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.

New Hobby

I've been pretty bad about updating this thing, sorry! So let's see, what's been going on in my life ....

I have a new hobby: shooting guns! Tony bought a .22 pistol a few weeks ago so we went out to his parent's house the other week so we could shoot it. One shot and I was hooked! Gene brought out his .22 rifle and I have to say I was pretty awesome with that one. We had these small targets set up to shoot at and with the rifle I was able to hit the targets (largest one is about a 4 inch circle, smallest is 1) from something like 50 yards away. I was quite impressed with myself being that this was the first time I shot a gun trying to hit something (I've shot Tony's Papa's guns once before but only like one shot each). We ended up going back out for Easter and I got to do some more shooting. So fun! One of these days I'm going to have to stop picking up new hobbies as I hardly have time for all the ones I have now: photography, baking, camping, fishing, shooting, yoga and quilting haha

My student teacher's last day was last Thursday and I'm pretty sad that she's gone. She was just awesome; I could not have asked for anyone better! On Thursday my class surprised her at the end of the day with a small party complete with cookies, juice, and presents. We made her this really cute treasure chest to use in a classroom (can't believe I didn't take a pic). Each of the kids used their fingerprints to make a bluebonnet on it. It turned out so cute! Plus, I got her a book from my class and had them all sign it (Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day - appropriate given my class this year? most def!), and I got her the book Thank You Mr. Falkner, and had all my team write a message for her in it. I think she loved it all :)

I was feeling like such a loser all day and totally wanted to give away the surprise, but I held out. See, two of my teammates brought food for us to have a nice brunch together, one of my teammates brought her a present, and she brought all of us a yummy treat AND gave me a gift card. I kept thinking she must think I'm the only one who doesn't care because I was the only one who didn't bring anything for her last day. SO many times I wanted to say "I don't suck, your gifts are coming later today" but I held my tongue to keep the surprise, and surprised she was. I'm glad I didn't give it away haha.

I do have to say though, as much as I miss having her around, I do love having my class back. They have been better behaved these past two days than they have been in MONTHS. I think it's good for them to have their normal routine back. They know exactly what to expect with me and know exactly what I expect them to do. I'm not saying this good behavior is going to keep up, but I'm hoping I can get at least a week or two out of them before they go back to being complete terrors haha

Okay, I guess I'll end this rambling for now. A cat just crawled in my lap to cuddle and it's a little difficult to type.

New Furniture!

I feel like such a grown up. Look at the new trunk I bought to use as the coffee table in our house!

It's so beautiful; I just love everything about it! I love the color, I love the texture, I love how solid it is, I love how it opens up and what it looks like inside:

I love how it has three separate compartments, two which are big enough for pillows or blankets, and one that you can keep wine in! I love that it comes with the nice wooden tray you see in the picture above. I love that it has arms that pull out so when you open up the top flaps you can rest them on the arms and use it as part of the table.

I can't wait to pick it up on the 28th! This is the sort of furniture I can keep forever (unlike the other furniture I have purchased before (which has been left at my dad's) which I would have used for a few years and then gotten rid of). *speaking of which, since you're keeping my old coffee table, end tables, couch and chair dad, do you want to help contribute to the new furniture fund?!? ;-) hehe* It may not always be in my living room, but it can always have a place in my house somewhere. It's so nice! I can't stop ogling over the pictures hehe :)

Oh yeah, I'm still working on a post about camping last weekend .... I've just been lazy, sorry!

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!

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!

Confession

Call it a quarter life crisis, I don't know. All I know is that I royally messed this year up, and all I want to do is fix it.

When I decided to move to Colorado last October, things were kind of a mess. I was mad at my job, had recently lost some good friends, and in all honestly, didn't have much reason to stay in Houston. It seemed, given that I had nothing to lose, it was as good a time as any to pick up and move and try something new. Had I moved last October, this would have been true.

However, over the last 9 months, my life changed drastically. I made new friends, got old friends back, came to LOVE second grade and my job again, and got really connected at my church (to name a few). In my head I just told myself I had already made the decision to leave, so I never gave it a second thought. When I did think about it, I was sad, so I just told myself I was overreacting and pushed it to the back of my brain.

Then I got there and I realized very quickly how much I had actually left behind. I had a life, a great life, and I gave it up to come to some strange place. I sent hundreds (read: 164) emails to principals looking for a job, with little or no response. I started to get frustrated. I started to think that while living with my dad for a few months would be great (I think we all know how much I love my dad!), living with him, in a loft with minimal privacy, for a whole year, might be another story. I found myself waking up in the morning and telling myself I was on vacation so that I could even get out of bed. I did my best to fill my days and keep myself busy so that I wouldn't cry. I spent hours upon hours on the phone so that I could feel like I never really left. I wasn't happy. I felt stuck in my life, and that is not a good feeling. Then I got a job interview, and I FREAKED! It scared me to death to think that I might be offered a job (a less than stellar part time job that I really didn't want, mind you), and that if I took that job I was stuck here for a year whether I wanted to be or not. Those who know me know I am prone to freakouts, but this was on a whole new level.

