The Final Countdown

Less than 24 hours to go, then it is officially 2009! Ahhhhhhh!!! This year has certainly come and gone so fast, but I can honestly say that I'm thankful a new year is now beginning. I just want to wish everyone here a safe and Happy New Year. Those who will be out tonight, be especially careful when on the road. And unless I will see you tonight, which I don't think I will, I'll be seeing you next year. As usual, I don't have plans, Arthur and I will be trying out a new place to eat tonight(BJ's, they are supposed to have good pizza, we'll see), we'll stop by JC Penney to spend my giftcard, and then probably stop by a bookstore on the way home, read some books and grab some hot chocolate. Yummmm. I'll take my camera, even if Arthur isn't the most photogenic person on the planet, lol. P.S. Don't tell him I said that! Peace out homedogs!!!

Christmas Vacation!

I just got home a few hours ago and decided to go ahead and post pictures from the visit. I wish I was still in Corpus, but all things must come to an end, right? Ugh, I can't believe I have to work tomorrow. I'm not looking forward to that! :(
Thanks to everyone for all of the wonderful gifts! I love them all!

Ella Turns 5!

Today is my darling niece's 5th birthday! I can't believe how fast they grow, I wish they would slow down, lol. I just want to say that Ella is one super silly, loveable, and precious girl. She always makes me smile. I love you, Ella and I hope you have the best birthday ever!
Love, your Aunt Tara

Ella as Horton

Eating an orange

I took this picture of her last year. It was too sweet not to.

And here is that silly Ella that everyone adores. :)

Even when you're not in the mood for pictures, you're still my girl. Hugs and kisses!!!

Christmas Lights

Last year I was told about a house nearby that always had the most spectacular lights, and they weren't kidding! It's hard, even with the pictures, to really see how many lights there were. It's really so much better in person, these photos don't do it justice. It does make you wonder how the neighbors cope with all of this around this time of year. Not only are these lights super bright, but there are lots of cars and people on the road too. I grabbed my camera last night and decided to try and capture the beauty of it. Enjoy!

A Light Unto All: A Christmas Gift

I had seen this on my friend, Shankar's, blog today and thought I would share it on mine as well. I think it sends the right message that where ever you go, the gospel message is the same. And it's a great reminder this time of year to remember what Christmas is really about.

One Heck of a Country Christmas!

Okay, so I was just going to post
one of these
bad boys, but I couldn't resist. So, three it is!
The more the merrier, as I like
to say. :)
So get ready for some fun x 3.
Ps.
If I could have put all three in just one post,
I would have. I couldn't figure out how
to post these any other way.
Be sure to hit the pause button
on my music playlist
so that you can hear the music
on the videos!
If you're a friend of mine on
Facebook, I also posted a
jib jab of Holly and her
family. I personally think that
that one is by far the best!
Enjoy!!!
Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Elves on Fire!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Christmas Disco at the Credit Union

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Blogging Friends Award

Quite a few days ago, I saw on my sister's blog that I'd been given this award. Sorry Holly, I know I'm posting this late. :( According to one of her pals, this is what this award is means: "These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these kind writers." And like my sister, all of my blogging friends are exceptional and I'd hate to have to narrow it down to just eight. I don't know if I'm allowed to give this award to those who have already received it, but I don't see how it would hurt if I accidentally happened to do that. So, here is the eight that I choose to receive such an award: Tiffany T., Aimee, Laura, Shankar, Mom, Rachel, Yvonne, Devri. There you have it, I love you guys. Y'all are always checking up on my blog and always leaving me lovely comments. I'm glad to be blogging friends with you all.

Decorating for Christmas

We put up our Christmas tree over the weekend, and I thought I'd post a picture of it. It's not quite the same as decorating for Christmas used to be. I'm not home with my family, but I still managed to enjoy it. With some Christmas tunes playing from my bedroom, we put up the tree, decorated it, wrapped a few Christmas presents, put out my cute little two house village (can you call two houses a village? hmmm), and then plugged in the tree and just admired it. :) Ah, I love the feeling of Christmas. It's just wonderful!!!

The tree always looks better in the dark.

