See me on YouTube

Hey there!
My good friend Bonnie has created a make-up line called Avasiare with her business partner Tanya. They have amazing environmentally friendly products. They treated us to a girls night out at a swanky hotel and gave us all make-overs. That was a fun treat and I tried to be brave when it came time to false eyelash application. You see - I have an irrational fear of eye lash curlers and basically anyone coming near my eyes. It makes for great fun at the make-up counters and eye doctor. Anyhoo - I did it and rocked the false eye lashes. Check out my video below and go by and visit Avasiare - they blogged about me too!

What is the Dealio?

Just in case you were wondering - I am still on the prowl for awesome grocery deals! Above is a picture of my Albertson's run this weekend. All this for $5.50 after store discounts and coupons. Coupons are cool!

Tunes on Tuesday

I have not posted any new music lately - but I did get some I-tunes cards for the ole birthday - SO I got some new stuff! WOO HOO - (thanks B & D).

I got this great album by Joshua Radin called Simple Times. It is so folky and earthy and mellow - oh how I love it. Go take a listen at I-tunes and let me know what you think.

Hello darling!

Meet the newest member of our household. Yes it is a vacuum. Yes it is a Dyson. Let's all do the happy dance now - Break -

Okay stop dancing. This is what I used my Birthday money for! Thanks to all who contributed to the Dyson fund and a special shout out to my Aunt for taking me to Kohl's, sponsoring this b-day gift and letting me use her rocking discount coupon! I heart you Dyson. Please be good to me.

Our last vacuum did not make it very long....it had a special feature where the dirt and debris would actually blow back at you rather than being sucked into the canister. That really sucked - and not in a good way - you know. I need to go through and retire the vacuums that no longer function in the garage. We have three that no longer work and 2 small canister ones and a hoover floormate. I have vacuum issues. I blame my Dad who also has vacuum issues. The sad thing is I am already eyeing the Dyson Root - handheld vacuum and the Cone handheld vacuum....there is always Christmas ;)

Oh my Goodness - What a Weekend

Wow - What a way to turn the big 35 or as my husband says the 10th anniversary of my 25th birthday! Roon planned this amazing surprise party for me on Saturday night with catering and even party trivia. He knows me so well. I am so blessed to have so many dear family and friends that came to the celebration. It was so neat to see people that I have not seen lately and just hang out! Lots of people came in from outside Houston and my sister and her family came in from central Texas. Two of my bestest high school friends came and that made me feel young again. When I was younger I had a hard time making friends....when I got better at it - I hung on to those freindships dearly...because I realized what jewels my friends are to me.

I have to say that God was watching out for my family/friends during Hurricane Ike. Several people told me that since they were coming in for my party...that is one of the reasons they evacuated. The Galveston/Houston area is a mess right not. My parents ventured home at 4:00 am yesterday. Their house is ok considering. The fence is gone and the roof shows some possible damage, but the house is still there ;) They have no power and gas is in very short supply. The cell towers are damaged so we have limited communication with them right now - but they both had to be back at work. The news is saying it could be 3-4 weeks till some people get power pack.

My brothers family is still here with us - as their power is off - and there is no reason to go home until the stores, the house and the gas stations are operating again. They have two small ones and my SIL is pregnant with a baby boy - so they are riding it out here with us. The Bean and all of us are enjoying getting to spend time with the family.

Roon and my brother drove down to Conroe on Sunday with gas and a generator for my brother's in laws. They said the power was off from exit 155 down to Galveston. That is 155 miles of I-45 without power. They saw lines of 200 plus car hankered down hoping to be lucky enough to buy gas. Roon said it was unnerving to see all the power lines down and how bad even the outskirts of Houston appeared.

It has been a busy few days but I wanted to say "hi" in bloggy land. I have lots of posts to catch up on and I hope to get those going soon. Take care Everyone!

Please say some prayers for our folks and brother's family!

