Ten Truths

The Rules:

• Tell your readers 10 things that are true that they might not know.


• Tag 10 other bloggers to do the same (not going to happen in my case cause most everyone has already been tagged but I'll try!)

Ok - Here it goes...

1. I have the craziest dreams - pretty much every night. My nightmares almost ALWAYS include BUGS - ask any roommate I've ever had and my husband - I scream, kick, and even swat at bugs WHILE sleeping. It's nuts. I sleep like a rock though oddly enough?


2. We rescued our pitbull/boxer mix, Oscar, off the side of the street in Abilene. It was about 110 degrees outside and he was just this tiny puppy in the middle of the street. He had obviously been abused and was definitely on his last leg. I waited about 8 months before telling my parents we had him. ha. Now I can't imagine our lives without him. Shea (our Lab) feels the same way I'm sure. They are inseparable.


3. I didn't start my period until freshman year of college and I only started because they put me on the pill so I would actually start. Been on the pill ever since. I'm constantly afraid its going to affect my ability to have babies. Call me crazy. I say a prayer EVERY night hoping that will not be the case.


4. I HATE WebMD - every time I get on there I'm left with thinking I have some sort of Cancer. Stay away from it!


5. **Corny Alert**I never really felt "special" until I married Brian. He reminds me every day that I am and although I wasn't sure it was possible, I love him a little bit more everyday for it.


6. I slept in my parents bed until I was 8. They finally kicked me out and then I slept on my brother's floor. I HATE sleeping alone and if I'm NOT sleeping alone then I hate being awake if the other person is asleep. If Brian falls asleep before me, and this is terrible, but I always try to find some way to wake him up by nudging him or moving around too much.


7. I am a huge St. Louis Cardinals fan... which most of you already know but I'm honestly obsessed. I check my phone several times a day checking for updates while working. It's KILLING me living here and not being able to watch every single game. I think it all started when I was a little kid... I remember laying on the end of my grandma's bed drinking milk and watching Cardinal games.


8. I would give anything if Brian could have met my Grandmas...both are deceased. Especially my Dad's mom. I realize more and more as I get older that I am the spitting image of her. The craziest thing is that she is in my dreams regularly... even if its just in the background somewhere....she is ALWAYS there. Call me crazy but it seriously feels like that's her way of showing that she is watching over me/us. Or maybe I just miss her so much that she in constantly on my mind - regardless... I'm glad she's there.


9. Make fun of me all you want, but I am obsessed with Twilight. I've read all the books and made Brian wait in line with me at the premiere of the first movie. We went and saw Transformers 2 the other day and they showed the preview for "New Moon" (the second Twilight movie) and I almost peed my pants. I don't know what it is? I read books all the time but those 4 books were seriously SO GOOD and I can't get enough!


10. I prefer a beer over a martini any day.

If you've already been tagged, my apologies but I am going to tag...

• Gretch


• Chelsea


• Val Goode


• Vicki Goode :) YEP! Val's mommy!

Tidbits from the last couple of months...

I still get on here regularly and check other people's blogs, but just haven't find the time to update my own for some reason? So here goes...

Since its been so long, I figured I would just give yall some "tidbits" of the "happenings" in our life lately... :)

