hello darling, it's been a lonnnng time

Hello to the few folks that read this here blog o' mine.  My last blog post was before Lent.  We made it through all 6 weeks and unfortunately did miss mass once or twice.  Overall, I did get Zack to go to mass more often.  We've found that Saturday night is much more favorable for us.


On April 17th, my cousin Jamie got married.  It was a huge wedding!!  They had about 800 people there.  We had a lot of fun but it was a ton of work.  We had to set up on Thursday then tear down on Sunday.


The week after the wedding, we headed to Lafayette to visit Zack's mom.  The Festival International de Louisiane was that weekend.  It's a fun musical festival that has performers from around the world.  We were worried that the weather was going to be bad but it turned out to be beautiful.  I spent the drive to and from Lafayette with my nose in a book but that's OK.  Zack and Sam spent the entire ride discussing their online gaming.  I love my nerdy husband!


The very next weekend, my cousin Jill had her bachelorette party.  Oh my was that a great time!  Jill was hilarious!  We were at a cool little "Bed and Brew" in Shiner that has a giant bar in the living area.  We enjoyed the fact that Jill's was the last bachelorette party for us...yeah!!  5 weddings and 1 baby in 4 years is crazy!


We stayed at home this past weekend which was heavenly.  I know we should have probably done something for Mother's Day but we just needed a break.


Very soon, we'll be heading out to Montana/Canada for our vacation.  I can't wait!  We haven't taken more than 2-3 days off since we got married.


I'll try to get back to posting more often!  I'll put some wedding pics up but our camera batteries died so I didn't get very many.

Reading Update and Random Thoughts

I realized I haven't posted an update on my reading.  I finished Charlene Harris' Sookie Stackhouse series a few weeks ago.  Reading all nine books in a row was a bit much...I probably should have taken a break in between and read something else.  I read a cheesy romance novel called The Accidental Family.  It was a follow up to a book I haven't read but didn't need to in order to follow the story.  I don't think I'll be running out to get any other books by the author.


Right now, I've started a new series by Jeaniene Frost.  It's another vampire related book.  The main female character is a vampire slayer and she's actually half vampire.  Zack laughs that I'm into the vampire books but they're fun to read.  This new one is really good so far and I'm only 4 chapters into the first book.


I don't have much else to post about.  We've been low key lately because we'll be busy between next weekend and June!


I'm off to the rodeo this Friday with the girls to see Toby Keith.  I've never seen him in concert and don't know much of his newer music.  I've been told he puts on a good show.  The worst part of it all is that I've given up meat and fried food for lent so I have no idea if I'll be able to eat anything while we're there.


Today is a beautiful day in Houston.  I went for an early morning run then did a lot of house work.  I've had the windows open all day!  We've got to soak in this wonderful weather because it will be hot and humid very soon.

Lent 2010

Lent is right around the corner so I've got to decide what I want to give up.  I also want to make a commitment to attend church every Sunday and not skip.  Since it's only 6 weeks, I don't know how that could be an issue.  A big feat would be to get Zack to go along with me.  We'll see...
As far as what to give up, I'd like to go meatless.  I've done it before and it wasn't hard but that was when Zack wasn't eating any meat.  Since he does the majority of the cooking, I'm not sure how this will work out.  I guess I need to discuss this choice with him first!


I hope everyone has a great Lenten season!  

Special Olympics

Every year, we select a group of Special Olympians to do a program at my office called Life and Work Skills.  We teach them about a number of topics - office skills, resume writing, interviewing, budgeting, cooking and several others.  We had our first class at the end of January.  This month, I'll teach an intro class on interviewing skills.  Later this year, I'll teach the cooking class.  We 'cook' without fire so it's fun to come up with recipes.

The kids waiting for class to start.

We played an ice breaker game since it was the first class.  Here Monica (lady in red) is helping one of the students.

Zack's Dad Visits

Zack's dad came to town the weekend of February 5th.  We weren't sure what to do since he hadn't been in town for a long time.  We decided to head out to Katy on Friday to see the Forbidden Gardens.  I had heard that it was a cool place to visit.  I just thought it was ok.  It needs some sprucing up.

