Bonfire

I'm a day late, but 10 years ago, as most Texans know, the Texas A&M University tradition of building an enormous bonfire as a symbol of "every Aggie's 'burning desire' to beat the University of Texas in football" ended suddenly at 2:42am when it collapsed. I'm not familiar with or privy to Aggie traditions, but I can appreciate that the traditions are what make part of being an Aggie great and feel like being part of a large family. When the bonfire collapsed in the early morning hours of November 18, 1999, I would have been a junior in high school. I don't remember a lot about the news coverage at the time, and I feel like just now in researching this tragedy I am learning many details for the first time. The difference between being 15 and 25, I suppose. I do remember it happened on a Thursday, and we happened to have a Thursday football game that night against A&M Consolidated High School. We wore maroon and white ribbons on our drill team uniforms in memorial and support. I can only imagine how different the experience would have been for anyone attending A&M at the time - Amanda's post from yesterday sums it up well.

Jeremy, my news hound, was doing some reading on the bonfire collapse this morning and sent me a picture I won't soon forget. I won't post it here, but it's a picture of the bonfire's 12th victim. In this picture, he is alive and pinned under several logs. From several accounts, one including an email from his sister after his passing, this Aggie had gotten promoted to work on the top tier of the bonfire that year. The student who took over the 12th man's old position survived. Several people attempted to help the 12th man, but he refused and directed rescuers to other victims. I suppose we'll never know what he was thinking in those moments pinned in the bonfire rubble, but I do think he might have been aware of his injuries and the good he could do for other victims in his remaining hours on this earth. Another account stated that a medic who was trying to attend to him was in an emotional state at the scene that lay before her. This 12th man grabbed her arm and began praying for her and the other rescuers. In the end, the 12th man was the bonfire's 12th victim, after 11 others and 27 injured.

I think in any tragedy such as this one, you sort of hope there is a story with a greater meaning to be found. Maybe it's just me, but in something so tragic, I need to cling to those stories in which you can see some light in all the darkness. I am sure all 12 victims and 27 injured Aggies were wonderful and well-loved people, and this is just one story. In the 12th man's last hours here, he spent them glorifying God and showing others how to do so in the midst of such a catastrophe. I can only pray in learning about the 12th man, that I can live my life with similar grace.

"...My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness..."

2 Corinthians 12:9

Halloween Weekend

We had one of those great weekends with the perfect amount of relaxation time and fun time. Friday night we carved pumpkins with some friends. It was cold and fall-ish just like I had hoped, so Jeremy got the fire pit going to keep us warm outside and I made some hot apple cider to keep our insides warm! Mostly everyone carved pumpkins and they turned out great! I was so excited finally after 3 falls being married we had a pumpkin carved.

In honor of hosting the pumpkin carving, I did finally throw some Halloween/fall decorations together!

These sparkley things were about 50 cents at CVS. I love anything with glitter and I love little white pumpkins.

I got the white and silver (fake) pumpkins from Target, and my Spooky thing holds our candy.

I got this runner from Crate and Barrel before Thanksgiving last year - I love it! The centerpiece is also from Target (where else?) and we had cookies, candy corn and spinach dip.

I think my mom gave me those Halloween paper napkins my sophomore year of college. I have tons! And I love filling that bowl with baby pumpkins and gourds each fall!

Jeremy getting the fire going! We really needed it - money well spent. (It's also from Target, surprised?)


Me with my "BOO!" ghost pumpkin

Our masterpieces: Kevin's {he's a little jokester, isn't he?}, mine, Jeremy's, Samantha's, Bennett's and Erin's/Drew's. I think Erin won based on how well her "peeping monster" photographed!

Saturday we slept way in (I was seriously exhausted after hosting, even though it wasn't that much work for a normal person!) and caught up on Thursday night TV (The Office, Parks & Recreation, Community and 30 Rock). Since we'd had a big night on Friday and the Longhorns were playing at 7pm, we kept it low-key. We got BBQ from a new place in our neighborhood and watched the game at home with Jeremy's parents. It was a good game where we got the lead early, so there was no fretting over a win, but it also wasn't overly boring. Go Horns, all the way to Pasadena!

