Meet Tulip

Happy August! This month I turn 23 on the 23rd. I am weird and love quirky things like that so I was really hoping I'd get something sweet to commemorate the occasion. We have been looking into getting a pup since last summer but knew with a move and everything in our future it just wasn't realistic. The past couple of months we have thought we could finally do so since we have enough space & are settled in here. I just want to say, even if you think dogs are "just a pet", we have been SO scared to make the commitment. I mean, we are used to taking care of us and only us...used to having a clean home whenever and however we choose...used to sleep...okay I know, a bit dramatic, but this taking care of something else thing was just that big of a decision to us. After much praying (& I can't even begin to say how much that's helped) we are going to be parents to our first puppy!!!! God is really good and our landlord is ecstatic for us to have our first dog so we don't have to pay a deposit or monthly fee, can you say AMEN! Without further ado MEET TULIP NEEL!

Her Name: Tulip's are a favorite flower of many of my family members, a love that was established thanks to my Mammaw. The day after I picked her out I woke up and said, "Let's name her Tulip"...the rest shall be history (hopefully good:)!

Sea World & more :)

This past weekend was Praise Wave @ Sea World San Antonio,TX! Our church bought us tickets to go to Sea World and the concert for Saturday and Sunday. This was so much fun, especially since I haven't been there in YEARS!

I got to see Shamoo's show with her new baby:) which was very interesting since the trainers are not allowed to be in the water. I assume this is because of the recent tragedy?? Anywho, Sea World def. came through for a fun day and the concerts that evening were pretty well known Christian artists. Jars of Clay was the "main" event but Fireflight, The Afters and a few other bands preceded them that were great too!!

In the week prior to our Sea World trip with the church, C and I celebrated his 21st birthday with dinner @ Kobe's steak house and a movie. His actual birthday wasn't until this Monday but he was @ home so we celebrated early! Due to this year's celebrations in May I started a piggy bank to start saving my change for Christmas ;) I must start saving now seeing as I had Mother's Day, Trav's birthday, C's mom's birthday and C's birthday, graduations etc. whew that's a mouthful and there's many more...However, I wouldn't have it anyother way:) So blessed with family and friends!!

Real fast! (Weekend of Worthiness, Disney World)

Okay so less than 24 hours to go and I'll be on my way to Florida!! I am going to a Kappa Delta Pi conference (Teacher's Honor Society I am in here @ TX State). I am very excited to go, my friend M.T. and I are going to have a blast! We get to be roomies, wahoo!! We are going to receive our A.C.E. award (Achieving Chapter Excellence), which is an award only a few chapters in the Nation receive!

I will do a brief shpill about the Pen Pal Project that I coordinated here this semester. I haven't got it word for word yet but hey, I'll pull it together by Saturday ;)

On another note I just got back from an excellent retreat this weekend. We went to T bar M in New Braunfels Friday-Sunday with the BSM. We had a worship time on Friday, Served in the community (I worked in gardens/flower beds for two widows in town) & Worship on Saturday, then Sunday service @ 3 churches in the area. It was a great time with an excellent encouragement from God's word. One thing that stood out to me was this.....

Our focus was "Walking Worthy". The speaker told us he knew the key to a simpler life (which we all could use) so this got us all interested and focused. He then went on to say,

"Living daily for God should not be one of your goals in life, or even the number one goal in your life, it should be the ONLY goal for your life."

 I LOVED this quote. It put so much into perspective and was a good reminder of how simple life really is intended to be. I tend to go for the more "simplistic" versions of many things but after hearing him talk about how many "goals" we set up for ourselves (please others, be the best teacher, be the best wife/husband, best roommate, work out the most etc.) I realized I have allowed my life to become far more complicated then the Lord created it to be. He obviously wants me to do all of these things because he blessed me with the abilities to do so, but to worry about or allow them to rule my life is not the purpose, but for His glory...oh what a great weekend!

