Changes and Updates

Loving this crazy weather we're having! It's a nice change from the constant warm sunniness we've had the last part of this summer. Change is good. Freshens things up a bit. So I hope it pours s'more over the next couple of days so I can wash all this stale funkiness off of me and start the fall nice and freshhhhh. So fresh and so clean, clean. ;-)

Speaking of change, there are lots of changes happening lately. To name a few:

• changes at work....hopefully for the good, but we'll see how it works out
  
• new classes in school! looking forward to finance...ironically
• graduated to "high blue belt" in taekwondo...only 4 more to black!
• Bubba leaves for Morocco in 5 days for his 27 month Peace Corps assigment :-(
• starting a 28 day "detox" beginning next week...need to cleanse my system
  
• started working out/running in the mornings (eww)...its been interesting....

In other news, I've been a busy little bee going here and going there and doing this and doing that. We took a family vacation to Cedar Creek Lake and it was ah-mazing and very relaxing. We rented a boat one day and went tubing and water skiing, and that pretty much made the entire vacation for me. That and the awesome volleyball game we had the last evening.

my silly daddy


lou going fishing


total relaxation


everyone!

Took another sewing class at City Craft with momma. We learned how to make decorative pillows with cording and invisible zippers. We had a great time and our pillows came out very nicely! I like hers better!!! So fall!


Flew out to Ooooodessa a few weekends ago to visit my friend Angela. We pretty much did everything there is to do in Odessa in a few short days: saw Ratliff stadium; ate at a BYOB italian restaurant; went to Music City Mall; ate at Jum Burrito; wore cowboy boots; saw dust blow; drank the best milkshakes (bring all the boys to the yard) at Texas Burger; ate the best pizza at Patrino's; saw about 100 exotic animals including elephants, giraffes, buffalo, cheetahs, a skunk..... It was a great time!!!!

cowboy boots


chocolate malt


brunch


RICH.

Dallas Heart Walk 2010

It's that time again!

On September 11th I'm going to once again participate in the Heart Walk sponsored by the American Heart Association to raise money and awareness for heart disease and stroke. This disease has not only affected my family, but hundreds of others as well. My personal goal is to raise $400 for the cause. By making a donation, you can help increase funds for research and education to stop heart disease. Please visit my webpage to make a donation and learn more about heart disease.

Thank you for your support!!

Let's Hygge

My brother has been involved for the past 2 years with an organization called Children’s International Summer Village (CISV). They are a global group of volunteers who create cultural diversity experiences through educational programs. They operate on the belief that peace is possible through friendship and that the real difference can be made by starting with children. The organization was created after World War II by Dr. Doris Allen as an initiative to build and maintain peace. The first summer village took place in 1951 in Cincinnati, Ohio with delegates from 8 countries. Today they have chapters in over 60 countries around the world and host around 180 programs a year. Since its inception, more than 190,000 people have participated in over 5,000 international activities. The Summer Village program is the cornerstone of the organization’s education philosophy and is reserved for 11 year olds. It is a unique 4 week international camp where children (delegates) from 10 to 12 other countries participate in educational, cultural, and sporting activities with emphasis on “cooperative global and intercultural living.” Each delegation is made up of 2 boys and 2 girls with an adult leader and is coordinated by a staff of Junior Counselors ages 16-17 years. (cisv.org) The USA chapter's website is here: http://www.cisvusa.org/

Last year Eric took 4 kids to Prague. This year, he is in Denmark with 4 new kids. He absolutely loves it, maybe more so than the kids! The camp this year has a blog site where they are posting pictures and accounts of their daily activities, so I have added it to my blog roll and will post it here in case any of you are curious. It sounds like a really fun opportunity and I am considering applying for next year!

This is the camp’s blog: http://letshyggevillage.blogspot.com/

And in case you're wondering what the heck "hygge" means:

Hygge -
One of the fundamental aspects of Danish culture is "hygge", which, although translated as "coziness" is more akin to "tranquility". Hygge is a complete absence of anything annoying, irritating, or emotionally overwhelming, and the presence of and pleasure from comforting, gentle, and soothing things. Hygge is often associated with family and close friends. (taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_of_Denmark )

So yes, let's hygge. :-)

Save Our Coast

This post was borrowed from my friend Danielle's blog, "Doggerel and Prose". Thanks Danielle for showing us an awesome way that we can help out the folks in the Gulf!

