Aggie Football!

On Saturday Tony and I drove up to College Station with two friends of ours for the football game. Since the game was in the evening, we decided to go early and just make a day of it. Goodness I LOVE College Station! I sure do miss it!

Our first stop was the tent sale. Only, it's not exactly a tent anymore ... it's turned into a warehouse sale. I can only imagine how much money I would have spent if this had been around a few years ago. Surprisingly enough, I didn't buy even one t-shirt! haha who would have thought?!?

After the tent sale we paid to park by Langford and took a walk through campus. We ended up over on Northgate and had lunch at Antonios. YUM! I love their pizza! After our stomachs were filled with some food, it was time for some drinks. We went to dry bean, which is pretty much my long lost love. I forgot how awesome that place is! So many different yummy shots and they are only $3 each. We each bought a round for the group then decided it was time to start pacing since it was only 2:30pm haha.  We went next door to Fitzwillies to sit and relax with a drink for awhile.

After a bit we walked over to west campus where we had a tailgate party to stop by. We hung out there a bit, then had to head out to make it to step off in time. We watched the corps go by then checked out the new MSC. It is SO nice! They did such a good job of keeping the important parts, like the flag room, the same, and making everything outdated so much nicer.

After cooling off and resting a bit, it was game time. Our seats weren't great, first deck by the endzone, but it didn't matter. The weather was great and because the game was a total blowout, people left early and we had tons of space. Any game we win 70-14 is a good one!

After the game the 4 of us went back over to Fitzwillies for dinner, then decided to head back to Houston because we were all exhausted.

It was such a fun day! I cannot wait to go back again in November. yay! :)

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!

So many things to be thankful for ... here are just a few:

- I'm thankful that after last years group of hellions, I have a small class of perfect angels this year
- I'm thankful for my AMAZING team that I work with. It is not possible to have a better group of ladies to spend my days with. They are truly my friends and I look forward to seeing them each day at work.
- I'm thankful my whole family is able to spend Thanksgiving together this year (and I'm thankful they are coming to Houston so I don't have to spend my break traveling!)
- I'm thankful for my wonderful best friend who came home from China early to cook a turkey for my family. He's so good to me!
- I'm thankful for my naughty kitten, who as we speak is climbing the Christmas tree, yet again!
- I'm thankful I didn't move to Colorado after all last year, because life turned out pretty damn good here. :)

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving surrounded by friends and family!

Christmas Vacation

I am SO excited about Christmas break this year!

One of Tony's good friends, Kyle, and his wife Jacky, rented a super fancy RV to take a 2 week trip to Colorado over Christmas break (I'm talking multiple bedrooms, heated floors kinda fancy). The four of us went to the gun range yesterday, and then out to lunch afterwards. At lunch, Jacky and Kyle invited us to join them for a leg of their trip. So, I spent the evening coordinating with Jacky, and working out flight arrangements with my dad to make this possible

I was already going to be in Denver the 22-26th for Christmas. Now, instead of flying back on the 26th, Tony is going to fly up to Denver to join me (thanks Dad for getting my flight changed, and using the miles to get Tony to Denver instead!), and we are going to meet up with Jacky and Kyle in Breckenridge to spend a few days playing there then road trip back to Texas in the RV with them! I'm so excited! I get to see my family for Christmas and go snowboarding with them, AND I get to go on an awesome road trip with friends. I seriously cannot wait for Christmas break now! So much fun ahead! :)

Mad Shooting Skills

Today we went out to the gun range with Jacky and Kyle so the boys could shoot their new guns and I pretty much put them all to shame.

We started at the pistol range and I shot my .22 a few times while the boys played with Kyle's .45 and Jacky shot Kyle's .22. The boys were shooting pretty well, every shot hitting the target, but sort of all over the place, when Kyle suggested I try shooting it. I was a little nervous because that is the biggest pistol I've been around. He put three bullets in and told me to give it a try anyway. I lined up my shot, and hit the bullseye first try. The boys were shocked. I turned back around, lined up my second shot, and quite literally shot straight through  my first shot hole. Lined up the third shot, and hit the same exact spot again. I turned around and all three of them had their jaws dropped. Apparently I put boys to shame with my mad shooting skills. I was pretty impressed with myself! Turns out that is a fun, powerful, gun to shoot!