What a week - I tell you. Yesterday was my birthday (more on that tomorrow), I got an upper respiratory infection and my family is trying to get out of Hurricane Ike's path. Three years ago - they endured a miserable experience while leaving from Hurricane Rita which bypassed their area.

Please pray that my parents get outside of Houston to my brother's house tonight and that they all make it up here safely to my house tomorrow ;) With traffic, weather, gas shortages and such they could really use your prayers.

Also Roon's Dad and Step Mom are staying to wade it out - they live a little further out, but we are worried about them and ask for your prayers for their safety as well.

Thanks!

Touching Story

I came across the story of this young couple who was badly injured in a plane crash with four young children.....the blogger's name is Stephanie and her blog is here: http://www.nieniedialogues.blogspot.com/

Her family support is amazing and her story will touch your heart. Her family was interviewed on the Today Show and her sister's blog is here: http://blog.cjanerun.com/

Keep them in your prayers as they have a long recovery ahead of them.

New School and Pre-K

Ready to Go!

Bean and her teacher.

My baby is growing up so fast! Last week she started Pre-K and is just eating it all up! We had to switch schools at the last minute - Praise God - cause it was definitely a God move. I had felt that our old school was having leadership problems and the main reason I kept Bean there was for the teachers. The day of registration her Pre-K teacher called to tell me she was leaving and I knew it was time to make the move. Thankfully God orchestrated everything and we are now in an amazing Pre-K that is just awesome. Bean loves being a big girl! The second day of school they had a drama reenactment of the Three Bears. It just cracked me up to hear Bean talk about it. She gets in the car and says "Mommy, we did a story today and I was the Momma Bear." Great I say. She crosses her arm and says "Yeah, but I was really upset- I wanted to be Goldilocks." Ahh - the drama "literally" starts early here. I explained the importance of every one's role in the story and how integral Momma Bear is and I think she appreciated that ;)

Vacation Re-Cap

Our vacation was nice and relaxing with just the right amount of activity thrown in. Bean spent the week with Nana and Gramps. Roon and I headed to a wonderful B&B in San Antonio. It is a crying shame I have no pics to show you - but apparently - we take no pics of us anymore - LOL! So the camera did not come out till Sea World. Roon and I relaxed on the River Walk, went to an art museum, ate, slept, slept some more, watched DVD's and ventured to the flea market. Now I googled this flea market before we left and I have to think the people reviewing it lied. I will leave it at that. Friday we met Bean, Nana, Gramps and Annabellecus at SeaWorld. We had loads of fun and the park was not crowded at all. We got to walk right up to almost everything. We started at the Dolphins (see below) and had a great time feeding them. Bean would only view them from afar though.


Then we went to see the Pirate 4D Show. Bean was out quickly on that when the 3D bugs started shooting stuff out at us. After some quality "what can make it better time" in the gift shop - we met up with our group and headed to Shamu. That was awesome - although Bean needed to be reassured that Shamu was not coming in the stands to see us personally.
After lunch we went to the Sea Lion Show - which hands down - was the Bean's favorite. Very cute show indeed.
Here is Bean and Roon on the Shamu Express. This is the only ride that I also rode as well. Roon tackled the Steel Eel and Great White - but I was not feeling it. Ok - I have to admit that the older I get the less of a ride person I am...sniff sniff.
It was a great day all around. On Saturday we headed to a good ole fashioned Labor Day Fish Fry. Boy Howdy there was a lot of fish and people there! It was a great week - but we are all glad to be home and back in the swing of things.

Pre-Vacation, Shrimp Boil Ya'll!

Look at all this goodness!

The corn rocked my world!
So full we can barely move!

Just before we left to go on vacation we did something fabulous that I highly recommend! We went to the Saturday night Shrimp Boil at Central Market. Can you say hand licken, knee slapping, tongue tingling, jumped out of the Gulf Good? I can! The shrimp were uber fresh...like they literally had just been caught that morning fresh. Since I grew up on the TX coast - I know me some fresh shrimp and these were sure them. We all got into it and ate till literally we could eat no more. Makes me want to eat some more shrimp!