I am a Jack ***

I forgot my mother's birthday. I didn't do it on purpose. I was just all disheveled. The end of term is here. I have to do all this crap for my classes I am taking. Of course the classes I am teaching are wrapping up too. Not that it is any excuse.

School...tons of pressure, but still containable. I can get that taken care of. (We still have Thanksgiving Family here...as soon as they leave. )

Work that won't end until like December 18th. Then I will finally get a break. I need it. I promise. I am beat. BEAT. BEAT.

I am a jerk. I super suck. I forgot to call my mother yesterday on her birthday. I am a horrible person. If there are any other graduate students out there that have done that...please write and make me feel better.

To Give Thanks

A tradition in our family is to give thanks prior to the meal. You have to say one thing you are thankful for, say grace then eat. Today I am more than thankful. Today I am grateful.

I didn't spend thanksgiving with my parents. It is the forth time in my life that I have not spent Thanksgiving with my parents. However I miss them very much. :)

I am grateful for so many things.

1. I am married to the world's best husband and man.
2. Our family is full of love and hope.
3. My health has improved and I have a quality of life that I didn't have this time last year.
4. My husband has a wonderful job and is happy.
5. I am happy in my professional life as well.
6. I am almost finished with my Ph. D.
7. Our parents are in great health.
8. My stepdaughter is making great grades and has done a complete turn around from her attitude last year.
9. We have a beautiful home
10. We have traveled and spent time enjoying ourselves and each other.
11. We have friends that we love and care about and are so pleased that we have them.
    

Just so you know I am still missing my dog. But if you are reading this remind my hubby I am not ready for another Chessie. Oh and War Eagle!

Rock Me Gently Rock Me Slowly

I am mighty stoked at the moment! One of my proposals was accepted, and they will be paying my travel fare. Free trip to Miami January 30 - February 2 for me. I can not imagine a better time to go to Miami.

Because school will have just started I won't be buried with work. I am only taking ONE class this term coming up, and I will be STUDYING for comps. So I will definitely deserve that little trip. I have emailed my friend that lives in Miami and I hope she feels as much like getting up to no good as I do! :D

The boat is ours. It is sitting in my garage right now. My HH brought it home last night. He maneuvered it into the garage. It fits...just. He was so cute. He was so excited about his boat that he took it out onto the river ALREADY. Additionally he was sitting in it in the garage. He was so excited he kept sitting out there. I went back out to check on him before I went to bed, and he had fallen asleep out in his boat.

My mom goes home Tuesday, and Yasmine comes on Tuesday. Then my brother in law will be here Thursday. FULL house here. :) Our Turkey Day company doesn't leave until Tuesday. This means that we will have had company for 3 whole weeks. While I am happy to see everyone I sure will like having my home back to myself.

In other news Auburn ended up as 25 on the AP poll. Even though they didn't play. War Eagle!

Imagine me if you must

I must admit that I do NOT want to go to school tomorrow. I have been working hard this week. I will continue to work hard until mid December or so. Hubby has a job in Austin so we are going to head to Texas for a quick get away. I can't wait. I will not be attending his training course so I can explore the town. Once again I will be traveling IPG.

I should have my name changed. Traveling IPG. I have been all over Texas, but I have not ever been to Austin. Can't wait some R and R time with my hubby.

Tomorrow we are getting our boat! Here are some pics. Cause boats are not so pricey right now!


I am happy to see hubby so happy. Can't wait to ski and have fun in the sun this summer!

Menagerie

My mom was supposed to only stay a week. But we were having so much fun that I begged her to stay. She goes home Next Tuesday. She wants to say so she can see her granddaughter Yasmine, but the airfare situation just doesn't work.

I had a spot show up on my face. We think it might be part of the chemo, but we really can't be sure. My doctor slipped and broke his hip so he had to reschedule my appointment so I won't know until I get a chance t o go and see him.

We bought a boat. Handsome hubby is going to pick it up on Saturday. I am in class all day so I definitely won't have time to go get the boat. :) However I am looking forward to skiing and taking the boat out on the water. I think we are going to get a good deal on the boat since it isn't boating season right now. We are going to have a ball taking it out this coming spring and summer.

