I make a great second impression.. most people don't know that about me

First impressions.... I think too much emphasis is placed on first impressions. I am a bit of a spaz, so I hope that the first feelings that people get about me are not the ones that they hold forever. I can think of quite a few of my friends that wouldn't be my friends had they taken their first impression of me and ran with it.. Examples: Preston and everybody else in the room that day :) , Renee.. and a countless number of other people who saw the weird or soapbox me before they got to the creamy nougat center that is me.

I realized though that I often meet someone and make a decision about them within the first couple of minutes. This happened recently with someone in LH (who shall remain nameless :). They drove me nuts and I couldn't stand to be around them. This lasted for something like 9 or 10 months. Just recently I have had the opportunity to get to know them.... I REALLY like them! They are so much fun and have a genuine heart for the Lord. I thought I had learned my lesson about "judging a book by it's cover", but God has taught me so much about what it means to love someone through this person. Now I am excited when they are coming to things and disappointed when they are not. And it isn't me practicing loving the unlovable.... it's me giving a person a chance so that I can truly understand who they are and who God is making them and then I understand how they are lovable.

All this to say, get to know someone you don't think you could get along with... you never know what God will do :)


Weird Abby revelation o' the day- I love the smell of the black and white copier at my office. I don't know why, but it makes me happy :)

Great Love Songs (by genre)- parts.... i dunno

I'm going to dispense with the full on lyrics attack and just list a few more (although if you haven't read the Plankeye lyrics, I highly recommend them :)

Country-

Pat Green "Wave on Wave and "Crazy"- I choose Pat because of his freakin awesome voice and the fact that I find him curiously attractive (isn't that right, Jana? ;-) The chorus from "Crazy" goes like this~

If I am truly crazy,

don't you know I like my life that way

and if I'm really going on out of my mind

won't you hop on board and make your getaway

Alternative/Rock/a little Ska-ey

Haha, so I don't know what genre Yellowcard is, but here is where I praise them for the song "Only One". If you mean it, sing it loud

I just want to tell you so you know

Here I go, scream my lungs out and try to get to you

You are my only one

I let go, there's just no one that gets me like you do

You are my only, my only one

~

And that's the end of that. Sorry :) , I was in the car listening to Wave on Wave and an idea was born. Plus, the other topic option was littering so I figured I'd spare you. I will say this... Don't Mess with Texas... and don't throw a beer can out of a truck at a speed limit sign on my street, seriously the guy was right infront of me and I'm thinking, "Wow, he managed to break at least three laws at once." Ok, soapbox over :)

Great Love Songs (by genre)- part 2

Broadway-

I am going to make an unusual choice here and go with "On my Own" from Les Mis. This is not your typical "great love song" as Eponine's love is unrequited, but it is there none the less and it makes this song one of the most powerful and incredibly depressing love songs ever. With that said.. enjoy :)

On my Own
from Les Miserables

On my own
Pretending he's beside me
All alone, I walk with him till morning
Without himI feel his arms around me
And when I lose my way I close my eyes
And he has found me

In the rain the pavement shines like silver
All the lights are misty in the river
In the darkness, the trees are full of starlight
And all I see is him and me for ever and forever
And I know it's only in my mind
That I'm talking to myself and not to him
And although I know that he is blind
Still I say, there's a way for us

I love him
But when the night is over
He is gone, the river's just a river
Without him the world around me changes
The trees are bare and everywhere
The streets are full of strangers

I love him
But every day I'm learning
All my life I've only been pretending
Without me his world will go on turning
A world that's full of happiness
That I have never known!

I love him
I love him
I love him
But only on my own


Ok, i'm going to go find a happy love song for the next one... otherwise I will depress all my readers :P

Great love songs (by genre)- Part one

Christian Rock-

For me this is hands down "Beautiful" by Plankeye. I prefer love songs by rock bands. I think love is something to be excited about, to get loud about, not just hum quietly about... anyhoo, as far as my particular choice, I think every girl wants a guy to think about her this way. Check it out :)

"Beautiful"
by : Plankeye

You shared her with me yesterday.
So close yet so far away.
It's the little things she does
That magnify your grace.
And your grace,
Resonates in my soul
Every time I see her face

At your feet I lay her down,
Humbly before you I bow.
She's the blessing,
You've given to me,
Father of light.

The lines have fallen in pleasant places,
Many daughters have done well,
But you excel them all.
Protect her and mold her with your hands.
You've been good to me my sweet.
And your grace resonates in my soul
Every time I see her face.
You have been a shelter Lord,
She has been my dream.

At your feet I lay her down,
Humbly before you I bow.
She's a blessing,
You've given to me,
Father of light.

Beautiful, Beautiful,
I feel your grace abound on me.
In the light, In the light.
At your feet I lay her down,
Humbly before you I bow.
She's a blessing,
You've given to me,
Father of light.

