What's going on with Brian & Catherine

A great week has come and gone

2009-11-02T08:22:00.003-07:00

What a sweet time this past week has been. I was a little worried about keeping myself entertained since Brian was still in Europe with Sydne but it all worked itself out. At the beginning of the week, I stayed pretty busy trying to get school work out of the way, cleaning the house and packing for Las Vegas. On Wednesday is when all of the excitement began. My teammates, Mary Melich, Michelle Stribling and I boarded a plane for Vegas. The flight was very bumpy due to windy skies but we all arrived safely. All of the teams connected at the Apollo College Las Vegas campus to begin our conference. That evening I got a text msg from Chez letting me know that she was wanting to take advantage of the 72 hr sale that SW Airlines was putting on and plan a trip out to Tucson. Since I did not have email I just told her to book any weekend in January and that would work just fine. During this same chunk of time, Chez and Elizabeth connected with each other, Chez told Liz where she was going and Liz booked a ticket too!!!!

Thursday night was also our awards ceremony. Michelle won Team Play of the Year, Mary won Presenter with the most Success, I won Newcomer of the Year and we all won Campus of the Year!!!!!!! All of our hard work over the past year has definitely paid off!

After the conference ended on Friday I was picked up but my cousin Caren and 2nd cousin Bridget. We spent the rest of Friday bonding with family, walking around Caesars Palace, eating a delicious meal together and watching some old home movies from 16+ yrs ago. It was a sweet evening of just getting to catch up.

On Saturday morning we tagged along with Bridget to a Halloween 5K that she had planned to run. Bridget ran with her sisters, Christine and Jaime and Caren & I kept each other company.

After the 5K we went back to the house, had a yummy homemade breakfast, drank lots of coffee and then headed out to a shooting range in Boulder City. Jay brought along all of his guns and let Bridget and I have a go at all of them. It was so invigorating!! :)

Adam came and picked me up that afternoon, took me to meet his girlfriend (I approve), went to REI to buy Brian another pair of Reefs since his cratered a few weeks ago and then dropped me off at the airport.

Brian returned home last night. There was seem issues with the luggage carrier so we left Phoenix for home more than an hour after we should have. We safely made it home about 10:30 pm. I am so thankful he is home!!!

U2 Concert

2009-10-24T10:33:00.004-07:00

Brian, Bill & Kim Dycus and I went to the U2 concert last week at the AZ Cardinals football stadium. It took about 4 hours to get there (it should have only taken 2 1/2) but the traffic was so bad. We got there in time to see the last Black Eyed Peas song performed. The concert was very good. I was surprised how many of the songs I recognized or could hum along to. Brian and I didn't end up getting home until after 3 in the morning and I had to be at work by 8 AM. That was not a fun day.

On Thursday, I left work early to take Brian to the Phoenix airport. He got on a plane that evening to head to England to see Sydne. He is now in Barcelona for two days and then will travel to Marrakesh, Morocco to spend a couple of days there.

I am enjoying the house to myself for a few days and then I head for Las Vegas for a work conference. Here are some pictures from the U2 concert...

Happy Anniversary

2009-10-19T08:48:00.002-07:00

Brian and I celebrated one year of marriage on October 18th. It is hard to believe how quickly the past year has flown by. It does not feel like it has been a year since we last saw so many of our friends. We are so thankful for all the blessings we have had and look so forward to what the Lord has in store for us and our family.

We spent Sunday like we do most Sundays. We went to church, Brian had to go show some houses, we watched a movie (The Incredible Hulk...it was actually pretty good), and made a yummy dinner. Brian grilled fresh salmon, I baked some chicken and made some yummy veggies that Brian will eat.

All in all it was a great relaxing day. We enjoyed all the phone calls and getting to catch up with different family members. I missed all my sweet friends at ACU homecoming as well. I (not really we) wished I could have been there.

>

One year down...

2009-10-17T17:56:00.002-07:00

...and many many more to go!

As of Sunday afternoon Brian and I will have been married one year! What a ride it has been so far.

I began a new job that I love.
Brian went off on his own to be his own Real Estate agent and has been uber successful.
I learned how to snowboard in Canada.
We have paid off all of our credit card debt.
We found a church that we love and Brian is now on their Board of Directors.

We are so thankful for the past year of our life together and look forward to so many more. Thank you so much for all of your love, support and prayers through this journey!

Happy Anniversary!

A month later...

2009-09-10T19:32:00.005-07:00

So, I guess I don't have a lot of exciting things going on so I am down to posting about once a month.

Today is Brian's 27th birthday. I am so thankful to have him in my life and to be a part of his. We have celebrated many birthdays together but this is the first as a married couple. Brian got glasses for his birthday. I know that is very exciting. He has been without them for over a year because I allegedly broke his old ones. I, however, do not recall that occurring.

Brian didn't really want anything extra and I am not creative enough to think of something else to get him. He is also on his way to Washington to spend the rest of the week and weekend with the Wick family for the grandparents 60th wedding anniversary. I wished I could be there but alas, I get to work instead!

When I got home from work this evening I was surprised to find a sweet note on the chalk board and flowers from Brian. The thought that pops into my head is that this is Brian's birthday and he got me flowers! Ladies, I'm sorry, I know you think you have the best husband...but you're wrong. So, thanks for trying! :)

I did try to make the recipe for palachinki Valerie gave me. She made it and put some nice pictures up n her blog. I followed the recipe. It made 5. The first I burned. The 2-4 all ripped in half when I tried to flip them and the last one looked pretty...but just like a pancake...not palachinki.

Brian and tried one with some nutella and melted margarine and it tasted not very good. I have no idea what I did wrong but we ended up throwing them all out and going to Paradise Bakery instead.

That's what has been going on with The Wicks!

Veeves & Baklava

2009-08-15T10:58:00.004-07:00

I got to talk with Veeves for about 3 hours this morning (her evening). It was wonderful. She called at 6:54 am Tucson time and I called her back about 7:30...it is now 11 am. So much for finishing my paper this morning. However, I am 100% NOT complaining and am so thankful we finally got to catch up. At the beginning of our conversation I mentioned that I had already bought all the ingredients for baklava so she just walked we through how to do it over the phone. It was so easy. I also started, finished and put away a load of laundry while we were on the phone, washed my bed sheets and made my bed. It was great!
Here is what it looked like right out of the oven.
'
A view from above

All the yummy layers!

Brian and I both had a piece and were really impressed. As I was taking a bit Veeves said, "You know what would be so good with that." I cut her off, "A scoop of Blue Bell ice cream". "That is exactly what I was thinking!" Veeves said...she didn't even call me Uncle Lindel for cutting her off! :)

I don't know if I shared this already but I thought it was just too pretty not to take a picture! I like to make things from scratch when I can and have the time. Since Brian and I are trying to somewhat watch what we eat it is hard to justify buying or ordering alfredo knowing that cream sauce is not the best thing for your body. However, I was craving fettucini alfredo so I went looking online at allrecipes.com to see if I could find anything decent. I found a great recipe that had almost 500 reviews and a rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars. With all the cheeses and dairy that the recipe called for I used fat-free or skim instead and used the Brummel & Braun cream spread instead of sticks of butter. We didn't have fettucini noodles either so I just used the pasta I had on hand which added a nice color to it and instead of chicken we used crab & shrimp.

I was pretty impressed with myself and Brian liked it too! That always helps! :)

San Diego pictures

2009-08-11T07:37:00.006-07:00

Sandy, Lyndsey & Heather on one of the back porches. This compound was amazing!

Lyndsey "the birthday girl" and Heather "the bride"

Nate & Sandy Parde, Lyndsey and my San Diego hosts! Thank you guys SOOO much!

The gang socializing

Lyndsey's birthday cake!
This really was one of the sweetest moments of the evening. The party was for Matt & Heather however they went and got a birthday cake to also celebrate Lyndsey's birthday!! Those are good friends I tell you!

Heather & Lyndsey with the birthday cake!

Lyndsey and Heather took the fancy rings of the cake and wore them proudly for the rest of the night!

The sisters!

San Diego

2009-08-10T13:24:00.003-07:00

I had a great weekend...after entirely too many border patrol stops! I headed out to visit Lyndsey for a super quick fabulous 30th birthday celebration! She was in San Diego celebrating her friends, Matt & Heather, 3.5 wedding party. They were married in NY back in November but have had parties in Long Island and San Diego so the families could celebrate too! Since Lyndsey was the maid of honor and best man in the wedding she has been invited to all the parties.

The drive was only 6 hours and actually quite enjoyable with just me, Brian's GPS and a good couple books on tape (my iPod). We had a great time with all of Matt's side of the family and friends and then went and had mexican food for her birthday. The sweetest part of the day though was when Matt & Heather brought out a birthday cake for Lyndsey during their wedding party! That screams AMAZING FRIENDSHIPS!!

Lyndsey and I spent the night at Nate & Sandy Parde's super cute house and then I headed back home on Sunday morning. I wished I could have stayed longer but I accomplished what I had set out to do!

Happy 30th Lyndsey!!

It's Saturday!

2009-08-01T07:27:00.002-07:00

Finally! Work has been going very well but I just have not been feeling very well which has worn me out. I wished I had some exciting stories...but alas, welcome to the wonderful life of living in Tucson.

I have another big paper coming up for school so I will be working on that this weekend.

My friend Shannon will be turning 25 on Sunday so we went to Ra for sushi last night. That was delicious and a lot of fun because Dave (good friend to us all) was able to hang out for a while and Gavin & Veronica (Brian's cousin & gf) met up with us too! We went with them for gelato afterward! YUMMY!

I am really sad to be missing my friends Shep and Tabitha wedding next weekend. I know it will be beautiful but plane tickets are not my friend right now as they seem to be cheap most places but Tucson to Dallas on AA.

Brian is playing racketball with Dave now so I just got done bleaching the shower and the toilets. You might think that everything is spotless now but remember the house is old with a lot of its original parts and we live in the desert which means DIRT!!! EVERYWHERE! All the time!

Love your guts!

Oh, and for VEEVES & LYNDZ: I LOVE LOVE LOVE the Legally Blonde musical soundtrack! It is what I listen to every time I set at my computer!! It's so much fun! Now, I just need to get out to NY again so I can see it...and catch Wicked one more time! :)

Heee's Baaaack!

2009-07-21T08:29:00.002-07:00

Harry the Javelina is back! Brian was working and Harry stopped by the say hi. Well not really...he just eats. All of the wildlife is a nice change up for Brian while he's working and staring out the window.

I really wished we had more exciting news to share with you. We are like the people who have kids and that is all they have to talk about...exact it's all about the wild animals. I am staying busy between work and school and trying to figure out future travel plans. Brian is swamped with work. Aren't we exciting!!

I did get to talk with my sweet friend Chez yesterday for a brief moment. She is in Austin busy with work, a puppy and being a wife. I am so thankful that I have the best friends in the world who I may not get to talk to for two months at a time but when we finally connect it feels like there is no space nor distance between use. Man, I love that girl! Thanks Chez for continuing to be one of my favorite friends!

the snake

2009-07-19T16:26:00.002-07:00

Brian has a great view from his office. He saw this little guy (as in over 4 ft long and 3 inches in diameter) slithering around in front of his office.

Last night we had a church picnic. I had volunteered to bring turkey burgers, all the condiments and a dessert. I had not thought about it being 4 pm on a saturday afternoon in the middle of July in TUCSON!!! It was 108 degrees...Brian was not a happy camper. We stayed for about an hour and then left...too hot. We came home, took a quick shower and then went up to the movie theater to see Harry Potter!!

I really enjoyed it. Brian was a little bummed because so much detail from the book was left out.

That's all I've got for now!

Veeves loves bug spray...I just try to avoid the bugs...

2009-07-08T09:31:00.004-07:00

With the monsoons rolling through bugs are coming out to play in full force. Last night we were cleaning out Brian's car and the june bugs were every where. They kept flying in my hair and running into my leg. Dingy creatures really! We also have had some new visitors.
The Palo Verde beetle

And are good friend the trantula

They don't really bother us but they are big, nasty and I don't want them to touch me. We went to bed around 10:15 pm last night and I woke up at 10:56 pm (I looked at the alarm clock) screaming. Like seriously, jumped out of the bed, startled Brian screaming. I had a VIVID dream that there was a trantula crawling on our bed right by my face. It was entirely too real of a dream. Brian and I moved all the covered, he looked under the bed, then he laughed at me...go figure. That was a crazy moment.

Lyndsey found a job prospect in Tucson. The U of A has a position available in the theater department. She hasn't applied for it yet nor has she spoken with anyone on at the University...but wouldn't that be CRAZY if she got a job in Tucson. I thought that was pretty exciting!

Brian and I are planning a trip to go visit Veeves in October or November of 2010! I have a year-ish to start saving my pennies! I can't wait!!!!

Here is a fabulous picture of Brian and I having way too much fun with the camera during our 4th of July Extravaganza at the Dycus family home!!

A quick little update

2009-06-14T15:37:00.002-07:00

1) I just completed my final for class #1 of my MBA program...only 18 more to go! Yeah! :)

2) I finished my paper yesterday. I kept asking Brian to read to for me for any thoughts or advice but that never happened. I turned it in this morning and hopefully I will know by tomorrow how I did!

3) This morning when I was walking into the bathroom I noticed a bird acting oddly outside. Brian went outside and picked it up, its wing was broken so was hopping around, then placed it on a tree. It was a wood pecker so hopefully it will peck its way to its final resting place.

4) Catherine: I feel sorry for the bird. But it's wild and I'm not going to pay for a vet bill.
Brian: Yep, at least Harry the Javelina will have dinner if he comes back.

5) I finally had my 90 Day Review at work last week. Yes, I was hired in January...it was only 2 monthly delayed!

6) I got to talk with Valerie on Skype again. I always love getting to see that girls face! Now only if the rest of my family would get on so we could talk 'face to face'...instead of the 'normal' places mom and I always talk...you know what I talking about Vic!

7) I guess Brian and I are now officially a married couple. No anulment jokes anymore because I can now take all of "his" money with me! Just kidding...but really, we did finally get a joint account yesterday at Wells Fargo. Since we both already had accounts we were able to merge all of his things over and blend them in with mine. It was painless! Now, Brian is waiting on a new debit card so is out of money for a week and I am the official bill payer and checkbook keeper of ALL bills that come to our house. This was pretty exciting because we have been talking about this since before the actual wedding day. We are both thrilled to continue to be checking things off our financial to do list. Hopefully within the next few months we will be completely credit card debit free too!! What a bless!!

Love you guys!

The pictures from the last post

2009-06-05T15:11:00.006-07:00

Scroll down to the last post to read the stories...here are the pictures!

The picture below is the javelina giving itself a dirt bath. He layed down and started kicking dirt up all over himself. I hope to feels so fresh and so clean clean now

The picture below is when Brian is standing by the carport yelling at it trying to get its attention and it just keeps walking.

The baby baby bunny!

2 bigger bunnies...I hope these are the baby baby bunnies parents because we only see him by himself...hummm.

See, I promised we really did see a javelina in our yard and now you hopefully believe me! Happy Friday.

The javelina in our front yard

2009-06-04T08:22:00.002-07:00

Just to begin, for those of you who have no idea what a javelina is. Go here to learn a little more.

