“Twelve fallen Aggies — the Spirit of the 12th man. Indeed, it is a link that will bind us together always. For as long as there is a Texas A&M and as long as there are Aggies who cherish one another we will never forget these 12.”

I’m thankful for completed deadlines… and being able to read the comics on a Monday morning :-) :-) :-)

I’m thankful for a very patient Christopher who fixed my electrical plug, working until almost midnight to get it just right.

And for the flowers and coffee he brought me this morning when I was running 15 min. late.

I love the fruit and vegetable section at HEB.
Horizontal rows of green, yellow, red, orange, purple and white.
And everything’s edible.
As I filled up my grocery cart tonight, I was so very thankful for having plenty.
The grocer asked me as I checked out, “Did you find everything you needed?”
I couldn’t help but smile and answer a very resounding yes.
There’s nothing more I could need.
I’m thankful for plenty.

The tree in my front yard turned from green to yellow over the weekend.
Wow.
Another reminder that… to everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.
Can I be thankful for fall twice?

:-)

I locked my keys in my car today.
I’m so thankful for AAA.

There are three large bowls of chocolate chip cookies on my cabinet.
I’m so thankful that I get to share them this weekend.

The leaves are changing colors. I noticed it for the first time this morning on my run.
I’m so thankful the trees are whispering to each other that it’s the start of fall.

I got stung by a bee for the first time.
I’m so thankful I’m not allergic.


I'm thankful that today is Tuesday and I'm headed to Troy this weekend.
Wahoooooo!

Bed Bath and Beyond smells like Christmas.
... and the Netti Pot I bought there, well... it might have just changed my life.

I'm thankful for the Netti Pot.

You know those mornings where you are so overwhelmed, so filled to the top, so saturated, so full of cake-and-ice-cream joy?
where you feel so grateful just for a new day
and you’re sure the sunrise is prettier
the air smells cleaner
your breakfast is tastier
your muscles feel stronger
what you touch has weight
what you hear is a song
… and your chest hurts from holding in tears of thankfulness.
Do you know?
Me, too.

So, I’m going to dedicate myself to the discipline of being thankful during this season of thanks. Where, everyday, I’ll say what I’m thankful for.
Long.
Short.
Meaningful.
Or only meaningful to me.
And today, Nov. 1, I’m so very thankful that I used my extra hour of sleep to hang out with Alicia, Anne, Todd and Kelli. I’m quite thankful for that Alicia-Boo and Anne-girl. They make me laugh and grow. One makes me yummy food and the other one pretends to be an animal for a hearty laugh. I don’t know what I would do without them.
For real.

It's really cold in my office, though... I'm not so cold anymore.

I live in the land of butterflies.

They are everywhere... It's so fantastic. :-)

Dear Tamara,
Look what I found (she found it first :-) )




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object width="425" height="344">




AAAAH!
Fun!
(P.S.-- hair possibility?)

:-)
:-)
:-)

I really need to paint something...

What do you think about this color for the kitchen? I have cabinets similar to this picture found here. Or do you think it needs to be lighter?

This is what the kitchen looks like (via Christmas :-) )


Pictures hang above the cabinets... hummm...

And paint the door behind Anne white or black?

“So it took an eight-year-old child to bring 'em to their senses.... That proves something - that a gang of wild animals can be stopped, simply because they're still human. Hmp, maybe we need a police force of children.” ~Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird, spoken by the character Atticus

“I think there's just one kind of folks. Folks.” ~ spoken by Scout

My boss had two tickets to see Wednesday night’s performance of To Kill a Mockingbird. It was so good. The over dramatization by Scout and Jem got a little grating at times, but by the end, sigh. I’ve become quite a baby. Tears come quite easily at performances or art or talent shows… or anything really where people put everything they have for the sake of creativity.

The thought of creativity and my sub sequential emotion used to perplex me.
“This is a silly YouTube video of sisters tap dancing, Stephanie. What is your problem?”

Until I figured it out.

My problem is… I’m a changed person. Changed for the better, for sure, but changed none the less. When I became a Christian, I became a new person. As I’ve grown in my faith, my heart has grown sensitive to the things that remind me of the eternal. Things that matter. Things that change lives.