Here's my favorite little Christmas character. I plan on finding Rudolph to join him this year. Every year, I plan to get one more friend to join my abominable snowman. He may look happy, but he told me just last night that he's very lonely.

Here's one of the pieces to my village. Notice all that snow- if you haven't seen the booth in the malls that sell the powder that turns into "snow", you must. It's pretty awesome! Just add water, and you have a wintery wonderland on your hands.

Here's the puppet maker's shop! And I am pleased to announce that I'm am almost done with my Christmas shopping. Every year I seem to procrasinate till the last minute, I really hate doing that. I'm not one to fight the crowds and deal with traffic. It's a relief, that's for sure. I'm sure many of you haven't even started shopping, I feel sorry for you except for the fact you'll probably get the better deals than I did. Darn! Speaking of better deals, let me give a shout out to my bestest most favoritest sister, Holly, for saving me money the other day. I didn't know this, but Target gives you a 14 day time frame to receive price adjustments on the items you buy. I had just bought a few Christmas gifts (and already wrapped them), when my sister informed me that Target had put an item I'd purchased on sale. All I had to do was bring in my receipt and voila! Money, money, money back in my wallet. Yessss I even found another item that had gone on sale, that saved me almost $20.00. So keep that in mind while you're doing your Target shopping. Always check to see if your items have dropped in price. Happy holiday shopping to you all!

Charlotte's Dance Ensemble & Work Party

Since I only took a few pictures at both events, I thought I would just combine these two events into one. My friend, Charlotte, invited me along with my co-workers to her dance performance (UTA dance ensemble for the fall), and I have to say I was very impressed. This ensemble was more modern dance and interpretive, which isn't my favorite, but I liked it much more than I thought I would. I am pleased to say that Arthur enjoyed it too, which I was not expecting. lol Charlotte you did an awesome job! I look forward to the next one!!!

This is Rachel and I before the performance. We were ready to cheer on our favorite dancer, "Woo hoo Charlotte!".

I took this photo (no flash photography was allowed) and thought it looked cool enough to post. :)

This is Charlotte in this picture and the next. She had several solo parts, actually, she was the only one who had their own performance. She's a very talented little dancer.

I think she had a flag in this picture, if I'm not mistaken.

Me and Charloote after the show. Notice the plate in front of me, Fridays' caters to all of their events. Yessss...

Now these pictures are from the work party last night. These are my co-workers, well most of them are! I didn't do much dancing, mainly because my jeans a little loose and I feared losing them while on the dance floor. That would have made for some interesting blogging material for sure! Our work party was different from last year's in that we actually rented a place for our party and had it catered rather than going to a restaurant. The food was buffet style, always a plus, and was very tasty. We enjoyed dancing, socializing, games, and door prizes. I didn't win a darn thing! I was so bummed because I wanted that Wii so badly. :( At least someone I like won it, though. I'm happy that Brenda won it, I think I'll have to make a house call one of these days and help her break in the new toy.

Rachel and I at the party.

Bratz, no mas

I'm so happy to announce that Mattel has won it's lawsuit against MGA! Yahoo!buzz reports: "Don't mess with Barbie
Let's get something straight — Barbie may look like a bombshell, but she's no pushover. Mattel, the makers of the iconic doll, recently won a prolonged legal battle with MGA, the manufacturers of Bratz. The outcome of the legal battle puts into question the future of the creepy-looking Bratz figures. A federal court ruled that MGA was to be banned from making and selling "the saucy Barbie alternative." Why? Apparently, the court found that the creator of Bratz came up with the idea while working for Mattel. Hence, the idea belongs to the house that Barbie built."
That's right MGA, we don't like your creepy little dolls anyway. They're terrible role models for young girls, all clad in skanky attire and crazy clown makeup. The name of the doll kinda says it all though, Bratz. Uh yeah, do you want your child to be a brat? I didn't think so...
Of course, I do believe that the dolls will be allowed to sell through this holiday season (I had read that on another site), but after the season is up, goodbye dolls!
Yay Mattel!!! Go Barbie!!! It does leave me with one question though, do you think Mattel continue to sell these dolls as their own? I sure hope not!

