I have wanted to do several individual posts but now that time has gotten away from me we are going to do another good ol Top 10 that we all know and love.
So here goes in chronological order:
1. Time with my baby brother.
Remember One Tree Hill? If not then you must not be a female between the ages of 24 and 30 because if so you were glued to the teen drama on the WB (back when the CW was the WB) weekly. Joe and I are nearly eight years apart so many of our life events don't really overlap. We have never been in the same school at the same time. We are always experiencing hugely different milestones. When I graduated high school Joe was graduating elementary. When I got married, Joe had just gotten his driver's license. Despite the big gap a huge contribution to the very close relationship that Joe and I have was based around him hanging out with me while I watched One Tree Hill. Well, mostly while I tried to watch One Tree Hill and he talked my ear off. My mom was apparently our paparazzi during this time.
Well the opening song to One Tree Hill (back when TV shows had opening songs) was "I Don't Want to Be" by Gavin Degraw. Over time this led us to further explore Gavin's music and buy his albums which we both really liked. I had an epiphany back in November to check on his tour dates so I could gift tickets to Joe for the upcoming holidays.
Why does one need a phone in the bathroom?? WHY?
THE CONCERT WAS AWESOME. AWESOME.
And why does Joe sleep like a mummy? What a creep.
On our way back home we stopped by an exotic animal refuge near Turner Falls. It was so cool and all the animals were so close. This bear just hung out with us for a while. No big deal.
It was such a good trip overall. It's really great to spend time with my bother now that we're adults. Joe is an incredible human and I love watching the person he is becoming. I would probably embarrass him if I spoke much more about my adoration of him on the internet.
2. This month's book club.
I started a book club several months back with some girlfriends that live pretty much in the OKC area and some who are willing to travel (well, mostly Megan). I think it has been great. We rotate homes to host and the person hosting gets to pick the book. This time Meredith hosted and we read "Gone Girl." I really liked the book. I don't want to spoil anything so just go read it and then we can all see the movie together which I think is going to be awesome.
3. Back to Lubbock
It's been quite a while since I've been to Lubbock. I have enjoyed every moment of being home. It's just wonderful. I feel like all I do is see people talk in extremes on social media "This is the best EVER" " Best night of my life" "My bestest best ever best friend" yada yada so it's really hard for me to tell when someone is being sincere. Well I can tell you that in this moment, this chapter of my life, I am genuinely joyful. No, not everything is perfect but I would feel tremendously ungrateful to even try to ask for more.
I had to go to Lubbock to defend my dissertation proposal. The purpose of this is to basically get the go ahead from your committee and prove that you're serious about your research and you have a plan for how you're going to accomplish it. After you're done with classes and comps a lot of people lose motivation to complete their research and they waste all that time in school so it's a good check on your progress and potential progress. It was a little nerve wracking just because if you don't pass you lose your funding and home girl likes a pay check. And a fee waiver for out of state tuition.
I couldn't help but reminisce. I spent so much time there and most of that time was really enjoyable even though I had to be so far away from family (namely my husband). It reminded me of the cotton harvest which I think is sort of a magical time in West Texas. I took this picture months ago but it's one of my most favorite ever shots. I pulled off the highway on a trip down once and got it. No filter. No nothin'. Just a beautiful moment.
I talked to so many people and got little done in the lab. But I got a little done and I got to hang out with Siva.
I got to have dinner with my roommate Lauren. She's engaged now so I got to get some deets on her upcoming wedding. I am really excited for her and Jake. It was just nice to see her after all this time.
And I had dinner with Kristina and her boys. I tried to get her to give me one and somehow I left empty handed. It's not fair for her to have three perfect children. Richard sat right next to me and watched Star Wars. Out of nowhere he says "I love you" and I said "I love you too Richard" and he replies "I'm never going to stop loving you". Richard is four years old and he melted my heart.
This is Finn. Doesn't he just look like an interesting person?
And I grabbed a drink and watched the Thunder win with the two guys that got me through that crazy program. They talked me off the graduate school ledge more times than I can count. I don't have a clue when I'll see them next so it kind of feels like the ending of an era but I'm glad to go out on a good note and I wish them both all the success and happiness in life.
On my way home I stopped at a rest stop. And I remembered some of the DRASTIC downsides to West Texas.
