Something Odd

So I want to blog about something funny that happened to me today.

We're visiting a life group in our church and today after service we chatted with one of the couples from our group, Brandon and Michelle.

Michelle asked how long we've been coming to the Vineyard, and our conversation went something like this:

"Well we started coming a few months before we got married, and we're coming up on our anniversary, so a little over a year now."

"Oh really? When's your anniversary?"

"May 24th."

"That's our anniversary too!"

"No way! What year did y'all get married?"

Brandon and Michelle were married on the very same day we were, though in Florida. What a coweenkydink. But wait, there's more...

I asked "Where did you guys go for your honeymoon?"

"Jamaica."

Yes, the very spot we chose for our own honeymoon, though we soon surmised that we'd stayed at different resorts.

And then, as I looked at the two of them standing together, I realized:

"Wait... I remember seeing you guys! In the airport! We were totally on the same plane to Jamaica."

I explained how I (strangely) remembered Brandon's distinct hat, and Michelle's dress. Our flight to Jamaica involved a connecting flight in Miami, where I first noticed the two of them, and later recognized them as I spotted them going through customs along with us. Somehow it didn't click til today that I've seen them somewhere before.

So there's my trippy little story for today. :)

Part 3

No, I did NOT forget that I so rudely left you hanging for much longer than was reasonable! I suppose a year and a half is quite long enough so today I present the third part of the "love story," as it's been called. Part four is in the works, as well, kids.

Now where did I leave off... oh yes, the part where a lovestruck Jason had just begun pursuing the woman of his dreams. (You are advised to re-read parts one and two if your memory needs refreshing.)

So onward.

Not surprisingly, Jason started showing up everywhere. Mostly wherever Jess was.

He was invited to celebrate a birthday with Matt's family on April 1st, and ironically posed for a picture with Matt and his future in-laws.

Matt later enjoyed ruining a picture with Jess and Becca (his wife). We really don't know.

Later that month Rebecca managed to snag discounted tickets to the International Festival, and the group made plans to attend together. It was a hot Saturday afternoon when the six of them (Rebecca and April and their husbands, plus Jessica and Jason) squeezed into a pickup truck and made their way downtown.

On the way they stopped at a gas station to fill up. The Jasons went into the convenience store for some snacks and April began a silly conversation inside the truck. Something about Jessica and Jason ending up together.

Jess laughed at the teasing but thought nothing of it until April began to pray:

"Dear God, please let Jason and Jessica get married."

Jess retaliated: "Dear God, please let April have triplets."

After finding parking downtown, nobody had a clue where to find the festival. Jess, however, knew to call her mother, who always knew where everything was. And at last they stumbled upon it, sprawled out in the middle of Houston in all its hot, sticky, crowded glory. It smelled like all the glorious foods one generally finds at a carnival and then some: funnel cake, roasted corn, hot dogs, some Asian-style meat on a stick (!) with peanut sauce, and so on. It was a jumble of colorful costumes and commercialized booths with something to sell and performers and spectators. They passed a karaoke booth and April was almost persuaded to show the current performer how it was done. They entered a drawing at another booth and were given red piggy key chains with some cryptic Chinese symbol in the middle.

The six-some soaked all of this up and then sat beside the wading pool with their fried and roasted treats to watch the ninja show. Yes, a ninja show.

Jason 2 made sure to sit next to Jessica. He threatened to push her into the pool, but as warm as Jessica was she preferred to stay dry and warned him that there would be consequences for such an action.

Some drunk guy didn't mind though, and decided to go splashing around in the pool before security managed to convince him to behave himself.

After the ninja show, everyone was ready to leave (but not before the girls could redeem their last food coupons for some pickles). It was still fairly early and someone suggested ice cream. And so that is the happy thing they pursued by driving to Piccomolo.

Then after a long day of international and local adventures, it was time to part ways.

Jess later discovered that the day at the international festival had been one of Jason's favorite times spent with her, and had only convinced him more that she was something special.

(But she already knew that.)

Words

I've been realizing how much I miss writing... for a while now I've either been too busy or too tired to put in the effort. All I wanted to do was enjoy life as it was happening. There's nothing wrong with that! And digital photography makes it easy to capture certain memories and faces, so I can enjoy them later without journaling or blogging or whatever.

So I let my camera do all the work during my wedding, honeymoon, summer vacation, house projects, time with friends, etc.

But it's not the same.

This morning I re-read some of my posts from my trip to Hawaii. How awesome to be able to re-live that experience a year later (and 5 years from now... 10...), down to the little details like the cookies on our catamaran. Those are the things you have to write down before you forget! A picture might be worth a thousand words, but what about the words in-between?

So, all that deep contemplation brings me back to the fact that I really want to write again. Whether I pick up my journal or spend more time at the keyboard, I want to have words to go with my pictures.

It's Overrrrr

Spring break, that is. Somehow I made it all the way through break without sitting down to post. So here is a post-spring break update on... everything?

My car is fine. Jason and his dad spent one Saturday taking apart Belinda to reach the alternator and take it to the auto parts shop, only to have it tested and discover it was fine. At a loss, they put my baby back together, and lo and behold, the problem vanished. *_* At least we didn't pay somebody for all that labor.