How to maintain a healthy level of insanity

So, I'm sure most of you have received this e-mail from friends, co-workers, family members, etc., but I felt it was blog worthy enough to post on the blog so here ya go! I hate that most of these words begin with capital letters, that bugs me, but I don't feel like correcting it. Oh well...
1. At Lunch Time, Sit In Your Parked Car With Sunglasses on and Point a Hair Dryer At Passing cars. See If They Slow Down.
2. Page Yourself Over The Intercom. Don't Disguise Your Voice!
3. Every Time Someone Asks You To Do Something, ask If They Want Fries with that.
5. Put Decaf In The Coffee Maker For 3 Weeks. Once Everyone has Gotten Over Their Caffeine Addictions, Switch to Espresso.
6. In the Memo Field Of All Your Checks, Write 'For Marijuana'
7. Finish All Your sentences with 'In Accordance With The Prophecy'.
9. Skip down the hall Rather Than Walk and see how many looks you get.
10. Order a Diet Water whenever you go out to eat, with a serious face.
11. Specify That Your Drive-through Order Is 'To Go'.
12. Sing Along At The Opera.
14. Put Mosquito Netting Around Your Work Area and Play tropical Sounds All Day.
15. Five Days In Advance, Tell Your Friends You Can't Attend Their Party Because You have a headache.
17. When The Money Comes Out The ATM, Scream 'I Won! I Won!'
18. When Leaving the Zoo, Start Running towards the Parking lot, Yelling 'Run For Your Lives! They're Loose!'
19. Tell Your Children Over Dinner, 'Due To The Economy, We Are Going To Have To Let One Of You Go.'

I've been tagged

Rules:

Link to the person that tagged you-this would be Melissa.

Post the rules on your blog.

Share 6 non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself.

Tag 6 random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.

Let each person know that they've been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Let your tagger know when your entry is up.

My 6 non-important quirks (or shall I say complaints, lol):

1. I have a huge problem with the toilet paper roll in the restroom facing away from me. I don't know why, but I think it should be sitting right beside me, for easy access. I know it's just a few inches further away, but it bothers me still.

2. And most people will agree with me on this, I can't stand slow drivers. But the one thing I really can't stand is when I happen to pull up behind a sportscar at a traffic light (and I'm thinking, "As soon as this light is green I'm going to be outta here!"), and as soon as the light changes, I'm crawling through the intersection while the other lanes of traffic fly right on by me. If you're going to buy a fancy sportscar, drive it like one. I've seen little old grannies drive faster than some of these "race-car" drivers. Geez!

3. Arthur and I get into it sometimes about this next one- handwashed dishes. He prefers to handwash, I prefer the dishwasher. And he's not the only one I've come in contact that prefers to wash by hand either. What is the deal with that? Our argument is how clean the dishes really are. To me, a dish just isn't sanitized properly unless it's been in that super hot steaming bath of water and steam while partying it up with the dishwashing liquid. If you're going to hand wash your dishes, you may as well just lick em clean! Well, maybe not quite...In our household, it's the dishwasher or nothin'!

4. I buy sandwich stuff often, mostly because Arthur likes to make himself sandwiches, but I "think" I like them too. I find myself making sandwiches for my lunches, but I never actually eat them. Here's the deal- I put forward the effort to eat them, but they just taste gross to me each time I try and I end up trashing them. I don't even know why I continue to make myself sandwiches, I guess I'm thinking that one day the sandwich will taste absolutely magnificent. I haven't seen that day yet.

5. Why is it than when you're in a room, sharing space with several others, someone thinks it's okay to spray perfume or body spash? Do they really think everyone in the room wants to smell it?!? Some people have allergies, like myself and can't stand the smell of mostly all perfumes. I wish more people would have common courtesy for those around them, especially when they are in confined spaces and there is nowhere to escape from their torture.

6. I don't really like being read to. Unless you're a professional storyteller, I prefer to read it on my own. This goes with most things, but not everything. Just my preference.

I tag:

Rachel

Cindy

Tiffany T.

Aimee

Mom

Libby

You're it!

