Shop Till I Drop

I'm driving to Houston tomorrow to go to the...


Whoohoo! I love going to the Nutcracker Market and shopping till I drop (literally). My mom and I end up shopping from 10am to around 6pm straight with a short break to eat a lunch brought from home. My feet get sooo sore and tired but it is totally worth every aching step to see the convention center filled with a glorious array of Christmas gifts and home decor items. Hopefully I'll find a few Christmas gifts to mark off my list. Happy shopping!

Busy, Busy, Busy

The past couple months have flown by! Michael and I closed on our first home in September and moved in a couple days later. Things haven't slowed down since. We're loving our new home and all the extra space we have to spread out. It's a welcome change, might I add, that we have a house now. We've spent the last 4 1/2 years in an apartment while Michael finished up school and during those years we ached for a home of our own. God has greatly blessed us in giving us a wonderful home and fantastic neighbors.

I'm now working on decorating which is fun but completely overwhelming. My house is a blank slate for all the decorating ideas I have rattling around in my head and what do I do?...I freeze, go blank, crumble. I guess it's like that ol' elephant my dad always used to tell me about...take it in small chunks. I'll get there eventually but it sure would be nice if I could get over my fear of hanging things on the walls. I've been reading a few blogs on home decor to inspire me. I love Nesting Place and all the neat ideas of no-sew curtains and more. This woman can do wonders with a hot glue gun!

Speaking of new home stuff. Since we've never owned a home we've never lived in a neighborhood (except when we were growing up of course). Since we've never lived in a neighborhood of our own we've never noticed people who decorate their homes for Halloween. This October we were AMAZED at all the people in our neighborhood that decorate their homes and yards with spiders, zombies, caskets (yes, I said caskets), and the like. I was totally blown away by one house that had spiders that were at least 3ft by 3ft crawling up their house and caskets in their yard. There must have been 6 or 7 spiders. There was one house, though, that took the cake for the most ridiculously decorated yard. This house had 9 of those inflatable yard characters along with what seemed like 10 pumpkins sitting on 4 bales of hay. Come on, do we really need 9 inflatable yard characters lined up side by side around the front and side of a corner lot? It completely amazed me. Now I'm just wondering what Christmas will be like. I hope we're not going to be dragged along into "keeping up with the Jones'". Supposedly a couple of our neighbors are making gigantic candy canes for each of the houses on our street (there are only 7 houses on our street). I'm still pondering outside lights and if I want us to go to the trouble of putting them up. We'll see as it gets closer.

Catch Up

Wow! So much has happened in the last month which has kept both of us so busy I haven't had time to write. Where should I start? I guess I'll just hit on the major points like our 4th wedding anniversary and buying a new house. Yes, you heard me. We celebrated our anniversary AND bought a house.

Our 4th wedding anniversary was July 10th. Michael had the day off work so while I was working at my home office he surprised me with a beautiful flower arrangement, a balloon, and some chocolate covered strawberries. He was so sweet to take the time to pick out the flowers and the vase and have the florist put the arrangement together. What a thoughtful man! I took July 11 off from work and we went to Granbury, TX for the day to shop around the historic town square. We had a great time together just strolling along the sidewalk and popping into stores.

After I finished with work Michael took me to dinner at an Italian restaurant we had never been to. The food was good and because it was our anniversary the waiter brought a free dessert. It was funny, though, when we were seated at our table and noticed that ALL the people at the other tables had white hair. We laughed to ourselves because we figured we must have looked out of place being as young as we are. Oh well, we didn't care. The food was good and the atmosphere was very quiet (no young kids or babies) which made for a romantic evening.

Our lease is up at our apartment the middle of October so toward the end of July we figured it was time to start finding a realtor and begin the house hunting process. A friend recommended a realtor so we set up a meeting with her to "feel her out" and then we decided to have her be our realtor. She set us up with a website that posted available houses in our market and price range as they came available to help us in our hunt. Michael and I spent many nights going through hundreds of house listings before we narrowed our options to around 12 homes. We set up an appointment with our realtor to look at the houses a couple weekends ago and after exhausting the 12 or so homes we figured we'd have to begin the process again with web searches because none but 2 houses we saw that day appealed to us. That's when our realtor decided to show us some new home communities we didn't know of. She took us to the cutest neighborhood of Cape Cod style houses which we fell in love with. There was a spec home that was in the process of being built and we liked the floor plan. So, we're buying the spec home and it is scheduled to be completed August 26th. We found the house just at the right time, too, because it's at the stage where we can still pick out some things like carpet, tile, etc. while still getting the house at the spec home price. Michael and I went to their design center this past Monday and picked out the carpet and extended the tile to all rooms except for the bedrooms. We're so excited! We truly feel that God led us to this house at the right time and that He is opening all the doors for us to walk through.