I hope it can be as much encouragement to you as it was me. A new song out is "How He Loves" by David Crowder Band. It's lyrics are soo true and really summed up the weekend for me. Check out the link below to watch/hear it!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6BicTXVz0Y


Until next time... I'll be with the Princess Party in Disney World!!

Weekend Fun!

Well it's now Wednesday and the weekend is quickly approaching again...however, I am running a little behind on posting from last weekend! So here it goes!

Thursday:
Monica and I got to have our first sleepover together! Although it was not for a fun reason (her and A's a/c went out...bummer). We had a blast! I would def. post pics. but she'd kill me ;)

Friday:
I enjoyed eating lunch with a gal in my small group @ BSM! We got to chit chat about our hometowns etc. (while eating, my fave.)!  Then I took a long-awaited 3 hour nap to wake up to a still tired Amanda....Monica and I stayed up wayy to late to wake up for 8:00 work!

Saturday:
Started with a scrumptous brunch @ The Root Celler (a cutie local stop)! We all had fab. treats and will def. make this a top stop on our list! Then, off to Toy Story 1,2 & premier of 3 in you got it, 3-D!!! It was a great adventure with friends (lots of friends, 7 to be exact)! We ran into some church friends at the show...they were 5 yrs. old :)
After the afternoon @ the theatre the gals scurried home to prepare for our third Progressive Dinner!! (The fellas were frying wings, etc. & watching movies)
I had the apetizer this go round. Although it was just salad and bread I did chill the bowls to give it a little Olive Garden feel!
Entree' was AMAZING @ Aub/Jen's house (yay for J joining us this time!). They put together Lasagna from scratch, great recipe J's daddy!
Dessert was of course delic. as well! M&A prepared strawberry cake with homemade icing and carmel/chocolate/oatmeal bars!

Of course we all left with full tummies and awaiting our next time! A surprise visit from Michelle H./Meagan M. topped the night off to make it a super busy/great day!

Sunday:
Church, oh how I love church! We are soo blessed to have found a church family that is welcoming and I am constantly reminded about that every week! (I worked in the baby room during the service...woo wee I could go on and on about that, no kids for a WHILE)!

The week is staying busy, blessings to all!

A Race to the Finish with...........Lion King #1

Wow, what an adventure these two months have brought. But especially the past couple of days. After C and I treked to Blockbuster, Movies etc., Amazon.com, Itunes.com and even a few "bootleggish" websites. Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King were no where to be found. So-o sad news The Beauty and the Beast will have to wait to a further date. The good news is we stumbled across Lion King at the last minute and were able to get number 1 in!

Toy Story 1&2 in 3-D is playing this weekend (we've already purchased tickets) so I'll be using that for my post on that movie :)

Thanks to our friend Chris for letting us borrow The Lion King DVD, you rock :)

LION KING SUMMARY:

Great movie, it definitely earned it's spot in the Top Ten Disney Movie Listings! Not only was it the saddest of them all (come on who knew I'd need a tissue for this one) but it had a super great reuniting at the end. I won't lie I dozed off for a sec. or two only because it's 11:45 and I am usually fast asleep (but I had to stay up for you fans that were counting on me to get these in before October, all 1 of you...named Chance).

Simba and Nala (sp?) are super cute little cubs that set off on and adventure to the Elephant Grave Yard. They are saved by Mufasa (yay!) but warned never to enter again, this scene helps us see a little relationship between dad and son that ends up softening your heart for the hard blow when Mufasa's brother Scar pushes him off of the cliff to his death. Scar then tells Simba to run away and never return so that he inherits the kingdom.

We meet Timon and Pumba at this time and watch them as they grow up. Later down the road Simba and Nala re-unite and fireworks fly. They end up conquering the hienas and settling down to have the next royal family.

