Tofurkey

As the dust settles from Black Friday shoppers and turkey is transformed into sandwiches, Thanksgiving fades into Christmas. I had a very strange Thanksgiving this year, but I've never been that big on turkey so it's not that big of a deal. We started Thanksgiving with family... a week early. I flew to Corpus Christi last weekend to Brenda's cousin's 60th birthday. I love Brenda's family so I was sad about not being able to attend Thanksgiving. This was the perfect thing to get to see everyone and celebrate Linda at the same time! It was at the Corpus Christi Yacht Club so we all gathered around and surprised her. Everyone danced and ate and just hung out. We really had such a nice time. Cora and Ed, Brenda's aunt and uncle, are in their 80s. Well, they danced so much more and longer than me! They are heroes to me. It was so wonderful to just enjoy time with Dad, Brenda and her family. They are so loving and wonderful.

 

 

Jesse & Uncle Jimmy

Katelyn

Brenda

Cora & Ed

Dad

When I flew back in, I went to a friend Thanksgiving party at Anna's. I didn't have time to cook so I threw some of Uncle Jimmy's beef jerky at them. You cannot say Thanksgiving without beef jerky, ya know! 

 

Michele

 

Anna

Morgan - Work Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Day I started it by working out. Yep, I sure did. I made to desserts to take to the Gray household. A chocolate pie and a cake cookie thing. It was all yummy. We enjoyed a meal at the Grays and watched football. We all went around the table and told the person next to us why we were thankful for them.

Now it's time for Christmas in my mind. Giddy and exciting, I love this time of year!!! Thanksgiving is for the birds, Christmas is for the doves!!!

Halloween 2012

I love Halloween. I love the air and the little kids running amuck and getting dressed in fun outfits. We didn't really have a huge Halloween planned... We had a backyard bbq with about 20 guests last weekend, but we didn't dress up. It was so fun. Last night we just went to Nick's parents and gave out candy. Nick lives in a nice little Plano neighborhood, but it seems the church fairs eat our little children so we never give out much each year. The problem with Halloween is the day after is November. Never been my favorite month. Don't know why. It's cold and just boring and all we want is Christmas to hurry up!

The news lately has been all about this hurricane called Sandy. She hit New York pretty hard. Anyway, little hurricanes have been brewing around here. My cousin, Donna, who is like another mother to me had hip surgery this week. She fell at a football game. Then my niece, Aaliyah who is only 11, had pins put in both her hips for an emergency hip surgery. My gosh! Not fun for a little girl! I sent her a little present maybe to liven her spirits. Big prayers for them.

Rollercoaster Of The Happy Medium

I'm not sure if I like winning. There's so much stress involved then this release of energy, and it never lasts forever because there's always another game. Let's just lose and feel down so we don't get disappointed. Ha... I truly believe we think like this at times. Needless to say, Texas Tech pulled off an amazing game against TCU last weekend. I was more interested in socializing as usual. My sorority sister, Paige had a gathering before the game since she lives in Ft. Worth so a few of us went over there and had a really nice time. It was good to chit chat and just catch up on life.

Nick and I had two sets of tickets so we split our group up when we got to the game. Oh yeah, did I mention almost every woman believes it is Fall so we will wear our Fall attire even when it is very hot. So Jana, Jason, Stephanie, Jody, Karen, Nick and I all went to our first set of seats and Mitchell and Alicia went to the others. We were having fun, but it was really loud where we were under some speakers. So Damon and Melissa were texting me they were in town... I decided to make my way to the other set of seats to chit chat with Missy. It took me forever to climb the ramps, but I got up there! I sat by Alicia, too... I got to catch up on after the wedding talk and just all about their lives. Damon just got the Chief Meteorologist position in Oklahoma City – that's pretty awesome!!! It's hard to be in weather, believe me, I played around in college with it, and you really have to know your stuff! 

Jana, Stephanie, Julie

Damon, Melissa, Julie

So by about three minutes to the end, we are intently watching the game. It went into three overtimes! Then... suddenly... we won!!! Very exciting!!! After a long trek back to get the troops together, Nick and I went to eat and home... long, great day!

