Here and back again

Hello middle of July, where did you come from?  Feels like I was just sitting down goal planning for the work year and now its half way over.  I know I have been missing for a while and I keep promising to write, but it never happens.  Below are a few terrible excuses.

My last update was before I got shipped of to Canada for work.  Canada eh? Yes, Friday June 15, 2012 I was strolling out of work getting ready for an awesome weekend, when my head boss called me.  The needed my boss and myself in Canada by Sunday.  Ugh well there went my weekend.  I went back to work to book flights, hotels, car and get caught up to speed on what was going on.  I was there until about three sorting through the details.  We had a release on water and they need some Ops/Comm people to come up and relieve those that had been working for several weeks straight.  That afternoon my friend Liz came into town and we hung out.  Saturday we went shopping, to a pool party, and a friends birthday party.  All while packing and getting ready to leave with a one-way ticket to Canada!  Sunday morning I was up bright and early to get to the airport, thankfully it was a direct flight so we were in Canada by one.  After getting checked in we headed to the office to get to work.  Our trip ended up being 12 days and lets just say I was beyond exhausted by the time we got home.  We took one day to run up to Banff National Park and see Lake Louise and Lake Moraine.  It was worth the drive the area was incredible and the lakes were breathtaking.

Since getting back I have been swamped with work and spending every other waking minute studying for the GMAT.  I am really hoping to start Grad school in the spring, but I have to do well on the GMAT first.  The weekend after I got back I headed to CS to help Christy move.  Boy am I glad mom, dad, and Tommy were there.  It was a huge chore I had no idea how much work was involved!  We spent two days, packing, cleaning, fixing, painting and working, working, working. Its terrible, but I was glad to get home on Sunday to rest.  The rest of the crew was stuck in CS to finish moving.

The fourth of July came and went very uneventfully since I had to work Thursday, I hung out with the crossfit girls for BBQ and pool party.  That weekend some college friends came in for a few nights out on the town!  We had a great weekend.  This last weekend Christy came into town!  I love being able to see my sister.  Friday night we got all dressed up and headed to Blackfinn for dinner, after dinner we met up with some friends for drinks at Taps.  Saturday we relaxed and cooked some healthy and not so healthy food.  That afternoon my friend Ben came in and we headed over to another friends house for a bbq.  After stuffing our faces for several hours we decided to go country dancing at a local bar.  Needless to say Christy and I were exhausted on Sunday.  Around 11 we meet up with the girls that are going to Costa Rica with me for brunch.  After brunch we walked back to my house to plan our trip.  After all the planing it was time for relaxation...then back to the grindstone on Monday.           

First weekend of June, bring on summertime!

The first weekend of June turned out quite successful.  The work week weak was short with Memorial day on Monday and half day on Friday.  Even with a short week I was still looking forward to an incredible weekend. 

Friday night I met up with a few of the girls from crossfit to watch the Metropolitan dance company perform at Miller Outdoor Theater. I love summer time and I love weekends at Miller.  Its a free event for the public and you are welcome to bring food and drinks.  The girls and I took full advantage of this.  I brought a veggie wrap, cheese, crackers, popcorn, a bottle of wine, and cookies.  It was wonderful, we enjoyed an awesome picnic and some modern dance.  Sadly I missed the last two weekends (with the symphony) due to being in Canada for work...more on that in another post.  The show ended about 11:30 and we all went our separate ways.

The next morning we meet up at Ash condo for some pool time.  I spent a better part of the day soaking up the sun and relaxing.  By the time I got home I was exhausted so the dogs and I just hung out and watched movies.  Sunday was a very uneventful day after church, I cooked some lunch and spent the rest of the day reading and studying for the GMAT.  Then it was back to the grindstone Monday morning.  Tuesday after work some coworkers and I headed to the Astros to watch some baseball.  The best part about it was we had suite passes.  The suites were located next to the bullpen so we were able to talk to some of the players and get a few baseballs.  We were also privy to free food and drinks!  Let me tell you its a tough job, but someone has to go to these events.  The rest of the week was pretty tame nothing too exciting to note. 

Until next time..

Tory

Shooting, CS, and summer nights

Its the second weekend in June and boy does time sure fly...where did the first half of the year go?? As always the weekends are more eventful than the work week so lets just focus on the fun stuff!  Friday I got invited by a coworker to go shoot some sporting clays at the American Shooting Center in Katy.  It has been quite some time since I have been and was really looking forward to going.  Even thought I am ridiculous rusty, I had a complete blast (no pun intended)!  I will have to try and get out there more often.  After shooting I ran home, packed up myself and the dogs and headed to College Station to see Christy.  That evening we went to Cheddars and had to much food and some delicious margaritas! We were both exhausted from the last week so we went home and passed out. 