Two days ago, Brian called me while I was at work. There was a javelina right our front of his home office window. We get a lot of wildlife at our house but we have never had a javelina before. He was walking around and giving himself a dirt bath right where we normally watch the baby baby bunny (like 8 inches long baby baby) and all the pretty birds. Brian took some great pictures but I have not been able to load them to a computer since my laptop crashed on Monday. Don't worry, it is in route to dad so he can save the day again!

Brian even went outside by the car port and yelled at it to try to get it to look at him. He just kept walking on this merry way. Normally when we see javelina out we see them in packs so we are wondering if he is just looking for his final resting place or something of the sorts.

Yesterday when I drove home, Brian was standing outside looking out into the desert. I stopped the car and got out. The javelina was wondering around our back yard again. I grabbed the camera to try to snap a photo but when I walked around some brush the javelina had stopped and was starring right at me. I panicked, jumped back in my car, parked it and then ran into the house. Javelinas are not known for being friendly creatures.

I will post pictures of what Brian took as soon as I can. The blessings of the desert! YEAH!!

My cousin Mike!

2009-05-30T17:21:00.006-07:00

I love my cousins! Every single one of them. I think we all have been pretty lucky to grow up together relatively close. Our family (on both sides) is big into holidays and gathering everyone together. I love this about my family though it is sad now that the kids are all older and living further away from each other. I am in Arizona, Lyndsey is in New York, Valerie is in Bulgaria, Sam & fam are in Virginia, Mike is in Indiana, Andy & Julie are in Abilene, Lisa is in Arkansas, Cindy in CA, Sheri & Caren in Vegas, Holly (where are y'all now?) and Matt is in Houston....everyone else is pretty much in Dallas still...I'm jealous! :)

Mike and his girlfriend Carol Ann came to Scottsdale for a nice little vacation a couple weeks ago. I had no idea that they were here at the time they came..which is fine since it was their vacation and all! :)

On Tuesday, May 12, all that changed. Mike & Carol Ann were on a nice little hike on Camelback Mountain. Carol Ann decided she was done for the day and Mike kept hiking. During his hike he lost his footing while he was going around the face of the mountain and started to fall down the mountain. His foot stopped him from continuing to skid down the mountain but he was seriously injured in the fall. News stories are here, here, and here.

I was able to drive up there on the 13th to visit him for a brief moment. He was on a lot of pain medication and at that point the doctors had no idea what his outcome would be. Thank the Lord he was discharged from the hospital two days ago. He has had to have multiple hyperbolic chamber treatments, surgeries and a lot has been in extreme pain.

I drove to Scottsdale last night right after work to meet up with Aunt Jan, Carol Ann and Mike for dinner before they all headed back for the prospective homes today and tomorrow. Mike was feeling well enough to get out of the hotel for a little while and go to dinner. We went to a super nice sushi restaurant in Scottsdale.

We shared a lot of sushi and a ton of sweet conversation. Jan and I both loved getting to watch Mike and how much he cherishes Carol Ann. I really enjoyed getting to catch up with Mike and get to know Carol Ann better! Here are some pictures from dinner last night.

After dinner we dropped Mike off at the hotel so he could settle in for the night. Carol Ann drove Jan back to her hotel and then we went to Walgreens to buy Mike for bandages for his foot. When we got back to the hotel Mike had his boot off and I got to see his ankle with all the swelling, bruising, healing skin and scaring. So exciting. I know I was a little tacky about seeing it but he let me take pictures to share with my mom and the fam.

Now, the interesting thing about Mike and Carol Ann both is that they are both doctors. So, when you ask them questions about the injury they are both very technical. Dinner last night so funny when Mike started taking about nueropathic injuries and medications taken. It was a little over my head but I smiled and nodded. I got to see the x-rays too (when I was at the hospital the first time I visited). Apparently, the surgeon was quite surprised when he opened up his ankle and could not find any reminisce of ligaments, tendons or nerves. It was so badly damaged. He has gained some feeling back in his foot but it is definitely not back to 100%.

I am so thankful for family. I am so thankful that I was able to see Mike and give him a hug. No matter the age difference or distance of any of my cousins, I love them so much and cherish any moment I can spend with them. As I told Mike more than once, "Man, I don't care. I'll take you however I can get you!"

Lastly, this morning right before Jan drove to Tucson on her way back to Houston, I saw the baby quail again. You can see the babies a little better than the last pictures I posted.

San Xavier Mission and Tubac

2009-05-25T20:49:00.009-07:00

On Memorial Day we decided to do some tourist activities and go check out the San Xavier Mission. It is only 30 minutes from our house. The mission is over 250 years old. It is pretty neat to think that some of the settlements around Arizona are older than the United States.

Brian & Catherine walking towards to mission

Sara Mom, Catherine, Brian

San Xavier Mission. It is going through some renovations so you can see some color variations from the left to the right of the building.

Inside the church. It is quite small but is facinating to see. They are renovating the paints inside too.

The dome...it was so pretty!

The view from the museum.

Tubac:
After we left the mission we drove out to Tubac. Tubac was established in 1752 as a Spanish presidio (fort). There is a historic state park and and a lot of fun shops! Brian didn't over love it but Sara and I enjoyed looking around! We all refrained from buying things! Good job us!!

All in all we had a great weekend. The last night in town we went to Bluepoint at La Encantada. Gavin (Brian's cousin/Sara's nephew) and his girlfriend, Veronica, met us for dinner on the patio! We all had great seafood and even better company!

Here are the baby quail in my back yard!

Happy Memorial Day Eve, part 02

2009-05-25T20:30:00.009-07:00

I really don't have new things to share...just wanted to add the pictures that Sara took from last night!

Sara took these pictures of the cactus from our front and back yard

Patrick smiling

Brian being as handsome as always!

Patrick & Kate

Brian & Catherine

Brian & Catherine getting the lobster ready for dinner. Please take note of the fabulous apron Sara made for me!

Goofing around playing 8, 7, 6. We couldn't stop laughing when we got down to 1. We took the pictures, looked at them and then realized we all had just cheated by accidentally looking at our cards through the picture! So much fun!!!
Brian trying to be nice to me after I beat him! Just kidding...we were just playing around! Isn't he great!

Happy Memorial Day Eve

2009-05-25T08:54:00.009-07:00

Brian's mom, Sara, has been in town since Friday. It has been great having her in town! It has been a leisure visit which I think we all have enjoyed...no running around every where. Last night we invited Patrick and Kate (and their dogs, Duke & Dakota) over for dinner. We had a delicious fruit salad that Sara made, lobster, shrimp, bbq chicken and BLUEBELL ICE CREAM!!! :)
Kate & Sara hanging out in the kitchen

Duke & Dakota

Brian & Patrick chilling outside

Dakota

Brian with my camera

Trying to get Patrick to smile...

Still trying

So Patrick really wanted a grapefruit...though we were about to have dinner. Notice Dakota hiding under the bench just hoping Patrick drops something. It was so funny!

After Patrick & Kate left we pulled out the cards and started playing 8, 7, 6. I won the first round and Sara one the second! About half way through the second game we heard banging outside. We all got up from our seats and headed out side where we saw fireworks from one of the near-by resorts.

It was such a great night. We all had so much fun enjoying a great meal and each others company! What a blessing friends and family are!

Bridgeport + Balloons = very scared puppy

2009-05-20T13:33:00.007-07:00

Bridgeport is Philips dog. She is part Pit Bull and part Jack Russell Terrier. Though that sounds like a scary dog she really is a big sweety. Well, after Valerie's going away party we had a bundle of balloons left over that had a clip attached to it. Philip took the bundle out of the 'burb and thought it would be cute to attach it to Bridgeport's harness. She immediately hits the ground.
Philip is comforting her...

Look at those sweet scared eyes...she would look up and then look down at us that just screamed, "WHAT IS GOING ON! I DO NOT LIKE THIS!!"

Then we clipped it on Bagel...interested for about 2 seconds...

And was immediately interested in something else other than any of the people around here. I don't think she really likes anyone but her self anymore. She even bullies Bridgeport around. It is pretty amazing to watch.

For instance, this massive bone was a gift from Philip to Bridgeport. Bagel decided quite quickly that she deserves it more...

...and now it is all hers!

Breanna & Sean's wedding

2009-05-19T09:11:00.008-07:00

My sweet childhood friend Breanna (Orr) married her fabulous long-time boyfriend, Sean Neal this past Saturday in Dallas. It was a lovely outdoor wedding at a friends home. It had rained all day long but cleared up right before the wedding and ended up being a wonderful evening!

The location of the wedding. A beautiful home

Brianna, Cat & Sean

Rachel (and a baby!!), Cat & Paula

Yummy cake

The proud parents

2009-05-19T08:47:00.004-07:00

Here are some pictures from Valerie's Going Away Party...

Breanna & Sean's wedding and Bridgeport + balloons = very scared dog coming soon

Pushing on...

2009-05-18T11:16:00.004-07:00

What a wonderful weekend. I will have pictures posted within the next day or two, but a quick recap for you:
1)Got to Dallas on Friday @ 7 pm, no flight problems PTL!
2) El Fenix for dinner with the mom, bro & baby sis
3) Hang out time w/ the fam, dad finally gets home and we have FBT (family bonding time)
4) Chris & Kristin bring over baby Sutton for formal introduction...saidly, we need not snap any photos of the meet & greet
5) Errand time w/ Veeves & mom seperately; two runs to North Park Mall (my little piece of heaven on earth)
5) Bueno w/ Val!!!
6) Church at the PC
7) Going away party for Val w/ all of her sweet friends and family that love her dearly
8) Airport bonding time w/ Val @ DFW until she boarded the plane to leave

I am so glad I was briefly able to meet Stephanie & Curtis; 2 of the team members that will be traveling to Bulgaria w/ Veeves! What an exciting and adventurous opportunity this will be for Valerie. So many are lifting up prayers for that girl and the people she will be coming in contact with!

LOVE YOU VEEVES-E-KINS!!!!!!

Turtle Turtle!!!

2009-05-10T17:47:00.005-07:00

I hope you saw the last post about the rattlesnake...made for a fun Saturday evening. Sunday afternoon was a blast too. We went over the Bill & Kim Dycus' home for pool party fun time!! Brian forgot to mention that Kim & daughter (Drew) were at a dance recital so it was just me and the boys. The pool was nice and warm and it has already hit over 100 degrees here in Tucson!
Bill, Ryan & Brian hanging in the pool

The Dycus Family does not have a tradition pet but I think they may some of the coolest pets ever...and the most low maintenance!!

These suckers are big!!

And my favorite picture of the weekend!!!

This guy (the turtle...not Brian) grunts a lot and really just wants to eat grass. He will nip at your toes if you get too close!

The weekend rattle snake

2009-05-10T17:09:00.012-07:00

We have had a great weekend! We both had our papers and outlines turned in before church this morning! Last night we drove out to Benson, AZ to have a dinner hang out time with Patrick, Kate and Jason (Patrick's HS buddy from Connecticut). Patrick had just put the steaks on the grill, Kate and I were inside talking in the kitchen and Brian and Jason were outside being boys when Brian loudly says, "Hey dude, I think that is a rattlesnake over there". So of course I yell, "WAIT! Don't do anything! I'm going to grab on camera!!" Which of course I always have with me!

Patrick was using a shovel to kill the snake. However, the sucker wouldn't die. Brian grabbed a hatchet and handed it to Patrick who then chopped the body from the head that was on the other side of the shovel. You can see the rattler pretty clearly from this picture.

Patrick is working hard on the snake while Brian excitingly watches from the other side of the brick fence.

The aftermath...

Patrick and I walked back around into the house. He went to go check on the steaks and they had all burnt to a crisp during our little adventure. Needless to say, dinner took about an hour longer to prepare since we had to defrost more meat. The blessing was we got to hangout outside for an hour spending quality time with each other.

The girls!!

The view from the back yard!

Patrick & Kate...I can't believe I actually captured this picture

We had such an awesome night! It was so nice getting to spend time with them and to see Jason again...the last time I saw him (and first time to meet him) was at Patrick & Kate's wedding!

Coming up next, pool time fun at Bill & Kim Dycus' home...with the massive turtles.

My new hair

2009-05-09T13:15:00.002-07:00

I have been annoyed by my hair for the last couple of weeks. I had planned on going to the Toni & Guy Academy while I was in Farmers Branch next weekend. However, I woke up this morning and it just had to go. I didn't feel that I could deal with the length and grown out color for another week. I called the Ulta on Wetmore to see if they had any availability and specials today...and they had both! For just $50 I got a gloss and hair cut! it does not get better than that. Here are two pictures that I just took of the new look. Just a little shorter and a little darker! Hope you enjoy it too! :)

Don't these look like they should be a myspace photo :)

My first paper

2009-05-08T11:35:00.003-07:00

I have been working on my Life Styles Inventory paper all week. It is due on Sunday. It is only 3-5 pages long double spaced so I know it will not be difficult to fill up the pages with words but I am really struggling with writing a decent paper! It has been over 5 years now since I have had to write a paper! I am sure it will get easier in the long run but right now I don't like it. Thanks for letting me take a little break from the paper to complain! Also, I have a one page outline due on Sunday for the BIG paper due at the end of the course...haven't even started on that one yet!

:)

100%

2009-05-05T11:06:00.001-07:00

Now, I have only been in school one week and have only had one assignment so far but right now I am 40 for 40...or 100%. If I can just keep it up! :) How cool would it be to have a 4.0 in a Masters program. :)

An uneventful update

2009-05-04T13:41:00.002-07:00

Nothing overly exciting has been going on. Brian and I both are trying to get used to being in school mode while not actually having to 'go to school'. It's a little weird... More than anything it is a matter of being disciplined to readings, assignments and discussion questions. We do have a group project coming up next week so we will be interacting with three other students in our class...I don't know if it is through email or phone yet.

I took a spinning class this morning at the YMCA. A spinning class is a one hour work out on a stationary bike. Great cardio work out! I am trying to be disciplined to take that class M & W, jog T, R & F and take a Pilate's class on Saturday mornings. That is the goal...then maybe I can start getting back into shape. I don't think I have ever had this much blubber around my belly...I stinkin' don't like it my friends!

Brian is definitely seeing results with his work out regimen. He and our friend Bill work out every morning together! Great job guys!

Work is going well for both of us. No complaints, that's for sure!
That's all I've got for now!
Love you!
Later!
Bye!

MBA

2009-04-27T09:25:00.002-07:00

Today is day #1 of going to school...online style. It hasn't been so bad so far. I am very interested to see how this continues to go. This morning, Brian and I woke up at 5:15 am. He went to the gym, I went jogging around the neighborhood. I was showered, had breakfast and ready to go by 7 am...I don't go to work until 10:30 am. I have been reading Organizational Behavior and have already posted on the two discussion questions. The hard part will be staying disiplined to check in with the other posts and respond in addition to writing the papers and other assignments that will be given.

Brian and I had a nice weekend. Saturday morning we both had to work. Then Patrick came down from Benson on Saturday afternoon. We had a delicious dinner at Tavolino's and he ended up spending the night because it was very windy and he didn't want to drive his motorcycle on the highways so late at night. On Sunday we had a laid back morning until church at 10:30 am. We went to lunch with some of our friends and enjoyed a meal out on a patio...I am loving this heat!

