There comes a time in everyone's life...

To say goodbye.


Well, in every blogger's life, anyway!


I need a fresh start. Plus I am tired of having our name as the blog title. Plus Jeremy only wants to blog on his and his brother's make-believe blog, don'tpokethebear.blogspot.com or something. So, I went off on my own!


Check me out!


Yes, the name of MY (all mine, no sharing, as-pink-as-I-want-to-make-it) blog is "Bluebonnets and Blue Bell" - an homage to the great state of Texas, and the great road that connects my home in Houston to Austin, my favorite city of all time.


Bye, thehamblens.blogspot.com!

I love my sister.

This is one of the many reasons why:

(via Gmail Chat today)

Amanda: we just had a MASSIVE explosion in the lab
like we had to evacuate and everything
and im pretty sure i have temporarily lost hearing in my right ear
Sent at 1:12 PM on Tuesday
me: what!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sent at 1:13 PM on Tuesday
Amanda: ya, everyone is ok and we are back in now
i had actually just been standing right in front of where it happened bc i was getting something
and then i walked to the other side and 30 seconds later it exploded
me: geez!
was it your fault?
Amanda: i would have been in the hospital with serious injuries
nope, its the other undergrads fault
the thing was supposed to be in an ice water bath
but it wasnt
it was exposed to air
Sent at 1:20 PM on Tuesday
me: ha, you hate him
Amanda: i sent mom and dad an email telling them how awesome my day has been so far
Sent at 1:28 PM on Tuesday
me: hahaha poor manda
Amanda: and somehow, i have some glass shards in my sock
Sent at 1:30 PM on Tuesday
me: haaaaaaaah that's a problem
glad you're okay!!
Amanda: thanks me toO!
actually one of our grad students had a crazy accident in december with an explosion
he was standing right there and glass cut a major vein
and he has CRAZY scars on his arms
Sent at 1:33 PM on Tuesday
me: geez
Sent at 1:34 PM on Tuesday
me: dad just forwarded me your email
heehee
Sent at 1:47 PM on Tuesday
Amanda: you aren't going to believe this
we just had another one
me: WHAT!
y'all are IN TROUBLE today!
Amanda: omg omg omg
now we have to wear masks
me: hahahaha
Sent at 1:50 PM on Tuesday
Amanda: wow
the grad student i dont like is bawling
Sent at 1:52 PM on Tuesday

Working in the chemical engineering lab can be so dramatic! And apparently dangerous! In all seriousness, I am very glad she is not injured and the hearing loss was only temporary. Clearly her experience in college as a chemical engineering major is vastly different from mine as a silly little liberal arts student and I love hearing about her days! Love you, sis!

Halfway to CMA!!!!

My sweet, responsible, smart, determined, driven husband took the second CMA exam yesterday...

AND PASSED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The timing for this exam came up rather quickly, and he decided to bust it studying for 2-3 weeks to be able to take it in June instead of putting it off until September, when it will be offered again. Bust it he did, and he passed and is one step closer to getting those letters behind his name. I am so proud! I certainly do not have the drive to study like that, especially when it's not even for school (not that school made me study anyway...). He just has 1 more exam (that requires about 6 months of study) and 1 writing exam and then he'll be all official.

To celebrate last night, I planned a last minute, sort-of-surprise dinner at El Tiempo with a group of friends. A little crazy for a Monday night, but Jeremy deserved a celebration and we so appreciate all who made it out!!

J - I love you so much and am SO PROUD of you!!

Show Us Where You Live Fridays: Master Bedroom

Today over at Kelly's Korner it's Master Bedrooms day!

Don't get too excited. Though I am posting on the actual day (yay for me), our master bedroom is not cute. Here's a picture I have of the current room...


I love the furniture! It's my "big girl" furniture from my mom's house. If I were to buy new furniture now, I would probably go for darker wood and maybe an upholstered headboard, but this is good furniture and I think the wood color lightens up our small, dark room. Anyway, we have this queen bed (headboard + footboard), 2 nightstands, a dresser and an armoire. I got bedding for our wedding that was white and red, with some white and red toile, but the white duvet cover didn't really work for us. (Live and learn!) So I got this duvet and shams on sale from Pottery Barn a while back and I loved them! The red still matched other stuff we had, plus the flowers on the duvet have some blue that matches our sheets and a blue accent wall (you can just see the blue wall in the far right of the picture - our bed was originally on this wall). And, just so Jeremy didn't feel too girly, the reverse side of the duvet and shams is khaki stripes.

But as I live and learn more, I'm ready for a change again! :) I think master bedrooms can be neglected, especially in a small house like ours where you truly only sleep in it. I don't even use the closet in there! So I want it to feel more calm and cool, like an oasis. A little more modern, not so traditional.

This is what I am working towards:


This duvet cover & shams are from West Elm. I think duvet covers are annoying, but I like this one because it's got "wrinkles" built into it already (in my opinion, anyway). But I want it in this color (the middle one - "Clay"):

I think the clay color would be a nice contrast with the light furniture and walls. Then, the color scheme I have in mind is accents of orange and green. So I bought this little accent pillow on sale from Pottery Barn:


Cute, right?? I love it. For a little $19 pillow, it makes me happy! And I guess that's an important part of design!

