Yay for BSF!

BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) is BACK! We are studying Isaiah this year. So excited! It is such a privilege to study the Word of God with so many women eager to know God in a deeper way and desiring a more vibrant relationship with Him!

And the best part about it....

Natalia gets to come along with me!!!! Yay! You don't understand, you see, I moved to the night class several years ago in hopes that my kids could go with me once they were in First Grade. Well...until this year, Natalia's level has not been open, but this year IT IS! It's wonderful. It's great! That's what I've been wanting...but, one small problem. She has soccer practice on Monday nights from 6 to 7. BSF begins at 6:55. What to do, what to do. I've been praying, thinking, justifying....and all those things you do before you make a decision.

Dave and I have decided that studying the Word of God has more eternal value, therefore, Natalia will be leaving soccer practice just a few minutes earlier (even if the coach doesn't like it very much) so that she can go to BSF and study Isaiah. ~We've had decided to put God first. "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." -Matthew 6:33

Natalia will be learning so much! She will be memorizing one verse a week, will learn and sing hymns, will share with her small group the answers to her daily Bible study questions and finally, will be learning how to do homiletics! Amazing, absolutely amazing.

What a blessing to study the Word of God along with my daughter! I know it will not be easy, oh...but so worth it!

A Wonderful Mother's Day

What a much needed fun and relaxing day I had. Perfect way to celebrate Mother's Day. Woke up to Dave and the kids preparing breakfast. They made the most delicious pancakes I've ever had, scrambled eggs, chocolate covered strawberries and Natalia prepared my favorite cup of coffee.

Immediately after, the kids presented me with gifts. Natalia gave me some bath salt she made in her science class and Carson made me a paper flower arrangement along with a sweet card.

The night before Mother's Day, Natalia and Dave were plotting...

Come to find out, this is what they were talking about...

Aww, how thoughtful! My own homemade Kindle! Natalia was able to keep the secret, whereas Carson...well, let's just say he has to earn his way back into Daddy's circle of trust!

But, guess what!? Later that morning, before church, I found a real Kindle under my pillow. I couldn't believe it!!! In reality, this is my Valentine's Day, Mother's Day and Birthday gift. Apparently, the kids didn't know about this surprise (you know, can't really keep a secret just yet). So, I asked them all to sit on the couch because I wanted to read to them from my "Kindle". I wish I would have taken a picture of Natalia's face when she saw the "real" Kindle for the first time. She could not believe that I actually had a "real" Kindle in my hands! She could not even talk. She was so surprised. Needless to say, I have not been able to use it yet. She got to download the very first book and read it all day long.

After church, we went to Papaw and Grannie's house for lunch and then we got to relax at home and at the bookstore before we went for a special dinner at Carrabba's!

Farewell

Today is my last day as a property manager of One Technology Center and the Aztec Theater Building for Kennedy Wilson Property Management! It was such a blessing to be able to come back to my old job. I was able to work, once again, with my friends and co-workers from many years ago. They all were very helpful and supportive through out my time here. My boss, who offices in Austin, was wonderful to work for too. I'm really going to miss them all.

I'm glad though for the opportunity that God is giving me to be able to be a stay-at-home mom again. Even though these 3 little humans can drive me crazy, all the time, I wouldn't change it for the world! I love all the kisses, hugs and smiles I receive from them through out the day. It fills my heart!

Sometime today, right after work, we will be heading to Beaumont. I can't wait to be a family again and actually be able to see Dave on a daily basis. You can't even imagine what I'm going home to though. Lots and lots of boxes to unpack!!! And no internet. Yup, you read that right. NO INTERNET (what is a blogger to do without internet?) So, who knows when I'll be able to blog again. I have lots to do when I get to Beaumont. I have boxes to unpack, get last minute school supplies for Natalia, soccer practices for Natalia and Carson, and so much more. Oh yea, and in the middle of all that chaos, I have to find time to sleep too. Anyway, so keep checking in though because when I am able to blog again, I WILL blog. So just get ready....

