Decisions Decisions

September 4th is quickly approaching, this Friday to be exact. While this not be a big day for most, for me this marks the day that I am eligible for an upgrade on my cell phone with AT&T. I have been waiting with batied (sp?) breath for this day because this means I finally get to have an iPhone. Some of you might be doubting this decision becuase you remember my not so distant past of losing/breaking 3 cell phones in less than 6 months; however, I would like to prove all of you wrong. I have kept the same phone without misplacing or breaking it once for almost 2 years (even if it only cost $50). Seeing as how I have proven myself to be a responsible phone owner I figured I need an upgrade, naturally the iPhone would be a good choice. Adam is ecstatic! Every time I ask to borrrow his phone to check my email he lets me know he cannot wait until I have my own. But I was running the numbers the other night, and having 2 iPhones is expensive because you have to get the data plan, the texting plan, the regular minutes plan, etc. So now after all my waiting, I don’t know if I want one anymore. Plus, there are so many phones to choose from, Blackberries, those cool LG phones that pop out with a little keyboard, I just can’t make my mind up. Any reviews? hints? advice?

6 Days and Counting…

So we have made it to the triathlon, it’s next Monday on Labor Day. If you happen to start your Labor Day celebrations early on Monday say a little prayer that I won’t drown/crash/trip over my own two feet during the race. Just kidding. Maybe not kidding about the crashing part. I officially have butterflies, it’s hard to believe how quickly this summer has gone by. I think Adam and I have honestly done our best to prepare for this race, lots of swimming/biking/running, working out, early mornings, and sore muscles, but I think we are ready. It’s been an interesting experience, just watching how your body adapts and changes to the different activities you put it through, it makes me even more excited for races and events to come. It’s been a lot of fun to do this training with Adam. He is much faster than me at everything, but it has been a blast to have someone who is right alongside going through everything with you. I really think he’s going to do amazing, he’s a little nervous about the swim, but I think once he gets out there he might finish in the top 15 or so of his age group. My parents have also started cycling too, so it has been a lot fun to all go together on Saturday mornings to ride. My goal is just to do the whole thing without stopping. I’m feeling good about the swim and bike, the run is my weakest, and I know I’ll be tired, but the more I’ve been training, the more I realize this whole thing is so mental, like 80% mental. I remember my dad telling me a long time ago that you have to realize the difference between pain and discomfort, and discomfort is definitley something I will experience, but I think I can make it through. For me, just getting to this point, actually doing something I said I was going to do is such a cool feeling. I’ve trained for a triathlon, and 2 marathons before and have not done them, so to do soemthing that I set out to do is a great feeling. I shared with my bible study group at the beginning of this that I wanted to do this triathlon and I wanted to do it well, and I am half way there. So, I’ll let you know how it goes, assuming I survive

And then after we get back we start training for the duathlon in October, which is basically the same thing, except for shorter and without swimming. Really excited for this one because I feel like I will have more confidence after finishing the tri. I think this one will be a lot of fun. The Waters will also be doing this one, so that will be cool to do it all together.

In other news, we are moving back into the city. We are really excited to be close to friends again, and to be closer to my work. It’s in a good ‘middle point’ between Adam and I’s job, so it should be nice. We move at the end of the month.

Really Cool

let yourself feel. from Esteban Diácono on Vimeo.

Lindsey’s Movie Review

Although you will not find my reviews on Rotten Tomatoes anytime soon, I figured I’d put in my two cents on some movies/TV series that I’ve seen lately. With no further ado, here ya go:
(We’ll keep it simple and use a 5 star system)

Movies:

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince – 2.5 Stars
I cannot figure out why people are loving this movie. I didn’t think it followed the book that well, and if you haven’t read the book then you will probably confused for 2 hours of the movie. I was really dissapointed because I have been waiting forever for this movie to come out.

UP – 4.75 Stars
I loved this movie, I thought it had a great story line and was super fun with the 3D. I definitley recommend this to anyone at any age. The only reason I deducted .25 stars was because of the 3D glasses we had to wear. We literally had to wear them upside down because whoever put them together did them backwards. It was uncomfortable and we both had creases on our noses from wearing them upside down. The people at the theater thought we were completely crazy, but I promise those things were backwards, Adam and I each tried like 5 different pairs. I feel sorry for the rest of the theater who endured it.

