Gardening, Year 2

Last weekend, I set out to get our seeds going for our second year of gardening. Although I'd planted some fruit trees in January, I wanted to get our seeds started indoors. Hopefully this picture will help me remember where I planted everything. This year, we've got 3 types of tomatoes, jalapenos, bell peppers and cucumbers. No watermelon or cantaloupe this year, but we're going to try beans, okra and squash instead.

I also bought a package of asparagus roots. Who knew that's how you grow them!?!?! I stuck them in the ground outside next to my berry plants. H read on the Internet it will take 3 seasons for these to grow, so we shall see....

The herb garden is coming along, albeit it's a bit of a mess. We haven't been home enough to cook lately or use much of anything. I'm contemplating moving these to a planter box and setting them outside.

The berry bushes I planted haven't died yet. This one is showing some signs of budding.


This one is doing well and has some leaves. However, the lemon and lime trees are about the same. The limes really aren't growing much & still nothing on the lemon tree.

I like looking at all the different seeds I plant. The real small ones are mostly the tomatoes, the big white ones are the beans. So many different sizes, colors, textures and shapes.

UPDATE: The seeds have already sprouted! I noticed them this morning and a few of them are already 2"-4" tall!

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: Trying to get one more thing on our 101 List, we're headed out to the Rodeo Parade this morning.

Blog Updates

So I've had the same generic background and blog style with Blogger since I started my blog nearly 2 years ago. It wasn't a big deal to me, since I read most blogs exclusively through Google Reader. The only time I actually visit the original blog is to leave comments. I wanted a little customization, so the blog looked like MINE, and I wanted to go bigger with my photos.


So if you are reading this through a feed reader, this is what my blog now looks like if you'd like to come leave me a message. I also wanted it to be bigger so I'd have a much larger space for photos. I also wanted to do a wee bit with the background and jazz it up a little.

Previously, my photos had been about 500 px wide because of the Blogger blog format. Now I can go up to 750 px. I wanted to post a few and see how they turn out. This fabulous photo from our Colorado trip in 2007 is 640 pixels.

And this huge puppy is 1024 pixels....I have no idea how this will look once published, but I'm curious...." HOW BIG CAN I GO?" I'm thinking part of it will be cut off, but I am just doing a trial.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: Last week is officially over- it was one of the worst weeks in a LONG time....good-bye!

I'm Going to Disneyworld!

I'm going to Disneyworld next weekend! I can't believe how this snuck up on me. Between Christmas holidays, the inauguration in DC, our anniversary trip in Cozumel and getting all the final details in place for Africa for May, I totally neglected to do ANY planning for my trip.

I'm going with a girlfriend of mine who wanted to run the Disney Princess Half-Marathon. I'd never really had any desire to go as an adult- I mostly wanted to avoid all the kids. We booked our hotel and airfare a while back, but now I need a plan of attack for the parks! I'm suddenly so excited and over-whelmed with all the choices & our very limited time there.

We arrive in Orlando at 1:30 Friday, then need to go to the Expo to pick up our race gear. We're going to try to get to Epcot that night since it's open an extra hour & also see the fireworks.


Saturday, Animal Kingdom opens early, so we'll hit up that park and then head over to MGM. We've got the park hopper pass, so we might go back to Epcot since we won't have much time there on Friday evening.

We've got to get back to our hotel pretty early because the half-marathon starts early + daylight savings time + east coast time! The race course looks fun & we're totally just running it to have a blast- no PR's are going to be set.


Hopefully we'll be done with the race, showered & back out at the parks by noon. We're going to hit up Magic Kingdom Sunday afternoon. We want to see the night parade & the fireworks, plus the park is open really late Sunday night.

How does this plan sound? Any suggestions? Rides not to miss? Tips Advice? I'm all ears ;)

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: Happy hour with the moms tonight.

Colorful Coastline

We had a great view leaving Cozumel. I really appreciated how green the whole island was. It's only about 10 miles wide, so we flew over the entire thing in just a few minutes.

It was great because I also got to see the northern coastline & there were some beautiful shores.

There must be some giant areas of coral and other formations just off the coast to give it such colors.

I wonder if there's any land for sale down there. ;)

I was just amazed at all the different shades of blue and green that colored the coastline.

Circling back, we could see the main city and the airport.