It may be on YouTube, but… watching people unzip their authority to reveal the creative… it reminds me of God.

Because, God is creative… soooo creative. There are the expected examples of moon beams dancing snow-covered mountains, the perfect color of pink the cheek turns in winter, or the bazillion notes the wind plays against the ridges of your house, or between the trees, or through a plastic playground.

I read an article once that said to be more creative… connect more with Him, the Creator.

In Eat, Pray, Love (a book I haven’t read, but have listened to a talk by the author, http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/453), Elizabeth Gilbert talks about creativity in a neat way. Creativity, in ancient times, was thought of as something received from God as inspiration.

In-Spirit-Ization

To be filled with the creative Spirit. My creative God.

I like that a lot! And I think about it when I tear up… that their bigtimecrazyfantastic creativity is God showing Himself.

And that’s what I thought of when the play characters came out for their curtain call.

People playing make believe, I believe, is more than make believe.

"-)

GOAL TIME :-)

1. to sew fringe on the living room curtains
2. to hang a curtain in the kitchen
3. to paint my frames white
4. to fakeframe some leftover cutlery

... by Thanksgiving

Can I do it? Yes I can!

Who wants to have an art night???

full story here: http://www.sansabanews.com/news/article/20404

Trends seem to indicate that those with agriculture degrees are holding their own, even in a rocky economy. According to Texas A&M University, more companies are requesting resumes and interviews with agriculture students, and more are offering jobs to graduating seniors this year than last year.

In fact, the Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, which has 31 undergraduate degrees and 72 graduate degrees, says the number of companies recruiting agriculture students was up 3 percent in Spring 2009, compared with Spring 2008. And there was a 6 percent increase in interviews compared with last year. University officials say the Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Sciences is one of the only colleges in the university that still boasts positive recruitment numbers for its graduating seniors.

WHOOP!

I'm at Sweet Eugene's.
Sitting across from a female/male conversation.
The female is talking a lot more (and a lot louder) than the male.
After about 1 hour of eavesdropping/completing my own work... I'm almost convinced that this girl is conducting an seminar.
About relationships.
And it's so awkward... I can't help but keep listening.

snippets:
*I know she's been thinking about you a lot, because I'm a girl...and I don't want to freak you out, but all girls think about their wedding day
*just, be careful about... I don't know, what I talked about before. Be careful with her feelings.
*if you go in too fast and then break it off, it just shatters us. It's good to get to know us as friends
*OK, have you paid for her when you go out? (yes)
*OK, that's one way where you can move it back to friends. When you're getting to know one another, the best way to do that is through lunch and coffee
*dating is when you're going out legitimately at night
*sorry, it makes sense in my head. I promise. (she's said this at least three times)

lots about feelings.
lots about hearts.

Tam, you would have had to move by now. You wouldn't have been able to take the awkwardness. No way.

I've seriously got to get back to work.
Curse my fantastic hearing! :-)

This was on NPR's "All Things Considered" yesterday.

I reallllllly liked it.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112679029

P.S.-- how interesting

Last weekend, I went here with the Troy youth group.


It was really fun, see?


We ate Oreos


And swam




and caught turtles


And froze our hineys off. Am I lying, fellow freezing peeps?


Thumbs up means no.

Everyone went flying off the rope swing.






I felt that it was a brave leap after my personal face plant.

But a few trumped us all.
Eep! So high!






(phew!)

It was a full trip.

But, there's always time to strike a pose







work it
work the camera

Spring is my favorite. Yes, my absolute favorite, but I have a crush on fall.
And today, yes, today… it’s September.
Football games, tailgating, outo'town visitors sleeping on the couch, oranges.yellows.reds.
Big pots of soup. Chicken on the grill. Socks with thickness.
Plans of camping and hiking and fire building and star gazing.
Longer runs. Bigger muscles.
Game nights and parties at 3709.
Weekends filled with purpose and a growing desire toward simplicity.
It’s time to pull out the sewing machine and clean out the closet and open the windows and give the air conditioning a break.
It’s a new season, people!
Welcome, fall. You’re not here yet, but we’ve got our eyes glued to the skies.
For higher, wispier clouds. Earlier sunsets and gusts of sharp air.
You're coming.
I can feel it.

