No Time For An Update

I get so tired of talking about how busy I am and how school swamps my life so I'm not gonna. But if you are wondering what's the deal with the lack of blogging? Well I'll let you judge for yourself.
Here's the brief version of the last month:

For Spring Break, Matt and I went to Fredericksburg and San Antonio for a long weekend. Fredericksburg is a land of wineries, so we hit up as many as we could. We even took a tour because clearly we were only there for learning purposes.

GrapeCreek Vineyard.

Some how they got us to sign up for a "wine club" where they ship us wine every month. I think they're giving out too many samples. I was sure of  it when we got the first bill.

We rented a little 2 person cabin. It was really cute. When I first walked up to the door I realized I could have gotten charged for breaking and entering. I thought the barking dog was sort of strange. Turned out I was at the wrong cabin....

It was a cool feature that there was a whirlpool tub. The downside? That was all there was. Haven't taken a bath to wash my hair in a really long time. Not a fan.

We even went to a bourbon distillery. It was really cool. The downside? They give you free beer at the beginning and there's not a bathroom to be seen until the end of the tour. Too much?

Oh- and if any one tells you to take a big gulp of "white dog" slap them in the face. This is literally a drop by drop situation. Whew! I felt a little manly after that. And by "that" I mean the drop.

 We went to a couple of smaller wineries. We were into the variety of free glasses that came with the tastings that you paid for.

 This is "Big Tex". The next time you see me, ask me about "Big Tex" and the beef jerky story. Oh my.

After a couple of days we went to San Antonio to visit Matt's sister, and her husband Joe (who was on leave from his work in Abu Dhabi) and Ian. Matt's parents were also there so it was a miniature family affair. Ian got his very first hair cut. It was pretty cute. The hairdresser asked if it was his first hair cut. I said no, we bring the entire family and a camera every time.
I almost wanted to say "Here's your sign"

 We got home and realized that we had a really good time and perhaps were a little overzealous. If you're counting, that's 15 bottles of wine. Any one want to come over?

 We've also been gardening! The garden is doing great (this is a picture of week 1 and I decided to spare you ALL of the pictures). Hopefully we'll have something  to eat soon! It's looking promising!

 My parents came down for Easter and saw our house for the very first time. It was a really nice visit. I made my very first holiday meal. We had steak, shrimp, salmon wheels, grilled artichokes, boursin macaroni and cheese, and salad. It was a success! I don't know why there aren't any pictures of actual people from Easter. Lauren even drove up to see us. Fail on my part.

 This weekend Matt and I have just hung out. I did some school work this weekend and we went to the Stanton trade days yesterday which was... windy. Tonight Matt decided to have the cute idea and have a "date" decorating cookies and having a glass of wine. It's the little things.

 Pistol hung out. He's just cute.

And our cookies. I'm not sure we'll be opening any businesses soon, but they were good!

Now I'm off to pack my things for another big week. For the next 30 days I'll pretty much eat sleep and breathe school. So very ready for summer, but still very appreciative of the opportunities that I have going for me now.

Until Next Time (Whenever that may be)!

Read More

Things I Have Learned About Tickets

Don't speed in Texas. Ever. You will get caught. Every time. Remember when I got two tickets in one day when I thought I was going the speed limit? Well if not, you can read about it here. Now let me preface this whole thing with: I sincerely am not much of a speeder. I really am a fan of the cruise control. I drive the most ridiculously dangerous highway to Lubbock each week and the speed limit is 70 and I'll typically set my cruise to 74 which I know is technically speeding, but it's more of a safety mechanism because these huge oil field trucks will pass me on a two lane highway if I don't kick it up just a little. And in Texas, when people pass you, you're expected to move into the shoulder as they pass which doesn't feel particularly safe to me. I guess that's the Okie in me. Plus, every cop I have ever talked to ever has said that if you're going less than 5 over, they're not going to waste their time pulling you over. Turns out that's not true and I learned that lesson the hard way. I got pulled over for going 74 in a 70. I repeat 74 in a 70. I was going 5.7% over the speed limit. Really?  Luckily, I got a written warning, but c'mon!