Now, on to buying the refrigerator, lawn equipment, etc. Poor, poor credit card.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Test #2: PASSED!!!!!

It's official! Michael is now a licensed pharmacist! He will begin working at his own pharmacy soon instead of with another pharmacist. We are both very excited!

Test #1: PASSED

I just ran to the mailbox to check and see if the results of the first part of Michael's board exam came and it did...he passed!

Now we're just waiting on the results of the second part which we should hopefully know by the end of this week.

iMac

Michael and I finally bit the bullet and bought a new computer.  So, I am now blogging on our new iMac.  Isn't it beautiful?

I still have so much to learn about Apple computers since I didn't grow up with an Apple but I'm getting there with Michael's help.

Pencils down

Michael finished taking the last of his licensing exams on Monday. He said it was very tough but I'm sure he passed. Now we just have to wait for the results. Thank you to everyone who was praying for him and for following up on the results.

Our anniversary is Thursday so we're planning a nice meal out and then Michael and I are taking off work on Friday for a trip to Granbury, TX. I've been wanting to go to Granbury for a long time and Michael and I are finally getting to go. From what Michael tells me it's a cute town with a historic square that has tons of cute shops. I can't wait! This will be a nice get-away from our usual routine of work/study/testing even if it's not a get-away to a far off place. On second thought, if anyone wants to chip into the "Send Michael and Katie on a fantastic vacation to Tennessee" fund we would be more than happy to accept donations! Hahahaha!

Testing...1,2,3

Michael will be taking the first out of two pharmacy board exams this Friday. The second one is scheduled for July 8th. After he completes both tests and sends in the licensing fee, he will officially be a licensed pharmacist. Yay!!

He has been studying very hard in preparation for the tests, however, please pray that the information would be quickly and easily recalled during the testing.

Beauty

This is just a picture of a rose I took. I liked how it turned out so I thought I'd share it.

Remembering a Wonderful Weekend

The Weekend to Remember conference at the Gaylord Texan hotel definitely lived up to its name. The speakers were funny, the material was great, and the weekend was definitely romantic.

We haven't been having marital problems, but like any marriage it's good to have a refresher on the roles in a Godly marriage and how we are each God's gift to the other. It opened my eyes to areas I have been lacking in and need to correct so that I can be the wife the Lord wants me to be. Aside from my heavenly Father, Michael is the next most important person in my life and I want to honor and respect him in every way possible.

Here are a few pictures of the hotel:

Giant guitar in the atrium

By the Riverwalk in the atrium

Cute village and train in the atrium

A view of the atrium from our room

Michael's new friend

During the summer at the Gaylor Texan the hotel has various "summer" activities such as fireworks, dive-in movies at the pool, and little acts that can be found around the atrium like this monkey with his handler. Right after I took this photo the crazy monkey reached in Michael's shirt pocket, pulled out our room key, and handed it to his handler. That is one strange trick.

Gaylord Texan & Weekend to Remember

I am very excited about this weekend. Michael and I are going to stay at the Gaylord Texan hotel for a Christian marriage conference called a "Weekend to Remember." Let me put your mind at ease...we are not having marital problems. We just have heard that this is a wonderful conference that re-centers your marriage around Christ and what the husband/wife roles are. We figured this will be an investment in our marriage and everyone needs a little reminder of what God's model is for Christian marriages. So, tomorrow afternoon we are heading down the road (all of about 2 miles) to the fabulous Gaylord Texan hotel. Man, I love this place!

Here are a few pictures of what the hotel looks like from the outside and the inside. These aren't our pictures. I will post some of ours after we get back.

Green Egg

Now that we are in the DFW area, Michael decided to buy a proper grill. We've had a George Foreman grill since we've been married, but there's nothing like a good steak (or chicken) cooked on a charcoal grill. The grill is called The Green Egg and it looks like a giant avocado, or, just a green egg.

Michael decided for his maiden grilling experience to roast a whole chicken. He rubbed the chicken with olive oil, sprinkled salt & pepper, sprinkled oregano, and stuffed the inside of the skin with lemon slices and garlic.

