An update

I am very sorry it has been a while since I have updated my blog. I enjoy getting to keep everyone up to date but the days just get a way from me every once in a while. I have spent the last two weeks house sitting for a co-worker who lives about 30 minutes away, packing up my apartment, moving into the home I will begin living in within the month, continuing to work diligently on the Kenya Come before Winter video and now trying to read some Harry Potter. Work has been quite nice over the last week since my boss has been on vacation as well as the other two guys I work a lot with. I have been able to finish up with the morning show at 9 am every morning and just bang out all of my work without any interruptions! I have loved that!

Today I took my car into get my brakes checked... nearly $400 later all is good to go. They had been squealing for a while but this weekend they began to grind so I knew I needed to get them fixed. I decided to get a tune up as well since I hadn't done that since moving to Tucson over a year ago.

With the Monsoon beginning it has been overcast on and off over the past week. One of the things that I will miss about Tucson is being able to watch the storms come in. There are no large buildings blocking your view and you can see so far out. Storms move gracefully into town; clouds maneuvering around one another until the perfect lite storm hits. Since it doesn't rain but during the monsoon there is no efficient storm drainage or run offs so when it rains... everything floods... similar to what a lot of TX has been going through lately. It is quite amazing to see washes bone dry 10.5 to 11 months out of the year, in one day, become 1 to 8 feet high. Between the rain in town and all the run off from the mountains, water just pours into town... it's slightly dangerous but cool to watch happen. I am always reminded of God's glory during this time. You can't help but look up into the heavens, watch the clouds roll in and not be thankful for the beauty the power and the awe that He provided... man it's cool! :)

However, speaking of dangerous... Tucson has implemented a newer law in town... it's call the Stupid Driver law. It now holds (stupid) drivers liable for getting stuck in washes, washed up roads, under or over passes, etc. when driving in an unsafe area during monsoon. The driver will have to be pay charges that occur if a person has to be rescued... pretty interesting.

Here is a recent picture of Brian and I. We had a dinner party with some of my co-workers from Starbucks. It was so much fun!!
And for my little Veevesy...
Here are pictures from the house that I am moving into.
Obviously, this is the front of the house.
Here is the round about...
Another round about view... we have a front large entry way.
Here a two views from the front door...
This is the back porch. We have a big back yard... it would be perfect for a BBQ or for dogs... we have neither.

This is our pool. It needs a good cleaning job but it will be wonderful to have once it is all up and running!
This is Brian's storage spot for the hobbie cat. The house is on 2 and 1/2 acres so we have more than enough room to store the boat!
Here is the car port. Two cars can fit nicely in there. The door you see to the left is the entry into the tool shed, work space, laundry room. We have a washer and dryer already!! :) The door behind my car leads into the kitchen and living area.
The kitchen is still under construction but should hopefully be done this week...
And here is the living area... used also as storage until the kitchen is complete. Then we will begin making the living area a little more livable! :)
This is my bathroom and if we get a third roommate, hers as well.

So I apparently didn't take any pictures of my bedroom... however there is nothing in it right now so it doesn't really matter. I take more pictures once the house is put together.

And last but not least... for the mom... we have bunnies all over the place. Every day when I pull up to the front door they go scattering. Brian and I were over at the house last Saturday morning trying to get some handy work done and I glanced out to the back... there were 4 bunnies playing in the back yard and three very large hawks sitting on the ledge of the pool. It was so cool!
And for your enjoyment...

Lindsey came to visit and play time in Mexico

One of my closest friends came to visit me in Tucson this past weekend! Lindsey McCrary and I had so much fun getting to spend time together catching up, driving around and playing in Mexico. We enjoyed a homemade dinner on Thursday night... God bless yummy chicken salad that we have bonded over since college, a fabulous and cooled temperatures drive up Mt. Lemmon where we walked around and enjoyed all the beautiful nature you see driving up the mountain and then walking around on all the big rocks. On Saturday morning, Lindsey, Megan (my new roommate), Shannon (my new friend) and I met Brian, Adam (his roommate), Gavin (Brian's cousin) and Kristin (Gavin's girlfriend) at Brian's house (soon to be Megan and Catherine's home!!) where we loaded up, tried to get the boat ready (we didn't and decided to leave it), and headed out for the 4 hour drive toward Puerto Penasco, Mexico.
Lindsey and I at Mt. Lemmon
Brian and Catherine at Puerto Penasco, Mexico
Catherine & Lindsey playing in the ocean
Catherine & Megan: My new roommate who just moved down to Tucson from Michigan. She is working for an International adoption agency. Her neighbor in Michigan is one of the board of directors for Family Life Communications, the company I work for. How great is God!!!
Me and Shannon falling while still looking of-so-beautiful for the camera!
That's my baby!!