The Reader – 3 Stars
Get your fast-forward button ready because there are a few sex scenes in here that are kind of graphic – thus my reasoning for taking away 2 stars, but I thought the move itself was amazing. Great and tragic story. Definitley one that made you think a bit.

Mall Cop – 1 Star
I had high hopes for this movie, but if you have seen the preview then you have seen all the funny parts, don’t waste your time.

Away We Go – 3.5 Stars
This movie had its moments, but overall I felt like it fell kinda flat. I love Mya Rudolph and Jon Kresenski (sp?) and I thought they definitley had good chemistry.

Yes Man – 4.5 Stars
This is a great movie to rent and watch at home on a rainy night with not a lot to do. It was really funny and light-hearted and I liked the message. It has that Jim Carey humor, so if you don’t like him then you definitley won’t like this one.

Adam and I have seen a couple TV series lately. The John Adams series was really really good. Great acting as well as being historically informative. It worked out well for Adam since he was having a test over the American Revolution during that timeframe. Another series that we have picked up is The Unit. I really like this series because it has fairly good action when there is action. It’s about the Delta Force (military Special Ops), but the only draw back is that they have all this drama stuff going on with the wives back at the base, and that part is annoying. But if you can get past that, it’s pretty good.

K that should do for now, enjoy!

Getting To Know You

Getting to Know You

I was tagged by Tonya, so here ya go.

1. What time did you get up this morning? 8:00 – Late for me, I had a doctors appointment at 9, so I got to sleep in a little bit which was nice.

2. How do you like your steak? medium – pink and warm in the center

3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Hmm…I think it was Harry Potter, which I have to be honest, I was really disspointed

4. What is your favorite TV show? The Office, 30 Rock is becoming a new favorite, Grey’s Anatomy, and Ugly Betty

5. If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be? In the world? Probably on the coast of Italy or France – assuming I was mega rich and could afford to live there. I would have a deck that looked out over the ocean with a nice glass of wine every night, pretty nice huh?

6. What did you have for breakfast? Hmm…an Egg McMuffin

7. What is your favorite cuisine? Italian, real authentic Italian

8. What foods do you dislike? Not a fan of mushrooms, I used to be a much pickier but since meeting my husband I have picked up asparagus, brussel sprouts, sushi, steak, and spicy food.

9. Favorite Place to Eat? Cafe Japon, Daily Review, Grappino, Ruths Chris Steakhouse, and Jaspers

10. Favorite dressing? This spinach vinagerette dressing, I have no idea who makes it, the bottle is like in the shape of a diamond – it’s good.

11.What kind of vehicle do you drive? Honda Accord

12. What are your favorite clothes? Anything that is comfortable but I still feel cute in

13. Where would you visit if you had the chance? Italy

14. Cup 1/2 empty or 1/2 full? It depends on what I am thinking about

15. Where would you want to retire? I would probably like a nice cozy homebase somewhere close to my kids and then I would want to travel everywhere

16. Favorite time of day? In the evenings, when it’s nice outside like in the spring or early fall where you can sit outside, enjoy the breeze, good conversation

17. Where were you born? Houston, TX

18. What is your favorite sport to watch? I like watching College Football, but my attention span is somewhat limited – I think this is due to the fact that some sport or ESPN was on my TV as a child CONSTANTLY. Golf is nice for inducing relaxing Sunday nights. And since Adam & I are about to do our first triathlon, I like watching those too.

19. Who do you think will not tag you back? Don’t know who I am going to tag yet.

20. Person you expect to tag you back first? see #19

21. Who are you most curious about their responses to this? see #19

22. Bird watcher? My mom has an assortment of bird feeders at their house, and there is something very soothing about sitting outside with a book and some coffee/wine (depending on the time of day), while watching the birds.

23. Are you a morning person or a night person? See this.

24. Do you have any pets? Emme

25. Any new and exciting news you’d like to share? We just found out our lease is up 9/30 instead of 11/1, so we will be moving soon.