Here's the "before" of the chickie:

And, here's the "after" of the chickie:

YUMM-O! It was quite possibly the best roasted chicken I've ever had! Great job, Sweetheart!

Boxes, boxes, and more boxes

The day after Michael's graduation my dad and brother, Michael's parents, and our friends from church graciously helped us load the moving truck for our move to the DFW area. There was hardly an inch of carpet showing but everything was finally loaded and ready for takeoff.

This is our living room before everything was emptied out of our apartment. It was quite the obstacle course!

Graduation--Hooray!

Michael is officially finished with school forever! We are so excited about this new chapter in our lives and our move to the DFW area.

My parents hosted a graduation party for Michael after the ceremony for the family. I worked for 4 hours the night before amist a sea of boxes to bake him a cake and decorate it in a pharmacy theme. It was hard work and my back ached afterwards but I was proud of the results for a first attempt at cake decorating.

Tagged

Well, I'm back from a few week's hiatus of blogging. Erica tagged me almost a week ago so here are 7 random things about me.

1) When I go grocery shopping I place the items on the checkout belt in the order and groupings I want my groceries bagged in. Of course, things never end up in the bag I intend them and then I get home with my frozen fruit juice concentrate bagged with my cotton balls. Maybe I should just throw caution to the wind and randomly place items on the checkout belt and then they'll all end up in the bags I want them in. Now, that would be nice!

2) I'm allergic to all sensitive toothpaste except for Sensodyne. When I brush my teeth with any other sensitive toothpaste my skin turns red wherever the toothpaste touches my face. Michael always says I'm the messiest brusher of anyone he knows because I'm always getting toothpaste all over my face outside my mouth. I, therefore, end up with a clown mouth every morning and night because I refuse to spend $4 on Sensodyne. Thankfully it's gone before I get to work.

3) Every night when I get in bed I check, check, and recheck that I have my alarm set. Even when I tell myself that I know it's set I check again. I know, weird, but it's probably a little of my self-diagnosed OCD surfacing. Hey, it's a medical condition...I can't help it.

4) I am crazy ticklish when Michael blows on my neck. I absolutely can't stand it and I squeal and squirm like a little kid.

5) I have a tendency to fall asleep in the middle of a conversion at night in bed. Michael and I will be talking one minute and when he's waiting for a response to a question he realizes that I'm totally knocked out. This happens more often than not. On rare occasions I'll answer his question with gibberish because my mouth is still awake enough to move but my mind is completely dead.

6) I was in the 4A all-state band my senior year in high school. I played the clarinet (and still do sometimes) and passed the divisional, regional, and area tryouts to make it all the way to state. We played an awesome concert at the Lila Cockrell Theatre for the Performing Arts in San Antonio. This is an experience I'll never forget.

7) I can never keep a gift I am giving someone a secret. I'm getting a little better about this as I get older but if I buy someone a gift I have to give it to them immediately because I can't keep it a secret. I get too excited about the act of giving the gift that I just can't stand it and have to give it to them NOW. To counteract this, I'm trying a new tactic where I don't buy the gift until a day or two before. I talk a big talk but just watch me buy Michael his anniversary gift and crumble by giving it to him 2 weeks early. I'm such a wimp.

Shopping, St. Arnold's, and Milkshakes...Oh my!

Saturday our small group at church got together and had a fun filled day. The guys went to St. Arnold's to do their tasting while the girls went shopping at the new outlet mall in Cypress.

Here's a picture of the crazy bunch.

(Left to right: Roy, Claire, Michael, Mike, Teresa, Evan)

Thanks to Claire we girls were able to dodge some of the traffic getting to the mall by taking a side street that took us along the back side of the mall past all the traffic exiting the highway (thank you, Claire, you're a lifesaver). The Lord knew we needed a little break getting there because the true test would be finding a parking space. Thanks to my old college days where I gained a ton of experience hunting people down on the way to their car we were successful fairly quickly and with only a few minor winces from the backseat. I'm telling you, the outlet mall was so busy that you would have thought Miley Cyrus was making an appearance at Old Navy.

The guys had wings from Wings & Things that were wonderful. While at St. Arnold's Mike insulted the owner by comparing him to Dirk Nowitzki who is on the Dallas Mavericks which gave everyone a big laugh. The owner didn't take too kindly to the comparison so it sounds.

Crazy Teresa...

After a day filled with shopping and St. Arnold's tasting we decided we needed a little fuel so we went to Niko Niko's for some yummy Greek food. For some reason or another Mike looks as if he's contemplating whether it was the chicken or the egg that came first with his very serious look. I guess great minds never stop thinking.

