ABC, it's easy as 123

I'm bored at work. REALLY bored. Thanks to Joyce I have something to do!! Lo & behold, the ABC's of Me:

A - Attached or Single: Attached
B - Best Friend(s): Miller (is that too cheesy?) & Jen
C - Cake or Pie: Pie...unless it's yellow cake with chocolate frosting....
D - Day of Choice: Thursday? Saturday? Honestly I don't have a "preference"
E - Essential Item: crackberry blackberry
F - Favorite Color(s): blue & green
G - Gummy Bears or Worms: bears
H - Hometown: originally Houston; currently Austin
I - Indulgence(s): reality TV, sour patch kids, and gossip mags
J - January or July: January
K - Kids: not yet...maybe next year
L - Life is incomplete without: Riley (sorry Miller)
M - Marriage Date: 08-13-05
N - Number of Siblings: just me :)
O - Oranges or Apples: apples
P- Phobias or Fears: bees, wasps & other things that "sting"
Q - Quote: I don't really have a favorite quote. Is that weird?
R- Ring size: A 6, I think??
S - Season: Fall
T- Tag 3 Friends: Hmmm....how about catkins, Cristina<3 Whit & SaraLouiseBride08
U - Unknown fact about me: Aw geez...um....ahh....I'm so bad at these!!
V - Very favorite stores: Target, Old Navy, & DSW. I'm a simple shopper these days
W - Worst Habit: smoking :(
X-ray or Ultrasound: Ultrasound = good; X-ray = bad
Y - Your Favorite Food(s): anything derived from a potato
Z - Zodiac: Gemini

Killing 2 birds with 1 stone

So, I had my consultation for my Visian ICL procedure today and everything went extremely well. The doctor said my eyes look good and I am a great canditate for the procedure. YAY! I still have to re-arrange some things in my schedule to schedule the procedure, but it looks like I will be glasses/contact lens free by the end of June!! Crossing #8 off the list can't come soon enough.

So, after meeting with the nurse to discuss all the pre-op stuff she told me that I would have to have a physical prior to the procedure. I hadn't heard that one before -- did any of you Lasik peeps have to do this? -- but I guess I appreciate their thoroughness. I wasn't expecting to get a physical (and thus, cross of #10) so soon, but I guess there's no time like the present!!

It's just the little things in life

I just got a shout out on a friend's blog and it totally just made my day. Is it totally pathetic that something so simple could bring such joy & happiness to me?

Mom, I ♥ You

Happy Birthday, Mom. You're the best.

42. Attend a non-UT sporting event

Houston can be cool sometimes. I have to admit that deep down, I miss professional sporting events. Don't get me wrong, I love my Longhorns, but it's just not the same.

I'm in town for another marathon work trip and was pretty happy to discover that our company was having "Family Day" at the ballpark. I'm not the biggest baseball fan out there, but I do enjoy going to games from time to time....not to mention free tickets, cold beer, and another opportunity to cross an item off the list. Honestly, it's just a win-win all the way around!

Miller just happened to be in town, so I scored 4 tickets and brought the 'rents along too. The game was actually pretty exciting; Hunter Pence hit a grand slam in the fourth inning to win the game. The rest of the game was pretty routine, but it was fun to actually be at an Astros game when they win.

The obligatory self-photo. Don't mind the glasses!

Clumsy

No, this isn't an ode to the Fergie song, this is just a reminder to the world how ridiculously clumsy I am.

I've been wearing my glasses for the last week or so in preparation for a Visian ICL consultation. It sucks, but is a necessary evil in this entire process. I haven't worn glasses regularly for about 18 years so it's been a huge adjustment. I constantly feel like they are falling off my face and the lenses are dirty. I'm also having huge issues with my depth perception. Which brings me to....

Miller & I went to take Riley for a walk yesterday. He asked me a seemingly simple question ("Which way should we go?") and I promptly fell down and ate my shit. I don't really remember too much about the fall itself, but according to Miller (thank GAWD he was the only witness) it was not pretty. I didn't scrape up my knees or hands, but my right shoulder feels like I rammed into a brick wall. Seriously. How do you fall down & only knock the crap out of your shoulder? I must have done a mid-air somersault or something....

So, what does this have to do with glasses & depth perception? I tripped stepping off the curb. I promise that's what it was. I know I'm capable of walking & talking at the same time, so it has to be the glasses. Right?