We moved into our house a little over 2 years ago, so I was giddy when Halloween came around the first time. I was in a neighborhood and was sure I'd have tons of trick-or-treaters! I spent a small fortune on candy...and we had 2. And they live on our street. Bummer. Last year I was counting on at least 2...we had 1, who also lives on our street. This year I was worried we'd have none! (Especially with Jeremy yelling at the TV.) But this year we had a new record of 10! Seriously, that's a big record. I'm not sure why there aren't many kids out because we have 2 elementary schools in our neighborhood, but I wonder if it's a combination of a lot of people opting for Fall Festival carnivals at churches and we're the last block before a busy street, so I can understand parents skipping our block. I think our jack-o-lanterns helped, though! Also, I told the first kids they could take as much candy as they wanted since we don't get many kids and I think the word spread. :)

Sunday we ate leftover BBQ and watched a new show, Flash Forward, all day long. I had been recording all the episodes but we've never had a chance to catch up on them, so we watched TV until it was completely dark in our house (thanks to daylight savings time!). That night, our friends Justin, Emily and Sean hosted a "fancy" dinner for a group of us. We all dressed up and started with cocktails (fizzy pomegranate juice for me!) and appetizers, like tuna tartare in a tortilla chip with some mint and avocado and a fig with goat cheese and an almond on top. Justin made cocktails and they had gone a little crazy at Houston Wine Merchant. For dinner we started with a soup course made by Sean - a delicious bacon and corn chowder. Our main course was this amazing slow roasted tenderloin with bacon gravy. You could literally taste the bacon in the liquid. We also had asparagus and roasted fingerling potatoes topped with creme fraiche and chives. Emily also made these great cheesy biscuit things which are apparently similar to the bread from Fogo de Chao. We may or may not have eaten our weight in those also. For dessert Emily made us individual chocolate pots de creme with cherry whipped cream. Is your mouth watering yet? Because mine is. We worked off our gourmet dinner with some Wii bowling and boxing - a great way to end any evening! We collectively decided we need to do this regularly and probably not on a Sunday evening since we realized mid-way through dinner we all had to work in less than 12 hours. (I'm hoping Sam and Emily can share their pictures with me - we all looked so nice all dressed up!)

Is it too early?

My Christmas list might already be in the works...

Pottery Barn Malika rug (for my naked living room floor)

Marciano satchel

A Southern Living subscription


J. Crew "Megan" heels (come on, they're named after me!)

Just because.

Y'all go check out my MIL's most recent blog post. She's got some great pictures of my husband & my brother-in-law at Halloween!
...and just because I love playing this game with my sweet husband...
The pictures are dated October 1984. And for the record I was 5.5 months old. :)

Also, if you're fans of Angie's blog, you must head over there and read her news today! If you have time, go back and read her story from the beginning and you'll feel the same way I do - what a blessed event!

Lastly, I saw this on Amanda's blog and I love lists, so I'm doing it too.

"A Little Bit About Me"
1. What is your favorite thing to snack on while you're blogging?
I mainly blog from the office, so probably just water or iced tea to drink! Right now I'm eating my sandwich for lunch, though.

2. What is one thing you wouldn't want to live without?
There are so many materialistic things I can name it's a little sad. I'd say my iPhone and toothbrush are pretty much neck and neck. Non-materialistic answer, my faith! I've definitely gone there trying to live without it and it sucks.

3. Beach, mountains or farm? Where would you live if you had a choice?
I love both the beach and mountains, but I think both have disadvantages if you're living there year-round (sand & hurricanes/snow & scary roads). So I would have to say I'd prefer to live on a farm, especially in the Hill Country!

4. What's your least favorite chore/household duty?
Haha, Jeremy would probably say I hate everything! But really when I have time and feel in the mood, I like vacuuming, mopping, dusting and wiping down counters. What I hate most, I think, is cleaning the bathtub/toilet and hanging up clothes.

5. Who do people say you remind them of?
Oh, this is a fun one! I heard Liv Tyler and Neve Campbell growing up (wasn't that sweet!). Now people just think I have a familiar face. And some people say my sister and I look like twins...we don't see it!

6. Prefer parties and socializing or staying home with the fam?
Staying home! I'm a homebody. I love staying home, snuggling on the couch with Jeremy and the dogs, and watching TV or movies. BUT if I have showered and feel cute, I do enjoy being out with friends too!

7. What's your all-time favorite movie?
Now that is an impossible question! If I want to be classic, it's Gone with the Wind, obviously. How can you not love that epic?? But if it's what we watch the most at home...probably Nick & Nora's Infinite Playlist or Forgetting Sarah Marshall or something like that.

