Will the Garden Grow?

Since we've had a stint of incredibly warm weather for February, my fingers are crossed that Spring is right around the corner. Aside from the opportunity to ride more frequently, I'm extra excited because Derek and I have tilled the plot for our first garden!

I've discussed Gardening 101 with Derek's grandparents, and they've already provided lots of guidance ... and ... will hopefully be available for some on sight consultation when we plant.

This weekend Derek tilled the plot for the second time AND we bought all of our seeds. The only thing I'm missing is tomato plants.

Anyone have any suggestions for items I may have overlooked that grow well in the North Texas summers?

Valentine's Creativity

Happy Valentine's Day!

Today was a regular Monday, but I left work on time today in order to get a ride in before Derek got home from work. Derek had a really funny card for me and a tasteful bouquet of flowers when he walked in the door, so that was a sweet surprise.

So, the main point of my post today is to share photos of the incredibly cute and creative "Heart Day" tree my mom created. She purchased all the items at Michael's and turned a somewhat drab (sorry mom) porch decoration into a cheerful celebration of today's 'holiday'. Two thumbs up for creativity, mom.





I know it's hard to tell in the photos, the square items are retro Valentine cards mounted on sparkly red backgrounds.

Please excuse the poor photo quality, I resorted to my cell phone camera for these photos...

The Island

I began the new year by reading a fantastic novel that came highly recommended by my mom. I am in process to catch up on 'reading for fun' until grad school resumes on January 22.

The Island, by Victoria Hislop, is an incredible novel. I devoured the novel over a 3 day window and didn't want to stop reading. The story follows the life of a family that lives on Crete, in a village called Plaka. The town is located across the shore from an island called Spinalonga (which was once a Venetian strong hold with a fort, and shadow of a village still there today). Spinalonga was an active leper colony for almost a 100 year span up until the late 1950's. People afflicted with the disease were brought to the island from all of Crete and even mainland Greece, including Athenians.

The characters in the book are captivating, and the author does a fantastic job to get the reader emotionally involved from the first chapter.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year!! And, Happy Rose Bowl Day to the TCU Frogs. We are finally able to use our flag pole with the TCU flag that Derek gave me for Christmas!

New Discoveries

One of the fun things about being new home owners is discoveries you make during the first few months. Some are fun, some not so much. My mom helped me plant some pansies recently, and while working in the yard identified a 'random' bush (actually 3 random bushes). The bushes in question are indeed pomegranate plants. It's been really fun to watch them grow, and since I have never seen a pomegranate bush I thought I'd document the stages of growth. I checked at the store this weekend and pomegranates are selling for about $3.75 a piece - a bit over priced for a fruit that most people use for decoration. :)

Side note, I actually like to eat the seeds so I'm excited about this!

4:00 a.m.

This morning we woke up at 4:00 a.m. to head to Waco for a horse show and compete in 2 reining classes. The show started at 7:00 a.m. and we arrived at 7:15...and planned to compete in the first events...eek!

Lessons learned:
1. Waco is further than 1 hour and 30 minutes with a horse trailer, and stops to pick up Johnny the Horse Trainer
2. Must check to ensure all persons have required paper work before leaving designated pick up locations
3. When you are late, running may not necessarily speed things up, but it will leave you sweaty and cause people to stare

Luckily, we were able to enter both of our events and Johnny was 1st and 3rd (after literally no warm up). I didn't have such a great ride (2 big mistakes) but still finished with two 4th's. We'll count it is a success because I identified a few things to work on between now and the next competition in November.

Here's a picture of the team from a show in July! Hopefully, this afternoon will include a nap. Thanks to Derek for driving to Waco and back within a 6 hour window this morning.

Happy Labor Day!

Why do we celebrate Labor Day? This was the question posed to the children's ministry at the beginning of church yesterday. One brave boy dared to answer that "Labor day allows people in the Army to take a break." He was close, and in all fairness, Memorial Day and Labor Day were a little confusing to me when I was six.

The children's minister went on to teach about the day of rest, and how God intended us to use the Sabbath as a day of rest, just as he rested on the seventh day of Creation. I try to remember that lesson, but unfortunately find myself cramming as many errands into the mix as possible on our 'day of rest'.

So, back to Labor Day. According to the all knowing Wikipedia, "The first Labor Day in the United States was observed on September 5, 1882 in New York City, by the Central Labor Union of New York, the nation's first integrated major trade union. It became a federal holiday in 1894..."

Interestingly, I work in a shop that is predominately unionized. Almost half the workforce at my company are members of one of three unions to support aircraft production. Many complained that we were not working Labor Day because they would not be paid triple time to work a Federal Holiday. One employee threatened to intentionally slow production on critical parts to ensure our shop had to work the holiday. For those of us that wanted the day off (mainly salaried employees), I'm grateful we received this day to spend with family and friends, away from the work place. As you can tell from my wee rant, work has been full of challenges in recent months, and while I'm grateful to have a good job and benefits, I frequently ponder what other things I could do and contributions I could make with my time....

In summary, Happy Labor Day! May you enjoy the holiday in whatever way brings you joy!