Later, we went down to the rifle range. I shot my .22 for awhile but got bored because I've shot so much at 50 yards that I can pretty much put a hole in the bullseye no matter how many shots I take now. Kyle got out his AR-15, and shot a good cluster a little high and right of the bullseye. He handed it over to me and told me to try it out. I put 10 shots in a 1 inch cluster on the right side of the bullseye. Kyle says I should quite my day job and become a sniper. haha.

I also got to spend some time shooting T's AK-47 and SKS. The more I shoot, the more I find I like shooting the bigger, more powerful, guns. Such a fun hobby! Who knew I'd be so good at it?!? :)

Gun Show

On Saturday I went to my first gun show. My aunt texted me and asked me to compare and contrast gun show vs quilt show. Here was my response:

Quilt Show: MUCH bigger, more colorful, more women, but way more old people
Gun Show: more men, more tattoos, more scary people, more people walking around holding guns

The gun show was actually pretty cool. I don't know what I was expecting, but I was surprised by how many hundreds of guns there were laying out in one place. Tony bought a Russian WWII gun so overall the day was a success.

Of course after the gun show we had to go to the gun range to shoot haha. I was proud of myself for trying his new gun, though I MUCH prefer to stick to my .22 haha. His gun was big and scary. It went boom, and after only two shots my shoulder was sore because it kicks so much.

Tony already has a list of classic guns he wants to buy so I'm sure this won't be the last gun show I attend haha.

Rodeo: Zac Brown Band

How is it already the weekend?!? Do I REALLY have to go back to work the day after tomorrow? This break has only made me more ready for summer haha.

I honestly cannot believe how fast this year has flown by though. I seriously feel like it was just yesterday that I was driving back from Colorado, interviewing for my job, and then starting in a whirlwind that first week of school. How are there only 10 weeks left? While I will be glad for school to wind down, I sure wish life would slow down a bit! yikes!

So let's see, the rest of my spring break ... Thursday I got up right after T left for work, picked up a few things at Lowes, and set to work painting the bathroom. When we painted my room back in November T thought that the color would look great in the bathroom too (the bathroom had previously been painted this ugly sea foam green color) so he painted a swatch on the wall before I could say anything. Yes it looked nice, but no I did not want to paint the bathroom haha! I had every intention of painting over Christmas break, but then I hurt my foot so I was clearly unable to. Since then we have had that dumb patch of tan on top of all that green. It took a few hours, and it was a pain in the butt, but it's done now! Hopefully the next people who live here don't ever try to take down the shelf because it is in such a precarious position that if we took it down for painting it would never go back up. So, I just had to paint around it. It looks perfectly fine, but if you take the shelf down there will be a green line where the shelf touches the wall haha.

My reward for painting the bathroom? The Rodeo to see Zac Brown Band! There was a group of 5 of us and it was a blast. Zac Brown was amazing! Seriously, I was way impressed with the guitar playing skills of that group! So glad I got to go! Sadly though, that was my last rodeo performance of the year. I just LOVE the rodeo (got to go 4 times this year for free!) so I'm a little sad it will be another year until it is back.

Yesterday I laid around and read for a few hours in the morning, then T came home after lunch so we just hung out watching tv etc until we finally decided to go rent a movie. If you haven't seen Due Date yet, go rent it! It was hilarious! It was directed by the guy who directed The Hangover and Old School, so you know it's good!

Today I'm laying low, trying to get a few things done for school (though I haven't even attempted those yet so we'll see what happens there. haha

Rodeo: KISS

Oh Spring Break how I love you! It was so nice having T home the first 4 days of my break. As I posted yesterday, we filled our time the first few days with fishing, shopping, and camping. Last night a group of us went to the rodeo and saw KISS, then spent the rest of the night at The Hideout watching the Rob Baird Band.