So, laugh all you want; talk about me behind my back, because I'm sure you will, but I'm fixing my life. I'm only 25; I'm allowed to make mistakes. In a few years I will look back on this and laugh about the year I went crazy .... quit a great job, moved across the country, then moved back a few weeks later. Yeah it's funny, and it's pretty embarrassing, but you know what? I'm going to be happy. Not everyone has the chance to fix their mistakes; I'm lucky I do.

Is this all a little bit crazy? Absolutely. Will I be happier having a support system of all my friends and people who love me around no matter what I'm doing? Without a doubt. Will I, however, miss seeing my dad every day? More than you can imagine. Have I already learned a lot from this experience? Without a doubt.

So there you have it.

Stay tuned for part two to find out how I completely fixed my life in one day!

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! :)

Lipizzaner Stallions

A couple weeks ago I went with Kate to see the Lipizzaner Stallions. When she texted me to ask if I wanted to go see the "Lipizzaners" I responded with "who's that?". I had never heard of them before. The show was at the Toyota Center and we had tickets to the suite, so I figured why not go. Even if I had no idea what to expect, it would be a good new thing I could try.

I would pretty much describe this as "horse ballet". The whole first part they played classical music while people rode the horses in choreographed movements. They had lots of neat steps they could do that made it look like they were skipping, or doing a side step. It was pretty cool

Then they showed off all these moves the stallions used to use in battle. They had a bunch of different kinds of kicks they could do that were used for different purposes. I don't know how they trained these horses to do this on cue, but it was neat!

My favorite was when they had them leap off the ground with all 4 legs. I swear it looked like they were taking off and flying. So cool!

Does this not look like a flying horse?!? haha

Anyway, it was really different than anything I had seen before. Definitely a neat experience. (plus a great new thing to try for February!)

Chickpea Croquettes

When my mom and I were visiting Boulder in December we ate at this great vegetarian restaurant called Leaf. We ended up sharing the falafel in a pita. It was a pita filled with chickpea croquettes, red pepper hummus, lettuce, tomato, and red onions. It was one of the best things I have ever eaten in my life; seriously, I loved it!

Well a few weeks ago I decided to try and make this myself at home. I figured this could be one of my new things I try during the month of February (as part of my new years resolution). So I did some research and came up with a recipe to make the chickpea croquettes. It was SO easy and they turned out perfectly!

The whole meal was easy to put together. Once you have the mixture for the chickpea croquette, it takes 6 minutes to cook, then you just load up a pita with hummus, tomato, lettuce, and red onion. YUM!

The best part is that it is so easy to make this chickpea mixture, and then you can keep it in the fridge so it makes a really easy meal for more than one day.

Stuffed Roasted Red Pepper

I started this post a week ago and never got around to finishing it. Last weekend I went to the Farmer's Market and got some fresh vegetables. One of the things I picked up were red peppers. I found a recipe for stuffed roasted red peppers, and decided I wanted to try it. I don't cook much, not because I can't, but because it's a lot of work for one person. I love this recipe though because you can do most of the work beforehand and then just stick it in the oven when you are ready to eat. Also, the stuffing mixture refrigerates well so it can be saved for a meal at a later time. This was my first time to try quinoa - I really liked it! Oh, and this was definitely the first time I ever roasted a red pepper on my own. It was easy, and yummy!

Anyway, I found the recipe online and sort of just went with the general idea and added in as much of each ingredient as I wanted:

1 roasted red pepper

1 cup quinoa, cooked

black beans

frozen corn

diced fresh tomato (from the farmers market)

chopped cliantro (also from the farmers market)

cheddar cheese, shredded

dollop of sour cream

salt

pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Roast the red pepper. Mix together all other ingredients in a small bowl. When pepper is done roasting, peel the skin off, cut off the top, and stuff with the quinoa mixture. Bake in oven for 30 minutes. See? easy! And, oh so yummy!

I'd say this goes along with my new years resolution to try new things each month. This was my first time to roast a red pepper, and my first time to try quinoa. :)

Try New Things - Farmers Market

One of my new years resolutions was to try at least one new thing every month this year. The idea behind this was to make a small effort to break out of my everyday habits, and add a little variety to my life.

Well, I did something new today! I woke up early this morning so that I could go to a local farmers market. This is something I had actually been wanting to do for awhile, but never really looked into. I eat a lot of different vegetables now, I like fresh grown vegetables more than the kind I generally buy at the store (I had a student last year who would bring me some from her garden at home), and I really like the idea of supporting local farmers. So, despite the fact that it was something like 27 degrees, I headed out this morning.

I'm glad I went, it was really neat! I talked to some super nice people, and I got some great fresh vegetables!

Stay tuned this week for more new things, as I try some new ways of cooking my vegetables. fun! :)