it's never a good sign

when you go to cnn.com to check in on this mess and the latest update reads...

"dow suffers worst point drop ever"

hmmm.

it's also not a good feeling that our boys in washington aren't able to come up with ANYTHING that will work.

icky-icky-poo.

d.c.

last thursday, jay and i jet-setted up to d.c. for a few days. jay had some meetings and i decided to get out of our almost-complete-but-not-quite-finished house for a break from the dust, clutter, and noise. the dogs had a well deserved break as well, norman to wuf spa and mckenz' spent the weekend with her grandparents and their yorkies.

we had a great time. friday we walked every square inch of that town, seeing monuments, congress, the white house, and everything in between. i think my favorite was the FDR memorial. not necessarily because of it's structure, but more because of it's statement. it was very fitting for his style and really showed who he was as a leader and a person. my favorite part is pictured below. the quote:

The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those
who have much it is whether we provide enough for those who have little.

-Franklin D. Roosevelt

that evening we were able to visit with a good friend of mine from college, stacey mac, and her hubbie, sean. it was so fun to see her, meet him, and catch up - good times, guys!!

saturday we did some yoga, jay had some meetings, and we enjoyed a very special lunch with a potential client of jay's (jay, not sure if i am allowed to say whom?). then we found a great spot to watch the OU game, which was a big victory, pushing us into the #1 spot. woo-hoo!

the best part of the weekend was just having the chance to get away and relax - and having a really nice suite to relax in. we even had a seperate yoga room in our suite! we both desperately needed to get away for a break from house mess, work stresses, and everything in between, so this was a nice treat. good weather, great hotel, and nice, relaxing trip with just the two of us!

the SEC, their pickled eggs and other news...

this past weekend jay and i joined our friends, chris and courtney for the arkansas vs. alabama game. we decided since OU had a bye week we would join courtney in her hometown to watch her alma mater play some football. we had a great time and great weather in fayetteville - that place is a blast and did not disappoint. their poor football team suffered against a tough alabama opponenent, but we all still had fun. it's so interesting to go to another school and even conference, to see how "gameday" all goes down. thanks for hosting us, chris and court! we had a great time.

i received a text message on my way to arkansas from my friend, ben. ben knew i was going to the game and decided to propose a dare. ben is friend of mine who also attended arkansas and i used to work with at JPMC. and so it was: "go to a place called roger's rec room and eat a pickled egg. i double-dog dare you." okay people, i am my father's child and will never turn down a "double-dog dare." so ben, see below. the evidence:

seriously. it was the grossest thing i have ever seen. thanks again, ben!

i almost gave up at this point - the guy behind me said, "oh i eat 'em all the time." look at this man. this did NOT comfort me.

yuck.

(at this point my mom is reading this mortified. sorry, mom! - however, i can guarantee my dad is laughing aloud, a strange sense of pride that the dare was conqurered - hey dad, another one bites the dust!) ; )

whew. glad that one is over.

now we are back and football-focused on a big game this weekend for our #2 ranked sooners against #24, tcu. we are also focused on getting this house to it's full completion. the paint is starting to go up on the cabinets and built-ins, after which we can paint the rest of the living areas and then hopefully move in our applicances and the rest of our furniture while they finish up some of the last details. we are hoping they can move quickly this weekend while we are in D.C. - jay has some work up there and i have decided to join him for the weekend and escape the "workspace" that is our home!

will report back soon...

hizzy progress

i've decided to give up on exactly when this house will be a completed project. along the way we have added project after project and are finally truly nearing the point of completion. applicances are purchased and waiting to be installed, floors are complete, crown molding, baseboards done-skee. after some additional paint and a couple of cabinet doors, we should be ready to roll.

the granite went into the kitchen today, which i hear is a good sign you are nearing the finish line. there has definitely been a lot of progress since the last time i posted pics, so i thought i would share where we are as of now (crackberry pics, sorry if they aren't the best). if we don't add anything else to the list of things-to-do, i should think we are within a couple of weeks of being a completed house, therefore ready for the big housewarming party!! ; )

granite is in...now if we can just get the rest of the doors and some paint, we are ready!