I also got to speak with my aunt (JJ) very briefly until she decided that the person that beeped in was WAY more important than I was. Alas, I think I will be okay!

Happy Monday!

Happy 6 month anniversary... plus some

2009-04-21T07:32:00.015-07:00

Brian and my 6 month anniversary was April 18th. It doesn't feel like it has been 6 months since our wedding and I do miss all the presents coming to our door every day! :) I realize that you are suppose to wait until your one year anniversary to thaw your cake and eat it in celebration but I really wanted the freezer space back and it took too much room in the fridge!
Here are the lovely thawed cakes...remember, Brian's grandma (Gini) made the Kranskaka. Whoever wrapped the wedding cake did a wonderful job keeping it airtight. I was very impressed when I was unwrapping it. The white chocolate curls were delicious!

This is Brian having a good attitude about eating "old" cake when he really didn't want to! :)

I dared him to shove that whole piece in his mouth...he got about half of it in! It was a hilarious moment!

Of course I didn't have a problem giving it a try! :) Hello!! Sugar!!
This is a shout out to all of my college McKay's cake party girls. We all have to do it!

The wedding cake was good. Not as fabulous as it was when we first had it but it was good for a bit or two. The Kranskaka was delicious though! We need to call Gini and let her know how yummy it still was. We will savor the kranskaka as long as it lasts!

This weekend, Brian's roommate Adam came for the weekend from Vegas. He was finishing up his spring break (he is in medical school...smarty pants) and decided to come hang out with us for a couple of days. It was so nice having him around again. He and Brian played paintball on Saturday morning. They both had some facinating bruises...I did try to take pictures but my camera could not do them justice. We just sat on the back porch Saturday evening and I had a yummy lobster dinner and Adam grilled shrimp skewers. It was so good!!

(This is an old picture of the boys but all I could find.)

And lastly, when I opened up by blinds the other morning there was a baby bunny eatting right out front of our bedroom sliding glass door! All the warm weather is bringing out all the fun animals!

2009-04-18T14:03:00.010-07:00

Aunt JJ,
Are any of these pictures the one that you wanted? Let me know which one you want printed.
1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10
And just in case you needed a reminder of my mother dancing away with Bailey...it just has to make you smile!

Aren't y'all so cute...

Or who could ever forget this moment...

Happy Easter

2009-04-13T08:27:00.003-07:00

Yesterday was a very nice day. It poured (rain) most of Saturday so I was a little nervous for our Sunrise Service with the Fellowship Church of Christ at 6 AM on Sunday. Sunday morning was slightly overcast in the early morning but the skies parted over the mountains about 6:45 AM and the sun shined proudly the rest of the day.

After the sunrise service, which consisted of camping chairs and blankets in the middle of a gravel opening at the Narajana Town Site, we went over to one of the church members homes that lives super close to the Town Site and had pancakes, omelettes to order, scrambled eggs, etc together. This is one of the blessings of going to a church that has approximately 44 members! It was so nice to have that fellowship time together.

Once we were all done with breakfast we went over to the Ronald McDonald House and made an Easter lunch for all the families that are staying there as their children are receiving medical treatments. All in all, it was a very rewarding day.

The rest was spent sitting on a couch next to Brian reading Harry Potter Book 7 together. We have to finish it before April 27th...our first day of going back to school. Brian and I are both beginning MBA programs through the Keller School of Management at DeVry University.

Freaking out a bit...

2009-04-11T15:04:00.002-07:00

So I have enjoyed having a laid back Saturday. I opened up my Netflix queue to see what movie we are going to be getting next. I noticed our list is getting short so I thought about adding so tv shows that would be nice to catch up on. I immediately went to abc.com to see what tv shows I would like to watch...and I saw this. Just a little weird! It is not normal to see your name on the internet as a tv show.

On a lighter note, I finished Harry Potter Book 6 today. I am SOOOO ready for the movie to be out now. On to book 7 now. Brian and I are reading it together. I know...how sweet! :)

Happy Saturday!

Little blessings...

2009-04-05T17:07:00.006-07:00

...they come in all shapes in sizes. With the focus for both of us being balancing work and relationship (like so many of my peers too) we are trying to find the little blessings in life. Last night we were able to meet up with Patrick and Kate for some sushi at Ra and then dessert at Frost geleto!!YUMMY :)

This morning Brian HADDDD to finish Harry Potter Box 6. I left for church and told him to meet me when we finished the book. He had 8 pages left and COULD NOT put it down! :) He was about 7 minutes late. When I got to church, Nathan the preacher, as well as 4 other people asked if Brian had to work this morning. My response, "He has to finish a book he's been reading. He's on the last chapter." Everyone completely understood. :) Not Brian has started on Book 7 and I am rereading box 6 so I will be prepared before it comes to the theaters on July!! Brian has made so much progress from all of those days of torment when he did not understand the Goode Girls obsessing with all that is The Harry Potter books. He finally gets it girls!!!

On Saturday evening Brian was on the phone looking out the front window when he saw my precious baby bunny. I love all the bunnies and there has been a precious little baby bunny I look out for every day. It was just sitting out front of our house chilling. I took these two pictures...

(Look toward the bottom right corner if you can't find the bunny)
...and then walked out side to see if I could catch it and pet it. That didn't go to well. Brian and I looked under the different cactus and hiding places. I finally saw it again but by the time I got my camera out it ran away again. Sad. Alas... at least I don't have to feed the suckers or pick up their poop. So, I've got that going for me.

Brian noticed a bunch of yellow flowers moving and then realized all the ants were carrying them. We followed them from their house they are building over by were the bunny was and realized they were coming all the way past Brian's office window on the other side of the house. I don't know how far away that is but it's a pretty long haul.

They ants are carrying the little yellow flowers! It was cool to watch for a little while.

Now for this evening...Brian and I had been reading our Harry Potter books and decided to hit up the mall to find him some jeans that fit. We were successful...PTL! On our way home we decided to check out the American Home Furnishing Going out of Business auction to see if they had an good final deals on a nice dining room set. We checked in and actually got a ticket so we could bid if we found anything good. Here is Brian working his magic...

except we didn't buy anything. I think he is going to try to go back tomorrow and see if he can find a kitchen table!

Who knew an auction could be so fun!

The Real Deal

2009-04-02T16:28:00.002-07:00

So, instead of writing my own account of the week, which you pretty much already got in the last post, I figured I would direct you to the bride's post where there are a ton of pictures and a more accurate account of the weekend festivities. Read/scroll through the last three posts to get it all and see Lindsey in her gorgeous wedding dress! She actually walked barefoot down the aisle and then slipped on her boots for dinner and dancing!

I LOVE TEXAS!

2009-03-31T09:11:00.004-07:00

My college roommate, Lindsey McCrary, got married this past Friday in Austin, Texas. A bunch of the college gang was able to come into town (or they already lived in town) to play!

I left Tucson on Wednesday morning to make it to Austin via Dallas by 5 pm so I could help begin the celebration with the bachelorette party! Of course that just happened to be the day that weather wanted to blow through the south. We left Tucson on time flying through 80 degree clear skies! Once we got into the metroplex we got to circle over the city and surrounding areas for an hour until the weather had calmed. DFW airport had to shut down completely during that time so no flights were going in or coming out. Once we landed I found that my flight to Austin has been canceled. I scrambled to get on the next flights stand by list but the earliest seat I could be guaranteed was not until 8:30 that night...the bachelorette party was starting at 6:30 pm. Luckily, I was able to get a seat on the early flight! YEAH!!

Well, during this time the weather that had blown through Dallas was over Austin causing high winds and golf ball size hail. Once we were on the plane we taxied to the take off stripe. Then we got to sit on the side lines for about an hour until the weather cleared over Austin.

Wonderful Chez Dishman was able to get me from the airport and then go to Moonshine for dinner and Pete's Piano Bar on 6th street for singing and catching up! Lindsey got to go sit on the piano while they sang a song to her...it was dirty and inappropriate and that is just how those piano guys are.

On Thursday we went to Oasis Day Spa for mani's and pedi's which was just much fun!! We went to the rehearsal at the Lady Bird Wildflower Center. The weather had been yucky all morning so there were a bunch of puddles and we were all nervous for the weather on Friday since the reception was suppose to be outdoors. After the rehearsal we went to a delicious Italian restaurant in Lakeway for the rehearsal dinner.

Melanie Knox Larson, Katrina Kincaid, Aubrey Eyer, Lindsey McCrary (almost Stokes!!!), Catherine Wick, Elizabeth Robinson

**I have to go to work now...I'll continue with Friday through Sunday soon**

I'm on my way to Austin!!

2009-03-25T09:13:00.003-07:00

This morning Brian and I were making breakfast. He looked out the window and saw a bird attacking a lizard. After the bird was doing his thing Brian went outside to check things out.

The lizard seems fine. So we will see...

Lindsey's wedding is on Friday! I am heading out in just a couple of minutes to the airport. There will be lots of updates to come!!

I should be jogging

2009-03-17T09:10:00.003-07:00

I am still trying to figure out my work schedule and how to be most effective. The evenings are the best time to be on the phone calling potential students who have asked for more information which means that I normally have the mornings to take care of errands, things around the house, etc. Most mornings I try to go to the gym with Brian or go for a jog around the house. This morning...not interested. I think we all have one of those days where we know we should be no way Jose. My plan instead is to go to the grocery store and to Crate and Barrel to return a chipped glass I purchased on Saturday. Isn't that exciting and healthy!

Brian actually wore green today. I was pretty impressed because he is normally an 'against the grain' type of man. I guess he knew I would be pinching him all day if he didn't.

Mom, Phil and Veeves are still having a blast in NYC with with Lyndz. I got a phone call from Lyndsey letting me know that she and Val were enjoying a Frozen Hot Chocolate at Serendipity...SOOO JEALOUS! I can't wait to see all of the pictures!!

That's all I've got for now!

Thank you Veeves

2009-03-11T10:24:00.001-07:00

Hey thanks for forgetting about me...but then making such a quick turn around! The blog looks great! You are so the bomb! YEAH!!!

Face lift

2009-03-09T09:28:00.002-07:00

I keep glancing at my blog hoping that it has received a face lift. I don't know what Veeves has been doing...she doesn't have anything else going on in her life besides helping me out...right?? I thought that she completed everything while I was still in Dallas. Obviously I am wrong!

I wished I had a lot of exciting updates. Work is going very well for both me and Brian. We are both working hard but are enjoying what we are doing. Brian has been continuing to grow his business (Real Estate for those of you who didn't know) which has been such a blessing with the economy and living in Tucson which was hit pretty hard with this recession stuff.

Having weekends off has also been an answer to prayer. Being able to have social time on Friday evening and sleeping in until I wake up on Saturday morning is wonderful. This past Saturday Michelle, Mary and I hosted a Scholarship Workshop at Apollo College. We had 39 people (22 senior high school students) attend to learn more about scholarship opportunities, applying for scholarships and also had an opportnity to learn more about Apollo College and what we have to offer as a medical technicial college.

Oh...I do have so exciting news. I am planning on starting my MBA through DeVry University in April!! I have not finished applying so nothing is set in stone as of yet...but I am planning on completing all of that this week!!

YEAH!! Happy Monday to you.

The new furniture

2009-02-28T16:58:00.003-07:00

We have new furniture! :) One of Brian's wonderful clients gave us a Secretary and a hutch for free for Brian's great job of being an agent...or at least that is what I like to think! Aren't they fabulous! They really help bring the house together!

Valentine's Day

2009-02-15T17:39:00.003-07:00

What a wonderful day! It all began by NOT having to wake up at 3:30 AM to head on over to Starbucks. Brian and I woke up a little after 6 in the morning. He actually got out of bed...I stayed until 7 AM. We had breakfast together (oatmeal and grapefruit that Brain prepared) and then went to the grocery store to pick up 4 lobster tail which we planned on having for dinner that night. We invited Brian's dad (Dave) and Connie over for a nice V-Day dinner. We made clam dip, home-made Clam Chowder, lobster tail and couscous. For dessert we had homemade raspberry chip ice cream (which wasn't fully finished so we added some delicious Bluebell Homemade Vanilla ice cream with fresh strawberries! It was wonderful and a lot of fun to enjoy with family! I never knew I could cook lobster tail but look at me go (with the help of Brian, Dave & Connie)! :) Hope y'all are having a great Sunday taking it easy! Brian and I sure have!

Oh...and a shout out to Valerie for introducing us to Fellowship Church of Christ!

A nice little update

2009-02-13T12:05:00.002-07:00

A lot has been happening but nothing so big that I have taken the time to post about. I am really enjoying my new career with Apollo College. It is such a blessing to have a great working environment and a solid team already in place!
I was able to have training in Phoenix last week with all the HS Admission Reps. It was so nice to be able to place faces and names together. The knowledge and feedback was also so extremely helpful.

Last Saturday was a big day for me. It was my last day with Starbucks. I have spent the last 2 and half years working for this company and have enjoyed every moment of it. I cherish the friends that I have made with my manager and co-workers as well as the frequent customers that graced us with their presence every Saturday! Brian is thrilled that I am finally finished and I will actually be able to sleep in on a Saturday morning. I must say it is bitter sweet. I am thankful looking forward to tomorrow morning and knowing that I will be setting my alarm for 3:30 AM. However, knowing that I will not be seeing those familiar faces is sad to me.

Another blessing of closing this chapter in my life is now feeling confident that I can be more involved with the church we have been attending. Fellowship c of c is a quaint church that meets at the YMCA every Sunday morning. There are probably about 60 people that attend and Brian and I really have been enjoying it!

We are still debating whether or not we should be looking for a roommate. We really would rather not but the financial help right now would be VERY beneficial. I am finally selling a lot of our "singlehood" items on Craigslist since we were able to receive so many nice wonderful gifts from the wedding festivities. I will also be making a run over to The Salvation Army for a hefty donation and things that have been packed into the back seat of my car and in the trunk for a week now. Now if we could find someone to just take our non-working refrigerator away from our property that would be wonderful!

That's all I've got for now! Happy Friday and happy day before Valentine's Day!

More cardinal pictures...

2009-01-30T17:59:00.002-07:00

She's totally working the camera for Brian!
I better watch out...

Flying feathers

2009-01-30T11:07:00.003-07:00

Brian has become very excited about bird seed lately. He bought some cardinal feed that is hanging from a tree in front of his office window. He also has been sprinkling bird seed on the ground so all of the quail and dove eat it up...and occasional bunny too!

This morning he decided to sprinkle some right on the ledge of his window and see if a cardinal would land there...and alas...

I don't know exactly what kind of bird this is...but it looks like a cardinal to me.

The bird is less than a foot away from his camera in these photos. The only thing separating them is the window.

Next project: get a young chicken from the grocery store and hang it from the tree...maybe a hawk or two or five will come up close and personal for a visit!

My fabulous husband

2009-01-27T08:57:00.003-07:00

When I woke up on Monday morning I could tell it was going to be 'one of those days'. I tried to be in the mind frame of "I am the only person that can change my attitude' and yet little things kept happening that were very frustrating. I got home around 8:30 last night for a long day at work. Brian had made me dinner and had bought we some beautiful purple tulips.