I'm a wha?

I got this from my friend, Melissa's, blog today. I thought it would be fun to find out what kind of Christmas tree I am. Well, here it goes!!!

You Are a Cranberry and Popcorn Strung Tree

Christmas is all about showcasing your creative talents. From cookies to nicely wrapped presents, your unique creations impress everyone.

What Christmas Tree Are You?

Back Home for Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving this year was awesome! Mostly because I had a nice, long vacation to spend with the family. Last year I didn't get to come down for Thanksgiving, so I was excited this year to be able to. The food is always so amazing; I stuffed myself as much as I possibly could, then waited a couple of hours and stuffed myself again. That's what the holidays are all about, lol. My parents got my brothers a new puppy as an early Christmas gift. We all decided on the name Bowser, it's a Nintendo thing. He's such a cute little puppy, and he's a maltese like my dog Chloe. We went to the tennis courts a couple of times (as you can see in the pictures), and of course played tennis. It was a lot of fun, but I hadn't played in such a long time that I was a bit sore the following day. :) But that's alright! We saw Twilight again, that's all I'm going to say about that. Mom, Cindy, you know what I mean...thanks for making me laugh Mom. I love you!!! And I can't wait to see everyone again for the Christmas holidays. I have another long vacation and look forward to it. And Joey, I just realized I didn't have any pictures with you in them, sorry. I'll be sure to get some at Christmas.

Laura's Visit

It was my sister's best friend, Laura's birthday this weekend. Her hubby flew her down to Texas as a gift to her, while surprising my sister at the same time. Joey did a good job keeping it from Holly, and she was so surprised to see Laura. Anyhow, I didn't take many pictures, but I did take a few. It was so good to see you again, Laura! I hope we don't wait another 7 years before seeing eachother again. Not many people share the same sense of humor that my sister and I have, that's why we love you so much. :)

Aubrey and Ella

Cali loved that birthday cake so much she decided to save some on her face for later.

This picture is a little dark so it's hard to see their facial expressions, but they're all making very cute faces. Check out Aubrey striking a pose. Ah, I love these girls!!!!

Morpheus Photo Morpher

Made with Morpheus Photo Morpher
Alright, so I got a little bored today and thought I'd play around with a couple of photos by morphing them. Above is my mom and Aubrey. I did always think they looked alike. :)

Made with Morpheus Photo Morpher

And here is myself and my sister. I wish I could have found better pictures where we were positioned the same.


Made with Morpheus Photo Morpher

And last but not least here is my brother, Taylor, morphing into a cat. :)

Chloe Turns 10!

Today, ten years ago, my little ball of fluff was born. I can't believe she's already ten; I remember the day I first got her. She was the cutest, most adorable puppy I'd ever seen. I still remember being outside in the backyard on the fort, looking out into the street, waiting for my Dad to arrive with her. I was so anxious to meet her!
Over these past ten years, she has been the most loyal companion. I love her like she's my baby. Unfortunately, this also means that I don't have very much longer with her, maybe five years or so if I'm lucky. It still doesn't make it any less difficult to know that one day she won't be here. So, I'll cherish every moment I have with my bestest canine pal. I love you, Chloe bear and Happy Birthday to you!!! The first 3 pictures in the slideshow were taken today, btw.

Birthday Boy!