26. What did you want to be when you were little? A pediatrician, but then I realized that little kids bug me sometimes, and biology wasn’t my favorite subject. I think I got a “C” in anatomy in college, so it’s probably best I let that dream go.

27. What is your best childhood memory? I have a lot of them, I don’t know that I could narrow it down to just one. Christmas mornings with my family, and now my husband, have always been happy memories. There are lots of traditions which have to be followed, but there is something so comforting about waking up at mom & dad’s on Christmas morning. Eating breakfast, opening stockings, and then opening presents one by one. This last Christmas was the best since Adam was there.

28. Are you a cat or dog person? Dogs, not a fan of the cats.

29. Are you married? Yep, almost 9 months!

30. Always wear your seat belt? Yes because if I don’t my car beeps at me and I can’t stand it.

31. Been in a car accident? A couple. One was a hit and run (I did the hitting). It was in a parking lot and I backed up into a car, didn’t think I did any damage so I left. Apparently someone saw me and called the police, whoops. The second one I hit a defensive driving car, scared the kid to death.

32. Any pet peeves? A few: when you get underneath a blanket but you can still feel drafts of air coming in by your feet, loud noises in the morning, when people tap their pens, feet, or anyother objects out of a nervous habit.

33. Favorite Pizza Toppings? just cheese and thin crust, thankyouverymuch

34. Favorite Flower? I like gerber daisies, although I like pretty much any fresh flower

35. Favorite ice cream: Vanilla, Cookies n Cream, or Coffee Flavor

36. Favorite fast food restaurant? Chick-fil-a

37. How many times did you fail your driver’s test? None

38. From whom did you get your last email? The UPS guy notifying me about a shipment

39. Which store would you choose to max out your credit card? Gosh, does online count? Because Amazon has everything

40. Do anything spontaneous lately? yea, we booked a trip to cozumel in like 30 min back in july and left a week or so later, that was fun

41. Like your job? It’s a job, not too stressful, so it’s fine

42. Broccoli? Sure

43. What was your favorite vacation? Honeymoon

44. Last person you went out to dinner with? Went out with Adam to Cafe Japon on Saturday

45. What are you listening to right now? Pandora, specifically Passion Pit

46. What is your favorite color? Can’t say that I have a favorite

47. How many tattoos do you have? 1

48. How many are you tagging for this quiz? I don’t know

49. What time did you finish this quiz? 5:02 PM Time to go home

50. Coffee Drinker? For Sure

That’s about it.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!!!!!!!!!!

A tribute to my dad. I think it can be said without question that I have the best dad. He is loving, caring, comforting, protective, and one of my closest friends. I think it’s cool that I can call my dad to chat and see how is day is going, or that he calls me when he’s out window shopping for a shotgun. He has a passionate love for his wife, and a Godly love for his kids. He still opens the door for my mom everytime they get in a car or walk through a doorway, the way he serves her is inspiring to say the least. He has had many passions over my lifetime: running, cycling, cooking, motorcycles, Wii tennis, and now guns. He has taught me many things over the years: how to mow the grass, run around the block without stopping, how to change a flat tire and how to change my oil (all of which were requirements before I could drive by myself), and most importantly, how to shoot a gun. If you haven’t enjoyed a meal cooked by him paired with an exceptional wine then you are missing out on life. Needless to say, he’s great, and I love him very much!! Love you dad!

This email was written my brother who is much better with words than I.
__________________________________
Happy Birthday Dad-

Yesterday we celebrated the 40 year anniversary of landing on the moon. But did you know that today was the day they left the moon? Tell me something. In terms of history, what is more important? To land on the moon or to leave the moon and get back to Earth intact and able to tell the tale?

I think today is more important. Think of it this way, if it hadn’t been for today then whoever came behind them and succeeded in getting back to gravity would have been the celebrated ones. Neal and Buzz would have been the anecdotes in someone else’s story.

So today I pay tribute to that 14 year old boy who witnessed history and went to do greater things than those before him.