The next morning I was up bright and early, since Christy was still asleep I head to the grocery store to get the fixings for Whole wheat brown sugar banana pancakes with a vanilla maple glaze.  Yes, its ok to be jealous and yes, they were incredibly delicious!  They were just about finished when Christy crawled out of bed (convenient).  They actually did turn out really really good they tasted like banana bread with doughnut glaze yummmy (not healthy)!  After breakfast we went to the gun store to get Christy's birthday present.  After gun shopping we headed to grab some lunch before checking out some houses for Christy to live in.  We were completely unsuccessful in the hunt, thankfully one came on the market recently and she now has a place to stay. 

Since Christy had to work that evening, I washed up the dishes, packed up the girls and headed back to Houston.  That evening I met the crossfit girls for dinner and drinks.  We started the evening off at 13 Celsius a little wine bar in midtown, we each enjoyed a glass of wine and a cheese plate.  For dinner we headed over to Lucios.  Lucios is one of my favorite restaurants, the food is incredible and the service is good.  I had the herb roasted chicken with yam puree, crispy prosciutto, and a natural reduction for desert we shard a chocolate brownie cake and creme brulee.  The creme brulee was probably the best thing I have had in a long time.  After dinner we did some bar hoping and then I headed home.

Sunday was a day for rest and relaxation the little girls and I read, studied, napped and cleaned all day long. 

Until Next time...

Tory

Memorial Weekend

Hello to everyone!  I hope everyone had a wonderful and fun filled Memorial Weekend....cause I sure did.  Granted I truly missed spending time with the family at one the awesome pool parties, but visiting Chris is SC was pretty exciting.  Since it was a long weekend Chris flew me up to Greenville so we could explore his new little town.  Lets just put it this way it was quite a bummer land back in hot ol Houston.

I took Friday off to make it nice long weekend and head up to SC Thursday night.  Since Chris had to work a half day Friday, I took advantage of my day off.  After sleeping in, I got up and headed for a run to explore the neighborhood.  Chris lives about two blocks from a neat downtown so I headed that direction.  The main drag has tons of little shops, restaurants. parks, theaters, and lots of things to do.  A nice little river runs through downtown, I ran to the river, around the park and back to his apartment.  It was a good morning work out with  great scenery.  After Chris got home we walked back to downtown to eat at a little southern fare restaurant.  After lunch he showed me around downtown and then went back to the casa to relax.  That evening we met up with one of his coworkers and his wife for dinner at "famed" BBQ joint.  Now Carolinian's rave about their BBQ and to be honesty I don't know what about, Texas BBQ is the best.  After dinner we drove to Clemson and checked out the campus and the college town.  It reminded me a lot of A&M and the scenery was beautiful.

Saturday we got up early and headed to the farmers market in downtown, we did a little shopping and ate some Shrimp and Grits for breakfast. Since Chris is very close to mountains we decided to spend the day hiking and exploring the different trials.  It happened to be perfect weather for hiking we did two different trails and got to see a couple of waterfalls along the way.  By the time we got home I was beat, even though I am in fairly good shape hiking took it all out of me (it might also have been that Chris hikes at a strenuousness pace, if its a 3 hour hike he completes it in 1.5).  That evening we went to a nice little Italian place for dinner and I enjoyed several pounds of delicious pasta and a glass of wine. After dinner we went to a little wine bar to explore the Greenville nightlife, the people watching was great.

Sunday it was up bright and early again to go hike some trials in North Carolina.  For lunch we drove into a little town and had a delicious lunch at a farm to table restaurant.  The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing and watching movies.  Monday we decided to rent a jet ski and play on the lake for a while before I headed back to Houston. I have never ridden a jet ski and boy was I missing out.  I am not going to lie I was terrified, I thought I was going to die when Chris was driving.  (Please not this does not reflect on his driving skills, its just a whole ton rougher for the person on the back)  Let me tell you the minute I got behind the wheel it was pure FUN!!  I was chasing speedboats and hoping their wakes, I am pretty sure we got up to 60 something speed wise.  The lake was gorgeous, the weather was perfect, and the water was warm... couldn't have asked for a better way to end the weekend.  Then it was back to reality sitting in the Greenville Airport. 