I would appreciate any prayers in the mean time :0) !

Confession

As you already may know, tomorrow is my last day at work. I'll miss a few things about work. One thing I will really, really miss is Lunch Time! I love going out to eat with friends. I also love eating lunch alone, with a good book to read (pretty much, the only time I have to read). I just love eating out. I really, really do. I did bring my lunch from home, every once in a while, but I also did my share of eating out!

I know, I know, I know, I can still eat Chick-fil-A when I get to Beaumont, but Chick-fil-A doesn't taste the same when you have three screaming kids in the back seat. Trust me, I know.

I love Papouli's gyros!


Oh, I'll miss EZ's Fajita Chicken Pizza, their onion rings and their fires. And their Basil Chicken Pasta too. ~Oh, so good!


Freebirds! What else can I say, I love those burritos!


Cosi has the best salad! I love their Signature Salad (mixed greens tossed with red grapes, pears, pistachios, dried cranberries and gorgonzola. Tossed with shallot sherry vinaigrette.) I love their Flatbread Pizzas too!



Now...these are only a few places I LOVE to go for lunch. There are several others, but I'll just stop there :0) .

Unbelievable!

My alarm went off at 4:00 this morning, as it normally does, but today I decided I needed a little more sleep. So, I pushed the snooze button and went back to sleep. At 5:00 a.m., Dave woke me up. I didn't know I had slept that long. I jumped out of bed and instead of going out for a run, I got ready for work and headed out the door to AT&T. You might be asking yourself, "why so early?" Well, today is the day! Today is when the iPhone goes on sale.

We have been waiting for this day for so long. We wanted to make sure we were one of the first ones there so that we wouldn't have to wait in long lines. I took "World Without End" (which by the way, is a great book) with me, to read while waiting for AT&T to open. Dave brought me a breakfast taco and a drink from Taco Cabana at about 7:30 a.m. Anticipation was building up. We were all getting a little anxious. It was 7:45 a.m. when everybody started to stand up to get ready for the doors to open. I had to go to work, so I left, while Dave waited to get our iPhones.

Finally, at approximately 8:15 a.m., it was Dave's turn to walk through the front doors. The first words out of his mouth were, "Yes, I'm here to look at your new Razr." The salesman just stared at him. I guess, he didn't think Dave was funny :0) - "I'm just kiddin'," Dave said, "I'm here to buy a black 16 gig iPhone." "We just ran out of black 16 gig iPhones," the AT&T salesman said. And he was serious, very serious!

Can you believe it? Fifteen minutes after opening their doors, they were sold out of black 16 gig iPhones! How is that possible? After all that waiting we were not able to get our iPhones today. I can't believe it!

Almost...

Okay, so maybe you were one of those wondering why I was so excited about the WWDC08 being here already. Well you see, I lost my personal cell phone back in March. All I have now is the company's cell phone. Dave and I didn't want to buy new cell phones because we knew that Apple was going to be upgrading the first generation iphone. So...we have been patiently waiting all these months for this keynote address!

Guess who is going to be camping out on July 11th in order to get our iphones? --Hmm yea, that will have to be Dave.

100th Post! No Better Way to Celebrate...

Ah...we've been waiting for this Worldwide Developers Conference for so long! - I can't believe it's finally here.

No More, No More, No More

                                          

Today is "National Donut Day"!  I didn't even know there was such as thing.  Well, I've been listening to the radio and they keep talking about how bad donuts are for you.  I guess I knew that, but I was trying to ignore the facts in order to be able to enjoy them :0).  I really thing my donut days are over.  That means, no more "Saturday Morning Tradition"!

So...if you see me with a donut in my hand, just remind me about this post! (Don't these look great? - I will miss them...)

I'm So In!