We all had such a wonderful time. Who knew that just 24 short hours at the beach and playing in the ocean would be such a renewing experience. It took us 4 hours each way and through the border crossing. It was a great time for Lindsey and I to catch up while Shannon and Megan relaxed in the back. And a great time for old friends (Adam, Brian, Gavin) to meet new friends (Lindsey, Shannon, Megan, Kristin).

All in all, it was a wonderful trip and I want more friends to come visit!! Moral of the story... COME VISIT ME!!

Goode Lyndsey Goode has already canceled on my because of work so I how have an availability in August! :)

Love,
C

This past weekend Veeves came for a visit to Tucson! My first visitor since my parents moved all of my things out here back in September. It was so much fun to have her around even though it was for such a short time. She flew out Friday afternoon and had to leave Sunday evening. The Lord certainly was on our side though because her flight back to Dallas was delayed by two hours which meant two unplanned extra hours just to spend time together!! What a blessing and what an honor to love all of your siblings so much!!

This bunch of pictures are all from the drive up to and on top of Mt. Lemmon. Brian, Valerie and I drove to the top enjoying a climate that began around 103 degrees and ended at about 78 degrees at the top of the mountain... not much to complain about there! We did however stop at this very popular, considering it is the only one, cafe for lunch. It took forever to get service, it wasn't that great once we got it and Valerie NEVER got her food, oh, and it was WAY over priced. So, needless to say, the "experience" isn't worth it at all and I will not be doing that (stopping at the cafe) again... just in case you were wondering... :)


ain't she cute...
Looking out toward the city from the top of Mt. LemmonValerie took this one of Brian and I from the back... good job Veeves!
Valerie helped me pick out place mats and napkins for my kitchen table. I have been wanting to add some color but just wasn't sure what I was looking for. Praise the Lord for little sisters with an opinion and Crate and Barrel sales!!!!!


The end... so Lindsey McCrary (one of my sweetest college friends) is coming into town TOMORROW!!! We're so pumped! Then we are going to Mexico on Saturday to go sailing!!

Goode-Lyndsey Goode :) is coming in August!! YEAH VISITORS !!!! I LOVE IT!

Learning to be thankful... and faithful

It is official. I have actually been living, and I say living because I have gone out of town at least one weekend a month since I moved, here for ONE FULL YEAR. My first full day in Tucson was June 12, 2006. I can not believe one year as passed. I remember so vividly walking outside the Briar Church of Christ building where all of the Goode family was catching up and reunion-ing and walking to my fully loaded car with mom, dad, aunt Jeanie and Brian. We all hugged a lot, my dad shuck Brian's hand, we got in the car and drove away. Approximately 15 hours later we were pulling into the faint city limits of Tucson, Arizona.

A lot has happened in a year. Definitely a lot of tears. A lot of what in the world am I doing. A lot of what is God doing in me. I have realized that I really need to focus on this season of my life for just that... a season in time. I have spent so much time being negative, being angry and being uncertain. In deciding to smile and look at the positives that Tucson, Brian and my jobs hold there are great things happening.

Being able to glance back I am thankful that I have a heavenly father that doesn't allow His children to be complacent. He doesn't want us to be comfortable all of the time. I look at my wonderful cousins Randy and Kelly Vaughn and all they have done in Benin, Africa over the last 10 years... it wasn't always easy and it wasn't always fun but it was what they felt they should be doing.
I look at my older sister, Lyndsey. She is the struggling artist in NYC but loving every minute of what she does though the money isn't always flowing in and the roommates she has always desired were not the oh-so-NOT-enjoyable bed bugs that decided to move on in.