• We've been living in the great state of Texas for the past 5 months now and absolutely love it here. We know without a doubt that we made the best decision possible by moving here. So GLAD.
• One of my very best friends from back in St. Louis got married in June - I had the pleasure of being her maid of honor - Congrats Gretch Ho - LOVE YOU and I'm SO HAPPY for you!
• Speaking of St. Louis - I miss my family and friends from home - but my parents have made a couple of trips and I'm hoping my girlfriends will get to make a trip down here in the very near future!
• I REALLY want to go back and get my MBA starting Spring of 2010 with Chelsea - we shall see!
• My husband has baby fever - big time. I feel like it alternates between us - but this month - definitely him. However, referencing my most previous "tidbit" - I want to go back to school so now is just not the best time. But someday! I get super excited thinking about it!
• I am addicted to the Bachelorette - after the Jason fiasco last season I swore that stupid show off but now I'm sucked right back in... I have a problem. (I'm rooting for Ed by the way!)
• I LOVE my job - its the best feeling in the world waking up in the morning and not DREADING going to work. SUCH a blessing.
• Speaking of jobs - Brian started one today :) He's going to be doing sales for a little while until his firefighter stuff pans out. He only has a couple of more interviews to go to and he will know whether or not he got into the Dallas Fire Academy - should know by September. I'm just thankful that he found this side job for some extra cash!
• As most of you who read this know, Val Goode left for Bulgaria in May. I'm SO HAPPY she is over there doing exactly what God meant her to do but I miss her TONS! Val - You are always in our thoughts and prayers - LOVE YOU.
• Pujols = The best baseball player in the MLB.
• Have to give a little shout out to the Hubster - he has a job now, but for the past 3 months he has literally done EVERYTHING around the house - ALL the cleaning, laundry, helps cook, grocery shopping - he has been so amazing! It was so nice coming home to a clean house with dinner started every night after work. Thank you babe - you are the BEST.
• We are going to Hilton Head in September for 10 days... I'm so ready!
• My Brother is coming to visit next weekend, and my Mom is coming the weekend after that :) With that said - Brian and I have NOTHING planned this coming weekend - I swear we haven't had a weekend with nothing planned since April. Excited for some QT with Brian.
• I have been reading Emily Griffin books lately...

• I just started "Something Blue", but the other two were really good. She has another one called "Baby Proof" that I want to read after this one. Just if you are looking for something good to read :)

Alright well I think that's all for now. Of course no pics to post because I never have pics. Someday. Hope everyone has a great rest of the week! Feels good to be back in the world of blogging. Bye for now!

Howard Update

First of all... I was just cruising around the net and came across this super nifty cake recipe... doesn't this look FUN?! Maybe I'll make it for Brian's Birthday or something... it's just so pretty!!

Here is the link for the recipe if any of y'all should want it... http://www.omnomicon.com/rainbowcake

In other news... we have settled in nicely to our new life here. We absolutely love it. It's so nice to be able to see our friends whenever we want instead of being several hundred miles away!

The new job is going great... I've been here a month already and that seems unbelievable. I'm past the whole "I have no idea what I'm doing" part and now I'm starting to get the hang of it. The people are awesome and I thank God every day that I not only have a JOB period, but a job that I really like. I actually work from 10am - 7pm... which sounds weird but its actually really nice because I miss ALL of the traffic. Plus I actually have mornings at home now... before it was wake up, get ready, go to work. But now I can wake up, work out (if I'm feeling motivated), eat breakfast and hang out with the hubby. Its super nice.

Brian is currently job-less, but we knew that would be the case when he got down here for a little while. He spends most of his time testing at different fire houses. We should really start to get some answers towards the middle of this month so keep us in your prayers!

My parents are coming into town this weekend! It feels like FOREVER since I've seen them. I'm so excited to show off our new place to them and take them around town. They get in on Friday night and Saturday we are actually driving to Houston to hang out with the in-laws and some of their friend's at one of their lake houses. Should be a blast!!

Alright well that's all for now... I promise to be a better poster... our life is officially back to "normal" now... if that's what you want to call it. :) Hope everyone has a great week!

The BIG move...

Holy cow how time flies...

I'm not sure I've ever been so busy in my life. The past 3 or 4 weeks have been an absolute blur filled with tape and boxes and moving trucks and goodbyes and hellos and unpacking and the list goes on and on... It really has been quite a physical and emotional roller coaster. BUT... with all of that said... the moving part is over and we are here! Well sort of...

Brian is back in St. Louis... its a super long story and a difficult situation to explain but basically Brian has so many different things going on for him as far as his fire fighting career goes, but they don't really start until the middle of March for him... so, while he actually has a job in St. Louis, we thought it best that he stay there and continue to make money until he can move down here and officially start his career. I thought, no biggie... what's a few weeks? We can do that... easy... He will be back down here before I know it...

Ok so not as easy as I thought... its been 3 days... and I'm not a happy camper. I'm SO BEYOND happy to be here, in our new home, in this new city, but it's just not the same without him here with me. It's torture saying goodbye to him every night over the phone and then rolling over to an empty pillow.

LUCKILY... he has to come back down this weekend for a Plano Fire Dept. test that he has to take on Saturday... just in time for Valentine's Day :) Granted he has to fly back on Sunday, but at least I'll get to see him. We've talked about it a lot the past few days and we decided he just needs to get here. So he put his two weeks in at his job back home and he will be here for good on the 27th... so like 2 weeks. I can handle that I think.