And now...it is officially 11:53 and I have completed my list! Good night to all, thanks for tuning in to the Top Ten Best Disney Animated Movie Listings. Leave comments and let me know which Top Ten genre you want to hear about next! (Possible idea is Disney Non-Animated Movies)

Alladin!

Well, the clock is ticking and October is soon to be here. I am writing this with 30 minutes left in September and Lion King playing. So let's talk Alladin...

Great movie, as I get closer to "number one" I realize what a great job Disney did with all of these flicks, a little bit of conflict, a little bit of love and always a friendship or two is made.

Jasmine, of course beautiful as ever, had such a sweet heart with her quest to find "true love" instead of having an arranged marriage (you go girl)! This was really what started the adventure that includes a genie, handsome lad who steals for food and his cute little monkey!

Alladin, the thief of the town, is quite the ladies man. As he run through produce stands and fresh baked breads he is met by several lady friends that are very quick to swoon. However, as much as he enjoyed the attention there was only one gal for him! Jasmine would escape the palace and begin her search for mr. right (not to be confused with Wright, reference for Cousin C!). Alladin just happened to be that fella in her way :)

The story goes on and Alladin and Aboo come across a magic carpet, and a lamp that contained a geenie with 3 available wishes. Alladin and Jasmine work things out and fall in love, Geenie is freed from his lamp (thanks to Alladin) and the rest is history....

Great movie! Post about Lion King is next!

Weekend Fun!

(for more pictures click on the title of this blog, they are at the end of this album!)

This weekend was a fun/busy/fast weekend. Friday was filled with a group haircut adventure to the local Cosmetology school here in town. This place is a new fave. for fun, girly treats! They are cheaper than a licensed salon, but tons of fun. I went as the photographer for Monica, Adam and Chance as they all got their $5.00 haircuts (no complaints from any)! I'll be returning for a few treatments soon that look like great deals :)

Margaret then came to town for the night (so-o happy)! So, we enjoyed a yummy dinner fixed by K-K, then went to see Love Happens with the gals plus Sawyer ;)

Saturday was off to a fun start, Margaret headed to Austin to see Becca for her bday (Happy bday B)...and Chance and I were on a mission to have a date! We finally decided on a pedicure, dinner @ Road House and a trip to the movies to see Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs (cute flick, can't wait to re-read the book). Afterwards, some friends came over to enjoy a yummy candy/chocolate/peanut butter/anything else imaginable covered apples and strawberries! I recently discovered that this was my favorite dessert! I always have a problem trying to decide so I looked to my two favorites (fruit and caramel) and combined them to make a delicious (already invented) treat! I enjoy chocolate on this dessert, but usually I'm not a big choc. fan...I know, I know, crazy.

While I'm on this topic of sweets, I can't believe the love I've had for sweets in the past year. I could go on and on about this topic because I'm amazed at the changes I've seen since this silly desire has come about (not all bad). I usually would pick salty/wholesome food over sweets but here recently it has been a must to have dessert at least once during the week. I'm not sure how I feel about this love for sweets, right now about the only plus I see in it is having one more thing in common with my Granny! The downfall however is clothes aren't fitting quite the way they used to ;) no worries, I'll workout double-time & change this habit soon! I guess you really do start becoming who you hang out with (thanks Chance & girlfriends)...

One last adventure for tonight is Salt & Pepper dinner @ the church. It's a time when all different age groups from the church (college and up) intermingle and go to someone's home for dinner. This is a tool to help everyone get to know someone outside of their age group. C and I have lots of stories from these dinners, and I'll speak for myself when I say they've been a blast! I'm not sure what's on the menu for tonight...but hopefully it'll counteract some of that sugar (blahh) I had last night!

Y'all have a wonderful week! (Don't forget to check out the pics. by clicking the title and going to the end of the album!)

Little Mermaid #5

Little Mermaid was a fun adventure to take "Under the Sea"! So-o many cute ideas came to mind, and how I could tie them into lessons...(mainly just ideas).