1) You been on submarines and almost sank one that cost more money than most people can only dream about making…you’ve flown a plane, built your own motorcycle (not really but sort of), got your sailing licensee, scuba license, concealed weapons license, am I missing one?

2) You’ve traveled more than anyone in your entire family. Cousin Matt doesn’t count, he’s a trained assassin….and you might be going to China soon…pretty rad

3) Both of your kids graduated from college and live reasonably adjusted lives…though your first grandchild is a dog…you should talk to Lindsey about rectifying that situation.

4) You scored the big one with your wife…aren’t you glad you lied about your age…I would have

You’ve lived a pretty cool life Dad. You should be proud. There is a lot to be happy about. Honestly. I hope your next 54 are just as exciting. See you have to live that long if you ever want to see my children.

I love you,

Chris
_____________________________

Dad, we love you very much, you are the best!!
Love, Christopher Robin & Blakely

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(All Photos by Chris Pereira)

A Few Things You Might Not Know About Me

So since I have admitted to struggling with blog content, I am forcing myself to get a little creative. I wrote a few here in this post back last July, but I figured I would try and give you a little more information that you might not know about me. So here it goes, 10 Things You Might Not Know About Me:

1. After 4 years of working and being out of college, I have no problem sleeping in till 11am. I have never been a morning person, ask roomates, parents, husband, dog, they will all agree, I don’t wake up early. So it definitley stinks that I have to wake up so early for work, but come the weekend, I can snooze until noon no problemo. Adam for the most part can too, not quite until noon, but close – he usually wakes up before me. A lot of people say that they just can’t sleep in anymore, not me, nope. And the best part about all of this is that Emme sleeps in too! Yes you heard it right, we have trained our dog to sleep in with us, that way we don’t have to wake up early to let her outside. We are quite certain that once we bring babies into this world that will not be the case, and then, yes maybe then I won’t be able to sleep in anymore. I am getting a little better though because I don’t like to waste half my day as my mom used to say to me, but sometimes, especially if it’s raining outside, there’s nothing like sleeping in on a lazy Saturday morning.

2. I STRONGLY dislike loud noises in the morning. This probably goes along with me not being a morning person, but I personally would like to make an arguement for post traumatic stress syndrome. As a young child, with a brother 5 years older than me, I was frequently tortured seranaded by him. Think “Rise and Shine” at the top of a 12 year old boys lungs. Yep that was me, all the way until he moved out to go to college. I remember grasping at any object I could throw in his general direction, only to be body slammed by one of his WWE wrestling moves on the bed. Yes, I was tramatized as a child. So now in the mornings I like it quiet, I talk softly an appreciate being softly spoken to. Adam has picked up quickly on this and is so sweet about not singing to me in the morning.

3. I really hate stopping to get gas. I don’t know why I find this necessary part of life so utterly irritating! In every car I have ever owned, I knew exactly how far past “E” I could take the car. I know, I know, this is unsafe, bad for the car, etc. For some reason I have always hated getting gas, and thank goodness I have only ever run out of gas 2x in my life. I know this is something I really just need to get over and be responisble about, but for some reason the idea of stopping to get out of the car to get gas just irks me. This is definitley an area of improvement in my life especially now that Adam and I share cars. It happens more often then it should that Adam gets in the car and the tank is on “e,” that’s not very nice of me, definitely need to work on this one.

4. I love reading other people’s blogs. I wouldn’t call myself a blog stalker, ok maybe close, but I just love reading other people’s blogs. I have a list of blogs that I check every day, and then some that I check once in awhile when they cross my mind. I get a little irritated when my regular blogs don’t update frequently which should inspire me to write more because there is nothing more frustrating then a blog that hasn’t been updated for a month. I think it’s interesting to catch a glimpse of someone’s life through their view. It’s amazing how different writing styles can be and how funny some people are. I swear some of these people could be stand up comedians. It inspires me to be a better writer, gives me ideas for activities, cooking etc. It’s just a lot of fun to read good blogs. Something interesting though, I don’t really like twitter all that much. I know it’s the new thing, and they’re supposed to be like ‘mini-blogs,’ but I just haven’t found too many people’s twitter sites that are really that interesting. And my phone is like a bazillion years old, so there’s no point in me trying, although I did set up an account. I think I twittered once about riding the bus and I’m pretty sure that’s the last time I twittered, I don’t even remember my name.

