A Half Dozen Years.

Okay boys and girls, I am going to tell you a little story. Get comfy now....what? You don't want to hear a story? Yeah, I don't really care, and am going to tell you anyways.  This is the story of.....  'How I met.....the Spaz that I married'

     Once upon a time, there was a young girl. (and when I say "young" I mean that I WAS of legal age, but only just barely....Seriously, I was 18 and three months....)

 
  

      This young girl was just embarking on the world of adulthood....at her local LDSSA Institute. She was a hesitant girl, but starting to come into her own. Intimidated by most social relationships due to bad experiences during her adolescence, and a handful of mean people who took particular pleasure in making her feel worthless, she was starting to finally feel like she had friends who actually cared about her. 

 One day, at the beginning of the spring semester, the young girl decided to make a stop at the institute with her aunt. The girls aunt had a father, who was a little obsessed with those puzzles that have a billion tiny pieces, and when he finished with one, he never touched it again. The aunt asked if the girl knew what she could do with the mountain of puzzles he had already finished with. Being a thoughtful person, the girl suggested that they take the puzzles to the institute for her friends to enjoy in between classes (as she knew they already killed time putting puzzles together in between classes anyway)

  They loaded the puzzles into the backseat and trunk of the aunts car  (did I mention there were ALOT of puzzles?) and brought them to the institute. Upon arrival the girl and her aunt loaded their arms with the boxes and proceeded to carry them into the building, and attempt to not drop them all over the floor. As she entered the main room of the institute building with her second load of puzzles, a new guy, who was himself, perched over a puzzle-in-progress, looked up incredulous and exclaimed, "What?!?! Not MORE!!"

The girl (having recently developed a tad bit of confidence in herself, and feeling that HE was being rather bold, as she had been a part of this institute longer than he, and therefore felt this was HER turf...) exclaimed, "Yes, MORE!!! Deal with it, as I go get the rest!" 

   And those were the very romantic and heartwarming first words my future husband and I ever spoke to one another. 

Eight months later, we were engaged

Eleven months after that, we were married

Another 6 years after that, we are still saying ridiculous things to one another, making fun of stupid movies, and being VERY snide and judgemental about people in restaurants.

  I must say, its been a great half dozen years!

Still Crazy?

  Perhaps I am a little crazy for running, every day, in the 100+ degree heat. 

But I just cannot argue with the results!

Moved.

I haven't been much use to anyone, 'blog'-wise for the past 2 1/2 weeks. There is a legitimate reason for this. We have MOVED! yes, we have left the wilderness of Southeast Texas, to be official residents of the 4th largest city in the United States, Houston!
  We decided a couple of months ago that, just because Rob is a pilot, he shouldn't have to include travel in EVERY aspect of work. (i.e. he was tired of commuting over an hour one way, just to get to the SMALL airport that he is currently working at)

Aubrey decided that she would not be happy un-held

We hunted around, and finally found a place in a relatively, nice area in the north Houston area, which also just HAPPENS to be a quick 10 minute drive from Houston's scenic, 'Bush Intercontinental Airport' which, is where Rob would prefer to be working. (fingers tightly crossed on that one)

  I spent as much time as I could, cleaning, packing, and unpacking boxes. Over the past month my life has been full of ALOT of cardboard. It took me probably three times as long as it should have to get all my packing and unpacking done, because my, already clingy baby girl decided to double her efforts.

Her new, increased, output of whine, and 'givemeallyourattentionnow' meant that I typically, only had 5-10 minute intervals during which, I was allowed to attempt, to pack our worldly belongings, before she would decide she had spent enough time NOT dominating my attention.

Moving ended up becoming a project of epic proportions due, mostly to the fact that temperatures in our general vicinity have been Hell-like  over 100 degrees, since the beginning of June. We got our truck, the biggest one u-haul had to offer, the night before and started loading some of the boxes, with the idea that it would reduce the amount of work we might have to do in the heat of the day.

