The Early Bird

Some of my more long term blog readers will remember the girl in my office who started getting here earlier and earlier to try to beat me in. Well, she had finally given up and now (insert best movie trailer voice here) She's back!! She is taking a course to prepare her for a certification exam every Friday and so she got permission to come in at 6 in order to make up the hours by the end of the week. I'm fine with it, and I'm certainly not going to race her here for the next 6 weeks :)
But yesterday was the first day she came in early and guess what? She took MY spot!! Ohhh baby, that's not ok. As a friend in my office said, "You have a spot??". Ok, so it isn't actually my spot, but the people who get here as early as I do all have places where they park regularly. Anyhoo, so I have to park in a different space when I get here and then when I sit down to try to get my morning started, she wants to talk. Ummmm, I come here at 6:15 so that I can sit in utter silence for almost an hour before I'm expected to interact socially with anyone. Believe me, it's better for all of us this way.
Two positive things- (this shows how childish I am :) She got here late today (I almost beat her in) and today she took truck guy's spot and left mine as it should be... open... for me :)

Garter Dodger

I posted this on Facebook and I thought I'd put it here as well for your blogging pleasure. Notice the reaction of the guy circled in red as the garter approaches. I will not reveal his identity, I will only say that he is dating a friend of mine which if why I find this so funny :)

The world revolves around ___?___

Nate and I went to SA this weekend to be there for Elena's 1st birthday party and just to hang out with Ben and Amy. An interesting thing happened, people started showing up for her party... people I knew... and I just felt like something was wrong. I turned to look at Nate and he seemed to be thinking that same thing. All of the sudden it hit me, this was the first party we had been at since the wedding...this was the first time in 6 months that we were not the center of attention. I asked Nate, "Does it feel weird to you that people aren't focusing on us?" a look of realization passed over his face as he said, "Yeah, I knew something was different!" Weddings are fun, but it's kinda nice when the spotlight passes on to someone else... not that we could ever compete with Elena in that category anyway :)

Sunshiney Fresh

Yesterday the weirdest thing happened.... the sun came out, and it didn't rain, and it stayed that way ALL DAY!! It hasn't done that since Nate and I got back from our honeymoon over two and a half weeks ago. I forgot how happy it could make me to just have the sun out. In honor of the sun's reappearance, I changed the CD in my car to Switchfoot's 'Nothing is Sound' album and skipped straight to my sunny songs. If you don't have this album, it is an excellent source of sun-themed music :) Between, 'The Shadow Proves the Sunshine' and 'Setting Sun', it'll put you in the moody for some sunny driving. Today if it is still sunny, then I intend to drive home to some old school Yellowcard (think Ocean Avenue album). No songs with "sun" in the name, but the California rock makes you feel like you are driving along the coastline in summer... fabulous, just fabulous :)

Happy Birthday!!

I would like to give a very special shout out to my niece, Elena Joy Elkins, and wish her a very happy 1st birthday! Not that she's old enough to even know it's her birthday, but I know and I think it's fun :)

From~


To~


To~

So Funny

The Name Game

Elkins to Ezell.... doesn't seem difficult, does it?? Well, I started the process last Friday when I spent 4 hours getting a new driver's license and social security card. I actually made a new friend, Stephanie, in the process. We discovered each other about an hour into our wait at the DPS which gave us another 2 hours at the DPS to get to know each other :P She was also changing her name and was two numbers ahead of me, so we finished at the same time and went over to social security for the much more pleasant 1 hour wait. Point- You shouldn't have time to make friends and exchange numbers while waiting for your license.

Well, I got home and thought "All right, I've gotten it changed". Well, you know at least the hard stuff.... right? It was just about then that I started counting just how many other entities I had to contact to change my info. Still, it's not too bad... I'm wonder woman, i'll start right now. I log onto my online savings account..... they need a copy of my marriage license. Ok, I log onto my checking account...same thing. My credit card doesn't tell me how to change my name and doesn't offer it as an online service, so I assume I will have to mail them something as well. Ok, no biggie... I'll just change over some more minor stuff. Oh wait.. I need to change my cc account before I can change any of my automatic payments. Ummmm, I know! I'll get started changing it at work! Oh wait, I need to change my checking account first so that it won't screw up my direct deposit. Ummm, ok I've got it!! I know what I can accomplish right now! So I headed for the kitchen, got an ice cream sandwich and called it a day :P

P.S.- I called Nate at this point and told him that the next time we get married, he has to change his name :)

Love and Basketball

Or rather, love of basketball :) This weekend I went to College Station with my hubby and met up with my brother, sister-in-law and niece to go watch some Fightin' Texas Aggie basketball..... I have forgotten how much I ADORE live basketball! When they announced our team as "your, 8th ranked Fightin' Texaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaas Aggies!" I got goosebumps, goosebumps I say. My brother had a similar reaction. It's so amazing to have a good b-ball team! Just hearing them say 8th ranked produced emotional reactions in my brother and me. They were just on their way up my junior and senior year (up from winning 0 big 12 games the years before, don't cha know) and now they're there baby!!

Anyway, the Ags beat the hell outta Oklahoma State and I got to say... it felt pretty stinkin good :) Bring on March Madness... I've got full cable and I intend to use it!!

When did I get old?

I got an incredibly flattering email today in which my supervisor asked if I would like to be in charge of putting together a Co-op program at our office for A&M undergrads and asking me to pick who I wanted to work with on this. I am SO EXCITED about being able to do this. It will likely be a lot of work but I am looking forward to it. As I stopped to think about it though, I thought "When did I get old?". I mean, it was only a few years ago that I was debating whether to go for a Co-op myself. It was only 2 years ago that I was interviewing for my job and now I'll be conducting interviews as well as leading them through their training and work assignments for a year and a half.

Anyhoo, be praying for me as I take on this very exciting, very challenging new venture...it's gonna be a fun ride :)

Hello?

So it's been awhile for me...... (3 ish weeks) in which I celebrated Christmas, got married, went on my honeymoon, and installed two lighting fixtures and some wood blinds. I was holding off writing my first entry back because I felt it needed to be spectacular. Well, forget that :) I figure only a handful of faithful followers are continuing to check this after my long absence anyhoo, so the magnificence of my first entry back is not quite as important as I thought. On that note I will reward such faithful blog checkers with a few quick pics...

Me and the bridesmaids~

Me and my brother~

Me and Nate~

St. Croix~

The view from our balcony (the picture doesn't do it justice)~

Us post-snorkling~

For more honeymoon pics~ http://abbyjoy.shutterfly.com/action/ I will post wedding pics to this site once I get the professional ones back :)