5. I didn’t learn to ride my bike without training wheels until I was seven, and I’m still not a very good bike rider. Overall, I would consider myself a pretty athletic person, I mean I’m not uncoordinated, I like playing different sports, but for some reason riding a bike has never been a strength of mine. I made my brother really nervous through out college, riding around on campus, running into stationary objects, it just wasn’t good. I’m not quite sure what my issue is, I get really close to things (poles, pillars, parked cars, people, etc.) and I get really nervous and end up running into something. About a year and a half ago I purchased an urban bike that I loved, but was still a little bit unstable on. And now you can read #6 and understand the picture above.

6. I am doing a triathlon over Labor Day, and I’m a little nervous (see #5). Yes I know, bicycling is part of the triathlon, hence my hesitation. I have nightmares of causing wrecks like the picture above #5. But overall I am more excited than I am nervous. Adam and I have all of our equipment now, swimsuits, road bikes (thanks Stac), clips & shoes, all the gear. Ironically, my brother will be watching us at the triathlon in Austin, probably chewing off all his nails during the 12 miles that I am on the bicycle, but it will be a fun experience. Labor Day falls right in between Adam & I’s birthdays, and the current plan is to rent a house on Lake Travis with the family and Chris is supposed to be coming down. We’ll see how it goes, we are working hard to get ready for it.

7. Friday Night is still Date Night. For the most part Adam and I have done pretty good about keeping up with our Friday night tradition of having date night. Everyonce in awhile there are some weeks that don’t work out well, but we try and squeeze it in there sometime around the weekend. It’s funny to see how it’s evovled over just 7 months. It’s not always a surprise, and sometimes we don’t even leave the house, but I still love sitting down and havign some great quality time with him. He is super sweet about understanding my need for just time to sit down and talk with him, he’s so great about that. I am excited to see what this will evolve to over the next few years as our lives begin to change. I know life gets busy, but I hope never too busy to not make time to sit down with my husband and talk, really talk to him. I think my favorite date nights have been over a glass of wine, talking about our future, fears, goals, ideas, and dreams. I am learning that I love dreaming with him. Big ideas, big dreams, big hopes. I love it when he shares these things with me because it gives me big prayers to pray over him, and I think the Lord delights in that – when His children dream big. All that to say, date night is still going strong, and I love Adam more each day. (ok enough mushy talk)

8. I listen to Pandora every day at work. I probably have like 25 stations that I go back and forth between. From Madonna, to A Fine Frenzy, to Explosions in the Sky – I like it all, and I love the variety that it gives me. I’ve found a ton of new artists on there is well which is always fun. My job requires a lot of detail-oriented work, but for some reason I am able to concentrate better when I am listening to music. Many people at work have radios that they play, and I would use one if it had an iPod dock on it, but for the most part I find music on the radio to be extremely boring, repetitive, and the people on air usually annoy me – I really wish someone out there would come out with a good radio station. And I’m off my soap-box about radio stations – anyways, listen to pandora, I promise you’ll find something you love.

9. I love reading. When I was little I remember always reading books before bed with my parents, especially my mom, I had a stack I don’t know how high of different books with glossy pictures and pages. Specifically I remember this one about a hippo that bakes a cake, he put everything he had in his kitchen into the cake, it looked pretty tasty. I digress. From those nights of reading with mom up until now I have not stopped. Some friends and I started a book club (book swap to be exact). When I find a book that I really love I will finish it in a number of days. Oddly though, I have a difficult time reading multiple books at the same time. My mom and brother are pros at this, but I can’t seem to start another book when I haven’t finished another one. I love the Harry Potter series of books, all of those were finished in less than 3 or 4 days. Twilight series done. Anything from C.S. Lewis to the Shopoholic books I like to read, it’s fun, it’s a nice escape. It’s worked out well so far with Adam, usually I am snuggled on the couch next to him while he is working on his rank playing Call of Duty, it works.

