Christmas Trilogy: Holiday in Houston

Christmas number three was by far the most traditional Christmas this year. Jacki (my cousin) made a fantastic meal for us all. We had turkey, ham, caseroles, pies, fruit, potatoes, stuffing... you get the hint.

We got to spend the days with the kids. It is fun now that Jessica is old enough to open presnets. Last year she looked at them and would rip the paper if you put it in her hand but didn't really get it. This year, she was all about unwrapping presents. She would unwrap anyones present if you let her. She opened most of Jacobs presents. I bet he will give her a run for her money next year!

Intermission

Between Christmas #2 and Christmas #3 we had two days to move my brother from one apartment to another. Not exactly my ideal Christmas activity but my brother has helped me move numerous times so it was the least I could do.

When we got to my brothers apartment on Thursday night we cleaned up a little and got situated. My brother asked me to put his coat in his hall closet, so I walked over to his hall closet, hung up his coat and closed the door. He then asked me to hang up my mom's coat so I repeated the process. He rolled his eyes and asked me to hang up my coat. I told him there were no more hangers and ran to his real closet to get another hanger and hung up my coat. He rolled his eyes again and opened the closet door, pointed at the floor and asked me if I was blind. Sitting there was a Rock Band 2 Bundle for the Wii! Merry Christmas Jenny! I cracked open the box but chose only to make the guitar since we had to move everything from one apartment to the other and then back to Dallas. My brother and I had fun playing guitar and singing the rest of the weekend. I heart rock band!

On Friday I got to spend some time with Amber. She was in town for Christmas and we spent the day shopping, talking and eating. Pretty normal day for us but it was great to see her! After my fun escape it was back to cleaning and moving. My brother is not the cleanest person in the world so it was kinda gross at times. Why are boys so dirty?!?! Any ideas?

My mom spent a few hours working on my brother's bathroom to get it presentable before we headed out. Here is a shot of her oh so exciting cleaning. It was a task, but we got him moved with the help of my cousin Scott. Poor Scott. He has moved me and my brother almost every time we've moved. Who knew when you signed on to our family it involved countless acts of manual labor? At least my uncle got to escape this time. He normally is roped in too. He had a great excuse though, he was in Arkansas. I may try that next time! Seeing as my brothers new apartment is on the 4th floor about 200 feet from the parking garage.

Christmas Trilogy: A Glimpse of Gilmer

On Christmas morning we woke up early to head to East Texas for Christmas #2 with my mom's side of the family. We opened our stockings as is customary before heading out. Thankfully Santa got my memo about the "good" chocolate this year and I was happy to find chocolate covered pomegranate in my stocking, as well as 60% coca chocolate. Yum!

After loading the car for both remaining Christmases the four of us headed out in my dad's Expedition. We programmed Gilmer into the Garman and headed out. Seeing as my parents drive to Gilmer at least once a month, they did not need Mr. Garmin to show them the way, but they were pleasantly surprised to see that he also told them the speed limit and an estimated arrival time.

We arrived in Gilmer in time to help my cousin Sierra finish up some Queso. Mike and I stirred it and we must have done a good job because it turned out great! We also helped my mom set out sandwich fixings while we waited for the rest of my cousins to arrive. My grandmother is 94 and is my last remaining grandparent. She gets around quite well for a woman of her age but still has my cousin, Sierra, buy all of her Christmas presents for her and has for the last few years. Sierra is in college and lives with my grandmother. After we all opened presents my grandmother said "If you like what I got you, I picked it out... If you don't, blame Sierra." Luckily I loved my robe, so thank you Grandma!

My mom's side of the family consists of my grandma, my uncle, his five kids and their five kids. Below are my girl cousins (and myself) and my oldest second cousin (beside me). The next picture is four of my second cousins in a tree. The youngest three are in first grade now and are growing so fast!


When we were growing up the kids always played Santa and handed out all the presents. It is weird to watch my cousins' kids do it now... I am a grown up and not one of the "kids" anymore.