Sunday I kicked off my Christmas shopping! I picked up a few things at a craft show in Lake Highlands. I have a lot of people to buy for so I get started now!!! Then Wendy made me watch the Texans game with her. We had a lot of fun. And, I forgot, Friday Nick and I went to a cookout over at Cody and Kristy's. My gosh, we sure love people!!! We had fun at everything we did. I love to sit in a backyard and hang out. 

I say life is a rollercoaster. First off, the entertaining rollercoaster. So, Big Tex burned down Friday. It's sort of funny, sort of not! Some people freaked out their childhood memories went up in flames. But, he was not a real person so ya know... But, it was a pretty big deal around here!!! I was just like, man oh man, 60 years flaming. It's definitely a part of history. Bye, Big Tex.

Well, after all of the good times, I find out a patriarch of Big Spring has passed, Russ McEwen. I was not close to him, but he is like Stephanie's other dad from 12 years in gymnastics so I am very protective of her. I found out via Facebook... ugh... so I quickly texted her just praying she already knew. Yep, her mother had called her, he had a heart attack. I realize I know a lot of people and I know people pass. But, it hits me hard. I've lost everyone close to me quickly. It brings it to the surface for me. Russ touched so many lives in gymnastics, then he was Big Spring's mayor for a long time... you just have no idea the lives you are touching and what you are doing for them along the way. Sometimes we don't realize people are learning from us or watching us, but they are.

Back to the beginning. Winning is scary because you cannot win every time. It's also amazing because it does not happen every time. Being happy scares me because being sad scares me. Think I'll just live in the happy medium!

The Club

Tonight I was searching through my old folders in e-mail to find an old writing I wrote on one of Mom's anniversaries to send to a friend who just lost her mother. I stumbled across a few e-mails from my dear friend, Sarah, that passed away three years ago. Sometimes as we go on with life, we forget how special people were to us and we try to let life just take over. It hit my heart and I smiled. I miss the departed so much. I miss Sarah, Mom, Grandmommy, Granny Jac... I realize maybe it never goes away. The other night instead of my usual nightmares, Mom was hugging me. I loved it. It wasn't weird at all. Ya just never get used to it. I like to claim I'm some robot, but maybe I just have a very tender heart.

Damon & Melissa Hitched

 

As a professional wedding go-er it is my duty to attend as many weddings as possible... ha... even though I have missed two I was invited to this year due to other happenings. I love people and I love weddings! Damon and Melissa got married last weekend. Wham, that came out of the blue. We all reported together in Abilene and now fast forward eight years, they reconnected and get married. Aw sweet!!! They had a beautiful little ceremony at this church on the lake in McKinney. There were a lot of their reporter friends from KTXS (I worked at KTAB so I didn't know some of them very well)... so Nick and I sat there for a while like the weirdos at a reunion that isn't ours! Then we found my old producer, Allison who was a bridesmaid and we got to hang out with her all night! It's funny to see where everyone is now after so many years. Most have sprouted off, Melissa is on the news here in Dallas at CBS, Lesley is on Fox Sports, etc... some are all over Texas reporting, some are in Abilene still, some got out of the business, Damon is a meteorologist in Oklahoma. Small world, small world. We had a really nice time. We don't have another wedding for quite a while. Maybe one day it will be my own!

KD 25th Anniversary

My sorority, Kappa Delta, planned the 25^th Anniversary of the sorority at Texas Tech for October 2012. Though I waited last minute to decide to go, I am very happy we went.