He had also gone to a bird store to buy some seed for the front yard. He has the best view from his office window and sees cardinal, quail, bunnies, hawk or humming birds on a near daily basis. He sprinkled the seed yesterday evening and this morning this is some of what we saw...

There are 11 quail in all but you can only see 9 in the picture. 2 were on the other side of the cactus. We only saw one bunny munching away this morning but there are normally 5-8 every morning in the backyard feasting.

Brian being the boy he is was wishing he had a pellet gun or that a hawk would swoop down and grab the bunny. God bless boys you know...I don't have to get it though! :)

PS: I am loving my job with Apollo College. The team is fabulous and it is nice to be working in a secular job but surrounded by some amazing Christians. What a blessing! Now, I am just having to wait patiently for my own space and my own phone line. Right now I am having to share with the faculty work room or other peoples office spaces once they leave for the day. It will all be settled at some point!

Oh my word I am my mother...

2009-01-23T17:24:00.004-07:00

I just noticed something. I sat down to work on my new crossword puzzle book I just bought at Barnes and Noble while watching my Netflix movie that just came in, A Prairie Home Companion. Then it hit me...I am so my mother...or my Aunt JJ...take your pick.

And I thought you might enjoy this Mom/L/V. The introduction to the crossword puzzle book says this:

Take a step back--back in time to the 1960s. Thus, you don't need to know all of the useless trivia that clutter modern crosswords. There aren't any clues that ask about grunge rock, pitchers for the Florida Marlins, or who shot J.R. Instead, you'll be challenged by tough crosswords that require a good vocabulary and knowledge of classical information to solve.
These puzzles are not easy. To give your brain a good workout, you have to use it. And what better or more fun way is there to do that than to spend some time with through-provoking crosswords? So enjoy yourself, and while you're at it, you'll keep yourself sharp.

Could that not sound more like my mother saying that to me...holy moly!

We had such a pretty rainbow out front of our house just now. There were two on top of each other. Of course, the pictures don't do it justice but here you go anyway...

Honeymoon pictures!

2009-01-12T09:27:00.010-07:00

Here are some pictures from the honeymoon! If you have facebook you have most likely already seen these. I am still waiting for Brian it share his camera with me so I can upload all of his pictures. We kept his camera with us most of the time so he has better pictures. This is all I have to share right now!

These are a couple of pictures from our balcony. We stayed at Nita Lake Lodge but never saw any lakes around. We later realized that the big blanket of smooth white snow outside our balcony was a frozen lake!

After the first day of snowboarding I thought it would be nice to go hang out in the hot tub for a little while. Of course it is below freezing outside so the hot tubs must be in doors...WRONG!...but after stripping down and getting into the water quickly it felt quite nice! The view was phenomenal! And it really was so relaxing!

These pictures were on our last day of snowboarding. We were on Whistler Mountain about to take the Peak 2 Peak gondola to Blackcomb. Right before this picture was taken we saw a helicopter flying around and then heard a very loud boom! The helicopter had shot something into the mountain next to us to create an avalanche. It was a pretty cool sight!

These are views from inside of the Peak 2 Peak gondola taking us over the Blackcomb. Brian got some better ones with all the snow covered trees blanketing the mountain side.

I am completely frozen in this picture...Brian was nice enough to share his neck warmer thing so I could cover my face!

More pictures from inside the gondola. We were equal to some of the clouds floating between the mountains. That is always a neat sight. Below you can see a bunch of the trees. They are massive though from far up above they look tiny!

Mountains and a lot of snow!

This was taken at Ric's Grille in Whistler Village. It was are last dinner before we left the next morning. The dinner was delicious! And I know you can tell Brian was having a blast...some days I wished he would just smile instead of always making the goofy faces. Oh well...I still love the man!

So hopefully I will get the pictures from Brian's camera within the next day or so!

Do you know who I belong to?

2009-01-09T18:44:00.003-07:00

So family...dad brought just about everything I owned from the FB to Tucson over Thanksgiving. I finally went through all the boxes before Christmas and found a sack that had these stuffed animals in them. I don't believe they were mine...do you remember??

Also Lyndsey...I have a box full of old L2L & Kadesh shirts that were yours. Do you want them? If you don't I am going to put them in the donation pile. Just let me know!

Day #3

2009-01-03T09:25:00.002-07:00

I woke up with the same nagging headache. The sky was clear though and I figured I should get up and get going since this was the last day we were going to be able to board. We went out to the slopes at 9 am and didn't get back to the room until 3:30 that afternoon. The gondolas are only open from 8:30 am to 3:00 pm so we pretty much put in a full days work.

We took two gondolas up to arrive at the brand new Peak 2 Peak gondola. It is an 11 minute gondola ride that takes you from the peak of Whistler mountain (what we had skied the last few days) to the peak of Blackcomb mountain. It was phenomenal riding high over all the snow-covered trees and ridges of the mountains. We got a bunch of pictures that we will share later...along with the rest of them!!

While we were riding the gondola up Whistler mountain heading to the Peak 2 Peak we saw a helicopter roaming around. At first I thought some one was hurt and they were looking for a place to land. We got off the gondola and were taking pictures when we heard a very loud BOOM and then saw an avalanche. Apparently this helicopter was out patrolling and looking for potential avalanche problems and shoots something into it to create the fall before it falls on people...I guess...either way it was very neat to see from a far!

I did so much better on the last day than any other. That made we feel pretty good about my time. I did continue to fall but not nearly as much!

Last night for dinner we went to Whistler Village and had a lovely steak dinner. Well actually Brian had the Filet Mignon and I had a delicious Coconut crusted chicken breast! Both meals were divine and a great send off for a great honeymoon!!

We are slowly packing up this morning and will be heading back to Seattle to spend the evening with our sweet friends Pete & Nina!!

As always, I'll keep you posted!

No ER for you...

2009-01-01T19:11:00.002-07:00

No one was been sick or broken in the ER...just wanted to take heed of some of the previous comments! :)

All has been going well. Snowboarding went a little better yesterday than Day #1. My entire body is sore though.

Last night we met up with about 15 of Brian's frat buddies that had come into Canada to wish in the new year. We all met at the Longhorn Saloon and "partied" the night away. I didn't really no anybody but Brian and I enjoyed ourselves and the company.

We left the saloon at 12:10 in the morning and had to wait until 1:40 am for a shuttle. This has definitely been the most frustrating situation of our entire trip...however we did finally make it back to a warm room with a fire going.

Today Brian went snowboarding and I lay in bed with the worst migraine I have ever had. I woke up not feeling well...and though last night in known as a "drink and be merry" night for most...all I had to drink was water and a sip of champagne at midnight. I rarely get headaches and even more rarely a migraine...but this knocked me out all day. I tried walking to starbucks just right down the street with a book to sit, read, and have a Tall Americano...but felt sick just walking down the street. Brian has had a blast snowboarding and going on the runs that I won't go on with him! :) He went on the brand new Peak to Peak gondola twice today. We plan on going on it tomorrow so I can get the experience of going form one mountain to the other (Whistler to Blackcomb).

That is the update for now. More snowboarding and enjoying yourselves tomorrow!!

Yesterday we saw some people with a shovel out in the open area from our balcony. They were moving the snow to make an ice skating rink! I wished we had some ice skating boots to go and fall on my rear some more...I'm just not getting enough of that trying to snowboard! :)

I don't have to listen to you!!

2008-12-30T15:51:00.002-07:00

This is the blessing of technology. We have free wi-fi in the room...and I know that every stinking one of you will be asking 50 million questions...so I figured I will keep brief updates so you can know...don't worry we aren't spending more time on the computer than with each other.

I only did two runs today but I stayed more on my rear than on my feet...or at least it felt. Brian was a great teacher and I was a very impatient student. I wanted to pull the board off my feet and throw it down the mountain. But I didn't...and finally made it down...Brian did one more run without me per my encouragement. We are both really excited about tomorrow. However...now we are hitting up the hot tub and just taking it easy!!!

PS: Tons of pictures have been taken but we both forgot our camera cords so no pictures until we get back!!

Whistler, Day 01

2008-12-30T09:22:00.004-07:00

We were suppose to leave Chelan at 8 am. With most family that sit down to breakfast at 7:45 am and talk more than eat...it's pretty hard to leave on time. Finally at 9 AM we were about to break away and get on the road. The drive from Chelan to Whistler should have taken about 7 hours... 9 and a half hours later we were finally pulling up to the lodge. We did have some weather but nothing that Brian worried about driving through.

The problems started in Vancouver where I guess we were driving through right when everyone else was. Traffic was SO slow. Once we were on 99 heading to Whistler we thought we had made it!! However, there is this thing called the Olympics coming in 2010...so construction is crazy!! Roads were down to one lane and when you have snow and slush and one lane...no one is driving very fast.

Oh well...we got there safely. The lodge is phenomenal!! We got settled into our room. Walked around the village. Went to Can-Ski and got my snowboard!! I bought goggles so now I own my own ski gloves and goggles!!

We are eating breakfast now and will be heading toward to snow here is just a little bit!!

The honeymoon, Part 2

2008-12-28T18:31:00.005-07:00

Most might consider this part 01 but only Valerie, Brian and I can reminisce on Honeymoon, Part 01 two months ago! :) What a wonderful car ride back to Tucson.

Brian and I made it into Seattle on Christmas Day without any major travel problems. We had to circle around the clouds of San Francisco 3 times before we could finally land because of a thunderstorm that had blown through. We didn't have any major delays and were able to get back in the air toward Seattle quite quickly. We landed without any problems thought it was snowing and rainy outside. They had to dig our car out of the snow from all the snowstorms that we heard about on the news. Connie had dropped off the car when she left for Tucson for Christmas with the Tucson clan! What a blessing to have family in both places so we can share cars and places to stay!!

Christmas Day evening we drove to Bremerton, WA where we spent the evening with Nan (grandma Quigley) Uncle Tim, Aunt Tish and cousins Siri & Iain. We had a delicious traditional Scandinavian meal including lefsa, swedish meatballs, boiled potatoes, and lingonberries. Dessert was orange sherbet served in hollowed out oranges...one did have the almond at the bottom! Nan won (she had the almond at the bottom of her sherbet) and received a gift card to Barnes and Noble!

We spent the next day reading books, relaxing on couches, and visiting with each other. Sara, my new mom :), was able to finally make it out of her parking lot in Portland and head over the Bremerton early on the 26th. We were so happy to spend the day with her. During the evening she was here we had a wonderful meal together and played cards all night long. I love playing Hearts and 8, 7, 6 with the Quigleys! We're all a little competitive!!

The morning of the 27th we went to visit Nan for a little while at her new retirement community and then got on the road to head to Lake Chelan. We had heard that there was a snow slide on I-90 where we would need to drive through to get to Chelan so we took a quick detour to the Tacoma Mall (where Brian worked during the summers of college) so we could buy all of our Christmas gifts for the Wick family we were heading to visit.

Once we were on the road again, besides the consistent rain, we didn't have any driving issues. There was rain and some snow through the pass but all was safe and sound. We made good time getting to Chelan and surprised everyone right before dinner!

We opened and sharing more gifts with the Wick family on the 27th and again on the 28th when Dave and Connie were able to make it. They had just flown in from Tucson yesterday where they shared that Tucson saw a little bit of snow two days ago! CRAZY!!!!

It was so much fun getting to spend time with Dan, Berit, Kristina, Grandma and Poppa, and Erik, Angie and Jaxon. This was the first time for Angie, Jaxon and I to all meet each other!! I was so excited to finally meet their faces!!!

We went to church this morning and received a wonderful lesson on Recession-proofing your life!! We went to the casino for brunch...insert sarcastic comment here...

Tomorrow morning we will be leaving to head to Whistler!! We are so stinkin' excited to be snowboarding SO SOON!!!!!!!

We'll keep you posted...

Pictures are to come, I promise!

life...

2008-12-16T07:38:00.003-07:00

We had a Christmas party at our house on Sunday night. Everyone that I work with from Starbucks came over to celebrate the holiday. It was a lot of fun and so nice to finally be able to utilize the space of our house!

Brian is no longer sick. Monday was a slow day for him but after that he was back to working hard.

We leave for our honeymoon is just a few short days! I can't believe that Christmas Day is almost here. 2008 has flown by so quickly. And there are so many things to be thankful for.

I hope you have a blessed Tuesday!

Brian's sick

2008-12-06T17:04:00.003-07:00

I hope that for as long as Brian and I are still living there will be firsts.
First time we held hands
First date
First dance
First kiss...
First projectile vomit as a married couple...or for as long as my memory suites me..ever!

Brian has not felt well all day. He thought he just had a little too much dairy in his tummy from a type of shake he has been making every morning for breakfast since we received the Vita-Veta-Veg-A-Mine! His tummy has been very heavy; slightly gassy. You know how it goes...

Either way, he was suppose to be going to the UA v ASU game tonight and had really good seats too. He stood up slowly from the couch to get ready to leave. Walked straight to the bathroom. Made it to the toilet. Well, and you know the rest!

After the first go around he just stayed on the floor enjoying the cool tile.

After he had his second go around we settled him on the couch with water, gatorade, a blanket and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. He just finished reading the book for the first time.

Poor guy. I hope he feels better quickly!!!

The Saturday after Thanksgiving

2008-11-29T19:00:00.006-07:00

Today has felt very productive. Here is how the day has gone so far...
4 AM: Woke up by alarm (cell phone) I had left in the bathroom. Prior to the alarm going off, Brian had at some point during the night shut the bathroom door (a wooden sliding door) because of water dripping in the shower that we have not been able to completely shut off. I, of course, did not know this because that door has NEVER been shut during the night. I walked right into the door nose first. This is how my morning started. No blood until I blew my nose. It hurt but I am fine.

4:30 AM: Mom and Dad packed up the car and headed on their way back to Dallas. Brian and I went back to bed after they drove away until 8 AM. It was so nice to sleep in for the first Saturday in a very long time. I would normally be at Starbucks by 4:15 in the morning.

8:30 AM: Organized the kitchen, continued to clean up around the house, finished up the laundry.

1:00 PMish: Brian and I went up to the bank to get my named changed on everything there. Returned a gift to Bed, Bath and Beyond. Went to Home Depot and bought paint for the kitchen!!!! We have been talking about painting the kitchen for a while now!!

5:00 PM: Asked Brian if he wanted to take a quick break and go check the mail. He had to look for his shoes so I went out to check on the turkey carcass we left out side on Thursday. It was still there yesterday. As I was walking toward the aluminum platter I noticed a larger bone.

Went in between two large cactus that were blocking my view and noticed it was completely empty.

At that time Brian walked out side. He had not done anything to it. Nice to know the coyotes were crossing through at some point today!! Too bad we didn't have a camera watching the movement! :) And speaking of movement...Brian and I were jamming out to some music while painting. He was dancing around while painting..I wished I was able to capture some video. He then thought it would be funny to pull this paints up over his belly and dance around. This is what I got to look at!!

