Sister of the Heart

God didn't bless me with a sister. I got a brother - a smelly boy. Now, my cousin, Rachel, and I were sure that we needed another girl. So, we pretended Josh was a girl. See...

Josh is the cute girl in the middle!

Don't get me wrong. I love my brother. I even blogged about how much I love my brother here. But still, a sister would have been nice.


However, the Bible says "...there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother." And I found her! I'm not sure how or when it happened, but somehow my family adopted Mary Tran - my sister of the heart.

Isn't she pretty?

God obviously knew what He was doing, because I could not have asked for a better big sister. We have a relationship that I would assume is pretty much like most "real" sisters, except we don't live together. We have great fun. Most of the time when we are together, we laugh hysterically. People stare, but we don't care. We're having fun. The following pictures are all proof. We were in Garden Ridge.

I don't know what she was doing here.


I wanted that camel. And the flamingos behind it.
If I pushed it, it swung back at me. It was awesome.


This was right after I said she would be married in a year.
She collapsed and took her pulse.
I was wrong. (Thorry, thithter.)

Even with all of these great fun times, I know without a doubt that sometimes I annoy her to death.

See, I took this picture. She looks annoyed.

I know, though, that if I ever need anything, I can call her and she will be there. I can call her to ask for help with a project (because she is so much more creative than I am). I can call her in tears because I just need to talk. (Usually, I cry over dumb things, but it doesn't matter she will still be there.) And she always knows just what I need. The last time I called her, she showed up with a card and a Dr. Pepper. Boy does she know me!

So, I want to thank God for giving me the perfect sister of the heart.

And I want to thank my thithter for alwayth being there for me! I love you, thithter!

Snow Days

I have discovered something about myself. I am a homebody.

Now, I am not saying that I am one of those people who could spend the rest of her life secluded away in her house. No, I like to travel.

However...during Snowpocalypse 2011, the term "cabin fever" has not been issued from my mouth. As a matter of fact, I am one of those people who prayed really hard for round two. (Please, don't hate me.) I never wanted to leave. In fact, I survived the whole week without touching a single drop of Dr. Pepper. While my friend, Kendra, was venturing out on her bicycle to risk her life for DP, I was sipping Diet Sprite in front of the fireplace. (By the way, I am an EXPERT fire builder.)

So, while others were sledding, building snowmen and snow forts, making snow angels, and other typical snow activities, I was a perfectly happy home-bound citizen. I watched tv, stalked people on Facebook (you think I'm kidding?), and actually was productive. I worked on my Teacher Ed. Portfolio. (This is a good thing for those of you who don't know.)

Anyways, I have included a few pictures from the snow storm. I'm sure it was very lovely!
***Disclaimer: I took none of these pictures. Any picture I would have taken would to have been snapped from the couch. Because that is where I have been parked for the last couple of days!

The driveway leading out of our apartments
~Photo courtesy of my brother, Josh~

The driveway - part 2
~Photo courtesy of Josh~


The tabernacle at the camp
~Photo courtesy of Dad~

Just a scene at the camp
~Photo courtesy of Dad~

Ellie Mae, Josh's Beagle
~Photo courtesy of Dad~

The End in Sight

Woo-hoo!!!

Today was the first day of classes. This may seem insignificant, but it really, really isn't. This first day was a special first day. You see, today was my last first day of classes...EVER. (I have to say first day of classes, because I will still have to student teach...but not spend a whole semester attending classes.)

I have been going to school for 19.5 years. That's right. If I had been thinking ahead, I would have cute little pictures of my graduation from Head Start, school pictures from K-12, High School graduation pictures, and OBC graduation pictures. But I wasn't thinking ahead, so I don't have any of those. I'm sure you all {all 5 of you} are terribly disappointed to miss out on the trip down memory lane.

Sorry.

Maybe when it comes time to graduate from college {for the second time - Whoot! Whoot!} I will do the whole picture trip. For now, I will just revel in the knowledge that the end is in sight...FINALLY!

Socks, Sheets, and a Skillet

You know, there are several different types of gifts we get every Christmas. The standard, annual gifts that we know we are going to get because it is tradition; the gift that you didn't ask for and didn't really expect - it's usually the "sensible" one that your mom gets you because you "need" it; then there is the gift that you asked for, maybe even begged for. This Christmas, I was extremely blessed. I got gifts of all three types (and then some)!


1.) Socks. This is my "traditional" gift. Every year, in our stockings, we get socks. Ironic, right - socks in our stockings. Anyways...this year, though, I apparently hit the mother load where socks are concerned. I got socks in my stocking at home, socks in my stocking at my Grandma's house, and socks in my gift from my grandmother.

These are the socks from my mom. Sensible, white socks. Six pairs of them.

These are the socks I got in my gift from my grandma. There are six different colors and prints - yellow cheetah, purple zebra, you get the picture?

These are the socks we got in our stockings at Grandma's. Again, six different color combinations. Exciting, right?

Did you do the math? That's 18 pairs of socks! I have yet to wear all of them. I have made effort, though. We'll see how it goes.


2.) Sheets. A couple of weeks before Christmas, I got a new-to-me mattress set for my bed. It needs extra-deep sheets. This didn't cross my mind while making my Christmas list. (By the way, my mom REQUIRES a Christmas list every year. It's a non-negotiable. Mine is detailed...and loooooong. I like to give people options!) So, mom and dad got me sheets. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the sheets. I wasn't expecting them, and I giggled. Then my sister (adopted sister - Mary Tran) started giggling. Then mom joined in. I guess it's a girl thing. We were cracking up, and dad thought we had lost it. He still gets a little upset if I mention my sheets and we start laughing again. His confusion just makes us laugh harder.

Here they are! Aren't they nice? Simmons Beautyrest!

3.) A skillet...and a cookbook. I have recently decided to be a chef. Well, I decided to cook more. I'm still gonna be a teacher, with a chef side-job. Sounds good, right? Therefore, there were a lot of kitchen-related items on my loooong and detailed Christmas list. One of which was a skillet. I was very specific...I wanted a large, teflon skillet with a lid that was both oven and stove-top safe. Man, did my Nanny come through! This skillet is 13 inches across and almost too heavy to pick up!

Isn't this pretty! It's Food Network brand.

The other MAJOR thing on my list was a certain cookbook. I follow this blog called the Pioneer Woman. She has a cookbook. I wanted it badly. I begged and bugged and begged and bugged my mom for it. She kept telling me it was too expensive. I almost bought it for myself (Merry Christmas to me!), but mom got upset with me so I backed off. I went through Christmas without getting it, and I was bummed. So I was SUPER excited when I got to my Grandma's house and opened this baby up! She still isn't real sure that I really, REALLY wanted it. Her super-excited gauge must be off this week, cause I was SUPER EXCITED!!

So, here it is. The Pioneer Woman Cooks

Back to that skillet, still don't believe how big it is? The book fits inside it!

This isn't everything I got for Christmas. My sister and my aunt got me some AMAZING Texas Longhorns stuff. Mary, gave me two handmade UT blankets, one lap-size and one that fits my bed. My aunt made me a bag and a super-cool scarf. My brother got me a bakeware set. (He just likes me to cook for him!)

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas! Here's to a Happy New Year!