8. Do you sleep in make-up or remove it like a good little girl every night?
Since I inherited my mother's oily, acne-prone skin, I learned very early wash it every night and every morning. I'll sleep in my contacts for months on end, but I would always take my make-up off. As I've gotten a little older and my skin calmed down slightly, I do have lazy nights where I leave it on but I usually regret it the next day. I love the feeling of jumping in bed with a freshly clean face & brushed teeth! Plus I got a stye in my eye once and now I'm paranoid about leaving eye make-up on too long.

9. Do you have a hidden talent or a deep desire to learn something you've never had the chance to learn? What is it?
My hidden talent is very exciting - I can recognize the smallest actor from commercials and tell you almost everything he or she has been in. I'm really good at it. Like this kid from the movie Adventureland is also in those AT&T rollover minutes commercials and had a small part as Zach Braff's son in a daydream scene on Scrubs. Check it. I feel like I'm okay at a bunch of things (and really bad at a bunch of others) but I do feel like maybe there is something I'm really good at that I just haven't tried yet. Maybe I'm an awesome clay shooter? Maybe I could be a great golfer? But probably not. I think my skills lie solely in recognizing random actors and being semi-creative/artsy.

10. What's one strange thing you're really good at?
See #9.

11. What first attracted you to your spouse?
When we first met, a year and a half before we started dating, his sense of humor! Our mutual friend invited us both to dinner and I received a warning that Jeremy was really sarcastic and sometimes girls thought he hated them. I, however, quite enjoyed our dinner and his sarcasm!

12. What is something you love to smell?
Pine Sol and Murphy's Oil when I'm mopping. It just smells like clean! Also, my Bath & Body Works "Leaves" candle. It's heavenly.

13. Tell me something about you that irritates people.
Sometimes I'm bad at keeping in touch. I don't really like talking on the phone and sometimes I forget to respond to emails. Whoops.

14. When you have extra money what's the first thing you think to do with it?
Shop for clothes or home decor, depending on what I need right then! Or getting my hair professionally colored instead of using the 10-minute root touch up color.

15. Are you a silent laugher or a loud laugher? What makes you laugh the loudest?
I think I tend to be silent, but loud if I really get going! My sister makes me laugh the loudest - I probably sound like a crazy person when we talk. Nothing quite beats talking with my sister. We just get each other.

16. Where is your favorite place to shop?
Oh, lord. Target, of course, for cheap clothes and home decor! Then for regular clothes its Anthropologie and Banana Republic - I don't often buy clothes from anywhere else. (Though that's not the case right now!) I love only Victoria's Secret for underoos and try as I might to like other brands, I really only like Coach purses. And I love the Nordstrom shoe section! But DSW is a good, easy shoe shopping place also, especially if I'm looking for something specific. And of course, Etsy, where I continue to spend way too much on stuff I probably don't need.

17. What's one thing you'd do more often if you had time?
Clean.

18. Are you a big spender or frugal?
Ummmm, I plead the fifth. I am learning though and even Jeremy will tell you I've made great strides in this area since our wedding!

19. Who is your favorite character of all time?
Obviously Scarlett O'Hara.

20. Would you want to be famous?
Maybe just well-known in the city of Houston or something. I would really like to know a famous friend and be in their entourage, like CaCee Cobb to Jessica Simpson!

What are your answers? I'm curious to know what some others would say in response to question #2!

Think Pink!

The first Saturday in October, my mom, sister and I participated in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure 5K. We had to get up pretty early, but we got lucky with cool, overcast weather. We also lucked out because Jeremy's building downtown is basically where the race started, so I zoomed through traffic paying to park elsewhere and we parked for free right there. (Maybe it's sad we wanted to walk the least amount on our way to a 5K, but that's the Beck girls!)

We met up with the team my mom and I were part of, lead by a friend of my mom's and breast cancer survivor. It took a while to get started and even then, since we were walking and not running, it was really crowded and slow-going. We walked down Allen Parkway away from downtown, turned left up Montrose for one block, turned right onto Dallas, then right again onto Waugh to Allen Parkway and took that back into downtown. I decided next year my mom and I needed to start a "Competitive Walking" section. Especially if I'm walking a 5K before breakfast, I am in no mood to meander. I want to start, walk quickly and be done. We kept getting my mom to do her "mall walk." Though she is a mere 5'-2", my mom propels herself surprisingly quickly through the mall. We had a lot of fun being together and laughed most of the way. It was fun to see all the different teams and their cute team shirts (i.e. "Save the TaTas" and "We Love Jugs").