You know you're jealous! :)

7:00 PM: Finally sitting down and relaxing. The paint job is not done but we are making good progress. We will be done tomorrow. The sunset was gorgeous this evening. The pictures do not do it justice. Beautiful blues and reds right over the mountain. The moon to the left and two vibrant starts to the right of the moon!! So many things to be thankful for in Tucson!!

T-Give in the T-son

2008-11-28T15:55:00.016-07:00

Thanksgiving (or T-Give if you're Veeves) week has been a blessing. It has been wonderful having my parents drive in from Dallas and spend the week with us. They stayed at Dave & Connie's condo and enjoyed a little fill of vacation. Their condo is right down the street from our house so it was perfect for all. They arrived on Tuesday afternoon. I was able to work a 1/2 day on Wednesday. We spend Tuesday and Wednesday organizing and opening wedding gifts. On Wednesday afternoon mom, dad, Brian and I went to Paradise Bakery for a late lunch and then to B,B&B to return duplicate gifts. Later that even my momma and I went and did the same at C&B and then bought some new items too!
Mom and Dad at Paradise Bakery

Brian (doing the Valerie pose) & Catherine at Paradise Bakery

The gang at the PB

Some of the gifts that my parents brought!

The Shaffer's chair they donated to The Wick cause! :)

Me and my daddy!

Thanksgiving Decor and T-Give Day

Those are 6 hawks on top of those trees. Mom and I were driving down my street back home after hitting up the big sales at 6 am on Black Friday. She told me to look up and asked if those were the hawks I kept talking about...then she said she wished she had her camera. Low and behold I had mine in my purse! I put the car in reverse. Backed up. And shot a few!

So neat...right after the picture was taken 4 flew a way! Great timing mom!!

After a fabulous Thanksgiving Day with the fam and friends we decided we needed to something a little more productive..like actually being on our feet walking around. We decided that we would walk over to Tohono Chul park since it is SOOO close to our house (I drive by it ever day to get to and from work). We spent the rest of the afternoon having lunch and walking around the park. Brian and I have lived in this area for so long and never been to the park. It was about time!

Cath being eaten by a Century plant...that sucker was huge!

Mom with the ACU purple plant and her cool new vest!

There were so many humming birds flying around. It was so much fun trying to spot them and capture a picture before they quickly flew away!

I love this picture of them. I wished they would print and actually frame it!

A yellow finch

That's a bunny in the middle of the screen!

That is right my friends. People in Arizona know how to decorate for the holidays!

Brian and my engagement picture...I know it is a little late...but still fairly funny! :)

So, what is neat about Tohono Chul park is that if Brian and I really want to see what we saw there...we can just walk in our back yard. But I do completely recognize why people visit. It does definitely have its own type of beauty.

What a fabulous week we are wrapping up. My parents leave early tomorrow morning for a 14+ hour trip back home. It has been so much fun having them here. I'm glad they were finally able to come see the house, check out the area and also meet our sweet roomie Amanda!! Blessings to you and your this Thanksgiving season!!!

The hawks

2008-11-18T20:27:00.004-07:00

When I was driving home this afternoon I looked up while pulling into the drive way and saw this...

There were 4 in a row. But by the time I stopped the car, grabbed my camera and rolled down my window, two had flown to the top of the telephone poll. Either way...still cool...as long as they don't bite me! :)

Happy One Month Anniversary!

2008-11-18T07:24:00.013-07:00

Brian and I have made it one whole month!! Now after 12 years of friendship and 10 years of on again off again dating, one month doesn't seem like such a big deal. I wished I could be gooey romantic about it but really we are just having fun and not much feels that different!!

To celebrate this time however here are a couple things that have been going on in our lives over the last few days...

We are going to Whistler over the holidays for our honeymoon. To gear up Brian has pulled out all of his snowboarding gear, the board and the boots to start polishing, sharping and doing whatever else you do to these things to get ready for the season.

Two nights ago Brian brought his boots in from the shed and was pulling them on over his feet. He started lacing up one and the laces broke. If you remember our pack rat problem from a couple months ago you understand why. Those little suckers chewed on his laces until they were hanging by the thread. He started to put boot #2on when he noticed a little lizard inside of it...remind you, he is in the house!
My thoughts are get that little sucker on the OUTSIDE of the house NOW!! Brian thinks, 'Oh great! Max can learn how to kill!' Oh, the difference between boys and girls minds. Praise the Lord that Max is a little dingy and didn't know at all what to do with that lizard!!

Brian finally decided Max had had enough fun and that lizard was probably terrified. Brian just picked the little guy up and put him outside! We will just let Max keep playing with his little stuffed mouse on a string. That gets his energies up just fine!

When Valerie was driving back home to Dallas a couple weeks ago she called as she was driving through Abilene to let me know that gas prices were only $1.89 there. Gas in Tucson was still in the $2.50+ range at that time. Well, just like everywhere else, gas prices have continued to drop here. Brian and I were driving last night and saw this...

What a nice surprise. The funny things is that I drive by this gas station every day to and from work. When I left work at 5:30pm gas was still $2.05/gl. Within the hour as Brian and I were driving passed it again prices had dropped!! This is the only $1.99 gas I have seen in town so far. However, I am not complaining one bit!!

Before Valerie had decided to move back to Dallas so quickly she had purchased concert tickets for one of her favorite peeps, Jason Mraz. The tickets were for last night and since Valerie couldn't go and there are no exchanges at the Rillato Theater she gave the tickets to us. We thought the concert started at 7 pm so we left the house at 6 pm to give us enough time to find parking and find good seats. After we parked we walked to the theater and saw the line wrapped around the building with people wanting to get in. We got our tickets from will call then walked across the street to Hotel Congress and the Cup Cafe. I had no desire to wait in that line. We learned that the doors didn't open until 7 and the concert wasn't to begin until 8 pm. Jason didn't end up actually coming on stage until 8:45 pm. That was pretty annoying. Once he started playing though those bitter thoughts were washed away. He is a wonderful artist and such a witty performer. You can tell he passionately loves what he does. Here are some pictures from the concert. I took some video to but will upload those once I get home tonight. Enjoy!!

Thank you Valerie for our One Month Anniversary present! :)

(Brian in his ACU shirt...I would never tell him that but I know...I know!)

Oh Max...

2008-11-10T08:32:00.002-07:00

So the kitten, Max, was great when we got him from Veronica. He was super shy. Very quiet and obviously not really sure what was going on. Then there was last night. That stinkin' cat would not stop meowing. He sat right outside of our bedroom door and meowed. We thought lets bring him in the room and he will be quiet. WRONG!!!!! Brian finally grabbed the cat took him to his carrying case bag and zipped him in that. That was at 1:58 AM. Then around 6:30 AM he starting meowing again like crazy. We let him out of the carrier and he followed me back to the bedroom door and meowed until he could see a human. He doesn't really want to be touched or held. He just wants to know that someone is around and watching him. Moral of the story...no matter how many times I saw I want a pet...ignore me dang it!!! These little animals drive me bonkers and I am very much looking forward for Veronica to come back and have her kitty again.

(Can you tell I didn't get a lot of sleep last night...) :)

Over the last 22 days

2008-11-08T16:06:00.016-07:00

Brian and I have made it 22 days to date! YEAH!! :) Not that I was really worried or anything. I still have not received the marriage license so I guess "technically" we are not legally married!! :) Hahaha...

Dad & me in front of the truck. Brian loves that truck!

My new mama (Sara) and me!

Brian and his mom!

Patrick & Kate...they drove all the way from New York and after the wedding kept driving to Tucson. They were in the process of moving and the wedding feel over the perfect weekend!

Me and Brian with the yummy dessert we got for free at Cuba Libre as an engagement gift from our waiter who also just happened to be an old high school friend of Brian's.

The Turner crew at the dance party!
Speaking of the wedding; Lisa has posted ALL of the pictures from all of the events from the weekend online. If you want to see them go here and click on ViewEvent. The Username is Wick and the password is 15676. There are a lot...and most are SUPER CUTE!!!! Please embrace the ones of Brian dancing with his friend Mike. Those are special moments I tell you!

Valerie left us on Tuesday. She is now back in Dallas work for the school district. She is a Pre-K assistant! Who would a thunk it?? We miss her a lot but I guess at some point Brian and I have to be used to not having lots of roommates around. Amanda is still here for now which I really appreciate. I don't think I could handle having both Val and Amanda leave at the same time. I am sure I will LOVE when Brian and I have the house to ourselves...but I am not rushing it either.

At least my parents will be here in just two weeks!!! That will be such a blessing.

This past Thursday the President of the company I am working for right now gave me two tickets to the home opener of the U of A basketball game. They played Incarnate Word from San Antonio. We had a little bit of difficult time finding parking but once we had it it was nice...and they won. So we have that going for us.

God bless this child really. It is SOOOO difficult to have him take a picture without making a goofy face. I still love the guy though...

We have a new friend in our home today. A friend from church as well as one of Brian's clients is having to go out of town for work so we are keeping her kitten!!! It's pouncer #2!! :) Max's story is similar to Pouncer's. He was found in a dumpster by somebody. He is probably about one month old and is full of energy. He was hiding anywhere he could when we first brought him home but now he won't leave either my or Brian's lap. Here are a couple of pictures!!

I've got some other thoughts but I don't want to type any longer. Later...

and another little sneak peak

2008-11-03T07:46:00.000-07:00

Lisa posted some more pictures on her blog!! Check them at at www.lisawoodsphotography.com/blog

Enjoy!

A sneak peak

2008-10-30T20:57:00.002-07:00

Lisa, oh how I love her, posted a little sneak peak of the wedding pictures from the church!! I can't wait to see the rest! They all should be up by next Friday!!! YEAH!!!

The honeymoon

2008-10-29T13:45:00.003-07:00

Well, I am now officially Mrs Wick!!! I guess I can't really saw officially in the since that I have not changed any of my information so I still sign Catherine Goode...but in the Lords eyes I am Catherine Wick!!!

Our first honeymoon was quite romantic. If you have not heard this story this is pretty much what happened...
Saturday, 10/18 Got married
Saturday, 10/18 in the evening, had a dance party and stayed up with all of our friends until about 1:30 AM
Sunday, 10/19 Woke up at 5:30 AM, said goodbye to family that stayed at the same hotel and then went to my parents house. Loaded up Valerie's car with our luggage and hit the road...WITH VALERIE IN THE BACK SEAT

Valerie may be the first person ever to come on a honeymoon and not be married :)
She did make it clear that either Brian or I would be driving the whole way. She was just going to be sleeping in the back seat...and that is pretty much what she did.

We finally got to Tucson around 9:30 PM Tucson time so 11:30 PM Dallas time...and waiting for us at the back door was Amanda my other roomie. So...the first day of the honey moon = Brian + Catherine + Valerie + Amanda...I can just tell you a whole lot of kissing wasn't happening that day! :) JK We unloaded the car and all crashed!

But now the exciting news!!!!!!!! Brian and I have officially planned our OFFICIAL HONEYMOON! We will be traveling to Whistler BC over New Years to snowboard and wish in the New Year with a bunch of snow!! We will leave on Christmas Day to go to Seattle for a couple of days and then drive to the Nita Lake Lodge where we will spend the next 5 days! I'm so excited we finally booked something.

Sorry I haven't posted pictures of the wedding yet. You can get on Facebook to see what some other people posted. I talked with Lisa, my photographer, and she said they should be up by next Friday. I can't wait to see them!!

That's all I've got for now.

Married life has been great the last week and a half! We still like each other a lot!

YEAH!! :)

So it is about time that I updated again! :)

2008-09-26T17:10:00.007-07:00

I apologize that it has been so long! I have had a couple of eventful weeks! I quit my job at Chick-fil-A, had a fabulous wedding shower in Dallas, have been working at Starbucks full time and have some pretty good leads on the full-time job front!

Yesterday was my 27th birthday! I received so many sweet phone calls, facebook messages, and a couple of wonderful cards! Brian did a fabulous job of celebrating my birthday!!! He came up to Starbucks in the morning and brought a bouquet of flowers.

When I left work and he had left a card on my car dash. I got home and he had left 6 gifts on the kitchen table. I called and he said I could open any of the 4 cubes. He bought four 4-packs of Starbucks Double Shot Light energy drinks! :) Hilarious gifts to open! I left the last two gifts for when he got off of work! They were really nice yoga pants and great running socks! :)

We went out to dinner and then grabbed a delicious glass of wine at 58 degrees and Holding. We wanted the tiramisu but they don't serve it there any more.

Veeves and I went to the mall today! She bought me two super cute tops! As we walked around we stumbled upon the puppy store! :) And this is what we found...

She is 9 weeks old and I want her so much! Brian doesn't want a dog right now! :) Blah blah blah blah blah blah!

Shannon came over so we could all watch Sex and the City the Movie! Fabulous! :) It has been sprinkling on and off all day but the weather has been beautiful and pretty much sunny all day. While we were watching the movie I looked out side and saw this!!

Gorgeous and front my front yard!!!!

Blessings...and only 23 days to go!!

2008-09-08T21:17:00.000-07:00

For more pictures and thoughts on the Austin extravaganza...check out my moms blog!! She posted a couple different posts about it all!! And added some super fun pictures!!!!

Saying good-bye to old friends

2008-09-07T14:57:00.005-07:00

Moving forward is hard....needed...but still hard.
I have been in Tucson for over two years now. The first job I got when I moved here was at Starbucks. I have been very thankful to be able to keep that job for the last two years. I have had other full-time jobs as well...but always kept the Starbucks gig on Saturdays to help pay for my coffee habit! :)

In the last two years I have also worn the same shoes for every day on the job at Starbucks.

This past Saturday my shoes felt different. When I went home I pulled my shoes off and looked at the bottom. The are completely worn flat and one of the shoes had a hole in them.

I decided that it was time for them to be retired. Sad...but needed...

But for the really sad story...
My favorite gray cotton shorts. I have had the shorts for almost as long as I have known Brian. I received these shorts when I joined the RL Turner High School Tennis team my senior year...in 1999.

These shorts have been worn multiple times a week since that time. I am sure that I should have turned them in at the end of the school year as they were part of our 'work out uniform'. Over the years and many washings the elastic has started to wear....actually, it doesn't exsist at all any more. Yet I still wear them proudly.

Brian hates these shorts and to be honest I completely understand why. I would totally fit in with Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch of the early 1990's with these shorts...if you get what I mean :)

I wore them out Friday night to run an errand to FedEx Kinkos. I couldn't let go of them the whole time because they kept falling down. I decided after that it might be time to 'lay them down to bed for good'. :)

This is a PTL moment for Brian and Valerie...but for me it is moving on, moving forward, letting go of my security blanket...

After I threw them in the trash Brian put his plate of food on it for added insurance as he put it.

Austin, TX shower

2008-09-06T11:02:00.004-07:00

Last weekend I was so blessed to go to Austin!!
I flew to Dallas and met my mom at the airport. We made our way to the Alexanders house in Austin! I had a wonderful shower with a bunch of my wonderful college girlfriends and Come before Winter friends!

It was such a blessing to spend time with everyone. And the gifts were fabulous too!!! I got my Vita Mix blender from all of my Come before Winter teammates!! YEAH!!!

I don't have many pictures. Most are on my mom's camera.
Beautiful floral design from Karen Alexander!!!! I love that woman!