I am pretty excited. Why am I excited you might want to know? Well I am celebrating that there is only about 2 weeks more of school this semester! I am ahead on many of my papers and research projects that I have been working. I can't wait until I get all my grades! I also can't wait to get started studying for my comps. Yeah! That particular hoop is finally with in reach.

I am going to get organized for my comp studies over the holidays so that will be great that I can itemize that!

The other side of my face

I can be two faced. I know I can be. But not in the way that phrase usually means. What I mean is that I complain about working...but secretly...I love to work. I get nervous when I am not working. I fidget. I can't settle in. I enjoy spending 12 hours a day hard at work.

Right now I have so many papers and projects to write and work on. I feel like I am thriving on all the stress. Like some weird desert plant.

:D
IPG

Mom is here!

My mom is here this week. WE are having a good time. I took her to some of my favorite spots in Starkville. We are working too though. Of course...story of my life.

What else? We are having Bamboo flooring installed. I can't wait. It is going to be beautiful. Hubby has been working hard too. He has been designing lots of web pages.

We have just been having an all around nice time. It has been a nice visit. I am working hard not to have to cram when the end of the term comes. I will be reporting on how well that works out. We shall see. :( Keep your fingers crossed.
IPG

Marriage

How is that your marriage lives and breathes like an entity of itself. For example you have a relationship. You love each other. You decide to get married. The first year for us was miserable. We moved across country. I started school. Handsome Hubby was looking for a job here in Mississippi. Too much stress all at once. We lived in a pressure cooker.

However all that pressure created a diamond. We met our stride. We fell in love again and again every day. Sometimes I look at my HH and I love him so much it hurts. It is amazing. I mean on occasion we argue. We argued this morning because I forgot to set the clocks back. But we both know that this is it. This is forever. So a little tiff isn't going to hurt us.

He is on my team. I don't have to worry because I have him by my side even when I am wrong. We spent all day out at a shooting range yesterday. He was showing off his skills hitting clay pigeons. I remember thinking that there was nowhere else I would rather be. The weather was perfect. I had our little Shug with us. And I was spending time with the person I love the most. Heaven.

Contrary to popular beliefs, izzle is not a suffix

:)

Yikes it has been too long. I have to commit to be here 5 days a week. I have just NOT HAD TIME. I will do a bulletted post to catch everyone up. :)

• Returned from Argentina safe and sound
• Spent a lot of time getting caught up because I went out of town.
• Surprisingly did NOT get sick on my trip or coming home.
  
• Watched Auburn lose heartbreaking game to LSU
• Watched Auburn beat Ole Miss to make up for it.
• Canceled a trip to Auburn this weekend because there is just too much going on.
• Started teaching two classes in the MIDDLE of term because a faculty member literally walked out on the courses and left the students high and dry. (This is where a good chunk of time is going).
• Wrote test questions for Course.com for testbanks. Really fun, but exhausting.
  
• Babysat for friend's children for 110 hours. That is right I counted the hours.
• My great uncle died, and I drove to Birmingham to attend the funeral.
  
• Saw my great aunt who lives in Oregon at the funeral.
• Saw that my favorite great aunt isn't doing well, and isn't expected to live until Christmas.
• Sent an email to my husband's ex wife telling her how much I appreciate all she does because I have a new appreciation of if after babysitting for 110 hours (see above) She and I surprisingly get along. I like her. She is nice to me. That might be shocking, but no drama here. She does a great job raising my stepdaughter, and we have always gotten along.
  

Ok you are caught up...mostly. I will catch you up tomorrow. :0)
IPG

Interesting Times...

The end of semester crunch is getting here. It is getting tougher. The crunch is getting crunchier. So my handsome hubby and I had planned to have a little romantic rendezvous. However one of our friends needed us to bail them out. We are going to have to watch their three children from Friday to Monday. YIKES.