One idea I can still remember (5 min. after watching..) When Aerial and Flounder take their adventure to the sunken ship and discover, oh so many treasures...they then go to the Seagull and he tells them very confidently what each thing is. For instance: fork=hair brush & pipe=instrument

*My idea, how can we look at different things (toys, random objects especially) and use our imagination to create what we want them to be! (Children already do this, so a lesson wouldn't be necessary unless they were struggling to come up with ideas)

Oh well, so much for using movies to teach...may not be the best way anyways!

So basically this amazingly sound tracked movie consisted of a family (Aerial, her father and all of her sisters, who's name I tried to remember...no luck) that slowly watched their daughter/sister fall in love with a...how dare her HUMAN! She went above and beyond and even saved his life which was not only a big no-no but also the first time he laid eyes on her, which meant love @ first site.

Of course there had to be an evil villain "Ursula" who crafted this plan to take away Aerial's most prized possession, her voice, in order for her to get to see Eric (the human). As all happy endings would have it, they wrestled for power and love conquered all (hey that sounds familiar huh?!)!

Aerial and Eric were wed and the movie leaves the audience, of course, with their "Happily Ever After!"

(field trip @ the elementary school tomorrow, yay!)

Game Night

So here recently we've enjoyed playing Mad Gab...it's just so fun! So last night we had a game night @ M&A's casa again! We played Tumbling Towers (Jenga) M&I agains C&Adam...gals won ;) We then played a round of Mad Gab and an extremely long game of Disney Trivia (basically trivial pursuit for Disney). That game was actually really hard. The evening began to get late but everyone wanted to hang out for a tad longer. A few of the folks started to play UpWords (scrable basically), however the rest of us started to get sleepy. We had a swell time hanging out with friends and snacking on lil' smokies, butterfinger cake and monster cookies!

Butterfinger Cake!

Happy me, sad C

Jungle Book #7

Last night I watched movie number 7, Jungle Book. Good little story line with a fun group of characters. I enjoyed this movie mainly because as I was watching it I recalled several stories in the Bible. In fact, one entire scene all of the dialogue quoted scripture. Here are some examples of stories I was reminded of:

*When the "man cub" Mowgli was transported in a basket I thought of Moses.
*The snake Kaa, was like the serpent in the Bible. He tried to deceive Mowgli and Bagheera. I thought this one was kind of funny because Bagheera was in the middle of being "deceived" by Kaa and Mowgli snapped him out of it. This kind of reminded me of how our brothers/sisters in Christ help bring us back to reality...holding us accountable.
*Bagheera tells Mowgli when Baloo is thought to be dead... "Greater love hath no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. John 15:13

Overall, I thought this was pretty neat. I don't know if any of this was intentional or just common sayings/actions which I'll talk about in my next Blog (ideas are running through my head like crazy!). Go Jungle Book, very deserving of spot number 7 on this list!

Blogs still to come: Recipes from Progressive Dinner, Common Sayings idea, Local eating joints

Robin Hood #8

 

Oo da la ly, I forgot how good Robin Hood is! As sad as I was that Fox and the Hound didn't make the top ten I definitely have found a second favorite. I mean, who knew Disney could combine helping the poor (we'll forget the stealing part for this blog, hehe) and a super cute love story all together in an overall, masculine way! No boy ever remembers that love scene and I guarantee no gal ever forgets it ;)

Obviously this one tickled my fancy and I def. give it a 10 (scale 1-10). Okay so those of you who haven't seen this movie in a while here's a little summary. [opening song] "Robin Hood and Little John walking through the forest (whistle, whistle, whistle)..." Robin Hood is the spry young fellow who can shoot bulls eye on any ol' target and Little John is the not so little bear that joins Robin Hood in his adventures. These two together make a great pair and help many families in Nottingham. They both love to help others out, in a very selfless way (great example, huh!). Maid Marian is the beautiful fox the kids run into outside of Prince John's castle. She is sooo sweet and very much a female version of Robin Hood (cupid's arrow here). In the end Robin Hood and Little John defeat Prince John and his army so that they can save Nottingham from being taxed to death. To top this tale off Maid Marian and Robin Hood tie the knot @ the local chapel and start their adventure as one beautiful couple!