The Future Mrs. Brian Wick!!!

Pretty gift that apparently Jake thought was his first...ask Lindsey McCrary for that story!! :)

Mom and me

Me & Chez!!

On Saturday morning I took my bridal portraits. Lisa Woods, my wonderful college girlfriend, took all my bridals and will be doing the wedding photography as well!

Here are some of the pictures...just don't tell Brian about them!!! Enter in 'My friend Cat' in the search box on the top right of the home page.

I'll be heading home with Veeves next weekend for the Dallas church shower!! Lyndsey is coming in too so the whole family will be together for the weekend!!

Love...bye!

Our weekend in Puerto Penasco, Mexico

2008-08-24T19:22:00.008-07:00

This past Saturday and Sunday Shannon, Greg, Valerie, Brian and I went to Puerto Penasco (Rocky Point), Mexico. It is about a 4 hour drive from my house to the Sonoran Sun Resort.

We got there around 11 am on Saturday. Our room was not ready so we just changed into our bathing suits in the bathroom and went straight out to the beach!

That is Brian and Greg lounging...

When we finally got our room. Shannon, Valerie and I unloaded the car and went to our room. This is the view of our hotel from out balcony...so beautiful!!

On Saturday night we met up with some other Tucson friends, Matt & Marci, for dinner at the Friendly Dolphin and then went to dance at some bar a little ways down the street.

We were all safe, had a blast and wore our sun screen. I was the only one who got red but it has now calmed down a bunch. It never hurt badly...it was just red.

I think that no matter how hard I try not to have a picture like this, Brian will always make this face when I am trying to have a cute moment captured on film.

Brian and I on the balcony

Brian and I right before we left for dinner

A cute one of Veeves and me!

Valerie, Me, Shannon!

This picture is not from Rocky Point...but a cute one of Valerie and me last Sunday!!

I'M ENGAGED...again :)

2008-08-13T13:07:00.002-07:00

Brian called the jeweler after we met for lunch! He was able to squeeze us in right then. We fixed my ring in about 5 minutes and we are all back to normal...and as the jeweler put it, "engaged again"!!!

Thank you mister jeweler for getting that done so quickly!! I'm so happy! And he cleaned it so it is nice and sparkly again!!

They had to cut it off!

2008-08-10T17:19:00.004-07:00

They amazing guys that saved my finger! :) Thank you so much!

**My hand was not caught in the garbage disposal though it may look that way. The firefighters wanted to try dish soap and water one last time before cutting it off.** Thank you Lyndz for pointing that out! I now understand why the phone call of panic was made! :)

The hole in the ring...that is all they needed to do!

It hurt so bad! Now it is just red and puffy...and still throbbing.

Something is wrong with my ring finger

2008-08-10T13:12:00.003-07:00

On Saturday night Valerie, Amanda and I were (for some unknown reason) talking about wedding rings and how a lot of other countries wear their wedding bands on their right hand. I then go on the rest of my evening wearing my engagement ring on my right hand with no issues.
I fell asleep with my jewelry on.
I woke up around 4 AM, noticed and preceded to remove the jewelry.
My hands were swollen so I was having to work at getting my ring off. The problem...it wasn't coming off at all. I tried soap, lotion, Windex...nothing.

I decided to just wait it out because the bloating would go away at some point as it always has. I think I tried to hard in the middle of the night to get the ring off that my finger is now swollen and not coming down.
I soaked my hand in ice water to try to help. I worked at the ring in the shower. It has not started bothering me until now. It is continuing to swell and is now getting pretty puff and red. If nothing happens by this evening, Brian and I will be heading to the fire station to get it cut off. This will obviously be the worst case scenario.
The pictures really don't do it justice but it is the best I can get right now.

Roomies!! (Amanda, Veeves and me)

Me and Veeves right outside of the party room

Me, Brian and our friend Kristin and Megan's 30th birthday party at the Dubliner

Trantula pictures

2008-08-10T13:08:00.001-07:00

This is the spider I was talking about earlier!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LYNDZZZZZ

2008-08-08T08:52:00.001-07:00

It's your 29th year on earth...and the first day of the 2008 Summer Olympics...I don't think your world could get any better!!

LOVE YOUR GUTS!!! Happy birthday!
<3 Cath

Finally...

2008-08-04T08:31:00.002-07:00

I apologize that it has taken me forever to get back to a computer. I have been having a lot of technical difficulties on top of just being stinkin' busy with life!

Amanda (my roommate) saw a tarantula in front of her car on Saturday night. It was still there yesterday afternoon being eaten by ants...but I had not seen one of those here until now.

I took some pictures but have not loaded them into my camera.

This morning Valerie and I played tennis. I ate breakfast and got ready for the day...she took a shower and went back to bed...anyone surprised about that one? :)

I will try to update a little more...but to be honest...until I finish the Come before Winter Canada/Bosnia video I should not be doing anything else.

Love your guts!

A shout out to Katrina...you are the reason I finally sat down to do this! :)

The Wildlife around the house...

2008-06-27T09:05:00.003-07:00

I saw two havalina (nasty wort hog looking things) last Saturday on my way into Starbucks at about 3:45 AM. I didn't get pictures but man they were gross...and just non-chantly crossing the street into Tohono Chul Park...right by our house.

Brian, being a boy, decided we was going to catch a lizard. He was successful. It bit him on the finger but then didn't move until Brian dropped him outside. Of course, when he caught the thing he ran into the house to show me and Amanda.

Then there was the snake right outside the house...don't have much to say about that except...GROSS!!!!

Enjoy the pictures!

The Come before Winter Update!!

2008-06-27T08:37:00.006-07:00

Finally...I know! I must apologize for taking so long to update but life is hectic and there are 50 million other things going on. I'm just glad I finally got all my thank you cards in the mail! :)

My travels from Tucson to Dallas were quite uneventful. I was able to get to Dallas a day early to do wedding planning with mom and spend some time with my family. I met up with the rest of the team on Friday at DFW and off we were to
Sarajevo...with a 12+ hour lay over in Vienna, Austria.

Mariana Long, the author of the report below, was a missionary in Vienna in the 60's (and maybe early 70's). She gave some of the team members a mini tour of Vienna. We walked Stephansdom to Figlmuller, a very authentic Austrian restaurant for authentic.

We went and had a Vienna espresso and Sacher Torte (or apfel struddle) at the famous Sacher Hotel directly behind the Staatsoper.

After lunch we took a short walk back around Stephansdom, Hofburg and the Imperial Palace, and Staatsoper.

All that in less than 12 hours...but a wonderful experience getting to see Mariana's face light up as she spoke of her life there. What an honor it was to experience that with her!

Then off to Sarajevo...just a two hour plane ride away. As we flew in I was amazed at all the beautiful mountains and Ever Green trees...I had no idea! It was after midnight I believe when we landed but were greeted by teammates Jeanene Reese and Linda Forester as well as missionaries Heather, Liz Crittenden and Carolyn Cox. They drove us to our hotel...we got situated and rested for the night... now I could continue to go into more details but I feel that Mariana's words wrap up our week beautifully. Pleas continue reading...

I have attached the words from Mariana Long, one of my fabulous team members, to share with you. She created a beautiful PDF file with pictures to go along with her report. If I knew how to turn that into a link online I would!

“Bless the Lord, O my soul!”
Come before Winter
Bosnia & Herzegovina
June, 2008
Mariana Long
“The war in Bosnia from 1992 to 1995 destroyed nearly all the athletic sites of the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo. The wooden seats from the Zetra arena were used for coffins. The bobsled run turned into trenches. The mountain site for Nordic skiing was transformed into a Serbian artillery position. The Olympic stadium became a graveyard,” writes Richard Sandomir, July 7, 1999, The New York Times.
This is the history remembered by most when Bosnia is mentioned. Reminders of this dreadful time in the history still exist, but we saw the beautiful Bosnia and Herzegovina from a totally different viewpoint.

On June 2, 2008, thirty-five women, aged 27 to 69, from Albania, Austria, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Italy, and Russia, joined the Come before Winter team of thirteen for spiritual renewal. The time spent there was indeed, a mountain-top experience. Our beautiful hotel was on the mountain where Olympic Nordic skiers competed twenty-four years earlier. We did not come to compete, but we left feeling as though we all were wearing “the gold.”

For five days, we wrapped ourselves in Psalm 103. Women who came to the renewal with spirits very near the breaking point, left with fresh resolve to return to their difficult lives with the sweet assurances of this psalm ringing in their ears – and yet with a realistic view of life in regard to the promises stated there.

Several months ago, when two of our brothers heard that we were studying Psalm 103, they wanted to write a special hymn for us. (I have attached this link to a YouTube video of the team singing the song. The video itself is not good at all but we wanted to capture the sound of the song. Please enjoy with your ears...not so much your eyes!)
We received a copy of the music the day before we left for Bosnia. What a gift! We are especially grateful to Mark Shipp, professor of Old Testament at Austin Graduate School of Theology in Austin, Texas, and Konstantine Zhigulin, a Christian brother from St. Petersburg, Russia, for using their talents to bless the entire renewal in such a way. It quickly became our theme song.

Each day’s thoughts were centered on one of five words. Monday, we pondered the Hebrew word, “HESED;” Tuesday – “HOLY;” Wednesday – “REMEMBER;” Thursday – “COMPASSION;” Friday – “BLESS.”

Mat and Beth Hames, of Alpheus Media in Austin, produced an amazing video expressing the meaning of “Hesed” with music, pictures, words. It is an indescribable masterpiece that became more meaningful to us with each viewing as we worshiped and studied the message of Psalm 103.

We bathed ourselves over and over in Psalm 103. We gathered in reading groups; reading structurally, reading theologically, and reading prayerfully. We spent time reflecting thoughts of the psalm in silence, in quiet activities, and in art. We began and ended each day in worship together. The sweet words, “Bless the Lord, O my soul” regularly reminded us of each element of that psalm.

Each day clusters (2-3 participants to each team member) gathered to pray, to share thoughts of the day or their own personal blessings or battles. We rejoiced in the victories from the various mission points, and in the hurts of disappointment.
We were especially moved by the experiences the “nationals” shared. One told of the serious threat of the lives of her and her family – a threat made by the gypsies with whom they are work. Another lady from Bosnia shared with us some of her stories of her experience serving as a nurse during the war. Another shared her personal story and the blessings she found in spite of the terrible war. Her very own words: “On 14 November 1992 god found me after I tried to escape for 46 years He found me in my bungalow in a refugee camp during the Bosnian war. Missionaries came to my bungalow looking for someone else and they found me instead. I thank god for this I will never forget this.” What a joy she was to all of us with her bright outlook on life and with her love for the Lord!

The study of Psalm 103, the lively discussions in various reading groups, the quiet times of reflection, the time spent expressing thoughts in art, and the worship together gave all the women – including the CbW team – courage and strength to keep on keeping on. Our time in the scripture did not give these Godly warriors just a temporary bandage for their hurts and wounds, but a hard plaster cast to give strength to their broken parts. God will continue to heal. He will be there when they are being broken again and will give them strength to deal with the difficulties that life will absolutely bring!

And I can almost hear them say, even in the most difficult of times, “Bless the Lord, O my soul….” They take this psalm seriously! They are just that kind of women!
Thank you for your compassion for the women who are engaged in a spiritual warfare on difficult turfs – fighting for the souls of many we will never meet on “this side.” Thank you for the way you have participated in this battle. May God richly bless you!
Thank you!

The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him. Psalm 103:8-11 NIV

Come before Winter Bosnia – 2008 Front row: Karen Alexander and Catherine Goode Second row: Jeanene Reese, Brooke Hollingsworth, Cynthia Agnell, Jana Graves Third row: Carol Maples, Susan Griffith, Linda Forrister, Sylvia Gerrard, Mariana Long Back row: Joyce Blake and Jennifer Crisp

A heart-felt message emailed to us soon after the renewal from one of the participants:
Dear Heather and the whole team of CbW which has been to Bosnia and Hecegovina even it has just passed one week after my coming home from Jahorina it seems to me everything so present and real on the one hand and at the other hand so much like a beautyfull dream...I hope you arrived back to the states and had relaxed from your busy time. I just wanted to say Thank you so much for doing this service on us and coming and encourreging me. It has really been a huge blessing and all arround my house the signs remaind me on what has become important to me (Hased, compassion, Holy...) and the bag , pictures and songbook remember me on the amazing job you has done for us before comong. As a friend of me said about your job :It´s a blessing for every person we are in touch with. Becouse if we are renewd the families, churches and everybody hopefully is............ May trhze blessing God gave me through you andure and last forever With big Thanks. Diana S. (Sarajevo) PS Sorry for my bad english

**If you would like for me to email the PDF file with pictures to you I would be more than happy to. Please just send me your email address and I will get to to you right away!**

Bosnia updates to come

2008-06-13T06:11:00.003-07:00

I just wanted to let you know that I am still planning on updating everyone on my fabulous trip with Come before Winter to Bosnia. Since I got back to Tucson I have battled illness, jet lag and work. I will get to it I promise!!
Here is a teaser of what is to come!

Hotel Termag; where we stayed during the renewal, beautiful resort, wonderful staff, nice rooms, sweet memories

The clouds below us; Carolyn Cox drove different team members up to the top of the mountain every day to check out the phenomenal views, it is fascinating to be standing above the clouds

Looking down onto Sarajevo from the mountain tops

Excuse ME!!!! I have an announcement to make!!!

2008-06-11T12:21:00.003-07:00

My little sister, Valerie G Goode, is moving to TUCSON!!!! On July 3rd Valerie and I will be loading her car and driving 15 hours from Farmers Branch to Tucson.

She will spend until October with me! Then she will be heading cross country to the NYC to spend a couple months with Lyndsey!! What an exciting time!! Then sometime in 2009 she will be heading off to where ever the Peace Corp sends her! That is right my friends, she has been accepted into the Peace Corp! The interview went very well and now she just has to wait for all the medical testing and to be told where she will be headed for two years!!

We are so proud of you Veeves-e-kins!!!

LOVE YOUR GUTS!!
Cath

Thumper

2008-05-19T18:52:00.003-07:00

If you have talked to me at all over the last almost 2 years, you have probably heard me talk about all the wildlife in Tucson. My backyard is like a zoo in some ways. We see really big lizards all the time, hawks have landed (and pooped) on my car, coyotes have walked within 100 feet of Brian and I at dusk, I have seen bobcats late at night run (or early morning really) in front of my car, just last week B & I saw a big ole' snake and right now the baby bunnies are out in full swing! The bunnies are out in the morning and in the evening and all the time in between! I love it. There is a family of 5 that always seems to have meals together in our yard!

Isn't she so cute!! I asked Brian to go catch her for me so I could pet her. He made a rude comment about guns and traps. Boys...

i wished i had pictures

2008-05-11T20:35:00.002-07:00

So...on Saturday, Brian and I went jogging. As we were heading back to the house Brian noticed something moving in the neighbors yard. We stopped, and there was a snake about to cross the street...it's black tongue quickly slithering in and out of its mouth. We watched it for about 5 minutes. It was 4 feet long and blended in well with the rest of the desert. I normally only see small snakes around the house so I was very surprised to see one so big.