Of course poor Bey. No romance for him this weekend. But he knows next weekend is all his.
IPG

Miguel Covarrubias

I hunted down this painter's name. It is Miguel Covarrubias. I found some of his paintings for sale. At 20,000 dollars a bargain. :)

My favorite painter is Van Gogh. However I am not a cheesy Starry Night person. Although I have a giant frame of Starry Night in my home. It was the last thing my grandfather built for me before he died. The frame is a legacy, and I will always cherish it. Seriously if the house starts burning my husband is to grab the dog, and I will get the painting and frame. However I love Van Gogh's works. Some of his art moves me to tears. I wept when I saw his first paintings. I nearly cried through out the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam. This is my most favorite painting by Van Gogh.
Why is this my most favorite painting? I snapped a picture from Sacre Coeur in Paris. When I got home and had it developed I realized this was the same angle and everything. Van Gogh and I saw the same thing. :) Cheesy huh?

I like Dali too. My second half however HATES SURREALISM. So no Dali in the house. :)
However this is my blog so bring on the Dali.

My Argentine Find

I fell in LOVE with this Mexican Painter Miguel Covarrubias 1904-1957. Those of you that know me in real time...know I am an Art Junky. Check out this amazing work!!!!!!

I am back

I tried blogging from BA and Uruguay, but I ended up being too busy and too tired to blog. I enjoyed every minute of it. I hated coming home.

I was having a conversation with my husband. "You are going to love it down here when we move, honey." And he says, "NO we are not moving to Argentina." Then he said, "No Auburn football...no C." I thought that was hilarious.

These are pics of Colonia Del Sacremento in Uruguay. I love this charming beautiful city. It is Portuguese and was a Portuguese colony. I drank the drink called Mate. It is this giant pile of tea leaves. You pour water into it, but there are so many leaves that it soaks it up. It is VERY strong. But I was a trooper. It was interesting...
The food was incredible there. I was charmed and amazed. We rented a golf cart and toured all around the city.

Montmarte?

We are having a great time. We think we picked up a stomach bug prior to leaving. They wouldn't give us shots. Argentine pharmacies appear to be more regulated than Mexican. We did get this drops that you put in water to settle your tummy.

We went to a square yesterday and saw Tango dancers. The square looks exactly like Montmarte in Paris although you can't see the Eifle from the square (Obviously). The Market had antiques that were gorgeous. It reminded me of that market we went to in Italy. Everything was very expensive.

The Spanish they speak has an accent I can't place. It is like in the Dominican where they have a French accent with their Spanish...but the accent isn't French. I think it is Portuguese....but I don't speak Portuguese so I am not sure. They supposedly speak Castillian but I don't think so. It sounds different from the Spaniards in Madrid and Barcelona. Like for example...instead of saying Pharm-acia ...they say Phar-ma-c-ia. Really annunciated so that they act like they don't know what I am saying. But I think it is because I am speaking say with a Southern accent, and they understand a Boston accent.

We see a lot of Germans. The Argentine people are tall, and have beautiful skin. Some people speak English here, but it is very broken. Almost everyone looks like European Spaniards. You can tell they consider themselves beautiful.

I have found things to be cheap here. I have eaten two New York Strips that cost less than 9 dollars. They were both arguably one of the best steaks I have ever eaten, albeit a bit rarer than I care for. At restaurants they bring these little mini bar-b-ques to your table. The food continues to grill right at your table, and they have all sorts of meat on them. We haven't ordered it yet, but we are going to try it. The restaurant we ate at last night had a giant grill right in the front. It is right in front of our hotel and it was delish!

It Takes Two to Tango

I am in Argentina. They did not want to let me in because my passport is falling apart. It expires in six months so I am going to be getting another one soon. Please cross your fingers that they let me back in the U.S. Surely I can prove I am a U.S. citizen. :)

We are going to go to the flea market and watch some professional Tango Dancers. I just had to log in to work real quick this morning. :) That is pretty exciting.

This blog post won't be long, but can I just say War Eagle! And go Stanford. Way to go knocking off the overrated USC. Cheers!