Replica of the Chinese terra cotta soldiers.  It's scaled to 1/3 the size of the actual site in China.

Zack and me with the Emperor.

Zack and his dad trying to decide if they want to pose like the statue.

Having some fun in the weapons room.

Replica of the Forbidden City.

On Saturday we headed out to Galveston for the day.  We knew we wanted to see the flight museum which was fun.  I was able to sit on one of the plane's wings.  The pilot was there and said you can buy a ride in that plane.  It's a little pricey and it seems a bit to scary for me.

I'm glad Continental doesn't fly these anymore!

As we were leaving the flight museum, I picked up a newspaper and saw that a Mardi Gras parade was about to start.  So, we headed down to the seawall to see it!  We made it down to 47th street and decided to grab lunch at Casey's.  It was yummy!  The parade hadn't made it down our way when we finished lunch so we headed out on one of the jettys.  It was rather cold out on the water.

  

I'm guessing that Kinky Freidman was the grand marshall of the parade?  He was the first car after the police.

One of the floats.

Another float.  Zack said these were rather small by comparison to New Orleans or Lafayette.  There were also a bunch of high school bands.

After the parade we headed over to Moody Gardens to check out the aquarium.  I've been there before but Zack and Burk had not.

Creepy fish!

Gotta love the penguins!

Don't these make you think of the Little Mermaid?

In the shark cage!

SHARK!

Overall we had a really great visit with Zack's dad.  We're going to go see him in Montana this May/June.  We are very excited about the trip!

Strange Dreams

For the last week, I've been having the most bizarre dreams.  I usually don't remember anything I dream about so it's  really odd.  I'm not sure of the exact days that coincide with each dream but here is a brief review:

- My boss shows up and I get laid off. (This is an actual fear of mine so this dream isn't that far fetched.)

- I have to go back to college for 6 credits so I can graduate.  One of the classes is calculus which the professor tell me on the first day that I'll fail and should drop.  I freak out because I need my degree to work.

- Our house gets broken into (again) but I'm in it while the robbers are there.  I hide under the stairs but somehow the 3 robbers see me and begin the taunt me.  The guys all look like people we'd be friends with. (I woke up before any of them touched me but I never had the feeling that they would.)

- I am out in a pasture and hear the thumping noise of an animal running.  I turn and see a bull running right at me and a few other people.  These people are screaming that the bull had killed someone.  It then runs into Joyce (the mailroom lady at my office).  She is injured but not killed. We find out that the person killed was her sister.  The police and EMS come to help.

These are probably some of the weirdest dreams I've ever had.  I don't get it!  

Looking forward to this year

I'm looking forward to this year because there should be some good things going on.  Very soon my cousin Jenny and hubby Nick will have the first baby for the Migl side of my family.  Everyone, including me, is very excited!  They don't know what they're having so that makes it all the more exciting.  I hope that at some point this year, we'll get pregnant and share in their joy. :-)


In April, my cousin Jamie gets married to Robert.  They just recently received word that his annulment was finalized. Yea!  Heather and Casey had to go through the same thing so I know what a big relief that is for them. I imagine that there wedding will probably be one of the biggest weddings I've ever been too!


Then in May, Zack and I have plans to head to Montana for a week.  His dad lives in Kalispell and we've yet to go visit.  I'm sooo excited about this trip.  We haven't taken much of a vacation since we got married.  All the pictures I've looked at for the area including Glacier National Park are beautiful.  I plan to take a lot of pictures! My only concern are our kitties.  I'm not sure who we'll get to look over them.  I think boarding them would be very traumatic.


The first weekend in June will be my cousin Jill's wedding.  She asked me to step in as a bridesmaid after another girl pulled out.  Her wedding will probably be just as big as Jamie's!  Fun, fun stuff for us!


Ok, so I don't have anything for the rest of the year so I guess my post should have been... Looking forward to the first 6 months of 2010!  Hopefully, I can add a new post in June outlining the rest of the year!
   

Happy 50th Birthday Mom!

January 16th was my Mom's 50th birthday.  Mom, Heather, Barbara, Jamie, Jill, Susana and I went to see A Chorus Line.  We had a great time!  The show was better than I had anticipated.  I had rented the 1985 movie and wasn't very impressed.  Live is the way to go!   