It did not.

I failed to take into account the fact that my father-in-law, while incredible, is an engineer at heart, and despite the fact that he showed up at 7:15 the next morning, it still took us over 6 1/2 hours to get the truck loaded. The reason was that he and my husband would stand there, at the back of the truck engineering where everything should go; boxes in the very back, stacked to the top, then all the furniture so that when we unloaded at the new place, the furniture went in first and the boxes didn't take up all the space so there would not be room for the furniture etc. etc..... I will admit, this logically made sense. however, it took FOREVER to get it all in the truck! When we finally got everything in the truck and were literally, getting ready to close it up and leave, we realized something...we couldn't find the key to the u-haul. I asked Rob where he had set it and he told me it was with a few other things he had left on top of his dresser. The dresser had, naturally, been loaded carefully into the truck. The items on top had been packed into a small box by a well intentioned helper, early on. That box had been packed into the back of the truck before ALL the furniture had been carefully placed in their respective positions.

I wanted to cry...

I quickly pled with God to 'give us a break' and my husband channeled his favorite Marvel comic hero, and climbed "spider-like"  over all the furniture to the very back of the (now oven-like) truck  to start going through boxes to see if we could find the key without having to completely take everything out to find it. I couldn't believe it, the key was in the SECOND box we checked!
   Once we made it to the new place, I found that my mother in law came through, and had scrambled last minute, to get some people to meet us at the new place and help us unload the truck. Fortunately, unloading was a good deal faster than loading.

Now we are here, and I must say, I LOVE being an official Houstonian for the second time in my life! We went from having to drive at least a half an hour to get to "town"(pronounced 'Tay-oww-n' for you non-southerners) Just to go to Wal-Mart! Now we live near EVERYTHING! I can drive five minutes in any direction and find, grocery stores, restaurants, post offices, and really whatever I need!

Also, I love the way the new house is set up!

Munchkin zone-Aubrey's side

Munchkin zone-Andy's side

Living room-view from front door

Living room-view from dining room 

Dining room- from living room

Kitchen

Come With Me, to a World of Pure Imagination!

 Just a little while ago I got to experience something really special. Truly it warmed me to my very core and nearly brought me to tears as I watched:
 
I was feeling the need for a quick chocolate fix, so I went through all of my kitchen cabinets, freezer, and refrigerator, and came upon a container of dark chocolate frosting just sitting there, very innocently in my refrigerator (no it was not purchased with a cake in mind)  I pulled it out and grabbed a spoon, determined to have just a spoonful or two to satiate my craving and put it back. As I was SLOWLY enjoying the first of my two spoonfuls ( a little salaciously, I might add, its a good thing no one else was there to see, it felt very naughty...)  My baby daughter looked up at me with that look that said, "Momma, I want some!" How could I refuse such a request? From my only daughter no less! How could I refuse her? I couldn't, so I didn't. I scooped just a tiny bit on the end of the spoon and proceeded to give my daughter her first REAL taste of chocolate.

 It was magical.

 She opened her little mouth and closed it over the end of the spoon and, as her little tongue got its first wave of chocolate-y goodness, her eyes opened wide and she sucked it down, opened her mouth again and made the little "Aaaa" noise that I know translates into, "More of that, NOW!!" I gave her another small taste and watched my little girl, fall in love with chocolate.

 Magical!

I smiled a little bit and looked into her big, blue, eyes and said, "Yes, its incredible isn't it? It's called chocolate, and it never gets old! It is always as amazing as it feels now. It never judges you. It never calls you fat. It will always be there for you when you need it. It will not be mad when you ignore it for a while, and it will always welcome you back with open arms when you are sad and need it. I personally have always loved chocolate, and I am so glad, my little girl, to share this moment with you!"

From Mommy

To Aubrey

It was the first official "girl thing" that I have bonded with my daughter about,

and it made me smile. 

 Yay, for mother/daughter bonding!

Something wrong with me.