Opening presents in East Texas is always a trip. My dad's side of the family and my immediate family all open presents one at a time. Not so with my mom's side. Once the presents are all in front of people the mayhem begins. I think some of my cousins think it is a race... or they are just really excited to see what they are going to get because they are done opening presents in about two seconds. I wait and look around and take a few pictures before I start opening. It is always funny to watch the interaction... People ripping into packages and then yelling a "Thank you, Jenny", "Thank you, Aunt Melba" or "Thank you, Grandma" across the room before opening the next gift.

We draw names and only get one gift for our cousins/uncle. This year I drew Megan and she wanted crosses. The bottom picture is her with her crosses. I was quite impressed with the three crosses I bought her. Hobby Lobby was having a 50% off sale and I was able to get her three crosses without going over our $20 spending limit! I was drawn by my cousin Sierra and received The Dark Knight. I actually have not seen it yet but have heard it is fantastic so instead of renting it and then going out and buying it, I decided to ask for it for Christmas.


After cleaning up all the wrapping paper and playing with a few of the kids toys, my family packed up and headed for Houston. We had to make it there by Christmas night so Mike could work the next day. I actually enjoyed all the time with my family on Christmas, but eight hours in the car is not necessarily my dream Christmas. Hopefully next year I will still get the family time but it wont be in the Expedition.

Christmas Trilogy: There's No Place Like Home

This year I went to Watermark's Christmas Eve service for the first time. The sermon was great and involved card board signs being turned over from people's sin nature to their life and victory through Christ. It was quite powerful!

Christmas with my family is three fold: my immediate family, my dad's side of the family and my mom's side of the family. This year we started with the immediate family and went from there. On Christmas Eve my brother flew in from Houston and my sister and brother-in-law came from Rowlett for a Mexican feast. This is new for my family but I hope it become a tradition, because it was quite yummy. We chatted and laughed over taco soup and tamales before opening presents.


This year my brother and I upped the stakes quite a bit because it was our first Christmas with jobs. We bought my dad a Garmin (which we used on Christmas day... post to come next) and my mom a box for her silver. The highlight for me was opening a Wii (followed very closely by a gift certificate for a massage from my sister, ummm yeah)! Thanks again mom and dad! I was so stinking excited. Feel free to come over and play with me!!!

After presents we headed to bed so Santa would come.

Ice Ice Baby

I went to the Gaylord Texan last night to see the ICE! Exhibit. I have wanted to go for the past two years. Two million pounds of hand carved ice has to be cool right?!

Sort of. I definitely enjoyed myself and am glad I went. However, I made some very poor decisions that I caution you all to avoid:

1. Wear closed toed shoes and socks. It is nine degrees below freezing in the exhibit and when you are not wearing socks... you notice. Luckily my feet froze in the first three minutes so I could walk around in numb ignorance from then on... but in hindsight I don't think that was the smartest decision. I suggest warding off potential frostbite better than I did.
2. Wear gloves, a scarf and a hat. See above for why.
3. Get there early or don't stress about being late. The parking lot will put even the worst mall parking lot during Christmas to shame. Be ready to wait and wait and wait.
4. Be prepared for LONG lines once inside the exhibit or try going on a week night. Friday night is not the time to go if you hope to escape hoards of people.

All in all it was great fun and I was amazing to see the attention to detail. I also really enjoyed the parkas they made us wear. Not the most flattering jacket in the world but it was reminiscent of my swimming days. I love parkas!

Heather Brown

If you are ever in Hawaii, I recommend you check out a young artist named Heather Brown. Though her paintings did not make any of my posts, Tiffany and I went to two different studios to see her art work. I liked absolutely everything she painted but fell in LOVE with one specific painting. Tico Toucan. Heather painted him on a trip to Costa Rica and I wanted him! So much so that we even asked the associate how much the painting would cost. Her answer was MUCH more than I could spend so I thanked her and left longing for Mr. Toucan.