First about KISS: I'm not a huge fan. Okay, I'm not a fan at all. I didn't recognize a single song they played so I was really not into the concert at all. However, the people watching at this event was spectacular. So many people with painted faces it was ridiculous! And, the place was packed! The other 3 nights I've gone we were able to sit pretty close to the front using the badges (for those that don't know, you can sit in any seat that isn't taken if you have a badge) but last night there were literally no seats on the first level! We ended up deciding to just stand at the top by the stairs and watch from there. This spot ended up being more entertaining than the concert itself and Raja and I decided it was most def the highlight of the night. You had to be there, but hilarity ensued due to a lady on a power trip yelling at people for standing in the wrong places, a creepy old man who looked drugged out, and a man in a wheelchair basically being forced against his will to move up to the handicap spot because that's where his friend wanted him to be.

After the concert we stopped to get some sausage on a stick (yum!) then head to The Hideout. This old cowboy came up to me and asked me to dance. I laughed and said I didn't know how and he said he would teach me. He then looked at Tony and said, "don't worry, I'll take good care of her, I'm a gentleman" I laughed and told him we were just friends and he responded that didn't change his statement. Here is the thing about two stepping: I know HOW to do it, I am just incapable of following someone else's lead. I get so caught up in making sure I move my feet right, if the person I'm dancing with switches it up at all I get lost. This man was trying to teach me how to turn and it was just a mess. I was cracking up the whole time. It was fun though! (I need some serious practice two stepping because I'd really like to be good at it). Later in the night T and May went out to dance and this boy started talking to me. I wasn't really a fan, but didn't know how to get away. Raja was standing by watching thinking I was enjoying myself but then he noticed I kept looking away etc so he swooped in and saved me by asking me to dance. Thanks Raja! haha After he helped me get away, we danced, then moved our whole group to the other side of the room to avoid the boy. I'm so ridiculous! All in all a fun night!

Unfortunately, T had to go back to work today so now I'm home and bored. I've already worked out, and cleaned out the entire back room (it's our catch all room for crap which doubles as the laundry room). I think I did a pretty good job! I can actually walk to the washer and dryer without having to step over a million things, and I was able to move this stacking drawer unit out there which has been sitting in the middle of the hallway for months since we had no other place for it, so I'm considering this a huge success!

I've got a few hours now until I am getting my hair trimmed so maybe I'll tackle some report card comments. Not the most fun way to spend spring break, but it has to be done and I can be lazy while I do it which will balance out all the work I did this morning.

Galveston State Park/Brazos Bend State Park

Last weekend Tony and I took all the new camping stuff down to Galveston State Park to do some camping! Here is our weekend in pictures:

First, we got to the park and set up camp. I'm used to camping with lots of trees, but this is Galveston after all, so there really aren't any haha. At least there was a nice view of the bay.

After we got camp set up, we decided to take a walk around the park on some of the trails.

We were able to watch the sunset from our walk, which was really pretty, though once the sun went down it got cold fast! This was about the time I busted out my long underwear and 3 shirts haha. Good thing Tony knows how to make a good fire!

The next day we got up and headed over to the beach for some fishing. By fishing I mean Tony is CRAZY and waded into that freezing cold water to fish while I played in the sand and took pictures of birds.

When it became apparent that it was too cold for wade fishing, we drove down to the jetties where we could set up our chairs and fish from the warmth of land (not that it was warm, mind you!). *I love this picture!*

We concluded the evening with a great fire, chili cheese dogs, and s'mores. yum! The next morning we got up early, packed up, and drove to Brazos Bend State Park to spend the day. This place was much more like my idea of camping. It was so pretty! We started out with a walk around the park.

We stopped in the nature center and were able to see and touch a baby alligator. Look how tiny it is!!! (side note: this is NOT me holding it. Those things bite!)

My entire goal of this trip was to see and photograph an alligator, because that is what the park is known for. Lucky me, there was one RIGHT off the path!!! I was literally 3 feet away from this thing!

