Let it SNOW!!!!!!!!!

I posted too soon! Check it out!



Beamer couldn't care less and Macy couldn't wait to get inside!

Let it Hail?

Well the temperature in Austin dropped to the mid 30s tonight with wind gusts up to 25 miles per hour. Add a little precipitation and you get... hail. We've been listening to the wind all night long and as homeowners, have been a little concerned a few times when a large gust sounds like it's going to knock the house over. The rain started a few hours ago and then later came the hail. I had to peak out the door to take a picture. The first picture I took out the back door when the hail first started. The next one I took about 3 minutes later! It came fast but didn't last or get much bigger. I wish I could say it was snow but we'll take what we can get. Happy Holidays!!

Christmasing

Friday night we went to Andrew's work Christmas party and Saturday night we went to mine. We had a cocktail hour at our house on Saturday night before the TDS party with a good turn out Here are pictures from all the festivities.




Andrew's company rented Hummer limos to transport everyone for the party. It was fun/ ridiculous to ride in them.



Peeps inside the hummer. The floor of the limo lit up multi-color like a disco dance floor.



Us in the limo, a little blurry but still cute.



The CFO of Asuragen and the General Counsel getting down at the party.



Andrew and one of his coworkers/ friend Crystal, being goofy.




Party at our house... Steph wearing her husband's pimp hat.



Most of the girls plus Jay.




And of course the guys circle round the television while football was on.




The "professional" picture we had taken at the party (I scanned it in.)

How The Grinch Stole Christmas

Do you see the similarity? I hope you do... the one on the left is the one who tried to steal Christmas this year.

This morning Andrew and I were lying in bed asleep when he heard a loud CRASH. I could only imagine the worst but was hoping for the best. Macy was in the bedroom with us but Beamer was downstairs somewhere so we could only assume he was responsible for whatever had happpened. Andrew opened the bedroom door and looked downstairs to see Beamer standing next to the fallen Christmas tree. I couldnt bring myself to get out of bed and look at it so I'm sorry I don't have any pictures to share. I'm imagining it looked something like this....




Andrew went downstairs to start to clean up but I was too distraught to do anything. After about 20 minutes he called upstairs and asked if I could come help. By that time he was holding the tree upright but had not secured it yet. We got it stable and standing again and then began sorting through the mess. A lot of ornaments were on the ground but many were not broken. Some, however, were completely shattered to smithereens.



There are several that are not broken badly and can be glued back together. I'm suprised and very thankful for how many were not even harmed. I think at the most we lost 10 ornaments but I can't say for sure since some where beyond recognition by the time I got to them. Here are a few that I am very sad that were broken.





Last year Andrew's mom gave us matching doggy ornaments for Beamer and Macy. Of course the one that says "Beamer" is just fine and the Macy one was destroyed. I want to kill him.




Every year Andrew's mom has give him (and me too since we have been married) an ornament from the White House. This one is from 2000. You can't tell it in this picture but the blue inside part is completely unattached from the metal frame and there is really no way to reattach it. I love all these White House ornaments so I was pretty sad to loose one.



This is an ornament my mom put our wedding picture in and it is special to us. The glass is cracked down the middle, but might be able to be glued together although the crack will still remain.


It's hard to say for sure what happened, but my best guess is that Beamer was trying to drink the water out of the tree stand. I had been up a few hours earlier to let the dogs go outside and he was rattling his bowl for water then, so I filled it up then, but I'm sure he finished that and then went looking for more. I am not happy with him.

After we cleaned up the mess, got the tree standing, and sorted through what was salvageable, I didn't have the emotional energy to deal with redecorating the tree or fixing the lights. This is how we left it for now with about half the ornaments piled on the coffee table waiting to be rehung.






Later on I started referring to Beamer as the Grinch who tried to steal Christmas and was able to laugh about it a little. Andrew told him he was a triple-decker sauerkraut toadstool sandwich with arsenic sauce. I'm trying to have a sense of humor about it and I'm sure in a few years when we unpack the ornaments at the beginning of the season we will laugh about it and remember the story. Right now I'm still pretty angry.



FOR SALE:
One Brittany Spaniel, male, 3 years old. Comes neutered and is current on all vaccinations. Price negotiable.

Decking The Halls

Well we got our tree on Monday night and got it up, but it wasn't until Tuesday that we began decorating. Most of the house is decorated now, and from the street we look pretty Christmas-y. Check it out:



Andrew putting the angel on the tree.



In progress... well at least we got the lights up.



I'm so festive.



The stockings were hung by the chimney with care...



Not a great picture but an idea of the view from the street.




Front door with the tree just inside the window.




The finished tree!!


This is a sneak preview of what you will see on our Christmas card (if you haven't gotten it already.)



