My First 5k!

Yesterday was my first 5k run, and it couldn't have been a more beautiful morning!

Me, Caitlin and Kasey! We signed up together!

 

My sweet boy!

 I finished around 32:40, and I'm pretty proud of that time for my first one. You gotta start somewhere, right? David started way ahead of me, and was waiting for me when I crossed the finish line with a big hug and some water. Such a good guy! :)

The rest of yesterday was spent tailgating before Texas A&M BTHO South Carolina State, 70-14! That kind of score took me back to the "glory days" of my high school football team, but that's a whole different blog post. All those Southlake Carroll haters out there are probably just rolling their eyes... (yes, Kalyn, that was directed at you! ;) )

Now its back to reality, workin' hard to get ahead of school work for the week. Is it December 13th yet?!

Fabulous Friday!

It's finally Friday, and somehow I survived another week of school and work! I've been MIA for a while so I figured I would throw a bunch of things into one post.

1. David and I are officially homeowners! We signed the papers on Monday but we're not getting the keys until the end of the month... I promise I will make a huge post about the house and all its details as soon as I can get in there! Patience is not a strong point for me so this is going to be a long next week!

2. How is it already September 21st? I swear it was just Labor Day. Dang. On that note, 99 days until the wedding. 99 days of using the word "fiance" as many times as I can (I'm still not used to saying it!).

3. Tomorrow is game day in College Station, but it starts off with me running in my first 5k! I'm pretty excited about it! :)

4. *BRAG TIME* I completely dominated in Fantasy Football this week and ended up ranked first in the league (of all guys) might I add! This has never happened to me, and I doubt it ever will again, so I just had to slip this in here as documentation that my somewhat flawed way of choosing players because they're cute or have a cool last name worked for me this week!

There you have it. Thanks and Gig 'Em!

In Remembrance...

Although I wrote this yesterday, I was not able to post this until today.

Eleven years ago today, a shy little seventh grader walked into Mrs. Jackson's language arts class for her first class of the day. She thought it was odd that the TV was on and watched in horror as a building was in flames. "Oh, this must be in a foreign country", not realizing this was happening on American soil. It was only when she saw a second plane crash into that second tower that she heard the words "New York" and "terrorist attack", that she realized this was huge. The class continued to watch as they saw a another plane had crashed into the Pentagon in Washington D.C. Panic consumed the girl when she remembered her father was in Washington D.C. on business. For the rest of the day, she was worried about her beloved dad until her mom called late in the school day to say that Daddy was ok. Many other little girls around the country were not as fortunate. 

Everyone has their own memories of that tragic day eleven years ago that will live in our minds forever. Even now, it is so hard to wrap my mind around why some people are so evil that they take pleasure in taking the innocent lives of so many people. I take solace in the fact that I know God has a special place in heaven for those innocent victims, the firefighters that ran into help, and the children that lost their parents that day.

It's BACK! Texas Aggie Football!

FINALLY.

After a week delay due to that mean ol' hurricane, Texas Aggie Football is here!

Ok, so I love football season.

The beginning of the season is so full of hope and anticipation to see how your team is after the off-season. This year's anticipation is on a whole new level. We're officially in the big leagues, boys, the SEC. College Station has literally doubled in population and its taking a toll on the infrastructure; thanks to the never-ending construction on vital roads.  Even though the traffic is a nightmare and the wait at all your favorite restaurants is an hour and half, its all worth it for that game day experience.

 We get out to our tailgate spot early to set up, cook lunch (or breakfast if it's an early game), set up the TV so we can watch other games going on around the country. An hour before kick-off, we head toward the stadium. As we walk through the tunnel, it is a sea of maroon. It's pretty cool. We get to our seats just in time for the pregame videos and National Anthem. This video gives me chills, even if it is 100 degrees.

My sister and I decided to go to the mall today to pick up some Aggie gear, as if we don't have enough already... but hey, new season, new wardrobe, right? Dad and David, if you're reading this, don't worry we didn't go crazy! :-)  I just HAD to get this tank though, I'm drawn to sparkle like a moth to a flame. It's in my nature.

Here we go, Ags! BTHO Florida!