After the show we headed to Vincent's for dinner.  It's an Italian place near downtown.  We were all very happy with our food.  We also had a great waiter which make dining with a group easier.  Barbara made a big chocolate cake.  It was delicious, as are all of her cakes.

Mom blowing out her candles.

We had a great weekend and I think Mom had a happy birthday.

Sookie Stackhouse

I realized that I hadn't posted anything about reading in a while.  Since I got sucked into the vampire craze, I've been reading the Sookie Stackhouse series.  I'm almost done with the 5th book.  This series is more adult (not x-rated) than Twilight.  The HBO television series True Blood is based it.  I haven't watched the show (don't pay for HBO) but plan to get the DVDs from Netflix.

New Year's Eve

Zack and I had a very uneventful New Year's Eve.  We had dinner at JB's Steakhouse then headed to our friend's Ronny and Michelle's house.  Zack was falling asleep by 10pm so we went home.  We rang in the new year asleep in our bed!  We're probably too young for that but oh well!  Maybe this year, we'll make it to midnight.

Christmas 2009

This year has gone by so quickly!  We spent Christmas this year in Sweet Home.  We headed in on Christmas Eve and went to church at 5pm.  Mom really wanted to go to at 10pm but Zack and I didn't want to fall asleep.  Attending church in Sweet Home is probably one of my least favorite things.  I never like the homily or the singing.  It makes me feel bad to dislike mass but I don't know what I could do to enjoy it more.  I guess I need to start focusing on just being there with family.  I like to attend Prince of Peace here in Houston but my all time favorite is St Michael.  We don't ever go there anymore since it's in the Galleria area.

Back to the subject of Christmas in Sweet Home.  On Christmas morning, we got up and headed to Mamo's house for the annual Janak family get together.  This year is probably the last or second to last time we'll attempt this event.  Many of the family members don't attend anymore and we end up with WAY too much food.  Mamo thinks she has to make enough food for 50 people when we only need for 20.  Below is a photo of some of the food.

After we eat, there is always the debate of taking leftovers.  I don't usually want any since everything is loaded with salt and butter.  I did take some fried chicken.  You can't beat my Uncle Ronnie's fried chicken!

We then sat down in the living room so Mamo could open her Christmas gifts.  We gave here a gift certificate to her favorite lunch spot.  Heather got her some gloves that ended up being a little too small.  Jamie gave her some silver shoes.  Apparently, Mamo has been asking for silver shoes to wear to Jamie's wedding.  She was very excited about these shoes!

Christmas night we opened our presents at Mom and Dad's house.  It was great!  Zack gave me a beautiful pair of pearl earrings and a cross necklace.    I had mentioned probably 6-9 months ago that I'd like a pair of pearl earring and he remembered.  I have a great husband!  He also gave me a sweater and Star Trek DVD.  I got Christmas dishes from Mom and Dad.  They are so cute!  Heather & Casey gave me an iTunes gift card and Russ gave me the Twilight series.

A platter showing my cute Christmas dish design.

Not the greatest pic but I had my new earrings on.

Zack didn't get anything too lavish since he got the piano not to long ago.  I gave him a few sweaters and DVDs.  Mom and Dad gave him a pocket knife, travel case for the piano and an espresso maker (not the super fancy Williams Sonoma kind).

Book from Zack's mom.

I usually try to buy a funny or 'inside joke' gift for Zack.  I bought a Slap Chop for him because we joke about it and there is a cool video that a DJ remixed of the infomercial.  When he finished opening it, he laughed.   He then handed me my next gift to open.  I torn the paper and found a Slap Chop!  We all got a great laugh out of it.  I said that it shows that we know how each other think!

Zack opening his Slap Chop!

On Saturday, we headed to Gonzales to spend time with Mimi and Papa.  Nothing too exciting at their house.  I forgot to bring in my camera so I have no pictures.  It's nice to see some of my cousins.  They are little kids that are fun!

Zack and I heading home on Saturday evening.  We were planning on staying Saturday night but decided that avoiding the Sunday traffic would be great.

Overall, we had a great Christmas!  Next year, we'll spend it with Zack's family.  Maybe we'll have it at our house.