The bunnies and lizards are out in full swing. There were 5 baby bunnies exploring the back yard. I love getting to watch them. The lizards are so big and look like they had a nice hibernation!

I have to go back to work tomorrow. So on that note... EAT MOR CHIKIN

For Veeves...

2008-05-01T07:49:00.002-07:00

Brian and Catherine's website

I'm a home owner!!!!

2008-04-30T08:14:00.003-07:00

Seriously!!!!!
As of Monday, April 28, 2008, I own a home!!!! Brian was working on refiancing the house and decided to add me to the title!! So here we are at the Title Agency signing the docs!!!

oh the blessings of wild animals

2008-04-25T08:41:00.003-07:00

Friends! I know you have been waiting for this educational lesson! The picture below looks like cactus and desert debris. Actually it is a VERY large pack rat nest!! YUCKY!!! Brian and I have walked our property a bunch of times and have seen these but just thought it was tree branches, dirt, etc that the wind had blown around... not a harboring place for yucky little creatures!!!!! After the exterminator came and showed me "the largest nest I have seen in my 11 years of working in this business" I just had to take a picture and share it with you. This picture was taken after Brian was able to come over to see it as well. When we walked over to it we saw two little boogers scurrying back into their next!! GROSS!!!

After the washer incident and finding out about our pack rat issue, Brian decided that the laundry room needed a major makeover. The door hasn't shut of months now. There was no dry wall, just beams holding the structure up and brick around the outside. Brian invited Dave and Bill over to help drywall and clean out the laundry room. Then he bought a steel door that actually closes to help keep the pack rats out!! Isn't he is handsome working on the house with big power tools!! Man, I love this man!

Here is the wild hog that was caught in Uncle Morton's hog trap. This guy thought we was still tough and mighty in that cage. Andy told me that he was caught eating molded, soggy corn on the cob. Apparently, the grosser the food is, the more those little stinkers like it!

Riding around on four wheelers at The Jeffrey's ranch! We had so much fun during the pretreat for Come before Winter! I am so thankful to have these women as friends and mentors in my life!! What a blessing!

My BFF, Mariana Long, and I playing on a four-wheeler at The Jeffreys ranch in Baird! I love this lady!! I just wished she lived closer to me! :)

This is Bridgeport and Bagel the Beagle!! Philip's dog is Bridgeport! Veeves dog is Bagel bear! We love her!! She is getting old but still acts like she is a puppy!!

and our little friends keep coming!

2008-04-10T07:07:00.003-07:00

Wednesday morning was quite eventful. I had an exterminator out roaming our property and a guy over to the house trying to fix Brian's car that hasn't worked since Sunday.

Lisa, the lady from NW Extermination came to check on a potential(!!!!!) pack rat problem and to inspect for termites. The termites really haven't been an issue but we felt since the house hadn't been inspected since Brian purchased it, it wouldn't hurt just to check it out.
Well, it turns out we have 6, you heard me, 6 large pack rat habitations within a 75 foot radius of our house. The good thing is that they are not nesting in our storage room (PTL) but they are running back and forth for various reasons.

As I let you know in the last post, Brian placed rat poison under the washer before the gentleman put it all back together. I'm pretty sure a rat found it and is now in the rat underworld...I have decided there is no way there could possibly be a rat heaven! :) Now our storage facility smells really yucky! Brian and our friend Dave have decided to drywall the storage room and clean it all out this weekend! I am thankful I will be at Starbucks and Chick-fil-A on Saturday!!

Hours later Brian's car was finally fixed with no major diagnosis. He changed the spark plugs and the car now starts...but isn't sure why it stopped to begin with. Hummm...

Chapter 3... sorry no pix Veevs

2008-04-03T20:21:00.002-07:00

So, I was able to talk with our caterer today. The venue for our reception HAS fallen through so we will have to make plans to use another place. Yes, this is sort of annoying... wait! Very annoying. However, it is what it is and it always seems that in every wedding there is some sort of drama that comes with the territory.

I am thankful that I have a few more months to get everything figured out. JoAnn, the caterer, mentioned another venue that she thought might work out. It's closer to the church, on the same highway, same price. The only thing that she says it doesn't have is the winding staircase to do the grand entrance on. I didn't really care about that anyway... so we will see! Mom and Veeves are going to go check it out on April 26th!

My friend Susan was using the same venue though and her wedding is in July. I am hoping that the caterer will have a great recommendation for her too so it won't be any more stressful than it already has been for them. I would probably be a little more frazzled if I were getting married in just a few months.

This past Saturday was all fine and good when I left for Starbucks at 4:30 AM. When I returned home around 9:30 AM my roommate Amanda informed me that the washer had stopped working. Brian was out of town and with saving for a wedding, planning a trip with Come before Winter to Bosnia (Catherine) and a trip to Columbia (Brian), there aren't a lot of extra pennies lying around, you know? So, being the handy girls we are, we tried fixing it ourselves. That got us no where. I called the 1-800 number on the washer. That took me across the world to a call center in India where I was asked the same questions over and over again, was encouraged the spend more money on unnecessary things, got really frustrated and then made an appointment for the earliest time... the next Tuesday afternoon. I booked it with out a smile on this pretty face! Ughh!!!

I called my sweet friend Shannon who is just wonderful. Amanda (while leaving her wet cloths in the broken washer), Shannon and I went to La Encantada to get out of the house and enjoy the weather for a while. We talked poorly about old housing equipment and our dependency on so many things. Then we went on our separate ways.

After church on Sunday Shannon and I both had some errands to run. I was going to meet her at her condo once I went home to change. From the time I got home to the time I got to her condo she had already called 5 different washer repair people to help me find someone that could come out today (Sunday). See, I told you, wonderful friend!! :)

We found a guy that would come out and look at it for only $35! If he had to repair anything it would be $85. I was totally down with that since the Sears people were going to take three more days to come over and it was going to cost $65 just to have them come out.

This guy, David, took that sucker apart to figure out what the problem was (I had no idea was a washer looked like without its casing on). Can you guess??? Veeves..shhhh...don't tell!!

It was a massive RATS NEST!!!! Seriously. I family of rats had made their home under our washer and had chewed up all the little wiring underneath! David cleaned up all of the mess they had made, Brian bought some rat poison, David re-wired the washer, put it back together... and it works like new again!!

Brian has covered the little boogers front door and hopefully they will not be getting under there any more. We will hopefully have exterminators out some time next week to make sure we are good to go!

But isn't that exciting... God bless this desert of ours... with live animals... cute and not cute all around!

Wedding News, Chapter 2

2008-04-01T19:33:00.002-07:00

This past Friday my mom was doing me the wonderful help of looking for/choosing the hotel we are going to use for all of our out of town guests. In her search she decided to stop by were our dinner will be held. Here is what happened:
Front desk man (FDM): Hello. May I help you?
Mom (M): My daughter is getting married in October and she will be having her reception here. Is it okay if I just look around?
FDM: Ma'am. We don't do weddings or receptions here anymore (soundly slightly appauled). We haven't for a month or so. Are you sure this is the building?
M: I believe so. This is the AIG building.
FDM: Well ma'am. We don't do receptions here any more.
M: Well, would you mind if I still look around a bit.
FDM: Sure.

Mom called me right after that to make sure she was in the right spot. She was.
I started calling the caterer/reception person to figure out what is going on as well as my friend Susan who is using the same venue this July. She hadn't heard anything about this either.

JoAnn, the caterer, called me back later that afternoon to inform me that there were some issues and that they are in the process of working everything out. If for some reason this venue falls through she has some other recommendations so there shouldn't be any big issues...of course, this is her telling me that there shouldn't be any big issues... easy for her to say.

I'm planning on calling her tomorrow (Wednesday) to figure out what she found out from the AIG management.

Brian spent this past weekend in Las Vegas will a bunch of his college buddies. He finally asked one more groomsmen. 2 down. 2 to go...or actually...when he got back on Sunday and asked if we could add one more person to our wedding party! So now we each are going to have 5 people standing with us!!!

I've got my 5!!! 3 sisters, 1 childhood friend and 1 college friend... the perfect mixture of sweet friendships over the last 26 years!!!!!

Work is going well. I am so busy and am not sure if I will be able to stay at Starbucks much longer. I really don't want to leave but I don't feel like I am being very fair to them either. We will have to wait and see how the next month or so goes.

Chick-fil-A world is well. Just super super busy.

Congratulations to the Brooks clan on baby #3 growing so strongly!! Can't wait to see her in person sooner than we can believe!!

Love you kids!!!

And sorry that I am never on my computer any more. It's amazing the difference when you have a job where you are out on your feet talking with people all day long...you don't stay up on all your computer stuff!! I'll try harder!!

gift registries, movies and cold weather

2008-03-16T18:19:00.002-07:00

Well, I wished I could tell you that my life were more exciting...however, that would be a big lie. :)

I have been busy working a lot of hours, enjoying being on my feet and talking with people. What I have noticed with this life change is that I don't keep up with the news as much as I would like and I don't send near as much time any more in front of a computer.

Most of my afternoon has been spent starring at my laptop working on our gift registry for Crate & Barrel. Brian and I registried there over a month ago, only selected 30 things in the store and then haven't done anything since. It's hard to do any fun registring when there is a boy walking around with you constantly saying, "Why do we need that? Don't we already have that?"
When I head home in April I am planning on making mom and Veeves head up to B,B&B with me to register like crazy there as well! Hopefully that will be a little more fun! I am sure it will be!

Sunday has been a good day. Brian and I met up with friends at church, enjoyed a great sermon and then headed to the movies to see Horton Hears a Who. The movie was very cute and enjoyable. It is nice to watch a movie not filled with foul language, blood and guts. Though I am in no way, shape or form ready for children (sorry Vic & Veeves) enjoying the movie as much as I did makes me look forward to the times when I do have children that I can experience those moments with!

As I said early, I haven't done a very good job of staying current on the hot topics of "today". It is freezing in Tucson today!! I had NO idea! The weather has been fabulous this whole week and then it had to go off and snow in the mountains today and rain in the city. Blah... I was looking forward to sitting outside in my hammick chair reading a book and enjoying the warmth. Alas...

That's all I got for now! Enjoy...

So guess what??!!

2008-03-01T16:12:00.002-07:00

Well, I guess most of you have already heard but...
I HAVE A NEW JOB!!! Officially :)

I am now the new marketing director for Chick-Fil-A in Tucson! I will miss the people at the radio station but I am really looking forward to the new experience!!

I'll keep you posted on how it goes!!!

My hair

2008-02-22T18:16:00.002-07:00

I finally said goodbye to a little more than 4 inches of my hair today. It was getting too long and heavy... and I was just tired of dealing with it! After talking with mom this afternoon I decided to go and see if I could walk into a salon and make something happen! I was lucky and found an opening at Regis in the Tucson Mall! Alejandra, the girl that did the cut was super sweet and liked to talk... a lot! :)

Here's what she did...

I'm really happy! I like it. It isn't very short (a little short for me)! And I like it a lot! Good job girl!

More news on the Wedding front

2008-02-22T10:39:00.005-07:00

Sometimes I wished I were more excited. The engagement was really exciting...not at all how I imagined it...but still super exciting. Since the planning has begun there hasn't been much to get me going. I find myself telling most people, "I really don't care. Do whatever you think looks best." I have some wonderful friends doing all my flowers..."I really don't care. Do whatever you think looks best." The girls and their bridesmaid dresses..."I really don't care. Do whatever you think looks best. Just as long as it is Wine, Dept 20 and in Satin!" The music..."I really don't care. Do whatever you think is best." Brian with the tuxs..."I really don't care. Do whatever you think looks best." Whether the dad's and Ronnie have to wear tuxs...I let the mom's fight that one out...Why? You might ask..."I really don't care. Do whatever you think looks best."

So...on it goes! :)
I went to Office Max the other day and was so excited to see that they had boxes of 'do it yourself' invitations on sale...and then 20% off on top of that! Man, I was excited and I couldn't get a hold of ANYONE to share in my joy! Brian, mom, sisters, girlfriends...ANSWER YOUR PHONE WHEN I CALL PLEASE! :)

Other than that, Brian and I are just trying as hard as possible to stay within budget. Let me tell you friend... that is stinkin' hard to do with a small budget for a Saturday event. I'm SO thankful for all the people that are wanting and willing to help out where they can! That means so much to me!!!

Thank you!
Love ya'!
Bye

Oh...PS: I have decided I have two favorite things!! Starbucks doubleshot Light. This is their 6.5oz can of cold goodness! Also, Fiber One cereral. I knew I loved that stuff but MAN, I really LOVE that stuff!! It's delicious. I just bought to other types to try them out and their SO delic!!!!!!!! Lyndsey... you should try these. Keep the original for cooking but these are yummy for breakfast cereals...

After six years...

2008-02-19T16:37:00.002-07:00

KO JO KAI WON SING SONG!!!!!!!!! Congratulations girls! I wished I could have been there with everyone to cheer you on!!!

Here's the Abilene Reporter News article!!

YEAH!!!!

NYC Extravaganza part 2

2008-02-16T19:13:00.012-07:00

Saturday part 2:
I don't remember if I talked about Magnolia and the Natural History Museum. Both were fabulous and super fun times with Lyndsey, Kathy (the roomie) and Veeves!
Both Lyndsey and Veeves blogs do a fabulous job of adding to what I have already said!!

Sunday:
Lyndsey had her first experience with a Zip Car. We drove to New Jersey for the Mavs/Nets game! The Mavs played one of the worst games ever but it was still tons of fun to go to and I was still so surprised how many people were there in Mavs Gear!!!
The walk to the apartment was FREEEEEZING and super windy! We ordered pizza and just relaxed the rest of the night knowing that we are heading to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island Monday morning!!

Monday:
A little history lesson!
Oh my word it was cold and windy! The ferry ride to Ellis Island and the Statue was freezing!! Valerie did a funny on the ferry ride over...I won't go into detail due to embarrassment but I am sure you can ask her and she can fill you in on the details! :)

Here are a bunch of pictures!

This is my favorite picture of Valerie...I think we should send it to Earl! :)

Goode Girl Extravaganza

2008-02-13T18:38:00.009-07:00

Thursday:
Flew to Dallas super early in the morning...Brian had to pick me up at 4:30 AM (normal time for me...but not so much for him)!
Met up with Veeves in terminal C and made our way to the NYC!
We met up with Lyndsey at the airport. Did the massive hugging, squealing, smiling thing and then grabbed a taxi to her apartment!
After the unloaded and had a snack we went to WICKED!!!!!!!! I have been waiting for this one moment for 3 years.

The show was AMAAAAAZZZING!!! It was all I thought it was going to be and more! Now I can't wait for it to come through Tucson or for me to go back to NYC!
After the show, Lyndsey's fried Meredith(?) set us up to meet with one of the stage managers for Wicked to take us back stage and show us around! How cool!!

This is a picture of Veeves, Lyndz and I on stage with the theatre in the background! As we were touching the props and looking around the actors will slowly filtering out to go home for the evening. We were saying hi, smiling and watching them leave from up close and personal! At the end of our play time on stage we left out of the same door all the actors do...a bunch of people were waiting eagerly for autographs and pictures...it was sort of funny when we walked out! :)
What a great first night in NY!

