The Advantages and Disadvantages of being Home.

I am enjoying being back home but last night I was thinking about some of the advantages and disadvantages of being back in the state of Washington.

Advantages:

I get to see someone from my family every day.

I share cooking days.

I am not working 60+ hrs.

I get to go to movies with my family

Disadvantages:

I got my car broken into

I don't get to go to the movies with my friends.

and DUDE it is freezing.

attempt to blog with my phone

In an attempt to blog more I am testing out blogging with my phone. If this works who knows you might get more frequent updates.

I should rename my blog adventures of the worst blogger.

It has been 8 months since my last blog. I am starting to think I really suck at this. I enjoy reading all of the other blogs though so I guess I am going to make another attempt.

The past nine months have been crazy. I think everyone in my office thinks I have way to many vacation days.

First vacation of the year Hawaii. My dad and I met in Hawaii to visit my brother. My favorite part of the trip was going snorkeling. I had never been before and I fell in love with it. I snorkeled Sharks Cove and Hanama Bay both of which were a blast.

I also did my normal shopping for all things tropical. I stocked up on flip flops and got a custom swimsuit. Not bad for a few days in the Sun.

The next grand adventure was Disneyland with my sister Cheri and family. By the way I absolutely love Disneyland. Every time I go I start counting down to when I can go back. This was my nieces and nephews first time there. I loved being able to share a place that I love with them. In fact the pathetic person that I am cried during the fireworks show when I had my nephew and niece each holding my hand and watching in awe of the show.

This trip was also extra special because thanks to the Allstate corporate membership I was allowed to go to Club 33. Club 33 is a special restaurant in Disneyland designed by Walt Disney to entertain dignitaries. In order to go in you must be a club member. The current waiting list is around 14years and membership is ridiculously expense. We had a fantastic time. The buffet included crab legs and lobster tail and that was just the appetizer course. After stuffing my self with all of the fantastic appetizers I still managed to eat and entire steak. Which by the way was the best I have ever eaten. You could cut it with a butter knife. My niece Dansil was equally impressed by the culinary amazingness of it.

A week after Disneyland my mom came to visit me in Houston with Jeanette Allen. They toured Houston while I attempted to put in a few days of work before taking off again. That Friday night after work we took off on a road trip of the south. We stopped in New Orleans, Birmingham, Atlanta, Charleston, Savannah and Montgomery all in about a weeks period of time. There are so many memorable sights and foods that we ate there is no way I can fit it all in this blog.

To the left is a picture of us at Oak Alley. This is the plantation I chose to see. Reasoning behind my choice, it was on Ace of Cakes. If its worth Duffs time to build it, it must be fantastic.

I managed to put a few months of work in prior to heading back to Washington to visit the family and attend Scott's Wedding reception. Unfortunately this trip is memorable for an entirely different reason then being fun though I did have a lot of that. On my last day in Washington I managed to dislocate my shoulder and cut open my knee. My family had to put me on a plane all boo booed up.

Fortunately for my co-workers I am out of vacation days. In fact to get this Wednesday off for a check up on my shoulder I had to work on a Saturday. :(

What the next great adventure will be, who knows. Currently I am trying to move back to the Northwest. I miss my family and even if they beat me up as noted above I still love them.

One year in Texas!

I have officially survived one year in Houston. I left Snohomish, WA on Christmas Day and made it to hot humid Houston on New Years Eve. This has been an amazing year. It was full of change and I have grown up so much because of it.

I didn't send a Christmas letter and I don't keep a traditional journal. I decided to use this blog to record my thoughts on this year. I don't want to forget why I don't want to re-live this year but am so grateful for it.

Here is a list of things I have done this year. I have done these only because I got out of my comfort zone and moved to a place I was determined not to like but ended up really enjoying.

1.) I have been to a Rodeo
2.) I have seen Brad Paisley up close and Personal
3.) I have learned to check my own oil
4,) I can take my own car to the shop
5.) I can stay up as late as I want and
6.) I can also pay the consequences of staying up late
7.) I can drive in a city without killing myself
8.) I own my own furniture and TV
9.) I can realize the importance of my family and miss them
10.) I have sat on a tractor
11.) I have gone swimming on Christmas
12.) I now know what home for the holidays means
13.) I have lived completely by myself
14.) I can live with a roommate and still be friends
15.) I can play Wii with my family members in other states
16.) I have been thru a Hurricane
17.) I have seen snow one day and been in 80 degree weather the very next day
18.) I have been to the Alamo
19.) I have been to Austin City Limits-Music Festival
20.) I have feed a cow
21.) I have gone to more then one Schlitterbaun
22.) I have have eaten black-eyed peas
23.) I have have eaten catfish
24.) I have eaten craw fish
25.) I have a boss I get along with
26.) I like my job (most of the time)
27.) I have sang "deep in the heart of Texas" at a baseball game
28.) I know the words to the Yellow Rose of Texas
29.) I have meet the most amazing people in the entire world
30.) I am starting to feel like a TEXAN!
(aaahh, that means I love myself, my state and am proud of everything. :) )