I bet there are approximately 854,503 fish in the waters in this photo alone.

We also flew along the coastline of the Yucatan, which had some colorful waters too. I'm sure this area was devastated by the few recent hurricanes. I was told that the eco-systems are slowly recovering & hopefully there won't be any hurricanes in this area for many years.

Then we flew over this strange city. It was laid out in perfect parallel lines, with all these identical branches coming off of the main lines. I have no idea which city it was, but it was very peculiar.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: Going on a little local inspection today out to East Texas.

Senior Year of High School, Part 2

Continuing my 25 Q&A's about my high school years. Here's a photo of the kids and how small they were. Dad had just moved into his house that year and I saw the kids much less because I was a busy teenager!

16. Who was/were your favorite teacher? Probably my math teacher that I had for "advisory", Pre-Calculus and Calculus- Mrs. Toon

17. Where did you sit during lunch? Usually just with the people I had classes with- that would be the nerdy gang.

Target practice at boyfriends property in east Texas

18. What was your school's full name? It's the Internet..if I told you, I'd have to shot you!

Me with Mom & John the day of graduation

19. When did you graduate? May of 1998

20. What was your school mascot? Falcon

One one of our (in)famous camping trips Martin Dies State Park

21. If you could go back and do it again, would you? No not really, being a teenage is tough. I enjoyed college much more. ;)

Cause I love my mom a whole lot more now than my actual prom date ;)

22. Did you have fun at Prom? Again, no not really- I hung out with the wrong crowd of friends & boyfriend. We did have fun in Galveston afterwards though.

One of my friends & fellow volleyball players I went to prom with; recently reconnected

23. Do you still talk to the person you went to Prom with? I did continue to talk to him on & off for few years. He recently friended me on Facebook

24. Are you planning on going to your next reunion? Yup, later this month is 10 years!

25. Do you still talk to people from school? I've recently reconnected with a few girls & am connected to lots via facebook. The reunion should be interesting to see if any old friendships are reconnected.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: We've got tickets to Rascal Flats at the Rodeo again this year!

Senior Year of High School, Part 1

There's lots of little "notes" going around Facebook these days & I skipped the 25 Random Things craze. However, this high school one looked interesting & I thought it was a great way to relive some memories.

High School boyfriend on a ski trip in March of my senior year

1. Did you date someone from your school? Nope, and H is very thankful for this given my 10 year (rescheduled-due-to-Hurricane-Ike) reunion is coming up.

2. Did you marry someone from your high school? Nope, but I know several people who did.

Not my 1st car, but my 2nd (graduation gift) for getting a full college scholarship

3. Did you car pool to school? Not that I remember- but I have the world's worst memory!

4. What kind of car did you have? Which Year? (early 90s?) 2 Door Chevy S-10 Blazer. I turned 16 in April of my sophomore year.

5. What kind of car do you have now? A 4 Door Jeep Grand Cherokee

I'm on the back right hanging out with the volleyball girls in our locker room

6. It's Friday night? Volleyball games during the fall

Spent lots of time at boyfriend's family "ranch" in East Texas

7. It is Saturday night? Hanging out with my then boyfriend or friends

8. What kind of job did you have in high school? I worked for my step-mom (doctor) in her office for 3 summers, and then had an awful job as a receptionist/salesperson at at dentist's office who pushed dentures and implants on the elderly.

9. What kind of job do you have now? Engineer investigating car crashes

10. Were you a party animal? Oh heavens yes! I'm pleading the 5th on any more info.

11. Were you considered a flirt? Nope, I was too shy (and nerdy)

Some awards ceremony & I stood next to a hot classmate that who last name was near mine!

12. Were you in band, orchestra, or choir? Not in high school because I played volleyball, but I played the french horn for 3 years in junior high.

13. Were you a nerd? Totally. I think I made a B once in the 10th grade....

The Senior Volleyball Gals on 70's day

14. Did you get suspended or expelled? No, but if I ever got caught doing some of the things I did.....

15. Can you sing the fight song? No, but it was funny to see the fight song again when I went back to watch a volleyball game.

16-25 Coming up tomorrow!

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: Zoe's got an appointment at a new vet next week about her skin allergies.