yes, that is a bunch of our furniture tight-wrapped in the living room. ; )

i heart tony romo

i have liked tony romo from the start. his story, his personality, and his play. i just read this story in the dallas morning news and was literally in tears. what an absolute stud this guy is...i am so incredibly impressed and happy to know that he really is the "real deal."

way to go, romo!

scattered post...

this post will be a bit scattered, as i have been the last few weeks! but i thought i would send out a little update...

we officially moved into our unfinished house on monday and spent the night there for the first time last night. it's really coming along - i will post updated pics soon. sorry, my camera is kinda on the fritz, so they will either be iphone/blackberry pics or i will have great news with a new camera - but soon!

the first OU game was a huge success, with a 57-2 victory. we play cincinatti this week, which will definitely be more of a challege. they are a very good team. we are both excited to see our full team play a full game this week, since last week most of the game was played by 5th string freshmen and sophs. ;)

also great news, my friends josh and erica had a baby boy yesterday - almost a 10 lb baby boy, so he's a big boy! they have posted more pics on their blog, but this cutie patootie, drew is below. congrats, guys!!



***update, found out a few hours after posting this, our baylor kkg friend, brittany, and her hubby, jay, had a baby girl, elle!! maybe drew and elle should meet!! ; )

all that said, we are doing good, just really busy...so so so sorry if i haven't been calling, posting or emailing as much!!

petty

leave it to jay to come up with floor seats to one of the best shows that has rolled through the AAC in a long time.

we saw tom petty and the heartbreakers (also with steve winwood) perform before a sold out crowd last night - and let me tell you, it was quite a show. petty has always been one of my very favorites, and he did not disappoint. we loved every minute of it, sang along and just enjoyed an old favorite. the stage was incredible, illuminated with crazy lights and big screens. when i heard the first few cords of each and every song, i shreeked with delight, knowing i was about to hear another classic. i'd have to say "free fallin," "i won't back down" and "mary jane's last dance" are some of my favorite songs ever - and he plays them even better live. how often (bono and the boys aside) can you say that about an artist?!?

i am thrilled i finally got to see him live - thanks for hooking it up, jay-man!

God is smiling down...

i got back from lunch to find a gift that could not make me happier...

flowers? might you ask?

a hall pass to leave work --- you might think?

no, the delicious envelope from my friends jay and katie (yes, i said jay and katie) containing our OU season tickets!!!!!!! oh, happy, happy, sweet, clean day. i love everyone. i love everything. life is so good. i also made people from my office circle around while i opened them. i needed someone to share in my sweet moment. now, i share with all of you.

jill's 3-0

baylor kkg's!

happy birthday, jill...whew!  what fun.  we just celebrated jill's birthday on the PV ranch in the beautiful texas hill country.   it was a weekend of music at luckenbach, swimming holes, bbq, and lots and lots of friends.  

we had a great time celebrating 30 years of one of my dearest, sweetest friends. i could not imagine a better birthday for such a true texas gal.  thanks to the PV's for sharing and thanks to the weather (and the Creator of it) for a great weekend of cool temps - a break for us texas kids in august is not normal.  it was in the low 80's all weekend!   oh, and mollie was so great to share the pics she took as well, so any pics that you see here (at least the ones that look good), well, mollie took them.  might want to think about hiring my pro-photo-friend for your next set of family pics (www.photographyinbloom.com)!  

good times...and HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JILL!

this is one i took...of the "swimming hole"...so fun!

big sky at luckenbach - me with the b-day girl!

mr. handsome...NORRRRMAAAAAN!