Who can be so close to Katz's and not go for a cheesecake milkshake. Oh, sinful calorie, fat laden strawberry milkshake...why do you tempt me with your sweet strawberryness? Thank goodness there were three of us that shared because it is way too rich for one person to tackle alone.

Congrats!

The time is drawing near and Michael will be completing his last rotation in pharmacy school this Friday and is finished until his graduation in May. I remember him leaving the morning of his first day of school and being filled with excitement that he was beginning the training that would supply him with the knowledge to begin his career. It seemed like it would take forever for him to finish as the days slowly ticked by while he studied and I sat on the couch watching t.v. with my headphones (strange, I know, but I didn't want to move to the other room to watch t.v. when I could be sitting right by him). Now that the end is so very near it seems surreal that we've made it this far and will soon enter into the beginning of our new, study-free, life together. He's studied so diligently throughout all his school days and worked so hard to set himself up to provide a future for our family. I am truly thankful and honored to call him my husband, the one whom the Lord has blessed me with as a friend and partner in life.

Even though this is a little premature by official standards since the graduation isn't until May...Congratulations, Michael! I love you.

First day of rotations, May 2007

Studying hard

Top of the mornin' to ya ;)

Since Monday was St. Patrick's day Michael and I went to the Heights to listen to some free bands and have a couple green beers. We had a great time listening to a local band at one place and eating a yummy burger at Onion Creek Cafe. If any of you haven't been to Onion Creek Cafe in the Heights it's a great place to have a cup of coffee, lunch, dinner, a drink, or whatever suits your fancy.

I know no one knows these guys but I still have to post a picture from our fun evening.

Oh, and for those in our small group here are the two weird guys we met.

Disclaimer: We do not have any association with these two men except for the fact that they were very friendly and wanted their picture taken.

Shout out to Roy: We hope your head is feeling better.

I wanna ride the pony! Yee Haw!

Michael and I went to visit our niece this weekend at my parent's house. Oh, how she melts our hearts. She is absolutely adorable! Her high girly voice is so cute when she says, "Come look for food with me, Aunt Katie" as she hunts for fake plastic food to put in her shopping cart or "Silly, Uncle Michael."

On Saturday we went to an Easter carnival where she "hunted" for eggs, pet animals in the petting zoo, rode a pony, bounced in a bounce house, rode a carousel, drove a boat, whew, I think I got it all. Here are a few of the highlights.

I am one hot mama!

Yee haw! Look at the cowgirl!

Ok, Daddy...I think I'm ready for my first car.

On Sunday we took her to the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo. The livestock show has tons of exhibits for kids where they are able to get up close and personal with the animals. Here are a few of my favorite pictures.

Hopefully my cute smile will scare the buckin' broncos away!

I thought this alpaca was cute. Don't you just love that face?

All tuckered out.

Emily is coming to town and bee stings

Our niece is coming to town this weekend to visit. Her grandparents went to Dallas yesterday and are bringing her back today. We have an exciting weekend planned with her including easter egg hunting and a trip to the livestock show. She is going to be 3 in July and she loves her Aunt Katie and Uncle Michael

This morning Hanna was stung by a bee when she was outside. She was shaking and having a hard time walking on her foot. Mommy gave her some benadryl and baby aspirin for the pain. Daddy was able to work from home so he can watch her today and make sure she is okay. Fortunately she seems to be doing well now.

Simple and Tasty Recipe

Here is a recipe Katie and I tried from a Kraft magazine. It was really easy to make and tasted great. It is called Chicken Bruschetta Bake

Prep Time:10 min Total Time:40 min

1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes undrained

1 pkg (6 oz) Stove Top chicken stuffing mix (or store brand if you are cheap like us)

1/2 cup water

2 cloves garlic minced (don't be afraid to throw in some extra garlic)

1.5 lb boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into bite sized pieces

1 tsp dried basil leaves

1 cup shredded Mozzarella cheese

1. Preheat oven to 400. Place tomatoes in a medium bowl. Add stuffing mix, water and garlic, stir until stuffing mix is moistened. Set aside.

2. Place chicken in a 13x9 inch oven safe dish; sprinkle with basil and cheese. Top with stuffing mix.

3. Bake 30 minutes or until chicken is cooked

Per serving: Calories:310 Fat:7 g Cholesterol:80 mg Sodium:710 mg Dietary Fiber:2 g