Fast forward to last night. I got home and found a package waiting for me on the stairs. I ordered numerous presents from Amazon so I was used to seeing packages, but all of my packages had already come in.... Strange. On further examination I found the package was for me from Hawaii! As I opened the box I noticed wrapping paper and an affixed card saying "Well, its not an original, but I did the best I could. I hope you always remember your trip as fondly as I do. Merry Christmas!"

I immediately thought two things: 1. I know what it is! I know what it is! and 2. Crap! I didn't get Tiffany anything. (She is going to roll her eyes when she reads this because she will not care that I didn't get her anything... Furthermore, she spent painstaking hours working on my masterpiece because she loves me and not to receive anything in return. Thus she will be upset with me that I even thought that, but I did! Sorry Tiffany.)

I unwrapped the cube that I now realized was a canvas carefully but quickly in eager anticipation. Tiffany is amazingly creative in all the ways I am not. She can decorate a cake like no bodies business and she can paint! I have ALWAYS wanted to be a painter. The closest I have ever come is paint-by-numbers, but that is a story for another day. As I turned the canvas right side up, I saw this:


(The orange is my wall. I already have it hanging.) I was amazed! It is ridiculously close to the original. I wish Heather's site was not copyrighted so I could post them side by side because it is impressive! Tiffany, I love, LOVE, LOVE it! Thank you so much friend!

***This post will embarrass her but I don't care! I am so excited about my painting! You bless me Tiffany. Have I mentioned you should come home?! I love you friend. Thank you for making me feel very loved!***

My First Ornaments

On Sunday my small group had an ornament exchange and decorated cookies for Christmas. It was a great time of fellowship and fun with the girls. I enjoy seeing them outside of bible study... They have such distinct personalities!

We decided to do our Ornament Exchange White Elephant style, allowing every ornament to be stolen only once. At first the girls were opening ornaments happily and enjoying what they received... Then came the leaders. My co-leader Melissa went right before me and stole two precious lolly-pop/candy cane ornaments from Sydney, locking in her ornament. Sydney then proceeded to open a hand painted A&M cross. She got kinda excited about the cross because both of her parents went to A&M and even started to talk about where she was going to put it on her Christmas tree... The ornament was adorable, but Sydney obviously liked it, so of course I decided to be selfless and open another gift, right? NOPE! I stole from Sydney too! I felt bad about it, but not enough to open a package instead. I mean it is REALLY cute! Luckily Sydney liked the next ornament she opened as much if not more than my cross so my guilt subsided. But Melissa and I started a stealing trend and most of our girls stole an ornament instead of opening one from then on. It was a great time!

My Precious Girls

My Stolen A&M Cross Ornament

A gift from one of the girls in my small group

My Ornament from the Blog Ornament Swap

I was pretty excited about all three of my Christmas ornaments because they are my first Christmas ornaments! That's right... First ornaments ever. I have never had a tree other than my parents so I have never had a reason for ornaments of my own. But these three have stared a trend. I love Elaine's idea of getting ornaments from all the places I travel to... Too bad I didn't start that earlier. Anyone have an ornament from England, France, Cuba, or Guatemala that they don't mind giving me. :)

I Miss Hawaii!

Tiffany recently posted about my visit to Hawaii. Feel free to check out her posts for further insight into my trip. I personally loved them! I about died when I saw this picture. It is Tiffany's rendition of my surf board sandwich which is quite accurate. I miss you Tiffany! Please come home!

Ice is the Devil.

I totally bit it this morning walking to my DART station. I saw the ice and tried to adjust for it to no avail. Thankfully I didn't tear my pants. The highlight of the experience was the woman walking in front of me telling me "I fell very gracefully" and threatening to sue... After all DART should have de-iced! She told me she worked for a law firm. I laughed and told her I was a lawyer. Rest assured I do not intend to sue DART.

The sad part is I even wore flats to keep from falling... The silver lining is it would have been much worse if I had been in heals!

Lunch for a Nickel

The Which Wich in my building is selling sandwiches for a nickel today. It is some sort of anniversary. I am paying $0.05 for lunch. Woohoo!