God places us for a season in time to learn, to grow and to trust and love Him more. What a blessing Tucson has been. I write this knowing that I need to listen to my words even as I type them. Being in Tucson isn't at all about me. It is about finding out who I am and ultimately whose I am. If I were moving to Tucson as James and Vicki's daughter or Lyndsey, Philip and Veeves sister, I would have moved back to Farmers Branch and heck of a long time ago. If I were just Brian's girlfriend I would have decided that Dallas needs me more. But what I have decided is that I am His and He can lead me where He feels I can stretch, where I can grow and where I can learn to trust more and more in Him the rest of the days of my life.

One year... really! Wow, it's crazy!!

Happy Birthday!!

Happy birthday mom and Aunt JJ! I wished I could be closer to both of you to give you big big hugs! I love you so much and am so thankful for you continuing to be my mom and my aunt! Mom, thanks for waiting $# years to finally have a daughter who is nice to be around!! :)
I love you guys! Happy birthday!

My "FOR REAL" trip to Dallas! :)

So, I finally was able to make it to Dallas twice without really any travel issues!! On May 19th two of Brian and my high school friends tied the knot!! It was so much fun getting to go home and see about bunch of childhood friends. My camera battery died after only two pictures so hopefully I will get more to add soon! But as of right now, these are the only pictures are got...

(Susan Harding, Catherine Goode & Mary Kha Ho... we've all been friends since we were 5 years old!!)

(Brian & I at the reception)

Then on June 2nd, Brittany & Zac got married!! Brittany was one of my sweetest friends I have made since I graduated from college! Zac, Brittany and many many more of us were all in the singles group together at Prestoncrest church of Christ. One of the things that was very important to both Zac & Brittany is that the engagement was not about the "ring". So Brittany just wore a silver band on her finger until the actual wedding ceremony. So, the picture below is us being excited about the beautiful ring Zac picked for her! Way to go man!

(Cat & Brittany)

(Zac & Brittany heading off after the wedding)

(Cat, Erin Ralph & Jill Henderson Horton... two of my fabulous Dallas friends)

(Brittany getting walked down the isle by her daddy... Mr. Northen also performed the ceremony)

I do!

(making it official)

(Kathy Hinds, Me, Katy Wallis...ummm, probably two of the coolest girls EVER!!!)

(Right before the ceremony... Me, Katy Wallis, Brittany (almost) Leslie, Tiffany Massmann Burns and Kathy Hinds)

Me & the Bride

Kathy Hinds and Catherine Goode... we've known each other since we were both in the womb... how precious!! :)

It was such a wonderful trip! Of course, I was not ready to get back to Tucson and Valerie thought I was being rude all day on Sunday though I was just trying not to cry a whole lot... however, I'll be back soon enough... but anyone can feel free to fly out and spend some time with me whenever you want!!!

LOVE!!
Cat

My "accidental" trip to Dallas

Brian has decided that we need to start praying today to the travel gods for the next time we ever decide to go on a vacation... For those of you who did not know, two weeks ago I was suppose to go to Dallas for Jason Webb's wedding. My flight was canceled as soon as I got there and I was going to be able to make it out to Dallas until Saturday night... which would completely defeat the purpose for my trip. So, I got reimbursed for my ticket (two weeks later), cried, and went on my way.

So this weekend Brian and I had planned a trip to Charlotte, NC to watch his little sister play in her last home lacrosse game before she graduates from Queens University. We got to the Tucson airport with about 15 minutes to get to our gate. When we walked to our gate we found out that our flight had been delayed 40 minutes... we only had a 40 minute layover in Dallas to make our connecting flight to Charlotte... see where I'm going with this...

We took off, had a smooth flight, and then had to circle around the Dallas/Fort Worth skies for one hour until a storm blew through (which shut down the airport, the airplanes that were on the ground out pelted with 2'' hail and two tornados hit not too far away). Once we landed we taxied to the terminal in which we sat for another 1.5 hours until we could pull up to the terminal to get off the plane. During this time I was on the phone with a AA customer service rep trying to figure out our ticketing issues. Since we wouldn't be able to make it to Charlotte until Saturday night now we decided just to get tickets back to Tuscon on Saturday (the earliest flight we could get was 7:20 pm). Praise the Lord that I have family there that picked us up... so the blessing in disguise was that I was actually able to see my family!! I was so upset two weeks ago when I wasn't going to see them until the end of May!!