As we drove into Lubbock I could already feel the magic. It's sort of like going on vacation mixed with going back in time... though everything has changed. We stayed with Nick's college roommate, Brandon, his wife, Sara and their baby girl, Kendall. We got up Friday and I took Nick over to campus to visit his old professors. Later we went to meet Brandon for lunch at Jazz. I had never been to Jazz, such great food. I then drug Nick to KD Happy Hour. He was a great sport, I must say with a sea of women. It was so wonderful to see old friends. With Facebook you keep up with people by stalking, but it's great to see people in “real life.” We hung out and enjoyed life for a while. Funny thing, at a Happy Hour, people think you are nuts if you aren't drinking wine or something. People that know me know I am TOO SOCIAL to drink... ha, it just would slow me down from waving my hands and talking! Oh, don't worry, I had one glass of wine at Brandon & Sara's, but it just proves to be as crazy as me you just need endorphins.

Michelle, Julie, Melissa,Cristin, Logan, Heather & Ashley

Melissa

Tara, Tamara, Laura

We spent Saturday morning playing with Kendall and hanging out watching a lot of football. I took a short jog around my old neighborhood. I wanted to move there right now. Traffic was so much better and everything was just different than my concrete jungle. Oh well, there are pros and cons to everywhere. I guess you could live in a box as long as you were surrounded by friends and family, well, and a gym. Nick and I headed to the Texas Tech game, we stopped by the KD tailgate to visit for a bit. Stephanie and her family were coming so I was very excited! We hung out there then went to find Chandra and her family. My very best friend I hadn't seen in over a year! Oh man! We hung out for a bit then hit the game! We won by a large margin. Blah blah, I don't really care about football.

Stephanie & Abigail

Kelly, Abby, Stephi & Laura

Nick

Landry

Chandra

Sunday Nick and I went to the KD Brunch. We sat with Stephanie and her family, and my cousin, Jaclyn and her parents. Wonderful to see them! I got recognized for being a previous officer. Then we did the memorial and I lit the candle for Melissa Brinker. It was all over too soon!

My cousin, Jaclyn

Cousins Jaclyn & Dani

Julie

Julie, Melissa, Stephanie, Abigail

Nick took me to his secret place outside of Post. You can walk right up to the big windmills. They are HUGE. We had to climb some rocks and go on a little hike. I'm sure there were snakes, but we only saw deer and ants. Yes, I'm usually boring, but it was cool to be a little rebellious with the snakes. It was such a beautiful scene.

 

West Texas is my heart. It always will be, no matter where I live. Home is where you make it, I know this. Truthfully being back in Lubbock tugged at my heart strings because you must remember when I was in college I was heading face first into dealing with my mother's death. It was tough at times, but it was also an amazing time. You look back 8 years since 2004 and you just blink. Poof, gone. It seems like a million years, but I've lived in a few different cities and gone through so much since then. We all have, yet our hearts are the same. I never know what tomorrow holds, but you just have to make it your own home, wherever you are at in location and in heart, make it yours.

Labor Day 2012

Labor Day signals the end of the Summer. Not really this Labor Day though because it is still over 100. No worry, I've broken out the capris and Fall attire just to fight the hot weather. And I love sunshine. Labor Day was a much needed long weekend. 

 Friday we celebrated by going to Three Forks in Dallas. It's a very nice restaurant with a wonderful atmosphere. Andrea, Glenn, Kacie and Brian joined us. Everyone had filet mignon and I had the trout. We had a really nice just hanging out and chatting. My friends rock, they are just the nicest people ever!

Glenn, Andrea, Brian, Kacie, Nick, Julie

Saturday I went shopping around for sales and just enjoyed the morning. I was pretty lazy the rest of the day! Nick was watching football and that bored me so I did my own thing! Sunday I went to church and then we had a million things we could do... there was Mitchell's birthday party, another swim party and/or visiting friends out in Wylie... but, we decided to go workout and watch a movie! Sounds boring, but I loved it! And Monday Nick and I went out to the lake and just chilled. It was so peaceful. Lots of sunshine to end my “Summer.” Then we ate at his parents that night and just ate way too much.

There ya go. NFL starts tonight. Blah blah. That means Fall is really here. On another note, I'm really excited about my new bed. There is my excitement right now!!! Dark oak just makes me happy! Come to think of it, I would like to be sleeping in that bed right now. Yearning for the next three day weekend!!!