What a great day!

Working Girl: Day One

My first day ended up being a rather typical first day with one distinct twist (to be discussed later). I went into the office at 10am, filled out all of my paper work and had my ID and social security card xeroxed before heading up 10 floors to start my project. Luckily one of my friends from law school is also on my project so he and I sat together.

As we were sitting and catching up while waiting for everyone else to filter in, I noticed a guy setting up the speakers for the teleconference training. He looked familiar so I assumed he went to A&M and went about my business. The guy ended up being our project lead and mentioned later that we could wear jeans on Fridays (Yes!) and could even wear a college shirt especially if it was a UT shirt.... Huh, I thought, guess I don't know him from A&M. Oh well.

Later I introduced myself to the girl sitting across from me and she asked me if I knew who "he" was?! No, I replied, but he does look familiar. She informed me that he was Jeremy from the Bachelorette and then it clicked... he sure was. My project lead was on TV. Kinda weird, but makes for interesting conversation and blog material.

I didn't watch the show so I know very little about him, but I have several friends who did and they were quite happy to hear my news. Since the Bachelorette aired while I was studying for the bar, I vaguely remember my friends asking me if I had my bar outlines all over my wall like he did. I did not. Maybe I should have... Could have given us something to talk about over documet review. Ha! Yeah right.

Otherwise my day was uneventful. The project is going to be a little tedious but manageable. I am so happy to be working that I can handle a little boredom here and there if it brings a pay check, though I hope to get a more permanent job sooner or later.

TOMS

I totally stole this video from Laura, but I do not care.  Tom's are my favorite shoes.  I absolutely love them.  They are comfortable and  I get about 100 compliments every time I wear them (this is my pair).  I always call them my "philanthropic fashion statement".  If you are looking for a gift for anyone, I highly recommend getting Toms for more reason than one.   Watch the video to see more.    

The Rest of my Life

Last week I shared a post with you from Sydney's blog (on of my girls at Watermark).  She has started a second blog of poetry and I wanted to share her first poem as I find it to be very deep for a 11 year old (yet again).  I promise not to post everything she writes, but I couldn't resist this one...  

The wind blows

I hear it whistle in my ear

I then ask myself

Sydney, what are you going to do with the rest of your life?

Sometimes I daydream about becoming famous and signing autographs

Yet sometimes I daydream about going to college in Europe and raising a family there

My future is unknown

But it's up to me to decide it

The one thing I do know is that whatever I do I want to serve God and put others before myself

I am sure about that

By: Sydney Martin

Working Girl

I have some pretty big and rather exciting news to share... I am finally joining the working world. I put it off as long as possible, but eventually my money ran out...

Just kidding. I actually have been looking for a job quite diligently for some months now but no one seems to be hiring. I applied with a few contract firms that specialize in short term work for attorneys and got a call Friday night at 9:40pm asking me if I could start a job on Wednesday. I gladly accepted.

I will be doing document review for a large case. I will be working downtown, so if any of you work in the Dallas skyline and want to get together for lunch, let me know! The job goes through January and possibly a little of February. Hopefully by then the economy will be a little nicer to a young lawyer... If not, I will try to get another contract job for a few months.

This job is a HUGE answer to prayer for me. I can start to pay off my loans, go Christmas shopping (hence my frantic shopping yesterday: 1. I could finally pay for gifts and 2. I only had two days to get everything done before I started working), pay my bills... ya know... the necessities.

I will post more about the job soon, until then be praying. I don't want to make a fool of myself on my first day!

Old School

The last present (not mentioned in my last post) that I create every year is a calender for both of my parents with pictures of the kids (the second cousins) and the family generally from the last year.  I always add some pictures from us growing up.  Here are the pictures I uploaded tonight to go into the calendar.  It is hard to believe my brother and I were ever this little!

Family

Minor Christmas Miracle

I started my Christmas shopping today... I know, i know... Shocking that I would wait so late but I have good news to report. I am done with everyone except my brother-in-law!