Thanks and Gig 'Em, Y'all!

So long, August!

Its almost September! Good riddance, August! It always feels like September heat is much more bearable than August heat, just because it's September. :)

August has been a good month, don't get me wrong... and it has truly flown by. Earlier this month, I was finishing two summer courses, "summering" for two weeks in the middle, and then started back at school. This past week in particular has been challenging to get back into the groove of a hectic schedule.

This past weekend was a little tough because my family and I had to say goodbye to our beloved patriarch. My precious grandpa went home to Jesus. This is comforting for me because I know that he is in a much better place. I can just imagine the joy he has now, probably hiking or fishing in a place even more beautiful than his Colorado. I will always remember his love of the Dallas Cowboys, M&M's and "Circus Peanuts", helping him fold the laundry, going on walks, and the sweet smile on his face. I was blessed to have him in my life this long.

We had such great style back then: My legit Tweety Bird shirt, and Tara's pigtails and Barney shirt!

Well I don't want this post to be sad or depressing, Grandpa definitely wouldn't want that! 

Monday was the first day of school, and it went swimmingly! As "head TA" this year, I had to get preparations in order for the lecture and labs for the week. Thankfully, we didn't run into any hiccups- especially because the bossman decided to cut the syllabus down from 150 pages to 68 pages... 68! He's going soft on these kids... ;-)

Some of my TA duties this week included:

• Making copies of syllabus and other handouts
• Preparing a seating chart
• Taking pictures for said seating chart
• Picking up 90 blue books for the first exam: the second day of school! (Needless to say, I had to fight the crowds of undergrads in the MSC bookstore)

Gosh, when I write this out, it doesn't seem as crazy as it was when I was running around...

On top of being a teaching assistant, I'm taking three classes: back to back to back. YIKES.

• Financial Analysis for Agribusiness Firms: First for the day, thankfully! Looking like this will be the time-consuming, dreadfully boring course this semester.

• Strategic Agribusiness Management: Instantly liked the professor, very laid back and funny.  Although the subject is not my favorite, I think it will be an interesting class.

• Real Property Analysis: My elective! ha! Anything real estate fascinates me, our guest lecturer yesterday gave an entertaining lecture over the history of the real estate financing market. Geez, how nerdy do I sound?

Finally, I wanted to recommend an app that I have been so completely obsessed with since I got it: Living Earth. It shows real-time satellite images of the earth. I took these two screen shots two days ago:

Check out Hurricane Issac!

I just love how you can see the lights at night!

 A new way to have the world at your fingertips! :)

It's Official!

Our HONEYMOON is officially booked...flights and all!

Time to stock up on beachy dresses and swimsuits for our week in Jamaica!

Secrets St. James Montego Bay Resort

Yes, Please!

 Ringin' in the New Year on the beach sounds like a pretty good deal to me! I cannot wait to get there! :)

Growing Pains

Ok, so I don't really mean growing pains, but the past few days have been full of little changes for my family! I spent all last week at home with the family, and my mom and I would wake up early and go walking with Duke. This dog is probably the sweetest, cutest, and LAZIEST dog ever. Nah, not really, but Duke does like to drag after we get one block down the road! One morning after we got back to the house I decided to take a few cute pictures of him. :)

Here's one from SIX years ago! Our precious puppy!

THEN

NOW: Those brown eyes! :)

This weekend was spent moving Tara aka Tarable, TareBear, Boo into her dorm! I had to haul a ton of her stuff to College Station...and I was lucky enough to get stuck with her very fragrant dryer sheets. Note to self: don't leave sickly sweet smelling dryer sheets in a hot car--- they will overwhelm you every time you climb into the car, resulting in an instant headache! But it was all worth it for the baby sistah!

The backseat of my little car!

In addition to moving Tara in, my Daddy was so sweet and switched out the light fixture in our kitchen! And what a man, he can pull off wearing pink! :) We also celebrated Melanie's early birthday with a family dinner to Chili's and indulging in a molten chocolate cake. mmmm!

Finally, I got my handsome groom to get fitted for a tux...doesn't he look so pleased?! Trust me, he was enjoying picking out clothes! ;)

Hope y'all are having a great week!