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!!

we took some very old friends to join us in the ranger's suite this week. the two girls below i have known ever since i can remember. we had some good fun hanging out and telling old stories - and laughing all the way. i am lucky to still have contact with so many friends from the past...i just love keeping up with everyone! fun crew and fun spot to catch up - love to you all!!

jenn, jill, and me - go a-town

dollar, me, jay

two bits of good news

for someone in my shoes, both of these stories are very appealing...

if you like to spend money on fun things, this story will make you happy. so book that trip you have been wanting to take and go buy yourself a new pair of shoes! just don't forget to put a little back for the future while you are at it...sorry, the banker still has to come out now and then. ; )

if you live anywhere in the m-streets, my new 'hood, this story will make you happy. gas prices are soaring, but when you only fill up every three weeks or so, it doesn't hurt nearly as bad!

july 4th

we had a lot of pool party time, a lot of fireworks, and good times with good friends this weekend. a much needed rest before a crazy couple of weeks we have headed our way...

"jaty"

hey ladies...

lakewood rocks

mark and mindee

doug and kelly

da boys from high school - the men of tvs

tommy and monica