It helps that both sides of my extended family are drawing names this year so I had two cousins to buy for instead of upwards of thirty cousins, aunts, uncles, second cousins... you get the idea. Also, my mom and I finished decorating the Christmas tree and put Christmas lights outside the house last night. It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Now on to the wrapping, which is my favorite part!!! I LOVE wrapping presents. Is that weird?

Why I Lead...

I am passionate about leading younger women in the path of righteousness. This year I took on my greatest challenge and joy yet by agreeing to lead a group of girls for the next seven years. (If you read my blog often you are already acquainted with my girls...)

Leading brings out my weaknesses and is great accountability. How can I tell my precious girls that they need to spend time in the Word when I have not done so myself. I am not qualified to lead them in my own strength, leading well takes dependence on Christ. I will mess up along the way but I hope that when they see me and my co-leader first and foremost they see a love of Christ. I pray that they see two women wholly devoted to them and passionate for them to know more of our God. I pray that they see consistent integrity and love.

My co-leader text messaged me last night and told me to go read Sydney's blog. Sydney is one of our 6th graders. She has asked some very deep questions to be only 11 years old. She blogged her thoughts on Wake (our Junior High ministry) and our small group. I loved the post and wanted to share it. Enjoy:

Watermark is the church that I go to every Sunday. The Junior High Floor for 6th, 7th and 8th graders called wake. And i'm a 6th grader. Every Sunday at 11:00 I go to the 4th floor of my church. When I arrive I find my friends and hang out. Its awesome because we can play billiards, foosball, xbox (although I never do that), and ping pong. Also you can get donuts soda and sit at the booths and listen to the music their playing on the speakers.(Cool Right?) Then when we get called in by David who is the Juinor High Leader and as we walk in he is up on the stage singing with a band behind him. I like to sing and dance with my friends and jump around. Then there is a contest for the people who are going to wake for the first time to win candy, sodas, CDs, and be able to sit on a couch while the others sit on the floor. Then we sing some more, and after that we listen to David tell us about God's word and how to be a better christian. Then church is done. But that night I get together with my small group. Whichis basically just a small group of girls who are the same age and two leaders who talk about God's word and how to be a better christian and we memorize bible verses and talk about our problems and later how we've improved. I like small group because the girls in my group are really nice and so are my leaders. Everyone really cares about each others problems.That is basically my Sunday!

Beautiful Brainiac

Elaine posted today about blog stalking and I have to admit, now that I am out of law school I stalk a lot more than I used to. While in school, I only read up on my good friends and even then I had to pray that I would have a few seconds to catch up with their lives every once in a while... But with my discovery of google reader (seriously Elaine, I don't know how I ever lived without it, haha!) and with an abundance of free time, I have begun to blog stalk.

One such stalkee is the inspiration for this post. I recently discovered Modern Eve through my friend Lauren and am participating in an ornament swap (more on that later) that she is hosting. Apparently she goes to Watermark too... small world. I find her blog to be adorable and informative. She is posting gift guides for different types of women; domestic diva, preppy princess, modern momma... you get the idea.

Well today was my day! Woohoo! Below is her post for the beautiful brainiac. Can you figure out which gift I want so badly I almost bought it for myself today?! I challenge both my friends and my faithful blog stalkers to take a guess!

1) capri glasses case, brown leaf from hayden-harnett; 2) natural history alphabet juice glasses and plates from royaume by atelier daguerre; 3) gumdrop calculator from see jane work; 4) smart people's reading, set of 8 from sundance catalog; 5) easybloom plant sensor available online; 6) apple jacket from the curiosity shoppe; 7) periodic table of sentiments card set from pink loves brown; 8) swan marquise globe from the globe store; 9) library lending book kit from paper source; 10) thinkmap virtual thesaurus available online; 11) iq test gift box from urban junkie; 12) polaroid pogo instant portable printer from urban outfitters; 13) pop quiz clock from ochelly

Thanksgiving = Food, Fun and Family

Thursday: Dallas with my Dad's side of the family
**My mom was upset when she saw this post because it looks like my dad is making dinner.  He is carving the turkey... the turkey that my mom spent all morning cooking.  My mother made pretty much everything for thanksgiving.  I must give credit where credit is due.**

Sunday: Gilmer with my Mom's side of the family

My Full Album

Seven Things...