It's 6:30ish.
I'm dead asleep, until I hear this:

Oh my gosh!
Oh my gosh!
Oh my gosh!
Oh my gosh!
Oh my gosh!
Oh my gosh!

I jump out of bed, grab my mace, and run to toward the oh my goshing.

It's Hannah.
And there's a dead, almost mummified bird on our kitchen floor.

The Sawyer-dog carried it in from the backyard.

It's not funny; Hannah was truly bothered, but... I couldn't help laugh. Laugh and laugh and laugh.

The whole picture was hilarious.

Anne and I in our pajamas with disheveled hair, racing into a kitchen with a dead bird, a proud dog and a disgusted Hannah.

Oh, I'm chuckling some more just thinking of it.

Over the weekend, I took pictures of my KayciBug. She's a super cute senior now, but most of my memories are of her as a middle schooler.


Faded denim shorts.
Science club.
All As, but worried about her PE grade.
Make-up snafus like putting powder on her eyelashes which made them white...

Wait, that's not Kayci. That's me! :-)

Kayci has always been this cute.

Loser.



We went around town and played.




The thunder was grumbling, the humidity shot up, the sky greyed across... but all we got was a sprinkle.

Good for us.

Stinky for the land.

Not stinky... OH MY GOSH, SHE'S SO CUTE!!! Make it stop.






I'll put up more later... but for now... enjoy her sweet dimples :-)





arf arf! can you see the pups in the background?

Glee fits in a box.

A reeeeeeeeeealy big one.

Over the weekend, my mom, Chris and I went to Big Lots on a hunt for a couch.
When Alicia moved out, she took her couch and big comfy chair with her. And while we weren’t necessarily in dire need for a replacement couch, why not look for a good deal.

Why not, indeed?

Kate and I had gone casual couch/kitchen table shopping the week before. No luck for the both of us. So, Mom did a scout job for me at Big Lots. Mother load.

She told me about this cute little brown corduroy couch, (Sigh. Sounds lovely, I thought) and an oversized recliner (meh. Not so much).

Well, when we all went for a visit, I changed my mind about the oversized recliner. I sit. I smile. I recline. I sigh. I look at the tag… and gasp.

This chair’s official professional, order-it-out-of-a-catalogue name is…

Wait for it…

Its official name is the cuddler.

Open survey: everyone who thinks this chair was made for me based on name alone raise your hand.

*raises hand*

Oh my.

Chris delivered it to my house yesterday. I was still more excited to see him, but... THE CUDDLER HAD ARRIVED!!

The sucker is huge. Waaaay bigger than it appeared in the showroom… but, oh, how I love it.

Visit soon.
You can have the seat of honor.

I got up and ran this morning.

The plan was to go to the gym, but half way into my drive and half way to the bottom of my breakfast, I realized… I forgot my shirt.

I’ve forgotten my shoes before. That was doable. Most of my pant legs are long. It works well with heels… and when you must wear shower shoes to work.

But, a shirt?

That’s more than long pants can help.

So I turned around.

Finished my breakfast.

And ran outside.

I’m glad.

Otherwise I wouldn’t have heard this:

THUMPthump THUMPthump THUMPthump.

My feet don’t make noises on the treadmill. Well, they do, but the motor noises and grunts from the weight lifters drown it out.

I like it.

THUMPthump THUMPthump.

I found it odd that my right leg had a louder thump.

So I switched my stride.

thumpTHUMP thumpTHUMP.

And wouldn’t you know it?

That entertained me through three miles.

:-)

A looooooooooooooong time ago, I took pictures of my sweet sweet Brianna girl and her not-yet-born babe.

These are some of my favorites...

Brianna is a pretty girl, isn't she?!?! Oh my, so pretty!!


If this was Facebook, I'd totally tag Addison. She's right there! Can you see her?


Girl pink :-)


And the wee little shoes Nigel got for Father's Day. I think they're Pumas. :-)



And that's her face! Oh My!! She's a looker, that Addison!



These green ones are my favorites...







I like these, too! Sigh. I've figured it out... Brianna, you are my favorite :-)






Sun glow :-)



I had fun. Thank you, Brianna.
Come on Addison.
I want to take pictures of you not in utero. :-)