That’s all I can think of right now, but I will come up with more soon!

Cool Site

You can get those at wordle.net, pretty cool huh?

Picture for Today

So sweet. Adam. Kayaking. Lake LBJ.

(Picture by Natalie Boudreaux Hebert)

My Take on John & Kate

So, I’ve been watching the show Jon & Kate Plus 8 for some time. I think the kids are adorable, and it’s interesting to get a look into other people’s family, especially one that is so large. As many people know, there have been all kinds of rumors floating around about him cheating on her, her cheating on him – all that to say, I’m sure they only know the truth. And it’s even more difficult to know the real story with all of television’s ‘creative editing’ and producers that need high ratings. And I’m usually not one to comment a ton on reality TV, but for some reason, last night’s episode has been on my mind.

So for those of you who don’t watch the show, basically it’s a reality TV show about a family “Jon & Kate” and then they have a set of twins who are like 8 or 9 I think, and then they have sextuplets who are 5 years old, needless to say there life is pretty hectic. Last night was a heartbreaking show where they announced that they were getting divorced.

I know that divorce has become such a common thing in Hollywood, heck even in every day life (what’s the statistic now, +50%), but I guess I hoped that they would find a way to push through it. If you’ve watched the show, the producers have done a good job as portraying Kate as the bossy/selfish/pants-wearing wife/mom, while Jon was protrayed as the passive/pushover/’yes Kate’ dad/husband. Now whether that was a true depiction of them, who knows, but I’m sure it’s based on some sort of truth, and I don’t think that their story is a new one. The bossy wife who pushes her passive husband away to the point that he becomes resentful/hateful. That is definitley the way it appeared on last night’s show. Kate appeared to be very sad, saying that this isn’t what she wanted – she didn’t want to be alone, Jon wouldn’t talk to her anymore; while Jon appeared to be almost happy about his new freedom, saying this was for the best, etc.. All the while they both kept repeating the phrase, “our kids are the most important priority,” they always have been and they always will be.

Anyways, I was thinking a lot last night while I was waiting to fall asleep about my marriage and our future family, Lord willing. I’m pretty nervous about having kids, I don’t think that’s a secret to anyone that knows me. Kids are a big deal. I’ve seen many people in my life make their kids “their #1 priority” while their marriages fall to pieces. And it makes me think about a couple things:

1. Should kids be your #1 priority? Even ahead of your marriage?
2. What does it do to your kids when they become your only focus?
3. Why does it seem so many mother’s priorities seem to be something like this 1. kids, 2. daily duties/job,
3. “God”, 4. husband, 5. self

Maybe I am being judgemental, and it is absolutley correct that I have no idea what it would be like to be a mom, but I can’t seem to get past the fact that your husband should come first, before your kids. After God, which should be first – your husband/your marriage should come next. Maybe it’s hard to do once you have a family, maybe it’s not right, I don’t know – just talking out loud here. But it makes sense to me, if your kids are important to you, then they need a mom and dad that are united, not just for ‘the kids,’ but that are truley one unit, and to me, the only way to accomplish that is to put the marriage ahead of the kids

Adam and I have been so blessed to have some great people pour some great wisdom into our lives, and I hope that when the time comes for us to have a family that we will be able to remember what they have shared with us. And we have menitoned so many times before that divorce is not even an option, it’s just not. And I know that it’s easy to say now, and that more than likely at some point it will be more difficult to keep saying, but that is what we believe. It’s sad that this reality family that has made so much money and fame on TV, and what started as a great idea now shows a family in ruins. I know the Lord can work through any situation and I pray that He will here for sure.

I was reading this morning some people’s advice to this couple, “watch Fireproof – it will save your marriage, get counseling, pray, get divorced it’s over, Kate you should leave him, Jon – way to go! she was mean, etc.” And the truth is that we don’t know the truth about their marriage, I hope that they have people close to them that are speaking truth into their lives, and I pray that if Adam and I ever face rough and difficult times in our future, that we will have people walking beside us who arent’ afraid to speak harsh truth into our lives at that time. This post has been a little random, just some thoughts I wanted to share.