Top Ten Thursday...on Friday

This week's Top Ten gets a little personal.


5 Things that most people know about me:

1. I have red hair, and it's very real. Call me Captain Obvious.
2. I love to organize and plan stuff, and I'm very good at it. The Container Store makes me smile.
3. I adore kids, especially babies. I think the red hair is pretty intriguing for the babies.
4. I love to travel, as evidenced by my blog.
5. I love clothes, shoes, and jewelry but hate to shop for them.

5 Things that most people don't know about me:

1. I was born with a blood clot on my brain and spent my first year in and out of the hospital until it just went away.
2. I am incredibly shy. Going to new places and meeting new people is excruciatingly painful.
3. I love to watch movies by myself that make me cry so I can cry as much as I want.
4. When I was little, I had a Georgia accent, not a Texas accent.
5. I was very upset when my family moved the summer before I started 6th grade. I blocked out most of that year. Now I know it was one of the best things to happen to me.

A Month of Birthdays!

January has been a crazy month of birthday celebrations! Happy birthday to all our friends and family.

Bruiser turned 3!!

Scott and Nancy (friends who have back to back birthdays) had a wonderful gathering with wine and delicious biscotti.

Beth celebrated her birthday at SMU will LJ was competing in yet another music competition. We had a lovely dinner on another day.

We were unable to go to our friend Keith's birthday dinner, but we did have a nice dinner earlier in the week!

I wasn't able to celebrate with my sister, Katie, but I did take the day off of work so I could think about her. :)

We had a lovely dinner at a cajun food restaurant to celebrate Nicholas' mom's birthday.

My former co-worker, Cheryl, also had a birthday. The old "girls" crew had a lovely lunch to celebrate both Cheryl and Nancy's birthday.

Today is the last day of our January celebration. Happy Birthday to my little brother, Logan!

Prepping for Asthma Through a Transparent Body

You may have suspected by the title of this post that it will be about art, more specifically, Nicholas' art. Nicholas created a proposal, submitted it, and was accepted as one of 11 artist's to exhibit at the Creative Research Lab (CRL), UT's current gallery space. This is the last non-school show for the gallery. An extension has been added to the Art building that has a gallery space, so this is kind of a big deal for Nicholas. Continuing with his exploration of breathing, he created 4 glass torsos based off of 11 year old, Matthew.

The art process began by Nicholas making a plaster mold of Matthew on a very cold day in December, hence the indoor plastering.

The process of removing the plaster casting was a little more difficult than originally anticipated.

But...Matt was a trooper and made it through!

Afterwards, he went straight to the shower, but once in the bathroom, he asked his mom to hand him his phone so he could text his friends the pictures of him in plaster!

Pictures of the opening and the finished product will follow in another post.

More Sights of Washington D.C.

The Capitol Building, Inauguration side
The Library of Congress, Thomas Jefferson branch (fireproof)
The U.S. Supreme Court
Sculpture at National Gallery of Art, Modern side
The National Archives
Rotunda of the National Archives!!!!
The Bill of Rights, original
The Declaration of Independence...I missed the signatures (sorry Kendall!)
The Lincoln Memorial, at night
The reflecting pool (with ice), Washington Monument, Capitol, from Lincoln Memorial steps, at night

In Texas, Really?

When we decided to move back to Texas from Rhode Island, there were a few things I expected. I expected that we would be spending lots of time with family. I expected that we would fall right back into a routine of spending time with our friends in Austin. I expected that we would settle into our new house and life as a married couple minus the grad school. There were, however, several things that I DID NOT EXPECT!

Sweater weather. I definitely did not expect that I would have the opportunity to wear all of my cute Rhode Island sweaters no less than 3 times EACH, IN TEXAS!

Snow. I definitely did not expect to see snow in Texas and a white Christmas. I definitely thought we would have to visit Colorado, Minnesota, D.C., or Rhode Island to get our snow fix.

Rain. I definitely did not expect to see rain every few days after we moved here. I mean, wasn't there supposed to be a drought in Austin?

Carpet burn. I definitely did not expect to get carpet burn in my new house that has no carpet. Before your imagination runs away with itself--I was exercising on my yoga mat. Apparently doing plank exercises on the yoga mat on the wood floor while wearing long sleeves equals carpet burns on the elbows.

Air Force Audition

For your listening pleasure...

Top Ten Thursday

In honor of the arctic blasts that have swept across Texas, I bring you my Top Ten sweaters. I have enjoyed the opportunity to utilize this portion of my wardrobe and am on the verge of regretting get rid of sweaters before we left Rhode Island!