Hubby and I spent a weekend in Louisiana last month, visiting Jason's relatives and getting a taste of a "family friendly" Mardi Gras.

(I didn't do anything for those beads. I swear. More pictures on Facebook)

Earlier this month we traipsed off to San Antonio (along with our friends from Katy) for a weekend reunion. (Shout out to Naseem, Nicole, Jared, Leigh, and baby Addison!) On the way back Granny and Johnny met us in Flatonia and gave us fudge!!

Drunk on renewed motivation, Jason and I have been tackling quite a few projects that have lain unfinished or not even started around the house. My mom and Nick brought over the sheetrock pieces from their garage so Jason could continue his work on the upstairs half-bath. (One more full sheet will give us completed walls!)

The guest room has become my pet project - this weekend we laid most of the tile we picked out, replacing a shoddily-done (and ugly) laminate floor. I have a few days off this week and plan to knock out most of the painting (and maybe shopping for decor? *dances*).

Most of you know that pictures of these projects (and everything else) usually show up on Facebook. Go there now. NOW.

I'm going to get ready for school.

Bad Car Day

My car done broke and need fixin'.

I'm really thankful I didn't end up stranded at school... leaving class on Tuesday (at 8 o'clock, in a cold, dark parking lot) it took my car a minute to start. I thought I just needed to fill up, and I planned to do so the next morning before work. But poor Belinda wouldn't start at all Wednesday morning. Her battery was fixin' to die, see. Jason came home and gave me jump (I've never been so glad that he only works a mile away!) and off to work I went.

I started Belinda up about an hour before I got off and she coughed a bit, but finally rumbled (or maybe moaned?) to life. Unfortunately she didn't have it in her to start again when it was time to leave. So Kirk gave me a jump and I drove to the hospital.

Jason met me there and we waited with MeeMaw while Stacy, my father-in-law, had knee surgery. Everything went well, and Belinda even got me to my in-laws' house (where we made sure Stacy had some soup and a cheeseburger) and then home.

Yesterday morning we got a new battery and all was fine and dandy until I was almost to school and Belinda kept hiccupping when she tried to shift gears. Eeeeeek! But I made it home safely that night after class and thought maybe we'd get her checked out this weekend.

Anyway, the brand new battery was completely kaput this morning. Suzanne told me not to worry about coming in to work and Jason said he would drive me to school later tonight. Sooooo I'm at home writing thank-you notes (prayers worked, Adrienne!) and getting a head-start on weekend chores.

Jason's going to replace the alternator over the weekend. Hopefully that's all my poor baby needs. Otherwise it might be time to shop for a... replacement. *tear*

Belinda, morosely stranded in the garage.

In other news, last weekend the girls and I hit up the new outlet mall for the first time together. We found some cool hats.

Later we got together with all of our husbands for dinner. Check out the hat I bought. :D

Entry # Whatever

We're back at home doing fine and dandy. All we got out of Ike were:

1: Five inches of leaves (give or take) all over the yard
2: A lower electricity bill for the month
And 3: Messed up syllabi for the rest of the semester

I'm pleased to report progress on behalf of Adrian (the dog). We finally gave in and took her to the vet (for the second time in 4 months). We left with $150 worth of medicine and flea treatments. :P BUT her scratching no longer keeps us up at night, and we've been diligently re-training her that outside is the place to relieve herself. No new tricks yet, but we might try "Stop digging used tissues out of the trash can." Good girl!

I'm learning that becoming a sign language interpreter is one of the most fun, challenging, and rewarding things I could possibly do. Jason and I attended a pre-Thanksgiving feast at a Deaf church in the area and had a great time. A visiting church from Arkansas entertained us with some deaf "singing."









We're finally making progress in our upstairs half bath! The hideous wallpaper and laminate are gone. In their place: beautiful tile and a decent paint color. (You can check out pictures of our home projects here.)

Well I'm off to pack... Jason's coming to work with me for the weekend while the parents are off in Mexico for a wedding. I predict great fun, and if we're lucky: Jason's first diaper change! ;D

Rip it Up

I won't lie - I was expecting another Rita. After Edouard and Gustav and all the other piddly little rainstorms failed to bring us any rain, let alone a hurricane worth preparing for, I figured Ike would probably go chase his tail down the gulf and maybe sneeze in our direction.

No major damage on our part, which I'm very thankful for. (Jason was hoping a tree would crash through our sliding glass door so we could replace it.)

Friday before the storm we decided to come stay with our friends April and Jason in Tomball so that when our power went out, we'd have somebody to be bored with. They're super and will always be welcome to have a sleepover at our house! ;) So we've been here a week - they got power back last Monday and our house is supposed to be back online this coming Monday. Sooo... in the meantime, I think I'll stay here where the refrigerator works!

We've spent a lot of time cooking meat from everybody's freezers and driving around to mooch off various people. April's sister and brother-in-law got power back first so we were all over there over the weekend to watch TV. Matt and Melissa, who live one street over, got power next, so we made Melissa cook pizza for us while we watched movies. (Nah, she's been awesome and voluntarily fed us. I think.)

Everybody went back to work today (except me). So I'm eating Oatmeal Crisp and listening to the new Family Force 5 CD (!!). The end. (Pictures here.)