"jaty" takes luckenbach

house update - two weeks and counting...

so we move in august 20th...and right now you probably would not guess that was the case.

tasks completed:

- new roof
- new electrical wiring
- outside of house, painted. trim near completion.
- old floors in kitchen ripped out, originals hardwoods being given new life throughout the house.
- five walls, gone-zo

still to go:

- interior painting and crown molding
- kitchen. yes, all of it. 
- front door of house - to paint or to stain? can't decide.
- french doors in kitchen

so we are a work in progress. hopefully as this list would seem to indicate, we about halfway complete, two weeks in and two weeks to go...a few pics and some before and afters:

outside of house before:

outside of house today (still need to work on a little trim and the front door, but MUCH improvement:

looking into the house from the front door now:

standing in the dining room a short time ago, looking toward 3rd bedroom and kitchen:

standing in old dining room now, looking toward 3rd bedroom, future kitchen to left:

three piles of rubble this size have already been moved out!

standing in the back of the "kitchen" looking toward front of house

pre-season rankings are out!

the mothership - owen field

rivals.com released their full pre-season poll today. OU has a solid spot at 4, which is a great place to be - no one wants the pressure of starting at #1, but you hate to slide out of the top 10. being near the middle of that pack is perfect for the pre-season.

there was one little surprise tucked in this years' announcement. texas tech is ranked just one spot over texas (*shout out to kevin - get your guns up). can you imagine little mack brown's firey eyes when he saw that one on paper?? it just makes me giggle all over. and even more exciting would be seeing crazy mike leach take notice. i'm sure he is already gathering all his pirates for the beginning of mike's pirate school in lubbock. gotta love a man that crazy and hilarious at the same time.

oh, and friendly big 12 friends, please do your part to boost OU's strength of schedule. thank you in advance for your cooperation.

july 29th

they say time flies when you are having fun. well if that is true, then i must be having a blast, because i cannot believe that one year ago today i was preparing for one of the biggest days of my life - the day jay and i were married!

this time last year i was in breckenridge, colorado with over 100 of my closest friends and family, enjoying a weekend that could not have been more perfect. i was calm, cool, and collected - and just couldn't believe that the moment was finally upon me that we would be married.

the last year has been amazing. truly amazing - and i cannot tell you how happy i am to be married to jay. he is everything i ever dreamed of in a husband and more. i won't go too gushy on a public blog, but i just wanted to thank him for being a wonderful husband and my very best friend in the entire world. i love you, jay! happy anniversary...i look forward to many more to share together!

d-day

so originally we were just going to paint a few walls and put up a roof. with the help of our contractor, justin, we have quickly moved into a full scale "update" on the house. we are knee deep in renovations now - yesterday was "demolition" day (as jay so excitedly kept calling it), which means that right now our house a big mess!

so far we have completed a new roof, covered the entire outside of the house in primer for painting - smurf blue primer, i might add - it looks very scary right now, gutted the kitchen, pulled out some old flooring, and knocked out four walls. the plan is to paint the outside of the house grey with a white trim, resurface the existing hardwood floors and replace the pulled out flooring, paint the inside of the house and put up crown molding, and re-do the kitchen entirely also adding french doors to the back of the house, near our "breakfast nook." the kitchen part will be fun, we are putting in an island where the refrigerator and a huge bank of floor-to-ceiling cabinets used to be, which will open up the whole area. i can't wait to pick out new countertops and cabinets...such fun!!

whew! we have a ways to go but the plan is to be in the house mid-august. what a great day that will be! we are just thankful to still have our place in uptown while all this is going on. below are a few more pictures of "demolition day"...

standing in the dining room, looking toward what used to be part of the kitchen and a hallway...this is where the big island will be

standing in the dining room, looking into the kitchen...what's left of it, at least!

U2 re-release

most folks that know me are aware that since childhood, i have had the same favorite band (and the same favorite football team, but that's another post - go sooners!). on my grandfather's birthday (4/9) in the year 1987, i was ten years old. this was the fateful day my brother, jarrod gave me my first U2 album (that wasn't dubbed off of his tapes)...my very own, brand new, shiny, sealed-in-that-clear-plastic-wrap, tape - the joshua tree. he told me it would change my life or the way i listen to music or something of the sort, and as usual, big brother was correct. since that day i have faithfully followed, listenened to, payed-exorbitant- amounts-to-attend-concerts and purchase-bootleg- releases-that-i-pretend-no-one-else-has...and loved every minute of it. i cry at every tour...tear up when "bad" comes on the radio...the love runs deep, my friends.