Iberostar Cozumel

I thought I'd also throw out a review of our hotel- Iberostar Cozumel. It was only the 2nd time I'd stayed at an AI (All-Inclusive) and we learned some things. Most importantly, we're not a huge AI couple. We like to wander off the resort, see the remote parts, enjoy the local restaurants, venture off the beaten path, and check out hole-in-the-wall restaurants. I love these huge reception/lobby areas on most resort hotels. It was one of 2 places that had WiFi (at $13USD/day), and it was equipped with a bar. My great plan to arrive at noon resulted in us getting there before our room was ready, but we had lunch, drinks, and a tour before getting to our room at around 2PM.

The thing we loved about this property is the landscape and layout. Small little bungalows with a few rooms spread out all over the property, separated by lots of trees and greenery. It was much cozier and more intimate than a gigantic building, and I loved hearing all the birds and wind gently rustling all the trees.

Although beautiful, the thing we didn't care for about the resort were the food options. I'd previously stayed at a Dreams resort, and there was a "burger shack" on the beach and room service around the clock. There were no such options at Iberostar, and the restaurants kept weird hours, especially for divers who are up early and return from a dive trip hungry.

As soon as you arrive, you are greeted by a small flock of flamingos that are fun to watch and add some spunk to the place. One of the other minor irritations was the dinner reservation system, which could only be made for *that* night and had to be made in person. Additionally, if you were staying 3-4 nights, you were only allowed to make a reservation in the morning for 1 night. Not a great system for divers, and really quite a PITA to walk all the way up front from the beach or pool area at 9AM to get a reservation at 6:30 instead of 9PM.

The resort also had some other interesting wildlife- including several large iguanas. Do you see 2 on the roof? In addition to these guys roaming around, there were also a few cats and some neat peacocks, but I never saw them when I had camera in hand! :(

The one nice (best) feature of the hotel (especially for divers) is that it's closest to the dive sites. It was less than a 5 minute boat ride after we were picked up from this dock. You could also snorkel (or kayak or catamaran) right in this area too. The pool was nice enough, except that the baby pool was right next to the area where you could put your chaise lounge in the water. The only day I hung around the pool, there weren't too many screaming kids near me as I dangled my feet from my chair.

The rooms were just fine and dandy, even if the beds were a bit hard. I slept just fine, but H was a little uncomfortable. These hammocks that were on every porch were awesome, and we took full advantage of it. All in all, it's probably just a fine resort, but it didn't fit that great with our needs. If we decided to do AI again, I now know better what to look for in a hotel. If we were to go back to Cozumel, I think I'd rather stay at the Ventanas al Mar on the east side of the island.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: Refreshed after the weekend and ready for another week.

Downtown Cozumel

Sunday after our dive & a little afternoon siesta, we decided to head to downtown. I was a little leery to venture down there after seeing all the cruise ships flying in on Friday, but was pleasantly surprised to find it relatively quiet.

The boardwalk along the waterfront was decorated with all these great sculptures. I'm not sure if they were permanent or part of the Carnival celebration.

There was a giant stage set up for the festivities & many of the bars were advertising parties.

Many of the shops were closed on Sunday, which made the area feel almost deserted at times.

I loved finding little courtyard shops that housed inner quiet areas.

We walked for a few minutes & then stopped at the first street bar we found.

H had been wanting to eat dinner at this restaurant on Saturday, but I was too tired & didn't want to battle the Valentine's Day crowds. Luckily, La Veranda was open on Sunday & we were hungry by 4:30.

It's got a quaint little bar area inside with a few table, but we came to enjoy the tranquil courtyard.

For almost 2 hours, we were the only people in this quite paradise- enjoying the trees, birds, breeze and excellent service.

It was like taking a step back in time & that you were a million miles away from the crazy bustle of downtown Cozumel. We ordered a bottle of wine & started out with the shrimp scampi.

I loved their beautiful, detailed menus.

We moved onto a Cesar salad, prepared table-side. It was quite entertaining to watch it being made from scratch.

We both had Lobster flambe, which was again cooked table side to continue the entertainment.

As the sun set, the courtyard was transformed into a candlelit, cozy restaurant.

We really enjoyed our dinner & would highly recommend this place to anybody looking to get away from the All-inclusive buffets for a night.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: I think I'll consider a weekend getaway to Mexico every February! ;)