Obviously I need to get on covering up the blue accent wall (the rest of the walls are Benjamin Moore Ballet White). I'll also need a bedskirt (would I do white?), a white blanket, and some new sheets. All of that basic stuff can be bought from Target or Bed, Bath & Beyond though. Then I'll need to re-vamp the accessories/artwork we have in there with some more modern stuff.

I'd LOVE a mirror like this over the bed (to create more light since we only have 1 window!):

And this one is only $70 from Target! I love Target.

Any other cool ideas? I just get so stumped when it comes to our bedroom and trying to make it work for me and for Jeremy.

That's it! Have a good weekend!

Update!

I just wanted to post a little update regarding the involuntary removal of the Audi side view mirror. And my rockin' research skills.

As I mentioned in a previous post, based on the police report we obtained (3 weeks after the accident) I could tell this kid's address was near where I grew up. Naturally, I searched for his name on facebook and came up with 2 potential matches, but could not view their profiles (stupid privacy settings getting in the way of justice). What I could tell is that a guy I went to high school with was friends with one of the potential dudes. Additionally, my sister thought she remembered this kid from high school and requested to be his friend on facebook (to see if he had any contact information posted, or to see if any reference was made to his accident or time in jail). No luck with any of that. I finally broke down and messaged my high school friend to see if he did know this guy, etc. Turns out, my suspicions were confirmed and I am sure of which kid on facebook is the guy. My friend let me know where the kid lived (which matched the address I have on him), his cell phone number (which matches the first 3 numbers of the one listed on the police report), AND that his father is an attorney. Jackpot! You better believe I made that call today, but was forced to leave a message. I simply stated the reason I was calling, requested his insurance information, and let him know (probably to his dismay) that it is a small world and we both went to Klein.

We're giving him a day to get back to us, and when he doesn't respond (I can only assume he will not return my call), I am making a call to his father, the attorney. Yes, I google-d the last name, attorney and Houston and came up with a likely answer. He may end up being a total jerk, but I am hopeful someone will do the right thing and pay for our car to be fixed.

This probably all sounds silly - such a fuss over just a mirror being broken, but I shouldn't have to spend time out of my day messing around with all this. Getting insurance information from a kid who was jailed that night shouldn't be this difficult. But don't worry, we'll get it.

Okay, now...I don't want to comment on Jon & Kate, the Longhorns (though I am proud of how far we got!!), Farrah Fawcett or Michael Jackson. All of it makes me sad, but I think enough of it is in the media right now (well, minus the Horns) and not much else needs to be said.

Lastly, keep Jeremy in your thoughts & prayers this weekend - he is working like crazy and cramming for his second CMA exam on Monday. Poor thing is ready to collapse! But he's working so hard and I am so proud! God knows I don't have half that motivation and I probably work half of his hours!

Eh, sorry this is kind of boring. I will have more exciting stuff coming up hopefully!

Places I Will Be, Round Two...

Due to TWO of my trips in this post getting canceled (just thank Apache for that one), I thought I deserved a re-do.

We will be here in 4 weeks...

We're going with one of my favorite couples and we'll get to see another favorite couple and meet their new little one!! I also foresee some relaxing by the lovely Barton Creek Resort pool and eating some of our Austin favorites.

And unfortunately in 3 weeks, I think my husband has talked a group of us into going here...

Please pray for me if I actually do end-up reliving the summer before my 9th grade here.

Show Us Where You Live Fridays: Laundry Rooms

Okay yes, I am a day late in posting my "room." Anyone surprised?

Secondly, over at Kelly's Korner this week was on laundry rooms, playrooms or bonus rooms. I guess I technically have none of these rooms, unless you want to call our burnt orange room a "bonus room." It's really just our 3rd bedroom, full of mismatched furniture, a big TV, a bunch of UT stuff and all my clothes (our house & closets are so small I use the closet in there, so it's also my dressing room). Unfortunately, my Texas room is a wreck (anyone surprised again?) but that will be remedied tomorrow. Maybe I will post pictures then!

So, in light of having a non-photographable bonus room and no playroom to speak of, I had to post my laundry room.

Prepare yourself.

Because it is awesome.

I won't judge you for being jealous.

Everyone, welcome to my laundry room! It's in our garage, so it's as hot as Hades (it's 100+ today in Houston). That makes laundry loads of fun in the summer! Actually, this is very typical for our neighborhood, and we're pretty lucky that our garage is attached and has this nice little nook for our washing machine and dryer. As you can tell from the picture (which I took with my iPhone because this room doesn't even warrant a real camera picture), we're mid-laundry cycle. The water heater is in our washing nook also, so it doesn't make for the most spacious nook. I have to fold clothes in our living room or bedroom. I do laundry with the roaches in my garage at night. And I can't really hang clothes to dry because I don't think they even dry in the garage, and I don't want them to smell like garage. But the washer and dryer were a housewarming present from my dad, so they're pretty new! And they can move with us to a new house one day with a real laundry room like all the lovely ones pictures on Kelly's blog. But I'm okay laughing about it because this it is funny and I know we won't be here forever! :) I suppose I could hang some things and use some baskets to make it cuter and more attractive to buyers when we sell but it's so hard to be motivated to decorate your garage!

Go there to check out some major creative-ness in such a boring room!