Instead of:

doing laundry
packing
cleaning my car
cleaning in general
packing

for the big move to New Mexico in just 60 hours I am catching up on my favorite blog of maybe all time:

www.fosterhood.tumblr.com

I suggest for everyone in the entire universe check this blog out. Just sayin.

Something I read today...

When you’re holding onto a relationship, it’s usually more about attachment than love. Love wants for the other person’s happiness. Fear wants to hold onto whatever appears to make you happy so you don’t have to feel the alternative.

Still Life

Hair check before going out




Lizard I accidently smashed...



With this door




This mosquito landed on my mouth and I bit it! Ugh.




cheesing at my date.




Our sunset view :)

The Holidays..

Sunday turned into quite a wonderful day.

(Picture to the left is our view of the fireworks off the jetty)

M. and I went to and afternoon BBQ at a friends house. Chicken and Beef Kabobs and the most wonderful angel food cake concoction that I have ever eaten. Then we biked up to the Seawall to watch the fireworks. There were people lined up for miles on the seawall, which is always a nice thing to see (minus the trash they leave behind). Though for a novice bike rider like myself weaving through the people became a little to nerve racking so we took the back roads til we got to where we wanted to be. We ended up less than a block away from where they were setting the fireworks off at the end of the jetty on 37th St. We found a spot amongst the people who were already set up on the beach and waited for the action to start. And it did with a bang. Most of them seemed to go off right over our heads and that night they seemed a little brighter, a little more sparkly, and a little more special. Minus the terrible music that was being played by the dance party bus that was stationed above us on the seawall the sounds of the holiday were pretty nice. The fireworks exploding, the people cheering and oohing, and the waves rolling in. The colors of the people, the lights on the water, and the brillance in the sky. It was sensory overload but in a way that all seemed to come together and work for that moment.

The bike ride home was nice and cool and enjoyable, except for the massive pain in my ass. Both pysically from the bike seat and mentally in the form of Ms lectures on proper biking ettiquette. :)



The 4th tends to be a bittersweet holiday for me. I love to BBQ and spend time with people and watch fireworks, so Independce Day has always been one of my favorite holidays. Growing up my family and close family friends would always spend the day cooking and BBQing, listening to music, and really just enjoying spending the day together outside. My mom and I and maybe one of my brothers would pick up fireworks a few miles up the road since they were illegal inside city limits. She would always spend too much money and always make sure we each got the fireworks that we wanted. I always got sparklers and these little chinese friendship pagodas that my friend Noella and I would set off every year. We would smuggle them back to the island under blankets... covert operation style. We lived at the end of a dirt road that led to about 16 acres on the bay so we could set off whatever we wanted without the worries of being bothered by the law or bothering our "neighbors", since we didnt really have any. As the sun would set my brothers and dad would start to set the fireworks out on our wooden table in order of how they would set them off and get the supplies needed (PVC pipes for launching fireworks and palates for the bottle rockets to sit on). From where we lived we could see both Texas City and Hitchcocks fireworks in the distance and could climb on the roof and watch Galvestons. My friends (usually always Noella) and I would busy ourselves with sparklers, writing our names in the air, and setting off our friendship pagodas, that we would keep until the next 4th. There is a certain burning smell that I always associate with them. And when it was time we would all sit on the porch, facing the bay, the music playing, and watch the fireworks that my dad and brothers set off for us. Our own private show. Surrounded by the people who meant everything in the world to me and place that is unmatched anywhere in this world. I miss it. Every year since we moved 6 years ago. We are all in different places now but I hope that at least for a moment on the 4th we are all remembering how beautiful and truely amazing those Fourth of Julys were.

(The picture to the right is of the house that I grew up in. The porch we would watch the fireworks is on the far left side and extended the length of the house facing the pasture out to Galveston Bay)

He makes me smile.