I thoroughly enjoyed this movie, it especially reminded me of a little boy I babysat recently. It was his first time to watch Robin Hood and it was such a reward to watch his excitement as he saw new adventures and ideas minute by minute! Needless to say Robin Hood definitely did his duty on this top ten list!

Upcoming Blogs: Recipes from progressive dinners so y'all can try them out!, Local Restaurant summaries in San Marcos (I'm on a new "kick" to try local, I'll let ya know)!

Treasure Planet #9

 

Alrighty so last night was the watching of number nine on the Top Ten Best Disney Animated Movies adventure I'm taking. To remind the folks that aren't caught up on my Blog. I am going through top ten movie lists (of my choice) and have a month to complete them!

So the summary of Treasure Planet...a cute little fella and his mommy open up the movie while reading the "Treasure Planet" storybook @ bedtime (super cute scene, made me think of all the youngin's running around C's & my family events these days). He makes the comment something like, "You think maybe I can find Treasure Planet one day?" of course his mommy rolls her eyes and says "sure." (Not exact quotes, obviously I don't write movies, ha!) You guessed it, the story goes on to say the poor little guy gets into trouble and can't do very much "right"...his mom gets flustered and all of a sudden a Pirate appears on their doorstep with the map. X def. marks the spot and he's on his way with the scientist to find Treasure Planet.

As he takes this risk he meets up with other pirates who want his map and we as viewers see his strong fight to hold onto doing something right, for once in his life. Overall I thought the movie was pretty cute (I will confess I fell asleep through one segment, I mustn't watch movies after 9 anymore, geez) but I caught the main parts! His mommy was super proud of him @ the end and she gets a brand new Inn, which she owned before and got destroyed...by her son's adventure. Cute show to encourage kids to go for their dreams, even when things never seem to go their way.

This evening's show is the infamous Robin Hood! Obviously, I'll be starting it a tad earlier than 9 tonight :) Check back tomorrow for a summary (which you can probably halfway write yourself) of my findings on this tale!

(The list is linked to the title of this post again for those of you who want to check out what's showing next!)

Birthday Blessings!

(A little side note: You can click on "Birthday Blessings" @ the top of this post and it will take you to more pictures from this fun filled day, enjoy!)

Birthday celebrations actually began Saturday with a special delivery from my parents! The beautiful flowers (pictured) were sent from a local florist, they look great in our living room! I then went to bed Saturday evening and was awoke by C singing Happy Bday and carrying cake and presents! (He arranged this with K-K so she could let him in right at midnight!) After opening my gifts (which were great) I went back to sleep so I could wake up nice and early for my last Sunday teaching in the Kindergarten room @ church, promotion Sunday is next week and they'll be in first grade!

As I was getting ready C calls me to open our front door and he got breakfast tacos from Lolita's my fave, here in S.M.! Although this would give me less time for hair, they were scrumptious!! I then enjoyed the morning & lunch @ church. Afterwards I was able to enjoy a Sunday afternoon nap, soo refreshing!

C then came and picked me up for dinner @ Salt Grass (actually his favorite, but I chose it this time!) After a yummy dinner M & A were kind enough to have friends over to their apartment for a small birthday bash! We had a great time playing Mad Gab, Catch Phrase and Scattergories! C got me an ice cream cake and even went and decorated their place...boy did he earn brownie points on this day!