Dad, Valerie, Bagel, Brian and I had a fabulous time together, though I wished I could be longer. We picked up Mom from the airport on Saturday afternoon from her library trip to San Antonio. We all hung out at the airport until closer to Brian and I's flight out. And of course, that flight was delayed for 40 minutes!! We finally made it back to Tucson late last night!

Here are some pictures from the weekend!

Catherine, Dad, Valerie & Mom in Terminal D before Brian and I went to our gate


Veeves & Cath on Friday night


Cat & Brian on Friday night hanging out at Sherlocks with Veeves


Kathy met us for lunch at Cuba Libre on Saturday!!!!! It was so so so so so good to see her!


Veeves, Dad & Cath at lunch


Veeves, Mom & Cath at the airport


Veeves & Brian trying to be the same height (she's 5' 3'' and he's 6' 4'')

And the moral of this story... I WANT TO BE BACK HOME!!!!!

Saturdays adventure

Brian and Catherine on Easter Sunday at the El Conquistador Country Club (I know my necklace is crooked but if you can see it this is the necklace Brian bought me in Austria!!)

After nearly three weeks of time away from Barista-ing at Starbucks life got back to its normal pace on Saturday. Friday was an early night, the 5 am shift I was working came bright and early (except not that bright considering it is still pitch black at 4:45 in la manana) and then I was done by 10:30 am. It is a weird feeling at times that I battle having gone to work and still be completed by 10:30 or 1pm. However, I am not complaining so have no fear!

I went and got a mani and pedi after Starbucks to give my nails some help... I've been trying to take care of them myself for a while to save some money... The nail place is close to Brian's condo so I stopped by there afterward. I was wearing blue jean shorts, a white tank top and my chaco's (strappy yet outdoorsy flip flops). Adam and Brian wanted to go hiking at Sabino Canyon so I decided to tag a long.

Well, when are in charge it is safe to say that most likely not a lot of planning when into the activity. We started the hike (WITHOUT WATER) at 1:30 pm in the afternoon. The high yesterday was 84 and very sunny, remind you. We finally made it to Seven Falls and at that point I really wished I had brought my camera... actually I really wished I had brought my camera when we first started on the trail and a big brown snake slithered across and the only reason I saw it, as I was so caught up in one of my usual debates with Brian and Adam, was because Brian grabbed my arm to stop me before I stepped on it. Needless to say, I paid a lot more attention to my surroundings after that.

The hike was beautiful but difficult... more difficult than it should have been since I had just gotten a pedi and was in sandals and none of us had water.

I think we got back done to the car around 6pm and were completely pooped after that. The three of us just sat on the couches for the rest of the evening not moving.

And as I post this morning, my legs are extremely sore and I have about 5 beautiful blisters around my feet. But, have no fears, my mani and pedi are still beautiful and were not destroyed in the stupidity of that hike!

Have Resurrection Sunday!

Jason's wedding...

Well, last weekend was Jason (college friend) and Julie's wedding. I was at the airport at the appropriate time. Since I had already checked in and recieved my boarding pass online I was able to walk right on through to the gate. I noticed a long line at the American Airlines counter and thought to myself, "Man, I'm glad I didn't want to check any bags!" I got through the security line quickly (the blessing of living in a smaller city) and walked immediately to the monitors that show you which gate your flight is at. As I focused on the screen I saw something that no one ever want to see... blinking red C-A-N-C-E-L-E-D. My heart just sort of stopped. I walked to the gate that I was suppose to fly out of and got put on the stand-by list for delayed flight that was still going to make it to Dallas.

I waited for an hour and a half, didn't make the cut, then went back to stand in long AA line to rebook my flight. By the time I got up to a Customer Service rep. the next flight they could get me on to Dallas, on any airline, would not have plopped me in that fabulous city I call home until 10:45pm on Saturday night.

Sad times... through all of the emotions and tears, it ended up being a nice, quiet, relaxing weekend. Brian and I finally got to spend some quality time together. Since my schedule has changed to super early morning we haven't been able to spend as much time together.

Well, I should be home next month for another wedding... can't wait!