I have a problem. It has caused me to question the very nature of my “Corinne-ness” . I have fallen (hard) for something I once despised. The hatred I once harbored for it has dissolved into something that I now hesitantly call ‘love’.  I think, that I have fallen in love, with: Running!

  I have spent the past four months running at least three times a week (if not more) and I find myself strangely invigorated, and feeling…..good when I get through with a daily run!  I began doing this with the idea that I would tone up a bit and possibly lose a few pounds from last year’s pregnancy. I have in turn, lost ALL baby weight, including weight that was still hanging on from my FIRST pregnancy, and my waist is just an inch or two away from what it was when I first got married! That alone is enough to keep me going every day (even if I still hated doing it) BUT that is not why I have fallen in love with it. (okay, it IS a factor but not the only reason)

I have found that I love getting outside and feeling the road beneath my feet. I love feeling the muscles in my legs propelling me forward. And most of all, I love getting to the end of my route and realizing that I feel GOOD, and that I DON’T feel like passing out!

  I would like to take this opportunity to give a hearty thanks to: My iPod, and iPod armband. I ADORE running to music, and HATE having to hold my iPod while running. That armband is the best $3.85 I ever spent on Amazon.com.

Worth its weight in GOLD!!!

 Now I have to mentally come to terms with the fact that for the first time in nearly 26 years, I enjoy doing something that is legitimately athletic.

There is DEFINITELY something wrong with me…

Andy-isms *birthday edition*

Once upon a time, I was just a little, young, wife, folding and refolding drawers full of tiny shirts, and pants, and little hats and burp rags over and over. Feeling the spastic 'kicks' and other movements coming from within a belly that made me feel very planetary. (HA, that rhymed!) Everything in my life seemed to move in slow motion, until that fateful July 23rd , three years.......wait, three years ago!?!? Holy Cow! Have I really had Andrew for three years already?      Geez!
     My point is, that my life went from going in normal speed, to ultra, super, fast speed, the day that my awesome, adorable, hilarious, and lets face it, perfect son Andrew was born. His little person consumed me, and everything I did revolved around him (it was exhausting, but I loved it!) He still keeps me on my toes everyday, and I still love the heck out of him!

My super awesome little guy, is just that: Super and Awesome!

And Getting SO big SO fast!

He keeps me laughing with something new every day!

 So Happy Third Birthday to my little Andy-Panda! My life is so much better, and MUCH more entertaining with him around!

I Solemnly Swear.......that I will ALWAYS be Team Edward!

This week I have to pay homage to something that has kept my nerd-meter in the high yellow level for many years now: Books.
  But not just any books, The Harry Potter Books!
This week marked the FINAL conclusion (yes I realize that to say 'final conclusion' is redundant but this time it actually makes sense.) to the saga that I have been following for the past 11 years of my life! I began reading the crack-like novels at age 14, (shortly after 'Goblet of Fire'[book 4] was released) After that I was hooked! I waited impatiently for each installment. I pre-ordered each one as it was released, and waited in line at bookstores to receive my copy at midnight. Most times I would get them read in less than a day!
  By the time "Deathly Hallows"[book7] was going to be released, I was working at the bookstore. I and many of my awesome co-workers decided to make the midnight release party (that we were all scheduled to work) more fun, by dressing up. I was a 21 year old, married, adult, wearing a costume to work. It was fantastic!

At midnight I got my copy of the book and had it read by morning.

 I am not ashamed of this. 

Well this past friday was the opening day for the VERY last Harry Potter movie. I saw it, with my family, like we did with every other movie, and I loved it! 

And now it is over. No new books or even movies to look forward to :(

It is a bittersweet thing. I have been essentially waiting for the movie I saw on friday, for the past 11 years!

                    Thank You Harry Potter, for so many years of intense nerdy indulgence!

 I will of course be alright, mostly because I still have two more Twilight movies to wait for :)

And naturally I will see my Twilight movies with my Twilight-midnight-movie-partner!