Then, a couple of weeks ago I got another ticket. It was an unmarked car basically in the ditch. I was looking at him feeling bad for him thinking he was in a bind, and then all the sudden he's pulling me over. I was speeding and didn't realize it because I was going with traffic and people drive like maniacs. But, I was in the wrong and so fine, I deserved the ticket. One thing that was really strange was that the cop told me he needed my phone number in case they needed to get a hold of me and he wrote it down on a little pad of paper. It was a strange exchange.  I later talked to a different cop who said that's not common procedure.

Well I'm going to tell you a few things that I have learned about traffic citations because obviously I'm not getting away with anything in this state, even when I have the best of intentions.

First- in Texas, tickets no longer go off your record after a certain number of years. They stay there. Having a conviction- yes conviction! on your record puts points on your license and can affect your insurance rates. It's no good all around. At all costs, you should avoid a conviction on your record. In Texas, once a year you can avoid a ticket going on your record if you take defensive driving. It's a HUGE pain and time consuming AND it costs just as much as the ticket, but it stays off your record so that will save you money over time. Also, taking defensive driving reduced my insurance rate by $5/month so if I don't get a ticket again for 3 years then it will have paid for itself. That's uplifting, right?

If you've already taken defensive driving and you're a poor soul who gets another ticket within a year, you should:
1) Go to court. You can:
      a- ask the judge for a deferment which will result in court fees and a probation but at least it wont go on your record. UNLESS you get another ticket during your probation, and then you have to pay for BOTH. Yuck.
     b- If you go to court and the officer who gave you a citation is not there, ask the judge to dismiss the ticket because there isn't anyone there to witness against you. This would be fantastic luck, but perhaps you shouldn't count on it.

2) Get a lawyer. This could (and probably will) cost you a fee but it's probably worth it. Especially if you get a ticket out of your town because then you don't have to show up to court. The lawyer does the paper work and tries to get you a deferment. You still have to pay court costs which probably equal the amount the ticket would have been. It still costs you money, but once again, not on your record.

I'm not exactly proud that I have all of this information to share. I really try to drive safely, and I've learned that I am incapable of getting away with speeding in any fashion in this state so I am better off just not. But, should you find yourself in a bind, I hope this information helps!

According to the state of Texas, I have no traffic citations on my record and I intend to keep it that way.
Happy, Safe Driving!

Read More

The Thank You Card: A Service Announcement

Something has been weighing on my mind and I'm using my blog as an outlet of information. Before you read this let me make something clear:
This is in no way shape or form directed at any particular person, event, or situation. I DO NOT use my blog as a means of being passive aggressive. It's not my style.

Everyone with me? I'm going to make a point on etiquette that I think the world needs to know because I sincerely think some people don't know and I want to help. Okay? So don't come at me saying "Oh Shanna talked about me on her blog." No I didn't. Maybe it's your guilty conscience talking. Not me.
Whew.

Let's talk about the Thank You card. I was procrastinating some work today and I made a list of all of the people that we need to buy gifts for in the next six months (this blog is ALSO not directed at them). We have five weddings and 2 babies coming up. I love love love weddings and baby showers and really do enjoy getting gifts for people. I start by looking at the dates when said gift needs to be purchased, set a budget, and typically try to think of some cute theme for the gift like a color scheme or bath stuff or one couple I am doing an "entertaining" theme.

When we got married, people were so generous that it really was unbelievable. The out pour of love when you have a major event really reminds you of who your friends are and how kind people really truly can be. I will never forget how kind people were during our wedding season, and I also have a really strange memory for stuff like that. I spent a large part of the summer last year writing out personalized thank you cards by hand until my hand almost fell off. I also felt the need to include a thank you picture... but I didn't think about the size of the picture in relation to the size of the cards that I had... so I had to cut down all of the pictures to fit in the envelop. Maybe I went a little overboard, but so help me I was going to make sure people knew how much I appreciated them.

Not to toot my own horn, but I've always been pretty good about the thank you card. This is likely for three reasons. First, my mom has always been an etiquette nut and made sure that if Joe and I did nothing else, we would surely be polite. Second, I have a grandmother who has always lived far from us, but she would regularly send us a "box" of goodies and always remembered our birthdays. However, if you ever forgot to send a thank you card, you were dead to her. So, I'm also pretty prompt about those cards because I don't want to be dead to anyone. Finally, for an environmentalist, I'm a little nutty for stationery. I love the stuff. I think there's something special about getting something nice and hand written in the mail. I love getting fun mail, so I assume other people love it too, so I try to send something to someone probably at least once a week. A lot of times it's to my mom or to Anna because I think they both enjoy it and already know that I'm crazy and will send mail for no particularly good reason.