So, of course I snapped about a million and one pictures. haha

We stayed at Brazos Bend all day and explored the place so we would know where to go when we camp there next time. It was such a beautiful day and we had so much fun! I can't wait to go camping again! :)

Camping

Here is what I know about myself: when I decide upon a new hobby, I dive in headfirst.

I have been talking about wanting to go camping for months! We had intentions of planning a trip last fall, but by the time we got around to really thinking about it, it was already around the holidays and everyone was busy, then it got too cold. Well, for whatever reason, on Sunday we got to talking about it again. Since we had nothing else to do we took a trip to Academy and I ended up buying quite a bit.

I bought two tents (one 3 person, one 4 person ... it was a really good deal and they are great tents so I got both so more friends could come), and a sleeping bag (Tony bought one too). We came home, set up the tent in the living room, and planned a trip for this coming weekend with some friends.

We got so excited about the trip that we ended up back at Academy to buy more stuff. Let's not even talk about how much stuff I got. Let's just say that I'm pretty much a hardcore camper now. I justified all these purchases because this stuff will last for years and years. Maybe someday I'll take my family camping :) hehe

Plus, T and I are already planning multiple trips with different groups of friends over the next few months so at least I'll get my money's worth out of that.

I'm SO excited!!!

*edit* Last night we MAY have set up camp in the backyard to test out all the new stuff. We spent a number of hours hanging out in the tent in the middle of the yard (I'm sure the neighbors thought we were nuts) before deciding it would be best to get a good night's sleep since it was only Monday and heading inside to sleep. So fun! So excited!

Foot injury

Today started out so good, and turned out sooooo bad!!

I woke up this morning to a sweet kitten that could not have been more excited to see me. She cuddled with me for awhile and then I got up to run a few errands. At noon I headed out to meet T and Roxanne for lunch, which was a lot of fun. On the way home I made one last stop to pick up my last stocking stuffer gift and as I was getting back in my car I stepped off the curb wrong and rolled my ankle on to my foot.

What came next was excruciating pain. I could no longer put any weight on it at all or move it certain directions. There were lots of tears. I called my mom and dad but neither answered. I called T and told him I thought my foot was broken so he left work with the intention of taking me to the er.

Side note here: last week I randomly noticed that the insurance card I'd been carrying was expired. So, I called united health care to get my information in preparation for this ER visit. And that's when shit hit the fan. Apparently my employer failed to submit the paperwork for my insurance and I have been uninsured since September!! Holy crap!! This caused the meltdown of the century! I need to call the district, but guess what? They are closed for 2 weeks. Insert more panic here.

The final decision was to ice it all night and hope it's a bad sprain and feels better tomorrow. I'm holding off this ER visit until it becomes apparent it is 100% necessary due to my apparent lack of insurance. This is bad. Bad bad bad. Worst. Day. Ever. :(

My foot hurts like heck, can't really move, and is swollen and black. We'll see how it looks in the morning.

At least my sweet kitty has been cuddled up with me all night to make me feel better!

Fishing Weekend

On Saturday, Tony and I drove out to his mom's house in Dayton to join them on the boat for some fishing. We stayed out practically all day and caught next to nothing. I caught one small fish all day, Gene didn't catch any, and Tony caught a few small ones. Pretty disappointing as far as fishing days go. When we finally got tired of casting out and catching nothing, we headed back to the house for dinner. Sam made pork chops, while the rest of us hung out by the fire outside. We made smores, which pretty much made my day!

After the A&M game (whoop!) we decided to just stay the night so we could go out on the boat again the next morning and try our luck again. We caught SO many fish that second day! Literally every time you would cast, you would catch a fish within minutes. The best part though, was most of those fish were keepers! We ended up staying out for only a few hours, and bringing home 34 fish for the fish fry. I love days like that. :) We spent the afternoon around the house then headed back home after dinner.