Here in Austin, we truly have an amazing community that genuinely cares about others. There is a company here in Austin (also has stores in Baton Rouge and New Orleans) called Storyville; they sell unique locally designed T-shirts. They have started a new line and will give $5 of the profits for each T-shirt sold to the gulf coast fisherman and their families that have been affected by the BP oil spill. You can purchase these T-shirts at the store or order them online!

Product Description

For years to come, the Gulf Coast will be feeling the effects of the BP Oil Spill. Giving to charities such as the Greater New Orleans Foundation can, in a small way, help speed up the Gulf Coast's recovery and, in the meanwhile, provide aide to victims of the oil spill.
For every "Save Our Coast" shirt sold, Storyville will make a donation to the Gulf Coast Oil Spill Fund of the Greater New Orleans Foundation. One hundred percent of all donations to the Gulf Coast Oil Spill Fund will be granted to organizations working tirelessly in the effected areas. The Oil Spill Fund's focus is to help fishermen and their families in the following Louisiana parishes: Plaquemines, St. Bernard, lower Jefferson, Terrebonne and Lafourche.

"Save Our Coast Burnout" is printed on a dirty water-colored, 50% polyester, 50% rayon Alternative Apparel Topango Heather Burnout Crew top with black ink. The top is made of a burnout material, which means that it is a super sheer fabric that has been put through an extensive process to reveal years of weathering. Therefore, no two tops are exactly the same. This top is only available in the unisex cut. If you'd like to see an Alternative Apparel sizing chart, click here and refer to the "women's size chart." This Storyville Original was created by Natalie Naquin Harvey and is modeled by Alicia Schulz and Fredy Garcia. To see more Storyville Originals, click here.

"Save Our Coast Tee" is printed on a 100% cotton, American Apparel blue tee shirt printed with white, navy and dark red ink. This Storyville Original was created by Sara Silvestri and is modeled by Alicia Schulz and Fredy Garcia. The t-shirt is available in both the unisex and female-specific cut (go here for sizing charts). To see more Storyville Originals, click here.

Recent Adventures in Sewing

Made these for my Goddaughter (Addisyn) and psuedo-niece (Riley).




I played around a little with the backs; my envelope technique needs work....



So cute!



This was last year at her 1 year birthday party.



Her 2nd birthday is in July; thinking of doing a matching baby quilt.....

Woohoo for sewing!

Happy Mother's Day...

to all the special ladies in my life:


My beautiful momma



My Grandma Mary-Ellen



My Grandma Irma



My Cindy

Making Progress

As far as my quilt goes, I'm liking it more and more. I decided on Kona white for the sashing and borders, but still haven't decided on the backing. I've been kinda busy so I haven't had a lot of time to spend on it. Hopefully this weekend will be calm and I can get alot done with it. I've already decided that my next project will be a baby quilt for my Goddaughter, Addisyn. She's precious :-)


got the sashing done


"Summer Splash"


My Goddaughter, Addisyn.



Also, I've finished another graduate class...thank God. This was the worst class I've ever taken and the professor was terrible. I could not wait for it to be over. The class was Human Resources Management, in which I know absolutely nothing about. The class met 3 days for 3 hours. Of those 9 hours, our professor "taught" for about 30 minutes. We spent 2.5 HOURS the first day on introductions. Seriously? Do I really need to know THAT much about these other people? I'm thinking no. And THEN, she had us post our resumes online and required that we review and comment on every single one. So I spent practically 4 days reviewing my classmates' resumes and making comments and suggestions on each one. "Won't it be nice to have 40 suggestions on how to improve your resume?" NO. Because my resume effing rocks. Thankyouverymuch. The bulk of the class work consisted of us reading the entire textbook and working online exercises to check our understanding. But she didn't grade the assignments; she didn't even give feedback. So I have no idea if I'm understanding the material correctly. To top it off, we had a group paper and presentation. We didn't get to pick our groups, so naturally I'm in a group with the one guy noone wants to be in a group with. You know that guy: MD, MBA, knows everything, owns his own business, talks over the professor, takes over the paper and presentation....OH, and English is his second language (if you can call what comes from his mouth "language").

So now I've read and commented on 40 resumes, read 600 pages of textbook gibberish, attempted 8 multiple-part fairly difficult analysis examples (with no feedback), used my "knowledge" of human resources to write a few paragraphs of a 10 page analysis paper over "that guy's" company, and spent 3 hours editing said paper for spelling and grammar. After all of that, I've gained about a 1% improvement in my understanding of HR management.

But at least I know the life and work history of all 40 of my classmates.