Okay, so I did it! I just signed up to run the W4 -WIMBERLEY FOUR. I'll be running a scenic 4 mile run by the river and through the village of Wimberly this Saturday. They are calling it a "TREAT"! I'm going to "have the chance to run along some of the most scenic stretches of this hidden, Hill Country gem." --Yea, we'll see.

What a day...

Today, things were a little bit different at work.  Once a year, a vendor invites all the property managers from San Antonio, Houston and Austin to her house.  She provides us with yummy food, drinks, desserts, massages, pedicures and facials.  Talking about relaxing...She has a beautiful house in the middle of no where.  All you can see from her living room are horses, cows, longhorns and lots of trees.  Oh, this day, I wish it would've gone a lot slower.  I really enjoyed my day out in the country (I can't believe I forgot to take pictures).  

After that pampering, we stopped by supposedly the best BBQ place in this area.  It really didn't look very promising from the outside, but you can never judge a book by it's cover.  So, we decided to stop and give it a try.  I'm so glad we did - it was very good.  Dave even claims it being better than Rudy's. 

Oh what a wonderful day I had!

Guilty Conscience

Okay, so I was already feeling a little guilty, but I decided to do it anyway. I went through my purse and after a while I finally found enough change to get some M&M's. I'm still trying to decide if this is a good choice or not, knowing very well what the answer to this question was. Finally, I decided that after having the kind of day that I'm having, M&M's might help me feel a little better. So, I put the coins in the slot. I can already taste them. I press E6, and don't you know...they get stuck! I guess I was not supposed to eat them afterall. I didn't even get mad. I just took it as a sign.

Gaining weight wasn't enough for me to get motivated!

After nagging for so long, Dave finally gave in. Last Sunday while in Beaumont, Dave and I went to pick up a few things to get me motivated enough to start waking up at 4:45 a.m. to jog. After we spent all that money on some clothes, a nano and a watch, Dave said: "All right, no more excuses, I'll call you tomorrow to see how your first jog went." Well, he called Monday and I had to fess up to the fact that I didn't jog. In my defense, I didn't jog because, according to the Running Program I'm following, Monday's are my days off (along with Wednesdays AND Fridays.) Hey, it's not a bad little deal I've got going here. If you are interested, let me know and I'll hook you up with the training program I'm using :0). All this to say, I've ran twice this week! After spending all that money, I hope I can stick with this "I want to start running again like I used to" kick I've been in for a while now.

Aztec Building

In addition to One Technology Center, I will also be managing the Aztec Building.  Today, I went to meet the tenants at the Aztec Building.  It is a beautiful old building built in 1926.  The building definitely needs a lot of TLC but it has so much character, which I just love.  On the first floor, it has a theater that has been recently renovated, which by the way, looks extraordinary.  The owner is a baron from Belgium. - I just think that is so cool.

   

All Mine...to manage!

One Technology Center is the name of the 15- story high building I manage. Some of the tenants are VA, BSG, The Hartford and others. My first day back at work, which was Tuesday, I had a meeting with the asset manager (my boss whose office is in Austin, TX :0)), along with the two leasing agents, the property accountant and the two building engineers. I was thinking it was only going to be a two hour meeting, at the most, but no....it lasted until 4:00 p.m. As you can imagine, after the meeting, I had a long list of things to do. Overall, it has been fun going back to work. Very busy and a lot of meetings, but fun. Today, we had a lunch meeting at the Cheesecake Factory. Now tell me, how bad can that be.

Courtesy of Grannie

Thanks to Grannie, I looked like this on my first day of work.  Last Saturday, Grannie decided to take me out shopping.  I mean SHOPPING!  We started at Dillard's where they gave me a facial and applied my make up.  And of course, Grannie bought me all that facial cleaning stuff plus all the make up to go with it.  Then we went to Express and got this outfit you see in this picture plus some other blouses.  Finally we went back to Dillard's and Grannie bought me this purse, which I just love.  --Thank you Grannie!