After an emotionally irritating day my BF (that is both boyfriend and bestfriend)posted this on my facebook:

'Saw this and thought of you: apparently it's from Bob Marley.

"She may not be thinking about you every second of the day, but she will give you a part of her that she knows you can break - her Heart. So don't hurt her, don't change her,don't expect more than she can give. Smile when she makes you happy, let her know when she makes you mad, and miss her when she's not there."'

Made me smile.

Now back to Zombieland...

Dinner #2

'Winter, Spring, Summer or Fall
All you have to do is call.
And I will be there, yes I will.
Cuz youve got a friend.'

Tonight I had a DJ for while I was cooking. My parents got me a record player for Christmas and through some miracle all of our records made it through 'The Storm'.

Note: From here on out in the blog 'The Storm' will always be refering to Hurricane Ike... the sweet ol hurricane that hit my hometown and flooded everything in its path.

So tonights music consisted of some Bill Withers, Blood Sweat and Tears, Carole King, Neil Young, Sly and the Family Stone, The Rolling Stones, and Janis Joplin. Classic Rock is probably my favorite genre of music.. and what the vast majority of the familys record collection consists of.



For dinner tonight I made Chicken and Mushrooms! A recipe I got off of allrecipes.com. I added a few extra ingredients and threw the bad boy into the oven for what felt like eternity. That is my issue with cooking.. im impatient. I cook at temps that are far too hot, so if I dont keep a watchful eye on what I am cooking it will burn in a second.. seriously like one second. Also I Never know when chicken is done baking. It always says when the juices run clear but usually I have added something to it that obscures any chicken juice that might be produced. I always end up cutting into it and 'cooking it for a little bit longer'. Anyway, the verdict on dinner tonight: salty. Which is soo weird because I never salt anything but apparently all my ingredients together made the dish rather salty. Not unbearable, it was mainly just the sauce and the mushrooms so when eating it with a bite of chicken, which wasnt salty, it was pretty tasty. Dont think I will make it like
(this is where I stopped writing because my friend called me because he got pulled over and arrested for unpaid tickets... that whole ordeal was fun.)
SO back to what I was saying.. I dont think I will be making it like that again.
Also it is another bland looking picture.

Well... its late now and Im ready to rest my brain.



Ohh.. I forgot I made some yummy funfetti cake topped with fresh strawberries and sprinkles! That was good.

Countdown has begun...

I leave for New Mexico in 30 days! Im ready to go in the emotional sense but havent packed or planned much at all. I will get on that soon.

Today has been a rainy, cloudy, dreary day.. and I have been loving it. Apparently we are getting the 'outer bands' of the 'dirty side' of Alex. The picture to the right was taken on 69th St. while I was watching the waves roll in. I stopped to watch the pelicans but of course as they flew off as soon as I sat down. It was still pretty awesome out there. Like I said before Im trying to soak up as much of this water as I can before I move to the desert. Im glad I got to see a good storm before I left and it has been a nice reprieve from the heat.

Downside of rain: while trying to hurry out of it last night I skipped the last step on the stairs and busted it. Usually it wouldnt be that big of a deal.. bruises, sore knee, etc. but some how I managed to pull my upper right quad and it hurt/s! Was hoping to get to yoga tonight but dont think Im going to make it. Gonna let my muscle relax a little.. plus I dont want to tell fellow yoga followers how I hurt my thigh.


Had a good night last night with some friends that I havent got to spend much time with lately. It seems we all are moving on to exciting things in the upcoming months. Talk of leaving the island for school and WWOOFing and other opportunities. Then it was on to open mic night at Old Quarter for cheap beers and good live music. (Where the picture to the left was taken.) Note: All this was before I fell. Hoping to spend as much time with these lovely people that I can before we all go our seperate ways.

So ready!..

"If you get up one more time than you fall, you will make it through." ~Chinese Proverb

Information on WWOOFing (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms) can be found here: http://www.wwoof.org/
Its worth checking out!