After the race we got to have brunch at Empire Cafe, which Amanda and I already love and now my mom loves also! It was delicious! Then I napped away most of the day - first a true nap in bed, then I moved onto to couch and still kept dozing off! Good thing there wasn't a UT game on that day.

It was a fun thing to participate in, and even more fun to do together. Thanks, Mom & Amanda!

Roadtrip Weekend Part 2

The morning after the concert, Amanda and I started my tour of I-35 with brunch at Cafe Brazil in Dallas. I love that place, especially their coffee. Then we caravanned together to Austin for the UT vs. Texas Tech game. I-35 is such a horrible freeway, there was so much traffic in all these random spots. It wasn't the most fun drive ever, but at least it was a nice day. Jeremy had ridden up to Austin with his parents, so I met him at the hotel*. We weren't lucky enough to have a parking pass this game, so we parked at our favorite, top secret football game parking location and hiked to the stadium. I was STARVING! We ended up running into my old friend Travis and his fiancee Morgan (Hi, Morgan!) at a tailgate and caught up with them about baby and wedding plans (ours are the baby plans, theirs are wedding plans). Then we had to hightail it to our seats to make it before kickoff. I got a hot dog and I was a happy camper! It was a good enough game and I was very happy our Longhorns shut up those annoying Tech fans.

After the game, we met up with Emily, Justin and Chris at Kerbey Lane. (Chris was nice enough to pick them up from the game, so they had time to pick up cookies and ice cold milk from Tiff's Treats. We spent that amount of time walking to our car. I was miserable.) I don't think I've ever eaten so much Kerbey queso in my life, plus a chipotle grilled cheese sandwich. It hit the spot! But we didn't get back to the hotel* until almost 2am!

The next morning we were all lucky enough to meet up again at Matt's El Rancho (suggested by the Harbisons, we totally made them fans!). Also, Carrie and Zach were able to stop by for lunch, so that was really fun. It's all about food and football when we go to Austin, and luckily we had our fill of both! We then began our last leg of the highway tour, 71 to I-10 home to Houston. I was thrilled I had Jeremy as a driver on this leg, and each day was a shorter drive than the previous.

The Story of the *

You might have noticed I marked an * by hotel above. The story behind our hotel is the very essence of my relationship with my husband and our very different thought processes. Two weeks before that weekend, I decided to go ahead and book a room at a Marriott just in case for Saturday night. Jeremy was convinced we could drive back that night, but I was wary of those plans as last time we did that we didn't get home until 3am and both of us could barely stay awake, and I knew I was driving 4 hours on Friday and 3.5 already on Saturday morning. I mentioned it to Jeremy a couple of days later, letting him know I didn't have to pre-pay, I just booked a room and it could be cancelled up until 6pm on that Saturday. It seemed like a win-win situation to me! The Tech game was a busy weekend in Austin and sometimes it gets really tough to find hotel rooms. Jeremy did not agree, standing by the fact that there was no reason to book a room. Okay, whatever. I cancelled the room the week of the game. I let Jeremy know I cancelled it and also forwarded him the cancellation email. That Thursday night or Friday we found out our friends had gotten tickets to the game off of Craigslist and they definitely were staying Saturday night, so Friday morning as I was packing for Dallas Jeremy asked if indeed we did have a room. Needless to say, he booked a room for us as I was headed to Dallas on Friday. Somehow the Harbisons ended up with an awesome room downtown from Priceline...and we ended up in a handicapped room at an older Marriott on 290. I'm just saying...I love you honey, but trust me on matters of planning. :)

Roadtrip Weekend Part 1

One weekend late in September I took a tour of all the major Texas highways. Not really, I had real reasons for all the driving. Friday was I-45 day. I took off from work and headed to Dallas to Becky's place, and Amanda drove up from Austin to meet us also. We had dinner at Mi Concina then had a date to see...

Miss Britney Spears!!!!

The concert was great! We were a little late and missed the first 3 songs, but thankfully the 2 gentlemen sitting next to us filled us in. Our seats were great, for being the cheap seats. We were in the upper level but only the 2nd row, so we had a great view! It was a lot of fun to see someone that we have all listened to for years (regardless of her personal life). The show was amazing, from her costume changes to the set design to the "sideshow" acts during her costume changes. She even had a magician between songs, and he happened to be Ed Alonzo, Michael Jackson's magician and Max on Saved by the Bell. I may have thought this was the most exciting part! We had so much fun, and I was so glad to be able to go with Becky!

Part 2 (I-35 day) to come!