What a fun weekend!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

I'm pretty much obsessed with Christmas. Most years I have to try extremely hard to hold off busting out the Christmas music until at least November. Not after Thanksgiving mind you, but just November in general. Well, Tony being the good friend he is, gave in to my obsession and went shopping for Christmas decorations with me last night. We bought a small tree, lights, ornaments, and lights for the house. Then we spent the evening decorating the tree while listening to Christmas music. It's so pretty! I haven't had a tree at home since I moved to Houston so I'm pretty thrilled about this.

I think the cats are pretty thrilled too. Something about the glow of the lights must attract them because they have just been taking turns laying right next to the tree, and sticking their heads inside it.

So far, no ornaments have been knocked off and the tree is still standing. We'll see how long this lasts haha.

Wings Over Houston

This past weekend Tony took me to the Houston air show ... by took me, I mean I begged him to take me until he agreed haha. He had free tickets from work and I really wanted to go so I basically just talked about it until he said okay :-P

It was hot as can be (it's October for goodness sake, when is it going to feel like fall?!?) but it was such a fun day! There was so much to photograph I was in Heaven! We wandered around for a bit checking out all the military planes and Tony taught me pretty much everything about them. They had a whole area set up like an army camp with actors playing the roles of soldiers. It was pretty neat

After awhile we settled into our seats to watch all the planes flying. There were so many that were sooo cool! Plus, it was fun to go with someone that actually knew about them because I learned a lot.

After a few hours it was hot and we had seen so much I would have been ready to go but Tony said we had to stay because the Thunderbirds were last and he claimed they were awesome. He was right, it was totally worth the wait. I was amazed by how fast they were going and how synchronized their movements were. Honestly, you just had to see it to know how cool it was!

I literally took hundreds of pictures all day ... so many that it is hard to choose just a few to post here haha. I do really love this next one though so I wanted to include it. It's a 48 star flag from WWII and after tinkering with the color I fell in love:

Fishing!

In the past month I have become quite the fisherman (or woman rather)! Over the summer I went out on the boat with Tony a few times but while everyone else fished I just got tan. A week after I got back in town we went out again, and that day everyone was catching these HUGE fish! It was so exciting I decided I wanted to give it a try.

So, that week Tony took me to academy and helped me pick out a fishing pole (it's black and pink and super cute btw). We've pretty much gone fishing every weekend since, either out on the boat, or to the pier.

The first time we went to the pier I caught this MASSIVE fish! It was WAY too bit for my little rod and had it fought at all it would have totally snapped my line right away. As it stood I got it reeled all the way in and there was this huge crowd of people watching. All these men were trying to help get nets down there to bring it up (it was too big to get up otherwise) but unfortunately at the last second it broke the line and got away. I'm so sad we didn't even take a picture of it in the water :( Let me see if I can explain how big it was ... put your arms out strait in front of you then link your hands so it makes a circle. It was about that big!!

Catching a fish just never gets old for me. It doesn't matter what it is or what size I get excited every time as you can see from my pictures haha

This past weekend we went on the boat on Saturday and then to the pier on Sunday. On the pier there was a 4 year old boy fishing next to us who was just too darn cute. He wanted to help us throw all our fish back and got so excited when he saw us catch something. At one point he was helping me hold the fish while I got the hook out and in all seriousness he said to me "I'm going to sing twinkle twinkle to it and it will calm down" and then this sweet little boy sang to my fish. How precious! He totally loved Tony too! After Tony caught a good sized sand trout our fishing buddy Nick requested to be in the pictures too. He was too darn cute giggling up a storm as the fish flopped around and Tony helped him hold it.

I love my new hobby!! :) Can't wait to go again this weekend!

Road Trip to Denver

Well, I made it to Colorado.

Saturday morning Tony and I set out for our 10 hour drive to Wichita. I don't know what I would have done if Tony hadn't gone with me. I was a crying mess for the first hour of the trip, so thankfully I didn't have to drive. After I got over the shock of actually leaving with no plans to come back, I was fine and really enjoyed our drive together.

