully – if you want to know the details, e-mail me :)

I took the GRE again for hopefully the LAST time on Feb 18 – my score went up 130 points in just over 3 weeks, so I feel certain that if I had been able to do the full-length study course (12 weeks) that it would have been very close to that 1300 they guaranteed. My application deadline is March 1 for A&M, and I am now only waiting on one letter of recommendation to be submitted and then they have everything. I am very very very anxious about finding something out – I am trying not to feel too confident after the day on-campus, so I am just hoping it all goes well…and that I can finally say “Gig ‘Em” and “Howdy” and “WHOOP!” as an Aggie….b/c I refuse to say any of those and be a “wannabe”…even though Caleb tells me that it’s ok to go ahead and start saying them :) Keep your fingers crossed for me!!!

My cat, Midgie, was diagnosed with diabetes on Saturday. Long story short – cats with the highest liklihood to become diabetic are those that are over weight. I had never been told to put my cat on a diet…ever! But, apparently, he used to be overweight. Not any more. He has now lost 4 pounds. It’s very sad, and the best option for him and me (both emotionally and financially) is to just change his diet to a low-carb diet. He now eats twice a day, 1/3 cup at each feeding. If you have cats, please pay attention to their weight so that they don’t have a higher risk of getting this disease, it’s so incredibly sad.

Ok, that’s the gist of what i had written before. Oh, all of the puppies are gone and that part of life is starting to get back to normal…the garage still smells of puppies, but hopefully time….and a lot of bleach….will get rid of the stink! LOL :)

Reading time then bed time. Mary got me hooked on the Twilight books, so it’s time to start the 3rd in the series. Hope all is well!

*Hugs*

Grad School Prep

I haven’t written in a while, so I thought I would post something real quick tonight. Lately, a good portion of my time has been consumed by a GRE prep course that I signed up for that requires a 30 hr/week commitment. Now, if I wasn’t working….and if I didn’t enjoy doing things on the weekend, this wouldn’t be such a big deal. But I AM working, and I DO like to enjoy my weekends, so this has been very difficult. I paid a pretty penny (well, I split it with my mom – thanks mom!), so I am making sure I meet all of the requirements of the course…it’s just hard! I had a math “study session” tonight…the first of such study sessions that I read about before signing up for the course. Well, they don’t tell you what to expect, just that you will be required to do basically one per week…or however often they offer them. I called in on my cell phone (I don’t have a microphone on my computer) thinking it would be an hour…maybe an hour and a half at most. Nope. Wrong. Two hours and forty-five minutes later we finished up the call…and have another one set for Sunday. Superbowl party at the Hilton Penthouse? Nope, not anymore :( Damn this course! They have a score guarantee of 1300, which would be fabulous…but no money back if you don’t reach that score…just the promise to work with you until you do. Keep in mind, though, that each time I have to take this lovely test, I’m spending $140. So…..before I even get into grad school, I’m going to be broke, lol! All I have to say, is that A&M BETTER ACCEPT ME or I will be very upset. If I don’t get in, girls, you better be ready for some serious going out! :)

On a lighter note – one of my new co-workers and I have been going out a bit lately. So.much.fun. We went to Ginny’s Little Longhorn last Friday night to see The Dancehall Cowboys play. A lot of you know that my parents follow Jake Hooker and the Outsiders around and have me doing the same, so one of the guys that we see at Jake shows plays fiddle for The Dancehall Cowboys. Rocky King is just amazing on the fiddle!

I don’t think there’s anything that I love more than going to hear great country music and dancing – it’s my happy place!! (Oh, and Ginny’s is the best little hole in the wall that I’ve been to…not so much of a dancing place, but it was great for music!) Well, after the show on Friday night I started talking to Rocky’s wife, Jennifer. Jake was playing in San Antonio on Saturday night and she asked if we were going to make it for that one. Needing to save money, I told her that we probably wouldn’t be there because we would have to get a hotel room, and she graciously offered their house for us. Erica ended up not being able to go, but I made the drive down to Seguine and met up with them to go out. Once again, So.much.fun. They are just a great group of people, and I’m really enjoying getting to know them – too bad they all live in the Seguine / San Antonio area!

Other than that, things are pretty normal around here. OH! The puppies are ready to go! I sold one last night…only 5 more to go. Keep your fingers crossed that I can find some takers. I love them all, but am seriously tired of my house smelling like puppies even though they’re out in the garage!!

*Hugs*

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