4. The Girl's Weekend
This is Emilly. Emilly is one of my sorority sisters. Very sadly, Emilly and her son Connor passed away from preeclampsia in April 2011. It would not be fair to her family or close friends for me to pretend that Emilly and I were super close because we mostly only hung out through mutual friends. I always liked her though and I cherished her as I cherish all of (most of) my sisters. I was deeply saddened by her passing and it hit many of us hard.... some really hard. Since her passing great efforts have been made to raise awareness for Preeclampsia and funds for a memorial scholarship in her name.
The women pictured in this photo have done so much to support the memory of Emilly (and there are many not pictured). These are some of my close friends form the sorority.
I got a group text several months ago because I roll with planners asking if everyone could stay at my place so we could all do the Promise Walk for Preeclampsia in OKC. I immediately said YES! I love to host and I haven't seen so many of them in way too long. They came in Friday night and stayed until Sunday. The walk itself was a great success and the weekend overall was awesome. #foreverismyfavoritepart
5. Date Night
Weekly date night is my new favorite tradition. I was in the garden getting some lettuce so I could make a salad for dinner. I clipped the head of romaine and I saw something move. I moved some hay and wondered why there was hay in the garden and it moved again. So naturally I bolted because scary unknown things are what husbands are for. That and taking your car to change the oil. Anyway, I thought it was baby birds although I thought nests were a tree sort of thing. Matt pulls back the hay and says he thinks it's mice. MICE?!?! YUCK. Get 'em out of there. Then, upon further inspection (by me...the brave one) they were baby bunnies. Oh my precious. One jumped out into the yard and I didn't want him to die so I put on some gloves and put him in a shoe box, took him to show the neighbors and put him back in the nest. As of this afternoon they are all gone and I can only assume they have gone on to bigger and better things. Things that living bunnies do.
This is was a bunny nest looks like. Yeah,I was surprised too.
Then Matt and I went to hit range balls and the golf course and had the first sno cone of the season. What a night.
6. JL's Bar B Q.
I really can't say much about this other than it is delicious, I haven't had it in years, and it reminds me of my childhood. Thanks for dinner dad.
7. Going home home.
There's home which is like where ever you live that makes you feel safe and with those you love. I live at home with Matt. Then there's home home where your whole childhood happened. Not everyone is so lucky to have such a place but I am and it's very special to me. It's shameful how long it has been since I have been to my parent's place. Matt has been in Nola for a bachelor party all weekend so Pistol and I packed up and went home..home.
Did you know I grew up on a small farm? Well now you do. I'm not sure what all qualifies as a farm but we have always had some degree of livestock (I have never known a time in my life without horses), usually produce some food for our family, raise cows, goats, yada yada. One day my dream is that Matt and I will have enough land to do much of what my parents have done because I love the lifestyle. I was going to have chickens in our yard this year but that fell through but my marriage is probably better for it. Matt doesn't often tell me "no" but he did and I think he meant it.
Anyway, I had a wonderful time being home. And holy hot coffee look what I found.
9. The Warrior Dash
Joe asked me a while back if I wanted to do a Warrior Dash with him. I like 5Ks and I think they're a great motivator to run and with summer coming up it isn't a bad idea. I signed us up and then realized that I have always hated to be dirty. Ick. Well it was $70 so I decided to get over it. Sorta.
A stipulation I had before signing up was that Joe had to run with me in case the obstacles were really hard. Some of them were tough but I got through all of them. The ones that were tough weren't so much a physically difficult issue but more of a sort of scary where the heck do I put my hands because my wingspan isn't eight feet issue. I would like to note that I beat Joe at both the tires and ropes obstacles. Even if he didn't know we were racing.
I would like to offer the advice to future Warrior Dash runners... don't be an idiot and wear mascara.
9. Time with my Best Friend
A lot of people claim to have a lot of best friends and I am even guilty of it. My very best friend is Danielle though. We have been friends since we were 13. She was my maid of honor. She even spends tons of time with my mom without me. I consider her my sister. Her birthday was last week and I promised I would take her out to celebrate. We went to dinner and saw The Other Woman. I really enjoyed getting to visit with her one on one and the movie was pretty funny.
I really miss this human.
10. Matt coming home.
This is more of an anticipated top 10 because as of this moment he is traveling home from New Orleans. Now that we are together all the time it's really strange when we are apart for extended periods of time. I am glad he went and had a good time because I think it's an investment in our relationship that we spend time with our friends separately. I am really excited for him to come home and tell me all (well maybe mostly) about it.
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