OK... sorry... so enough about how much I miss my amazing husband...

The new job is going great so far... my first day was Monday. I am in what they call training "Boot Camp" and it's nothing short of that. But I've got to say it's all very interesting... I'm excited to really get a handle on all of this. The company is called Homecare Homebase and basically they created a software (in a handheld PDA) that helps in home nurses keep better records of their patients... instead of writing everything down, it's all electronic now. I'm learning a lot and I really feel like what I do will help nurses help people... and that's a good feeling.

I love our new house... it's absolutely everything I could possibly want or need in a house for us right now. As I'm sure you can imagine we are still very much in the unpacking/decorating stage so I will post pics once I feel more comfortable with the finished product. Val Goode is throwing us a house warming/dinner party on the 28th... SUPER excited about that.

I love it here - I know we have without a doubt made the right decision moving back down here and once Brian gets down here for good it will feel totally complete.

Thank you for all of your prayers during this time of transition for us... I know God has truly had a hand in ALL of this.

Our new address is:
9912 Derwent Drive
Plano, Texas 75025

Work email: choward@hchb.com
Home phone: 214-785-7028

Welp - that's all for now... more to come soon! Happy Valentine's Day!

God is Good

Well... our prayers have been answered! I got the job in Dallas!! You know when you pray and pray for something and God answers your prayers but not in the way you expected? Well this time he literally answered our EXACT prayers. Maybe it was his way of telling us that we are moving in the right direction!

We have a lease application in on a house in Plano - we have not heard FOR SURE if we've got the house yet, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I don't see any problems arising so everything should be a go, but we'll see! Once we find out, I will post pictures of the house :)

I can't believe how fast this is all happening. We started packing things last night. My last day here at work is the 30th and we would like to be on the road on the 4th headed down there. I start the new job on the 9th! I don't think I've ever been so excited about something... this is going to be a fresh start for Brian and I - we are really looking forward to getting down there.

We are doing a little "going-away" get together at my parents house this weekend just for friends and family - want to make sure we see everyone again before we leave.

Hope everyone has a GREAT week! :)

The WORST part...

I'm officially going through the worst part of the whole "interviewing process"... the WAITING. Interviewed on Friday - I think it went well... said they would call early next week... so here I sit. Just waiting... and waiting... and waiting... Throw a couple of more prayers up there for us if you haven't already - thank you, thank you, thank you!

We found a house that we absolutely LOVE - put our lease application in on Saturday. The only thing they are missing is an "offer letter" from the potential company I'll be working for in Dallas as proof of income. So... again I wait...

And wait... and wait...

What's been goin' on...

I haven't posted since WAY before Christmas. Oops.


Well... Christmas recap how about? Brian got me a new pair of UGGs... my old pair were looking sick. I got him an ipod... when we go work out he always complains non-stop about not having one... solved that problem!! :) We had a WONDERFUL time off just relaxing with my family. So nice to have that time off work. I must say that coming back to work after all of that is beyond depressing.


We are headed to Texas this weekend for the Farmer wedding! We are staying with Alec and Chelsea (they ROCK and are being SUPER hospitable) and I couldn't be more excited to see my best friend again! I haven't seen her since her wedding back in MAY. Good gosh! I also cannot wait to see all of my other best friends as well at the wedding festivities. Man I love weddings! Jacci, Chelsea, Val - since I know you guys are the only ones that I'll see this weekend that actually read this... cannot WAIT to see you guys!!


We have one busy weekend planned that's for sure. Lots to do. We get in Thursday night - from the airport we are headed to Chelsea and Alec's and then to dinner with them to catch up. Friday afternoon at 2pm I have an interview - I am really praying that I get this job. It would be SUCH a blessing. So come Friday at 2pm, PLEASE say a little prayer for me! Friday night we have the rehearsal dinner. Saturday morning we are meeting a realtor that's going to show us a few houses that we've picked off the internet. So we'll see! Hopefully out of the four we'll find one that we love :) Saturday night of course is the wedding!! Sunday we plan to just hang out with Chelsea and Alec before we have to catch our flight at 5:30.


So, a busy weekend, but also VERY exciting!! We are are just so ready to move down there.


Hope everyone has a great rest of the week! Happy 2009!