Happy Birthday, Arthur. Today my boyfriend turns, well, really old. Ha ha... I have to give him a hard time, it's just my nature. He knows I tease him all in good fun, though. So I will refrain from talking numbers but focus more on Arthur and how freaking great he is. :) He does so much for me, and I want to thank him for that. I want to make sure today he doesn't so much as lift a finger. I woke up early this morning, unloaded the dishwasher, walked the dogs, fed the cats, and then made Arthur breakfast (pancakes, sausage, orange julius to drink) and cleaned up after myself. It was difficult trying to clean up because Arthur is always just right there trying to do it himself. It's sad really (on my part, that is), he does pretty much all the housework. I don't ever get a chance to, he's always on top of things. He is the laundry king! Thanks babe, for all you do. You do too much, so try to at least take one day to relax. I hope you have a great day today, you deserve it. I'll post more pictures tomorrow (not that there will be many I'm going to take)! He has yet to pick where we are going out tonight, I hope it's Outback (but I won't suggest it). ;) I'm going to be making a cake I've never tried before, I hope it turns out alright. It's a tres leches (in English it translates to three milks) cake, a favorite cake of Arthur's. Wish me luck!
As for the greeting card I attached, I loved it so much I had to post it! What's funny is that it's kinda true; oh, that sounds horrible I know. Arthur and I had our first date the day before his birthday, so I never forget his birthday now. No, I wouldn't say it's more important, but the card was too funny not to use. Holly actually introduced me to some-ecards (someecards.com). She'd seen a couple here and there on other friends' blogs. Some of them are just hilarious, however, I do not recommend their site for everyone, as most of their cards and greetings are just plain raunchy. In other words, Mom, don't visit the site, k?!?
***Update: Arthur chose to go to the Outback, yessssss

Robert Pattinson at the Galleria in Dallas

Cindy, Arthur, Rachel, and I had the opportunity to see Robert Pattinson (plays the character of Edward Cullen in the upcoming Twilight movie)last night at the Galleria mall in Dallas, TX. For those of you who haven't read Stephenie Meyer's books (Twilight series), I recommend them highly. They're so good! I even enjoyed reading her other book, The Host. They will have you hooked. I have been anticipating the film adaptation of the first Twilight novel for many many months now. It's just a week away now, well a little over a week. I'm so excited to see it! Now back to last night, I'm soooo glad I went. Arthur maybe not so much. We had a good time talking, screaming (I may have been the only one doing that), and laughing. We finished off the evening with some yummy overpriced Mexican food (La Cocina?) while there. Last night after I'd arrived back at home, I decided to use an Adobe program (for video editing and such) that I hadn't yet tried out. I've had this program for quite a while now but never had any video projects that needed it. It's really pretty nifty! I was able to combine several different mini videos into one video using special effects and transitions. Below is the video I created and just a couple of pictures that I took while at the mall. Enjoy!




Yes, I am touching the stage that Robert was standing on. I would have stood on it myself, but they had since put these bars in front of it. C'mon now why would they need to go and do that. It's not like someone was going to stand on it, well, besides me anyways.

YESSSSSSSS

This morning I had a bit of a scare, and no I'm not talking about the picture that I took of myself (though yes, it is a wee bit scary). After updating a driver on the computer (I think the update was for my graphics card?), my screen resolution changed and looked crazy. The icons were huge, so I went to change it. I wasn't sure which resolution to change it to, but figured I'd figure it out. Well, this is where it all began. I apparently chose a resolution that was too high for the monitor that I have, and the screen went completely black and left me with an error message stating that the frequency was too high. I couldn't change it back; I restarted the computer and still nothing but a black screen and the same error message. I was devastated! I called LG first (the monitor people) and they had me try a few things but to no avail. They just suggested I call Gateway (the computer people), so I called. They suggested the same things and still nothing worked. They eventually just told me that my graphics card had gone bad and that I needed to send in the computer for repair. Ugh! I was so upset- that would have meant no blogging, no facebook, no music downloads, nothing. Whatever would I have done without my precious computer?!? I spent most of the day just sitting on the futon watching TV, ew. My car part still hasn't come in and I'm still without a car and am literally stranded here at the apartment. I decided after a while to mess with the computer some more, and found a solution afterall. There were only 3 things available to me, the F2 option (some BIOS something or another), F8 (safemode), and the F10 (Boot menu or something like that). Though none of these did anything for me, I did find that if I pushed all of these in a certain order, with the F8 buttong being last, I was given the option on the safe mode menu to restart the computer in the lowest resolution. I was saved!!! How this happened, I haven't a clue, but I do know that my computer is up and running and that I am smarter than those people at LG and Gateway. lol, okay maybe not. But I feel great, I feel triumphant, I am a winner! Yay for me!!! Arthur, you can thank me later. P.S. If the music begins to play as you read this post, and you read at a decent speed, the music should coincide perfectly with my story. I just realized this as I reread it on the blog. hee hee