You know you get up too early when....

So, I woke up this morning and I was tired but I forced myself out of bed, did my hair, got dressed, went through my whole wake up routine... I went to go unplug my phone to take it with me when I noticed the alarm was still on. Interesting, because that is how I wake up and I could have sworn it was how I woke up today. So I look at the time on my phone and see that it says 12:55. Uhhhhhhh, what? I check my watch which is already on my perfumed arm and I look at my nightstand and yeah, it is definitely 12:55.

So, I got back into my pajamas and went back to sleep. When I got up at 5:40 I decided once a day is definitely my limit on how many times I fix my hair, so here I sit at work... my hair slightly off.. wondering how I looked at the clock a couple of times before getting up without noticing that it was 12:40 and not 5:40. Now to address the title of this out-of-body post.... You know you get up too early when you accidentally wake up 5 hours early and the only thing that tells you you're up early is the clock (If you look closely, that is :) Yes folks, 5:40 am is just as dark as 12:40 am.... disturbing, isn't it?

She Thinks my Tractor's sexy.. and other random thoughts.

So I drove to Dallas this weekend to hang out with some old friends (Some from preschool, some from college :) I had a GREAT time! It is very weird to go somewhere and feel almost more at home than you do where you live. When you combine the city I grew up in with people I grew up with and then throw in a few people who were my closest friends in college then it is hard not to be comfortable. (Having said that, I love Houston and have no intention of going back to Dallas... although it is very shiny :)



As I drove into town, I realized something.... do you know that song "She thinks my tractor's sexy"? I have always liked this song and thought it was funny and frankly weird if you stopped to think about it. Then as I drove into Dallas I had a thought, Central Expressway is one sexy highway. No seriously, the segment from downtown to the High 5 is seriously attractive.... to me :) I guess I have a little more understanding for the girl who has a tractor thing as I have a highway/ interchange/ bridge thing.. in fact if you throw in my fascination with concrete, mine is probably more weird.

Anyways.... thoughts from today~

1) It takes some seriously scary rain for Houstonians to voluntarily drive 20 mph up I-45.... even at 20, you could still see almost nothing... pretty fun way to start the morning.

2) I think I realized why professional women would want to wear panty hose...... It is perfectly acceptable now to not wear panty hose even in the office, but as I walked in today in a skirt I realized that panty hose would have been a nice little barrier between my legs and the over-active air conditioning system in my building. Why are offices ALWAYS so cold?!!

Oklahoma sucks.... apparently :)

When he found out that I was going to Oklahoma City over the weekend, my supervisor's response was "You know what keeps Texas from sliding into the ocean? Oklahoma sucks". Well, Oklahoma may suck, but the weekend was great. I went with Nate to go to his cousin's wedding and I got to meet almost his entire family. We had such a good time and he has a really great family :) The first picture is of Nate's cousin Nicholas.. sooo cute!

We stayed in Norman and drove into OK City for the wedding so we got to go to the OU campus while we were there. It is so pretty! The second picture is of a building on campus.

We had a great time but we also came up with a few reasons why Oklahoma sucks.

1) If you follow the signs to the OU campus, you never actually see the OU campus.

2) They have these evil biting gnats that I still have marks from all over my feet & neck.

3) They park trains on the tracks for 30-45 minutes blocking 3 intersections in the process.

When it comes down to it though, I wouldn't trade this weekend for the world :)

A Tale of Two Roaches.

Ok, so we are in the car on the way back from Metro Live and Bonnie tells me a story about a roach that was in her shower this morning. Apparently it came out of nowhere and caused her to whimper and try a few disposal tactics before finally sucking it up and grabbing the Raid. My favorite part of the conversation...

Me- "Ew, there is nothing worse than a roach in the shower!"

Bon- "I know! I mean... you're naked, you're vulnerable to their every whim!!"

"And this is my other child.... so and so"

My mom went to help her mom move out of her house and into a retirement community this last week. It was interesting to say the least. My aunt was also there and every time they would be introduced my grandmother would say~

"This is my daughter Cathy, and this is my daughter from Paris"

I suppose where Cathy is from (New York) and my mom's name (Susan) are secondary concerns :)

Sandcastles.. not just for children anymore.

This was the 9th year that my company competed in the AIA Sancastle competition. This is a huge event put on in Galveston every June by the American Institute of Architects with most of the competitors being engineering firms, architechture firms and professional societies. There were 90 "castles" in all and there was some pretty amazing stuff out there. My company was right next to Bonnie's company, so that was a lot of fun. HNTB's theme was "June of the Penguins" and I had a really good time going back and forth between working my booty off and slacking off completely. The top picture shows our surfboard penguin still in very rough form with Rob using it's head as a coaster :) The bottom picture shows our completed site about 5 hours after we started.