                    

21's Birthdays, Weddings, and ridiculous amounts of fun

Good Afternoon All,
   It has been a wild and fun two weeks now its time to get you all caught up to speed.  Two weekends ago was my little sisters 21st Birthday.  Can you believe it, she is 21 years old..good Lord how old does that make us :( Anyway lets not think about that.  That same weekend also happened to be a very good friend of mines wedding.  I kicked off the weekend Wednesday night...yes you read that right, some times the weekends just aren't long enough and you have to start early.  I made a big crockpot of jambalaya and had the girls over for wine night.  We had lots of wine and food and probably stayed up too late, oh well you only live once right?  Thursday afternoon Christy came in to town, as well as several of the people coming for Becca's wedding.  I met Becca freshman year in college and we have been friends since. We have a big group of friends that all hung out together in college so her wedding was going to be a college reunion.

Once everyone got to the house we headed out to BINGO!! Don't be misled thinking this is an old folks game, it is not.  In Houston there is a huge bingo hall and it is quite the thing to do on Thursday nights for 20/30's crowd.  Its neat because you can bring your own food and drinks and have a good time with friends.  This was my first time going and it was a blast.  Unfortunately we didn't win any money, but we had a good time playing.  After bingo we went to midtown to have a few drinks, it was nice relaxing evening and thankfully not too hot!  Friday we were busy as ever trying to get all the last minute things finished up for Beccas wedding.  Around three we rounded everyone up and headed to the venue for the rehearsal.  Since dinner wasn't until six we all headed back to mi casa to hang out and ended up playing a speed game of monopoly.  The rehearsal dinner was held at a local BBQ joint and everything was delicious.  After dinner it was back to the casa to pre-party our going out.  Once everyone showed up we headed to Washington to have another night out.  Keep in mind, my body is not used to this back to back going out.  I am normally on the 4:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. schedule.  We all had a good time dancing the night away. 

The next morning we were up and at it again.  Since the boys were in town we decided to get a work out in before the wedding festivities.  We all headed to Crossfit for a 9 a.m. work out, it was challenging, but we survived.  After lunch with the group we headed to the venue to get ready.  After make up and hair time we were ready to go get Becca hitched.  It was a beautiful service and everything went smoothly.  After the ceremony it was time to party!  It is impossible to describe the amount of fun that was had that evening.  Since these were the guys I learned how to dance with we danced the night away!

Trio of Trouble

Sisters

After the reception was over we headed to Wild West a country bar just down the street and continued the party there until 2 a.m.  Since Sunday was Christy's birthday we had to wait until Midnight to get her in.  Whooo and then she was 21!!  I think she had a really good time hang out with the group, thankfully it was a pretty tame 21st birthday.  Sunday morning I ran a few people to the airport and then it was time to celebrate Christy's birthday (even though we celebrated all weekend)  For breakfast we walked down the street to Coco's crepes and had Nutella crepes.  Since she was 21 we headed over to Blackfinn for Mimosa's.  After breakfast we were le tired so we took a nap.  For dinner that evening we went to Mia Bella an nice little Italian restaurant in downtown, Christy had Shrimp Fettuccine and a Cosmo and I had some sort of Veggie Fettuccine and a glass of wine.  Dinner was delicious!  Afterwards we both decided to get some rest, I had work in the morning and she was heading back to College Station.  It was a long awesome weekend and was sad to see it go.          

Birthday Cupcakes

21

21st Birthday Breakfast

Cosmo with dinner

Raking in the gifts

Sweet new watch

 

Friday

  I hope you all are as excited for the weekend as I am!  It seems like it has been an incredibly long few weeks.  I have been on a writing hiatus due to finishing school, trying to stay on top at work, and be able to eat every day!!  OK I am over exaggerating I wasn't that busy, but it seemed like it.  I am going to have to start a few weeks back, because it has been a whirlwind of activity.  About five weeks ago Chris got a new job, with the company he used to work for, a week after starting they put him on a project in Greenville, South Carolina. Then bam he was gone! Well he had a week to get everything sorted out and get up there.  He left April 22nd and will be in Greenville for 6-8 months then Malaysia a year.  Since he had to move so quickly, I kindly volunteered to watch the little girls.  Even though its lonely with out him I have the girls to keep me entertained....how could you say no to those faces??

The upside to Chris moving is his company fly's him back every three weeks, or I can fly up and visit him, hello Greenville SC here I come!  After Chris left it was a long week of work, studying, and finishing up projects for work and class.  That weekend I took the girls and headed to College Station for some much needed sister time!  It was an awesome weekend, Friday night we watched an Aggie Baseball game.  They just redid the stadium, it was very impressive.  The best part was the baseball games were just as much fun as when I was in school, and we beat Texas...so no big deal.  :)  After the game we grabbed a bit to eat, showered and headed out to Northgate for a little action.