well today i read an article by my new buddy, thor (who, in our first and only meeting, i actually had this* conversation with) about the re-release of their first three albums, along with a "bonus" album (the kind people like me are suckers for) and i thought - U2 has a following that allows them to re-release old albums and make zillions. this just further proves their amazing-ness (new word, just made it up), yet i still cannot name my favorite album*. the blog addition to the article asked people to name their favorite U2 album, and i loved reading the responses. i fear i cannot choose just one - do i choose war because i love that raw, gritty U2 sound, or joshua tree because it was such a breaking point in my U2-fandom, or any of the many others, because i love each of them so very, very, much?!?

since i know most of you, my friends, are fans of this brilliant band, i have decided to post a poll (in sidebar) to help me decide. your favorite U2 album ever...you can choose multiple albums, i cannot track you down, your votes are anonymous, so have no fear. six days and counting.

drumroll, please...

christian the lion

this video reminded me of my sweet puppy dog, norman...i am totally in tears right now. i normally don't have the patience to wait for these things to load, but trust me, this is worth two minutes of your time...click here to watch. so incredibly touching. thanks to my dad for sending!

magic bullet

the gang on the grassy knoll

last weekend jay and i hosted "the magic bullet" bus...sounds strange, yes, but read on - it was such a great time. to begin, the crew met at the sixth floor museum at 4:30pm for a tour. i had never been - and to have never made a trip there while living in dallas is just a crime. it is a great spot and very interesting.

at 6pm the bus arrived. we loaded up about 30 of our friends and began the little journey. our friend doug led the charge with his expert-insider-info on that last day of jfk's life. we headed first toward love field, where kennedy landed in dallas. here we made a stop at club schmitz, which is across the street, for dinner and trivia - and then headed down the path of the parade, learning little interesting bits of history all along the way. the bus made a stop at the grassy knoll next, and we were all amazed at how many other people were there - that place was slammed with tourists!

the group then re-lived the escape route lee harvey took - to his house and then on foot through oak cliff. we also made a stop at the nearby belmont hotel for a good view of downtown.

the last stop was none other than the famous lee harvey's - a restaurant/bar in south dallas. we had a great time with friends and learned a lot along the way. i even had t-shirts made for the occasion with the warren commissions' magic bullet theory outline on the front. pretty hilarious. we were definitely a hit with the "hardcore" people at the museum...very funny.

some pics from the night:

some of the gals at lee harvey's

lee harvey's - some more of the gals

club schmitz - a famous dallas dive - yummy tater pops!

robby and jay - robby and rebecca came in all the way from houston!!

doug is in the background, beginning our tour - hutch and court seem to be making a comment on the tour - we definitely had a peanut gallery...

good times and happy friends!

so interesting...

i found this amazing quiz online today - as previously stated, i love quizzes and this one is so brief (just a few questions), but so to the point! click here to take it. amazing!

trip to the windy city

we took a trip with friends this weekend to the great city of chicago. that town has so much to offer, and i can promise you we did our best to explore all we could. we spent our days with good friends - all of which (for the most part), grew up in chicago. so of course we had some seriously good tour guides...which means much fun in chi-town.

we stayed at the sofitel hotel, which i highly recommend, it was great! food was a big player: ate pizza at gino's east, had a "beef" at portillo's, a steak at gene and georgetti's, and hit up some great brunch spots. we also took the architecture boat tour, went to the beach at lake michigan, went for numerous walks and even took a jog in the city, had drinks atop the john hancock building, went to a cubs game...perfect weather, great sites, seriously heavy-yummy-food, and a spectacular baseball game - i loved the victory song - go cubs, go....go cubs, go...

the crew at the top of the john hancock building

go cubbies! the game was definitely my favorite part of the trip.

instant cubs fans at the cubby bear pre-game

navy pier - jay looks so cute and calm, masking his fear of the giant ferris wheel

lady cubs

we deemed this our 'sex and the city' pic!!