Overall my day was filled with friends, fun and lots of food! I am so blessed to have such great people surrounding me, God is truly good :)

One of my Bouquet of Blessings from Granny I read today said this :

"We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand." ~Isaiah 64:8

How comforting to know the Master molded us into who we are! I've officially met my tummies capacity of cake and food so it's off to bed I go, as one happy 20 year old! Sweet dreams :)

Play Ball!

As the rest of summer winds down before school starts, my schedule is booked with several activities in preparation for the new semester. Fortunately we get to work a few fun things in along the way. Thursday C and I went on a fun road trip to Arlington,TX to the infamous Rangers stadium. Seeing as C takes several trips to this wonderful location it was a "must" to go once again before school gets in swing (not to mention it has been less than a week since his previous adventure to "the ballpark in Arlington)....he couldn't possibly enjoy this place, could he? ;) Boy is he a lucky fella to have a gf that enjoys America's favorite past time as well!

So, since I'm talking about C's amazing gf I got a slight feeling of "pride" at the ball game. In fact, every time I go something comes over me that makes me a little...happy inside. There is no greater feeling to a gf then when her bf talks, for her to be able to actually understand and communicate a passion/interest in it as well. Every time I go to a ball game I feel so happy to be able to talk with C, my dad, brother or any other male "intelligently" about certain instances in the game. I'm so thankful I played softball, if nothing else I get to talk to the great men in my life on a different level than most girls will every experience (weird I know, sorry).

Anyways, we had a great trip we were able to hear Josh Hamilton's walk up song (Christian music), as well as a pretty decent catch made by him. Also Marlyn Byrd had an excellent night with two homeruns and an AMAZING catch. As well as being able to see one Ranger's first major league homerun, how exciting for him! A little traffic jam put us back in S.M. around 3 this morning so needless to say, the pillow is definitely calling my name.

Never let the fear of striking out, keep you from playing the game.

Once Upon a Time...

Cinderella was a nice ending to this wonderful day with C. He was finally able to get his massage that I got for his 20th bday in May this morning! So after that we had lunch at Jason's Deli (yummy), followed by an afternoon @ the pool. We were the only cute one's with our own goggles :)

We then went to H-E-B to stock up on our brain food for the upcoming semester (hot fries and chex mix were a must have)! After a trip to the supermarket we enjoyed a nice Bible study with our Sunday school class and then the adventure began...

Blockbuster is our venue for renting all of these lovely movies I am preparing to "blog" about...unfortunately, Cinderella was no longer there. So we (mainly I) left a little bummed out, I just knew my fans would be disappointed (that's you). After a little conversing about the matter we decided to go back in and get another movie from the list and all of the sudden it was like Fairy God Mother appeared in BBuster and Cinderella was there (no lie, this really happened)!

My observations about Movie number 10:

Cinderella was a kind hearted girl who's lifestyle was not considered ideal. Although she had precious birds to make her bed and a couple of adorable mice friends (these were my fave characters), she longed for the love of her life to come sweep her off of her feet...and take the broom to the dump while he's at it!

All of this was wrapped into an hour and a half (aprox.) film that keeps viewers engaged and smiling. A few of my favorite memories were when Cinderella and the Prince are at the ball and "So this is love..." lyrics reign in the background, def. a heart flutter moment! Not to mention the feeling everyone got when Guss Guss was adorned with new clothes, what a cute little fella he was! Lucifer, the cat caused his share of mischief but was eventually defeated (sorry Aub. I know your love for cats) by Bruno, the dog. Her dress was amazing for the ball and those slippers would def. go for thousands of $ these days ;)...

Overall, I totally enjoyed this movie and am curious how it's number 10 on the list (attached again to the title of this post), they def. did not give credit where credit was due on this one. I'm still a little disappointed about Fox and the Hound, Lady and the Tramp and Bambi not making this list either...maybe we'll take a poll of your top ten Disney CLASSICS and go through those in a month, soon!

"So this is love..." will be ringing in my ear and lull me to sleep tonight. Good night Princesses (and prince's) may all of YOUR dreams come true....