Well we have Andrew's work Christmas party tomorrow night and mine on Saturday so we will be full of holiday cheer this weekend. On Saturday we are having all my friends from work over before the party for a "cocktail hour" so I have to get the house in tip top shape for that. It should be a fun weekend but we won't be getting any work done on the house! My biggest wish for Christmas would be to wake up on Christmas morning and have beautiful baseboards through out the house. A girl can dream!


Happy Holidays!!

Walking in Memphis

Although this was part of our Thanksgiving weekend, our day trip to Memphis gets its own post. On Saturday we decided to drive to Memphis, about two hours away from Searcy, to do the tour of Graceland and eat some world famous barbecue. Andrew has always wanted to go to Graceland for some reason and loves the song Walking in Memphis. We've talked about visiting Graceland in the past but never had a good reason to be in Memphis before. Also, if you know us very well, you know that a two hour car drive is not too far for us to drive to eat good barbecue. All in all, this was the formula for a perfect day trip. My aunt has a Garmin GPS she let us borrow for the drive, and we loved playing with it. About 30 minutes into the trip Andrew exclaimed, "This thing is awesome."

Driving into Memphis just before you cross over the bridge on the Arkansas side, you drive through West Memphis, AR. My parents lived in West Memphis when they were first newly weds, while my dad was doing graduate work at UT Memphis. My oldest sister was born during the time they were living there, and it's a place that they reminisce about from time to time. I caught a snapshot of West Memphis that I'm sure they will appreciate.

Our first stop was at The Rendezvous, a world famous barbecue joint located in a back alley and down a flight of stairs in downtown Memphis. It had the perfect atmosphere for what it was and we enjoyed a great lunch. Andrew tried to hide his excitement, but he had a gleam in his eyes like a kid waiting to open his Christmas presents, waiting for the ribs to come after we ordered. This place was first recommended to us by my good friend Steve Holt, and everyone we talked to after him also sang its praises. It did not disappoint.

Then it was on to Graceland, our main reason for being in Memphis. I thought it would be cool but I expected it to be kind of cheesy- for some reason I was thinking of something reminiscent of Dollywood in Gatlinburg, TN. It was quite different. We were both pleasantly surprised at how interesting the tour was and really enjoyed it. We went on the tour of the mansion and other buildings on the grounds of Graceland and then paid a little extra to see some of the other exhibits. The additional exhibits included a museum of Elvis's car and motorcycle collection, a display of many of Elvis's jumpsuits and stage costumes, and two of his private jets. I totally looked like a tourist cause I was taking pictures at every opportunity, and three days ago I could have cared less about Elvis. I've only included the highlights in the slideshow, but don't worry I took more!

So here are some interesting facts you may not have known about Elvis (yes I'm a nerd):

• One of Elvis's favorite drinks was Diet Dr. Pepper. He also liked Lime Gatorade. He didn't much care for the taste of alcohol.
• Elvis's favorite car out of his whole collection was the pink Cadillac. It was his mother's favorite and he often referred to it as "Gladys' car."
• Elvis had a twin brother Jesse Garon Presley who was born stillborn.
• Elvis loved the sport of racquetball so much, he had a building built on the grounds of Graceland with a racquetball court and a lounge with a glass wall, where spectators could watch matches.
• Elvis had three televisions built into the wall of his lounge in the basement of Graceland. He got this idea because he heard that President Lyndon Johnson had three tvs to keep up with the broadcasts of all the major news networks. This might not seem as impressive today, but in the 60's that was pretty extravagant!

• Elvis loved spontaneous trips on his private jet the Lisa Marie. Once when his daughter Lisa was young and he realized she had never seen snow, they flew to Colorado, played in the snow for a few minutes, then turned around and went home to Memphis. Lisa also celebrated her ninth birthday in the air at the enormous conference table aboard the luxurious jet.

Ok that's enough Elvis nerd-dom. If you ever get the chance to visit Graceland, its definitely a fun time!

Thanksgiving Highlights

We spent Thanksgiving for the second year in a row in Searcy with much of the Keichline side of my family. Both of my dad's siblings live in Searcy as well as several of my cousins, their spouses, and children (my second cousins). Searcy isn't a big town and there isn't a whole lot to do which makes it perfect for relaxing. We spent most of the long weekend watching tv, napping, eating, and playing Mexican Train (a great dominoes game for those who don't know). My Aunt Pat is a great cook and loves to spoil us and feed us, so we soak up as much of it as we can while we're there. We really enjoy going to Searcy, but after the 11 hour car ride with two dogs, delayed by traffic on I-35, coming home Sunday night, we both agreed we wished it was a lot closer. Here are a few photos from the weekend!





The doggies in the car on the long drive... they weren't so happy about it.






Macy's face cracks me up in this picture!







Andrew with my second cousin Mason.





My Aunt Fran with my second cousin Morgan (her grandson).





My cousin Vance with his son Landan being a goofball.