As I said, the first day we drove 10 hours to Wichita. We pretty much drove straight through, only stopping for gas, and once to eat. We stopped in Denton at a Dairy Queen and it was pretty sketchy. We are both convinced it was not an actual Dairy Queen, just a place that used to be owned by DQ and is still using their menu etc. The people there didn't have any type of uniform and the food came in generic styrofome boxes haha. After checking into our hotel for the night we drove around Wichita to see the city and have some dinner.

Sunday we woke up and drove the final 8 hours to Denver. I usually do very poorly during long drives. I get antsy very quickly and just want to get out of the car. This entire trip went by so quickly though! I attribute that to Tony being there and enjoying talking with him the whole way. At one point we stopped at a gas station in the middle of nowhere and when we were getting back in the car, I kid you not, I saw a man lead a horse out of the back of his van. A van! It was the funniest thing I had seen and Tony and I laughed forever!

When we finally made it to Denver we went to dinner with my dad, Davis, and Heather so that was fun. I think I was a little in shock that I was actually here, and upon seeing all my stuff in my room here, and knowing that Tony was leaving first thing the next morning, I sort of panicked and got sad. Shortly after Tony mentioned that he wished he could stay an extra day and see the city etc and my dad was able to change his flight for free. I perked up after that!

It was so great to have him stay with me my first day here! We walked around downtown, ate lunch, drove up to Boulder to see the school etc. Seriously, I couldn't ask for a better friend. He made the transition here so much easier.

Yesterday morning his flight was at 6:25. We were going to wake up at 4:30 to get to the airport on time. My first alarm went off at 4:20 and stirred me awake. Not a minute later I heard a noise and a light went on. I freaked out (my dad is out of town)! I woke Tony up and we tried to figure out what was going on. Upon further investigation, we heard the shower was on. Finally I just knocked on the door to see who was there. It was Davis! They are fixing his shower at his place but he forgot about it so he wasn't able to warn us he'd be coming. Scared the crap out of me!! Anyway, I dropped Tony off at the airport and shed rivers and rivers of tears. I'm going to miss that boy like crazy! :( Being the wonderful friend he is, he talked to me on and off throughout the day and we talked on the phone for a long time last night. I almost forgot that he was so far away.

I'm going to like it here. And I'm pretty convinced I will not be forgotten after all, so life is good :)

2 days

Lots of goodbyes this week. It's all very bittersweet. On one hand, I'm incredibly excited about moving and can't wait to get to Colorado. On the other hand, I don't want to leave the good things (read: people) I have here.

2 more days ...

Friendship

It's little things like knowing that when I am sad or overwhelmed I find the best hiding spot to be the floor of my closet.

It's little things like crawling into the closet to lay on the floor next to me, and letting me cry for awhile until I feel better.

Leaving is going to be so hard ...

Friends

I am so blessed to have wonderful friends who are always there to catch me. I think I sometimes take for granted that they will always be there. I'm realizing more and more each day that not everyone has that. So, to my wonderful friends: thank you. I love you more than you know.

Friendship

Over the past few weeks I have stumbled across a number of verses about friendship that have really stuck with me so I'm going to share a little bit about them:

John 15:13

Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.

This is a pretty well known verse. I think most people who have been around church for any period of time have heard it. It is always tied in with Jesus of course, because He is the ultimate example of great love and the perfect friend. He literally laid down his life for us. But how does this verse relate to me? I'd like to think I might throw myself in front of a moving bus for some of the people in my life, but I don't think that's the point. I think that laying down one's life for his friends means putting your friends needs above your own. Putting your life aside to do what a friend needs you to do. Forgetting for a minute what you want and what you need and instead focusing on someone else. It's giving someone something they need regardless of how it affects you. It's giving up something you want for someone else. It's putting another's happiness above your own.