The next morning Christy had to go to work so I was super lazy and did nothing but read and study...it was glorious!  Once she got off work we head to the gun range so she could shoot my new handgun.  Even though we didn't have much time to shoot before they closed, we still had a good time.  That evening we went to dinner at Roadhouse and had another round of Northgate.  Turns out I am getting old and this staying up late thing that college kids do is really hard for me!!  Needless to say I was exhausted Sunday.  Since Christy had school and work I head back to Houston to relax and get ready for the next week.  With Chris gone I acquired a lot of spare time, therefore I have really been focusing on working out and eating healthy!  I have Crossfit every M,W,F at 5 a.m., Tuesday/Thursday I go to my regular gym to swim, and MW nights is yoga!  I think I just love working out.  Crossfit has been pretty brutal, but I am getting stronger and I love the challenging workouts.

Cino de drinko was this last weekend and hopefully everyone got to celebrate appropriately with a margarita in hand.  Chris was back in town that weekend and we both headed to College Station.  Five years ago one of Chris friends from college passed away so every few years a group of his buddies get together and go back to visit his grave.  That was the reason we went back.  It was a nice long weekend of visiting with friends and hanging out with Christy.  Sunday we were back in Houston and Chris was on a plane back to SC.  Then it was nose to the grindstone for me.  My final for Financial Accounting was Tuesday night and I needed to do some studying.  I haven't received my grade, but I feel fairly confident about the test, we shall see.

Since this class I have decided it is important for me to get my MBA.  If I can make the deadline (June 1st)  I will be starting in the fall, but if not I will begin in the Spring.  I am pretty excited, I miss school and am ready to get back to it.  I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend, and to all those wonderful mothers out there Happy Mothers Day.  Hate to break it to the rest of the world, but my moms the best...period.  Love you mom.

Until Next Time...    

     

Paris and other adventures

Sorry for the long hiatus, the last two weeks were incredibly busy.  It all started the weekend of March 24th.  That Saturday Chris, Darleen, and I head up to Dallas for our friends James and Meghan wedding.  I was very excited because he was a key member of our college group, so it was practically a college reunion!  We arrived just before the wedding.  It was beautiful wedding and we all had a blast at the reception. 

The next week and weekend were a blur and before I knew it I was getting packed to head to Paris, France.  I found an inexpensive direct flight and decided it time to get out of the country.  Chris and I decided that six days in Paris would be to long so the first two were spent in Bruges Belgium and the last four days were spent in Paris.  Tuesday after work we sprinted to the airport to catch the nine and a half to Paris.  The flight actually wasn't bad, but it might have been because I spent the whole time reading.

Once we landed in Paris we took a train to Bruges.  Unfortunately with all travel there has to be some issue, our train ended up getting delayed for 1 hour and 45 minutes.  Bruges was a beautiful little town all though extremely cold.  We spent the rest of the afternoon wondering around town checking out all the little shoppes. There were probably 300 chocolate shops in a 700 yard radius!  Hello heaven.  While wondering around we found a neat little underground pub and stopped in for a drink.  After that we had dinner and then crashed out.  The next morning we were up early to meet a group for a bike ride through Bruges and to another city.  We rode through Bruges out of town and had Belgium waffles at a town not to far away.  It was a beautiful ride with rolling green hills, little farm cottages, canals, and windmills. 

After the bike ride we took a boat ride down the canals in the city.  Friday we headed back to Paris via train.  The next four days were packed full of walking around Paris and seeing the sights.  Disclaimer: if you have your heart set on visiting Paris do not read the following.  I was not impressed with Paris.  I know it sounds jaded or who knows what, but I wasn't.  It was crowded, cold, busy, and disappointing.  It was like New York except everyone spoke French.  I really dislike crowds, tourist, and lines and that is all Paris was.  The lines were incredibly long, its a huge city so you walk for miles and then stand in line for hours.  No don't think the whole trip was a bust there are a few good things about Paris.  The main one being the bread....hello I have no idea how the people stay thin over there. (well its probably all the walking, smoking, and coffee drinking) There are cafes and bakeries on every corner, with fresh hot french bread, chocolate croissants, and crepes!  I think all I ate there were nutella crepes, french bread, and chocolate croissants.  It was glorious oh and the wine was excellent, most of the days we ended drinking wine in a little cafe. 

Even though it wasn't my favorite vacation I still got to see everything I wanted to see and have some time away from work. I hope everyone had a wonderful few weeks.  Enjoy the weekend!

Train ride to Bruges

Town Square in Bruges

Canals in Bruges

Sweet little underground pub

Millions of chocolate stores...no wonder everyone was happy

Arch de Triumph

Eiffel Tower

Sacre Coeur Basilica

Waiting in line...

The catacombs

The army museum

Nortre Dame

Palace of Versailles

Marie Antoinettes Farm house

Where she was held before her beheading

The Louvre

Until next time...

Tory