Friday:
Thursday after the show and tour Lyndsey had to head off to work. Veeves and I took our time getting home, crashed for the evening and then made our way back out to the world on Friday! We walked all around the city. We stopped at Buttercup and got a yummy cupcake, split a sandwich at Starbucks (God bless discounts nation-wide!), say crazy people all over the place, played in Central Park, were amazed at all the stinky mulch around the park to make it pretty, went to Macy's, walked through Times Square just for the heck of it...and I'm sure so much more.
Toward the end of our evening Valerie and I stopped at Social, an irish pub close to where we were going to meet Lyndsey, for dinner and to relax or feet for a while. We ended up just staying and hanging out until we needed to meet Lyndsey for Mary Poppins!
Again, another great show. It wasn't as fabulous as Wicked but it definitely was enjoyable. And for all of you ACU-ers out there...it was Sing Song MADNESS!!! Lyndsey turned around from the box she was sitting in and we both mouthed at the same time "SING SONG!!!!!"! It was hysterical and so enjoyable all at the same time! I would love to learn that cherography!

Saturday:
Slept in! On Friday and Saturday mornings Lyndsey was getting home as we were getting up! It was pretty cool and overcast but nothing too awful. Kathy, Veeves, Lyndz and I made a day of shopping at MAC and around SoHo, getting a cupcake at Magnolia bakery...

...and eatting at Ruby Foo's that night! Michael Miller (from the ACU days) works there! He did a fabulous job and we enjoyed some super yummy sushi!

Sunday:
Veeves and I tried to go to Manhattan Church of Christ but after getting on the wrong train and 40 minutes after figuring out where we were...it was a little too late for that. We were both bummed and really were looking forward to going back to the c of c and seeing if anyone we knew was there. We walked around 59th (Lincoln Square or Columbus Circle...I'm having a hard time remembering), got some coffee for me and tea for her and with the cold weather coming in we decided to head back to the apartment. We spent the rest of the day relaxing until we had to go pick up the Zip Car and head to New Jersey for the MAVS game!!
Lyndsey bought Valerie MAVS tickets for her Christmas present and included me in the deal! :) So, needless to say, I can add New Jersey to my list of states that I have been to and the MAVS will go down in the history for playing the worst game Valerie, Lyndsey or I have ever watched! I was so amazed at how many Mavs fans were actually at the game too! It was a bummer for the game but fun to see another part of NY & NJ that I had never seen before. PS: Lyndsey lives super close the the border of NY & NJ so did didn't take long at all to get there!

This is Lyndsey with her silver Jetta Zip Car!

The Nets stadium and the Giants stadium share a parking lot! It was pretty neat to be able to be right where the Super Bowl champs play!

So here is the deal for now... I am tired and want to get ready for bed so I will continue on Monday and Tuesdays excursions tomorrow. For now... enjoy! :)

I'm going to NYC!!

2008-02-05T13:57:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry I don't have any cute pictures of new hair-dos like Veeves but I apparently and not allowed to cut my hair because I'm getting married or something... :)

Anywho... Val and I are heading to NYC on Thursday to go play with Lyndsey!!!! I can't wait. I have been waiting to leave for the past week!!

On Thursday night we are going to see WICKED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have been waiting for this for two years now!!!
Then Mary Poppins on Friday and Mavs on Sunday (I think!!!!)!

I'm pumped! I'm sure there will be tons of pictures when we get back!

Veeves...I updated... happy now? :)

This weekend

2008-01-21T09:21:00.000-07:00

I was in Dallas and was able to get a lot of things taken care of for the wedding. It feels so good to be making progress in all of the wedding planning even though it is about 10 months away!
I have a dress (thanks Kris!!!)
I have a caterer (thanks Susan!!!)
I have a fabulous cake lady (thanks Meredith & Rachel!!!)
I have flower people (thanks Colleen, Lisa and Trish!!!)
I have a mom in charge for the church reception (thanks MOM!!!)
I have a maid of honor to take care of other business (thanks Veeves!!!)
I have a sister that is going to be in charge of everything once she is here (thanks Lyndz!!!)

Now, I just need to officially ask the girls that I want to help with House party and singing, finish Save The Date cards and get started on designing the invitations!!

man it feels good to be accomplishing things!!

The story...well actually...the whole history in a nut shell...buckle up kids...this is a long one

2008-01-06T19:23:00.000-07:00

WoW!! I really don’t know where to begin…this is a moment I have been waiting for for a very very very long time!
To start off…here is a brief history:
Brian and Catherine met in 1997 when he was beginning his freshman year in high school and Catherine was starting her sophomore year.
They became good friends through her brother, Philip, who shared a marching band spot in band with Brian.
Began dating in 1998 after a first date to Catherine’s junior prom.
Dated until 2000 when Brian moved to finish his senior year of high school at Woodrow Wilson high school in Portland, OR.
Catherine went to ACU…Brian went to the University of Washington in Seattle
We remained good friends throughout that time; continuing to talk on the phone, email and travel to see each other when we could.
We officially started dating again on July 7, 2005.
Brian moved to Tucson, AZ in August 2005… Catherine followed in June 2006.

Since I have moved to Tucson I have been hearing about how neat of a city San Diego, CA is and what a great weekend trip it is to have. It is only a 6 hour drive or 1 hour flight from Tucson. So, I have been mentioning it to Brian every once in a while that I would like to take a trip there.

Since we have been dating on and off for 10 years I felt like it was normal to assume that I would be getting engaged at some point soon after my move to Tucson. After all, I am moving all the way to AZ from my beloved Farmers Branch, TX (where I thought I would never leave…and was totally okay with that idea) for a boy!!
So, before any significant date or special moment I would think ‘maybe it’s going to happen tonight’… yet it never had.
After we finished our pre-marital counseling that thought became even more recurrent.
It didn’t happen while we were in TX for Thanksgiving with my whole family… he didn’t even ask my dad for permission…which I thought was a definite since it would be the only time to do it face to face. I found this out through my dad during a phone conversation we were having a few weeks ago…this is what it looked like:
D: You can’t keep traveling with this boy all the time as just a friend… you know that.
C: Dad, I know!! I’m not planning on it! I’m pretty sure it will happen soon.
D: Ya…well…does he know he’s got to ask me first before anything happens
C: Ugh…yes dad! I know! And he knows too!
D: Okay… just checking…

It didn’t happen during Christmas with his family in Washington and Oregon either.
It didn’t happen during New Years Eve celebrations.

So FINALLY…the story!!!!!
On Friday, January 4th, Brian asked what I wanted to do for the weekend. I knew that I would have to work at Starbucks Saturday morning but didn’t have anything else planned! He mentioned going to Scottsdale Saturday afternoon to go use the gift certificates we have gotten from our families over Christmas. Once I was off work I went straight home, showered and got ready for a super fun day of shopping at amazing stores that don’t exist in Tucson. I was ready to go…he had to pay bills, go to the bank, mail some letters…
We were finally headed to Scottsdale when he “accidentally” took a wrong exit. However, he never re-corrected the course and we kept driving another way. I knew something was up and I kept thinking that maybe it was about to happen!!
We ended up at the Tucson airport…I’m so confused!
We walk in and he tells me to sit in a seat. He walks up to the ticketing agent. He comes back to me and asks for my id. I give it to him and then he tells me to follow him. We go through security…the whole time he is holding my id and ticket and won’t let me see anything. We get through and he asks me to immediately sit down. He is gone for a while. He comes back and we just kill time until he tells me to follow him. We end up getting in line to board a flight to SAN DIEGO!!

I’m so excited and yet so confused all at the same time! :) We get seated and he begins to tell me that work is going to start getting really busy and since we didn’t do much for Christmas gifts for each other he thought he would surprise me with one last fun trip!
B: Oh…and please don’t get any ideas about this… it really is just for Christmas…nothing else.
C: Oh… okay… sheepishly looking down disappointed
B: Oh stop it… we’ll have a great time and it will be a nice romantic date! I just don’t want you getting mad at me at the end of the night when nothing happens…

So after this and so many times before of being disappointed when the night ends and no 'certain question has' been asked… I believed him and I appreciated him giving me the heads up so I wouldn’t be upset when we were coming back to Tucson without a pretty shiny ring on my left ring finger.

We finally land in San Diego after a detour to Phoenix because of a faulty landing gear. After a 1+ hour layover in PHX the whole plane was taken off the first plane and put on a second that got us to SD a few hours late but safety!

We walked around beautiful downtown and by the Navy shipyards for a while.
Pictures from the Navy shipyards:

Brian really wanted seafood and I didn’t care so we went to a nice restaurant right off the water. We spent over 2 hours laughing, enjoying each others company, people watching, etc.
This is the restaurant we went to...

Here we are at dinner...

Afterward, we went outside on the pier and walked around. We stood for a while in one of the corners of the pier looking at all the boats, talking about our future together, talking about our relationship…then Brian moved from right next to me to in front of me. We kept talking and then he started going down on one knee.

I freaked out!! I had no idea this was about to happen and I was completely caught off guard!
B: So, I know this has been a long time coming but………..he keeps saying sweet things and this is what comes out of my mouth over him…
C: SHUT UP!!!!!! Are you kidding me? Oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh…
B: I can’t imagine spending my life with anyone else. Will you marry me?
C: Did you ask my dad?
B: Yes’s…I did!
C: What did he say?
B: He said he gives his blessings Catherine…just say YES please!!! :)
C: YES!!!!!! YES!!!! Oh my goodness YESSSSSSSS!!!!

Hugs and kisses and a lot of hyperventilating follow…

I was completely in shock. I couldn't stop saying ‘Oh my gosh’ and ‘Are you for real?’ for a good twenty minutes. He then took me to the 40th floor of the Hyatt hotel where they have a glass lounge that overlooks the water and downtown San Diego.

This was taken right after he asked...and seriously...this is what I looked like the whole time. I was in complete shock. I wasn't processing through everything and wasn't really breathing! I still can't really believe it! :)

This picture was taken in the cab ride over the the Hyatt lounge right after he asked!

What a wonderful evening!! What a blessing it is to be with a man for so long and him continue to find ways to completely through me off guard!! I'm so excited for what more it to come!
At this point all we know is we will be getting married in Tucson in October 2008 and will be having a large celebration in Dallas a week or so later!! YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!! I’m going to get to be a Wick!! And he is going to get to become a Goode kid! :)

These were all taken right at the spot where it all went down!!!

Here's a picture of the ring!! It is so beautiful and sparkly!!

Ringin' in the New Year

2008-01-02T16:16:00.000-07:00

Brian and I had a wonderful time with his family on Washington and Oregon over Christmas. We had no problems with our standby passes to and from Washington!! Thank you so much for your prayers... they were definitely felt!

We arrived on the 20th in the afternoon and were able to spend the rest of the day catching up with his Uncle Tim (his mom's brother) and Aunt Tish at their office in Bremerton, visiting his Nan (his mom's mom) and still meeting up for dinner with David (dad) and Connie (step-mom) for Connie's birthday celebration in Port Orchard. We had a blast getting to see their boat and go down on the water. I saw an otter swimming around the dock! That was pretty neat since when I think of 'otter' I think 'Alaska'...

On Friday we surprised Dan, Berit and Kristina at the airport. They were coming in from Columbia where they are missionaries and they were not expecting us at all! :) That was a sweet surprise. I had not seen them in over two years! We spent the day catching up with them and running errands... then headed off to Lake Chelan... where the rest of the family was to meet us on Saturday!
We made it over the pass with no problems though there was a lot of snow.

We stopped at the top of the mountain for a potty break and for a little snow ball fight. You can see how high snow had piled around us. We did not need chains on the tires at that point. It was just slow-going!

I have only been to Lake Chelan during the summer where it is perfect to hop on the boat and go water skiing or grab the jet ski's and play around... or if you are Brian, David or Connie... grab the hobbie cat and go sailing! :)
The views from the lake house were gorgeous. The first morning we woke up and fresh snow had fallen all around. It was super cold but too beautiful not to bundle up and go out and take some pictures.

Before everyone else started arriving we continued on our errands to Wal-Mart (Lake Chelan just got a Super Wal-Mart recently... it's where you will run into anyone and everyone in the town), the hanger (where Dan, Berit and Kristina keep their plane and all their boxes from the move to Columbia) and to get the Christmas tree!! The tree was real too!! I can't remember the last time I have gotten to decorate a real Christmas tree!

Brian and Dan bringing in the Christmas tree and setting it up!!

Kristina and I were the decorators!! It was a lot of fun! Brian just sat in a chair and watched while we listened to Christmas music in spanish!

The rest of the Wick clan started arriving Saturday afternoon. We enjoyed a wonderful dinner together with a lot of laughter, catching up and super yummy food courtisy of grandma Virginia!

Top: Dan, Papa and Grandma (Don & Virginia), Brian, Connie, David
Bottom: Catherine, Aunt Berit, cousin Kristina

Brian and I took a bunch of pictures outside in the snow!! It was so pretty and SOOO coooollllddddd! :)

Oh... and here is a super cute one of Connie, David, Brian and I.

We all woke up Sunday morning and went to Christmas service at the local bible church. It was very enjoyable and sweet to have most of the family together. I was very surprised to find how many people there were at the church in such a small town.
After a wonderful time of fellowship and a hardy meal with the family Brian and I headed out in the snow toward Portland to spend Christmas eve and Christmas day with Sara (Brian's mom).
Here are some pictures from the drive from Lake Chelan to Portland. There was tons of snow dumping on us through the mountains. Once we crossed the Washington/Oregon border to rain started pouring and the fog was so bad we could only see about 10 feet in front of us!!

We made it safely to Portland and were welcomed with big hugs from Sara!! It was wonderful to spend a couple of days with her!! On the 24th we went to Christmas Eve service at her church. She is very involved with her church playing hand bells, piano and singing in the choir. We drove by the property she is hoping to buy and build and home on! We opened gifts together and hit the mall for a few quick errands! She made Brian an awesome quilt for his bed with Washington Huskie fabric. She made me a padfolio and make-up bag with great brown and pink fabric she had!! She is SO creative and hopefully I can convince her to make me a t-shirt quilt or two with a bunch of old t-shirts that I have held on to over the years!! :)

We all woke up Christmas morning to give our goodbyes. Brian and I loaded up the car and began our drive back to the Sea-Tac airport where we were hoping (and did!!!) to catch both flights back to Tucson!!

We arrived in Tucson around 8 pm and drove to my house on the NW side of town to see that Santa :) had made it by even though we were gone!

We opened gifts and are so thankful of all the wonderful gifts our families had sent to us prior to Christmas day!!

We had such a wonderful time with Brian's family and catching up as much on the phone as we could with mine!!
We love you guys so much!!!

Here are a few pictures from our New Years Eve celebration at Dave's house in Tucson. It was a night filled with Guitar Hero and cards! I sucked it up at Guitar Hero but won both card games that we played... 31 & 8, 7, 6!! I was proud of myself!
The first picture of us in 2008

Trying to play it cool while in my head freaking out because I can't keep up even on the beginner level
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How I really felt the entire time

Dave, Brian and Gavin (cousin) being themselves... or at least when they are together

Happy 2008!! I hope your year is filled with many blessings!!