This verse was really laid on my heart recently and since then I've made a conscious effort to put others before myself. I've tried to be there for a friend when they needed me even when it wasn't convenient. I've given up doing things I wanted to do because a friend needed me there more. I stopped thinking about myself for just a little while and spent time thinking about a friend. On more than one occasion I have put my life temporarily on hold to help someone else. And you know what, I never felt like I was missing anything. What I found was that through helping someone else, they actually helped me back. They weren't aware of it, and can't understand it when I try and explain, but I unintentionally gained more than I could have imagined just by putting their needs above my own. Through meeting their needs, I found they met mine. The hard part about this though, is that after investing yourself in another person so much, when they no longer need you to be there you can feel a little lost. At least, that's been my experience.

Philippians 2:3

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.

This one ties in very well with the first one. The problem I'm currently having is when is enough enough? At what point is putting others before yourself too much. Because I know there has to be a line. Think of others needs first and do things for others, yes; but you can't lose yourself in the process. I think it may be a fine line, and I haven't quite found that yet. I think part of this is assuming the best in people and giving them the benefit of the doubt. It can be really hard to assume the best in people sometimes based on their actions but what i keep reminding myself is that you don't know the whole story. You don't know why people do the things they do. And I'm sure if someone looked at me and my life from the outside some of my actions wouldn't look quite like the way I see them. You just never know the intent behind things, so I guess you just have to give people a little credit and assume the best until given a reason to believe otherwise.

Proverbs 27:17

As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.

which ties in with:

Proverbs 27:6

Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses.

This is one that has taken me many years to really accept. To me, sharpening another person can be painful. It's pointing out the things that need to be changed. It's humbling to have someone tell you that what you are doing isn't okay. It can be so easy to lash out at others when this happens, I know I have in the past. If it comes from a friend though, and comes from the heart so the intent is to help make you a better person, then it's worth listening to. Hard to do? yes. Worth it? I think so.

My friends, my real true friends, haven't really held back in telling me when I am headed down the wrong path. Usually it takes some overreacting and many more conversations for me to listen. But, I am trying much harder to take a step back now and look at what they are saying from their perspective first. Your real friends are supposed to help sharpen you ... but you have to let them. It may hurt to hear it, but if it comes from a friend you can trust that what they are saying is with the best intention to help you become a better person and not to harm you.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-10

Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up.

This is one of my favorite verses because it is so true. We were made to walk this life with others. We are supposed to have friends, that's how we were designed. I'm pretty sure I couldn't do it without my friends, I know I've told them that before. I fall down plenty and I need someone there to pick me up. I'm lucky enough to have people like that in my life. I have some of the best friends in the world.

Cowboy Boots!

Sorry for all the posts today, but just so you know, you can probably expect to see a few more yet haha. I told you had a lot of things I wanted to blog about (this is more for me to remember my life than anything) but I just haven't had time. Today is the first day in many weeks that I am spending at home so I thought it would be a good one to catch up on some of this blogging.

Thursday night I went to the rodeo with Tony to see Rascal Flatts. We got there early so we could walk around the Livestock show and eat before the rodeo started. I had mentioned to him a few days before that I sort of wanted to own a pair of cowboy boots. We had talked about it a few times, but I wasn't sure I should buy some because they are pretty expensive and hardly something I really need. I just think they are cute (especially with a sundress or jean skirt hehe).

Well, when we walked in to the Livestock show the first thing we saw was the Cavenders booth, so Tony suggested we go look. I sort of just stood there staring at the boots for awhile thinking and rethinking this decision, so finally Tony picked up and pair and told me to try them on. At this point one of the employees came over to help, and when we couldn't find the first pair in my size he offered up a different pair which looked very similar, but had a more pointed toe. I actually liked them better than the first so it worked out well.

I put them on and Tony pretty much convinced me to buy them. I probably would have bought them anyway, but I would have stood there and debated the purchase for at least half an hour first. That's what I do. I put them on, he told me they were cute and to buy them. I asked like 4 times if he was sure, while looking in the mirror, and then I ended up getting them. We were in and out of there with a pair of boots in 15 minutes haha.

I ended up getting a bag for my shoes and wearing the boots the rest of the night. I love them! They are cute, and make me feel like such a Texas girl hehe I'm really glad I got them :)

So, my new thing for the month of March is owning a pair of cowboy boots! :)