10. Yellow and White striped V-neck, 3/4 length sleeves.

9. Silver and sparkly, need I say more?

8. Purple, short sleeves, cowl neck

7. Black, 3/4length sleeves

6. Blue cardigan, jewel buttons

5. Black, long sleeved, cowl neck

4. Periwinkle, popped collar, V-neck

3. Red, baby doll cut, sparkly!

2. Striped, turtleneck

1. Grey, turtleneck, really cute!

A New Year, A New Blog

After months of contemplation and a solid week of brainstorming I have created a new blog. The new blog will not replace this blog and will serve a different purpose. This blog will remain as a journal of our life. The new blog will have a different writing style, will be less personal, will not be updated as often, will have far less pictures, and will be mostly relegated to the theme of travel.


Without further ado, here it is:


Remembering The Seen


I hope you enjoy the reading. I know I will enjoy the writing.

The Air Force Band and Our Nation's Capital

Last week I had the privilege of traveling to Washington D.C. to support the ever talented young musician, LJ Turman. He was one of five finalists in a competition to play with the Air Force Band. The five finalists flew to DC and performed in front of 4 judges a piece selected for them. LJ played wonderfully (and much better than the other horn player). Unfortunately, he was not chosen as the winner. But seriously, how do you choose a winner with different instruments playing different music? He will have another chance in DC later in February as he is a finalist in the competition to play with the Marine Band. His future is pretty bright. Here are the finalists (the euphonium player on the right was the winner):Prior to the performance, we took lots of pictures. One with mom, one with me, and one with his accompanist, Felicity.We arrived in DC on Wednesday night and stayed at the Marriott on Pennsylvania Ave...just down the road from The White House. We had a late dinner reservation at Old Ebbitt Grill, recommended by our friends, the Duncans, who used to frequent it when they lived in DC. Old Ebbitt Grill was established in 1856 and boasts that it was a favorite of Presidents Grant, Cleveland, Harding and Theodore Roosevelt and is still a popular meeting spot for political insiders, journalists, celebrities and theater-goers. The booths were green velvet, and it was quiet enough to have a private conversation. The food was wonderful and really not that expensive.Thursday morning was the first time I was able to see the view from our hotel room. Jealous?LJ got up bright and early to begin warming up for a day of competition. Here he is with the Washington Monument in the background.
We spent most of the day on Thursday at the Air Force Base, until around 2:30pm. Fortunately, we had a driver who picked us up and chauffeured us around. On a side note, if you are ever in DC for a short period of time and want to see as much as possible, get a driver named Jorge. We grabbed a quick bite to eat at a little sandwich shop.The we began our whirlwind trip around the City. First stop, the Capital building. The tours for the day were finished, but we were able to go inside the Visitor's Center and the Exhibition Hall that had information on the Capital through the years.Then we went to the National Archives building, celebrating its 75th anniversary. My first (and only) trip to DC was in 2003, my college graduation trip. The National Archives was under renovations at the time, and we were not able to visit. This was one place I was really hoping we could visit on our short trip. The best part of the National Archives, in my humble opinion, is that it houses the originals of The Declaration of Independence, The Constitution, The Bill of Rights, and one of four remaining originals of the Magna Carta. I was a history major, and the opportunity to see living history is something I pounce on! It's a wonder I didn't end up as a museum curator. It was amazing to see these old documents. I was most surprised that most of the writing on The Declaration of Independence is so faded you can barely read it. Apparently this is because it was hung in a picture frame for 150 years or so with no other protection. There is no flash photography allowed, but I did get some pretty decent pictures. I will post them separately. Here is proof that we were there:By the time we finished at the National Archives gift shop, it was dark, so we headed to the Lincoln Memorial. It was beautiful at night. The reflecting pool was icy, so it was interesting to see the reflection of the Washington Monument in the water.Then we headed the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts. From the roof, you can see the eternal flame on the grave of JFK. It is not the best picture, but you can get the general idea. The eternal flame is the orange blur beneath the two red blurs.You can also see the National Cathedral and the rest of the city. It was spectacular at night, and I am sure the views are just as wondrous in the daylight.Then we headed back to our hotel to watch the BCS National Championship football game. This is where we watched it, in our own cozy area with a personal TV.This picture was taken when we scored our last touchdown to come within 3 points of Alabama, before total mayhem ensued.Friday morning, we woke up to a blanket of snow. It was beautiful, but bitter cold. Thankfully, there were no weather related flight delays and everyone made it back to Austin safely. Nicholas said that the next time I go to DC I have to take him. I can't wait to plan that trip!