62. Go to the dentist every 6 months

So I made my dentist appointment yesterday and headed into the office this morning. I was pretty embarrassed to tell the hygienist that I hadn't been to the dentist in over 5 years -- I honestly think my last appointment was in 2002. I did explain the situation to her: my last appointment ended in disaster (the Novocaine wore off a little early) and have been pretty fearful of the dentist ever since. She promised to go be gentle with me.

Minus the ridiculous amounts of tartar that had built up on my teeth in the last 5+ years, she was pleased with how my teeth/gums looked. I only have a minor cavity that is actually due to a previous cavity filling coming loose so it appears as though my trip was a success. It also looks like I'll be seeing the dentist again in another month to get my cavity filled so I'll be ahead of the curve on fulfilling this goal.

BTW: For you Austin folks needing a dentist, Dr. Meek is fantastic.

It is a Good Day!!

I must have woken up on the right side of the bed today. I called the dentist to make my first appointment for teeth cleaning (goal 62, thankyouverymuch) fully expecting to not get an appointment for another 4-6 weeks. The assistant told me that they had a cancellation and now have an opening for tomorrow at 10:45am! I honestly don't know the last time I called the dentist (or any other doctor, for that matter) and got an appointment scheduled for the following day.

Note to self. Buy lottery ticket today.

22. Get a raise/promotion

I got a raise!! It's not a substantial raise (only 3.6%) but I'll take it!! Let's hope the rest of the week goes this great...

Happy 1st Birthday, Riley!!!

I can't believe our little dude is one year old today! It seems like just yesterday we brought him home! In honor of spoiling the crap out of him, we thought it would be fun to make a big deal out of his birthday this year. Originally, I wanted to throw him a birthday party and have all our pet-owner friends bring their pups over, but Miller convinced me that was taking it a little too far. Okay, okay....cake & presents only.

I found a pretty simple peanut butter & carrot cake recipe online and made cupcakes. Riley loved them so they were definitely a huge hit. Case & point - before & after photos:

The rest of the birthday was pretty standard. He did get a new toy and a couple new bones, but after spending the weekend at the lake he was still pretty wiped out. We did manage to take the obligatory "birthday boy" picture though:

Don't forget to check out Riley's First Year photo album. My, how our boy has grown.

Fun in the Sun

"Summer" has officially begun!! Miller & I headed out to Lake LBJ to spend the weekend @ the Thompson/Mehis lake house. The weather was fantastic and the water was FREEZING, but at least we were able to take the boat out for a quick spin, spend time on the patio, and drink lots of mojitos.

I was hoping that we would be able to teach Riley to swim this weekend (and cross another goal off the list), but since the water was ridiculously cold there was no way Miller or I was going to get in. He did get to go for his first boat ride though. It took him a little while to get used to the rocking of the boat, but I think he really enjoyed himself.

I always love hanging around Jen's girls too. Since Miller & I don't have any kids of our own (yet), it's always fun to spend time with them. Mercedes loves Miley Cyrus. She was singing "the Miley Cyrus" all weekend. It's still stuck in my head now as I write this blog. Thanks, Mercedes. Reese had a good time too (I think). She's only 2 and doesn't really say much (except puppy, daddy, and no) so it was kind of hard to tell. I do know that she had fun on the boat ride too. Obvious disclaimer: No alcohol was actually consumed by minors.

I'm really good at wasting time

So I made it back to Austin Friday night with no problems, thanks to my first class seat. I was under the impression that I would have a couple days "off" to re-adjust to being back home and to just get household chores taken care of before getting back to the daily grind of work....or so I thought. I got an email from my boss Monday afternoon with a laundry list of stuff to work on, AND a request to be in Houston from May 15 - June 13. To make matters worse, my schedule in Houston will be Monday-Friday 5pm-2am. Classic.

I decided to "stick it to the man" this week and get as little work done as possible. Shoot...if they're not going to give me time, I'm just going to take it!! I have found a million ways to keep myself occupied, all the while ignoring any work responsibilities I may have (except checking my Blackberry, of course). Here's what I've been doing:

• Spending too much time on The Nest
• Updating the AustinBio for the aforementioned website (Check out what I've done!)
• Joining Twitter and becoming obsessed
• Converting our expenses from Quicken to Quickbooks (per our accountant)
• Cleaning the kitchen
• Planning the final guest bedroom decoration ideas
• Converting our CD's to iTunes
• Updating my blogroll (and promptly caught up on all posts I missed)
• Learning how to launch the boat at the boat ramp (thanks, hubby!)

Note to the office: Don't overwhelm me with work immediately following a 5 week trip. I will find a way to take some time off....even if it is at your expense.