Lauren tagged me and it has taken me a while to get around to it, but with no further ado, I give you my seven things.

7 Things I Want To Do Before I Die...
I actually have a much longer list, but my first seven are:
1. Find a job that challenges and excites me
2. Read the bible cover-to-cover
3. Get out of debt
4. Get SCUBA certified
5. Memorize the books of the bible with my girls
6. Drive-in movie
7. White water rafting

7 Things I Can Do...
1. Listen
2. Practice law. Woohoo!
3. Touch my nose with my tongue
4. Drive standard/a stick shift
5. Walk and talk in my sleep
6. Swim. Swimming used to be my life.
7. Eat well. I love food!

7 Things I Can Not Do...1. Speak a foreign language
2. Sing... I am practically tone deaf
3. Eat shellfish. (I stole Lauren's number 3, but I am allergic so it works for both of us.)
4. Put my hair into an up-do. I alway am amazed when my friends just whip their hair up and it looks like a stylist did it.
5. Maybe similarly: Dry my hair while using a round brush... I lack the coordination
6. Draw/Paint
7. See without my contacts

7 Things I Say Most Often
1. In deed.
2. Yeah.
3. (Only recently) I am still looking... yeah... I know the economy is horrible.
4. Thank you!
5. I try.
6. Hello/Talk to you later/Bye
7. Shazam! (Not really, but it was on Pushing Daisies the other night and I think the word needs to make a come back.)

7 Celebrity Crushesum... seriously having trouble here. Not much of a celeb fan...
1. Lee Pace, Ned on Pushing Daisies
2. John Krasinski, Jim Halpert on the Office
3. Patrick Demsey
4. Matthew Macfadyen, Mr. Darcy in the new Pride and Prejudice
5. Johnny Lang... but mainly because of his voice, so sexy!
6. I just spent 15 minutes trying to think of more... I got nothing.

That is all I got folks. Hope you enjoyed! Remarkably, these lists were more time consuming that the other randomness that normally appears on my blog!

I swear...

I am officially official. I have paid my dues, my taxes, my fees and last but not least I have been sworn in to the State Bar of Texas!

On Monday night my parents and I set out to Austin for my swearing in ceremony. Every year the new bar inductees are invited to Austin to be sworn in. Since my mom did not get to see me graduate from law school (my brother graduated from Texas Tech the same day), she was determined to see me sworn in.

We stopped at Bahama Bucks on the way out of town because I LOVE snow cones and have been dying to try it since my friends told me they serve the best snow cones in Texas. I was not disappointed. I got my signature tangerine/pina colada. Yum!


On Tuesday morning at 10am, along with about 1,500 other new attorneys, I was sworn in to the State Bar of Texas. It was comparable to a graduation. Pretty boring at times and rather anti-climatic but I am glad I went.


After the ceremony my parents and I went to a reception that the University of Houston was hosting for its graduates. I got to catch up with a few of my friends from law school, which was fun.

Then my parents and I headed to the capitol before driving back to Dallas. It is one of my favorite buildings! The intricate detail is breathtaking.


It was a quick but fun trip. Thanks mom and dad for taking time off work to come with me! I was glad to have you!

Jon Heder = Ben Cooper

This post will only make sense to those of you who went to college or HFBC with me, but I have ALWAYS thought Ben Cooper looked liked Jon Heder. This video clenchs it. They even dance similarly! At least I think so. Thoughts?

The rest are all pretty funny too, check them out below. "Baby It's Cold Outside" is my favorite! I love Dwight Schrute!

Quelf

The unpredictable game that gives random a new name...


If you are confused, go play the game! Or look at Sarah's blog for further explanation.