Back to the point. Perhaps some people are unaware of the appropriateness of a thank you card, especially after an event that's all about you like a wedding or baby shower or graduation. There's some grey areas like birthdays and Christmas because there may be an on going exchange. You should probably set standards for situations like that for yourself. BUT for things like baby showers and weddings there should be no question. Absolutely send a thank you. It really shouldn't take you more than a month or so. My wedding etiquette book said that it's appropriate to take up to 2 months to send a thank you after the wedding. I'm not sure how far you can wait for showers or parties or whatever, but my advice is: keep it reasonable. People don't buy you a gift for the thank you, or at least they shouldn't. But, it is nice to hear someone say "thanks, that meant a lot" when you've gone out of your way for them.
Furthermore, this is even more important when someone has shipped something to you and didn't give it to you in person. If I mail you something because I couldn't attend your event, a thank you card is a good way for me to know that it made it to you. Otherwise, I'm just wondering if you got the gift at all and whether or not I should be calling the company to track down your package. Did I completely waste my money because it got lost? Do you think I forgot about you because it didn't make it to you? Then I'm sitting there feeling bad that maybe you didn't get it. I don't want to call and ask because I don't want you to think I'm calling you out on your lack of thank you card. See what I mean? This could all be solved by a little card and a stamp.
Plus, the postal service is having a hard time these days. Let's all do our part to help them out and let people know that we love and appreciate what they do for us.

That is all. Not a rant. Just an FYI.

Read More

What Have I Been Up To?

My blogging is rather sparse these days. What I have I been up to?? What have YOU been up to? I feel so out of touch with so many of my friends. I try to keep up, but then again sometimes I have to remind myself that it's a two-way street and my friends have my number too. I'm pretty sure I have a 99% success rate for calling people back....
But we're all busy and I suppose that gets worse and worse as we get older and pile on more responsibilities. I thought I was really busy last fall, until I met spring 2012. Yikes. School is really intense this semester, but thankfully my TA job let up a lot this semester. I also became an Alpha Delta Pi advisor this semester. I am loving it. Really. There's just a lot of meetings and what not to keep up with, so that's just one more thing to add to my calendar. So- sorry blogger world. I haven't been keeping up with you! I think about you often though....

A few things recently....
I got to go home for the Adeepi DLC conference. It was in Tulsa which was perfection. My dad and brother picked me up from the airport and my mom and Danielle took me back so that was such a blessing. In the middle we had the DLC conference which was a lot of fun and a great opportunity to get to know the girls better.
I also took my brother (Joe) and his friend Cody's senior pictures.

I am at best an amateur photographer. I have taken 1000's of photos of graduation portraits and done a few senior portraits sessions, but I'd say my photography is like my Spanish. I've spent a lot of time learning, I know my way around, but don't count on me for anything involving paperwork.

I also got a new camera which makes my world go round. And round.

Also- if you know anyone that can repair a Nikon... I've got one for sale at a pretty sweet price. That's a story I would rather not tell.

So now I am on "Spring Break" which I put in quotations because there's not a whole lot of "break" to it so far. Basically for the first half it's really just a relief from all of the reading that I have due each week in order to work on these enormous papers. I don't really like to do school work or business on Sundays. It makes me feel bad. I guess I'll write an exam. That doesn't seem so much like "work." It's more like a puzzle. Writing multiple choice questions are hard because you have to come up with 3 completely WRONG answers, that also sound right. Most of the time I just use the fact that my vocabulary is larger than the average undergraduate and I just make things up. Then I look at their answers later and see who picked up the made up answers. It's a political science intro class, so sometimes I challenge their West Texas ideologies and see if they actually answer the question with what's in the book, or if they stick with what they've always been told.... right or wrong.

At the end of the week Matt and I are going to do a short "Tour de Tejas". We're going to spend a couple of nights in Fredericksburg and check on the wineries. Then we're going to San Antonio to see Matt's sister and brother-in-law who just came back from Abu Dhabi. Should be some good St. Patty's day fun. We're also taking Matt's "Weird Texas" book with us to see what kind of cool stuff we can check out along the way. I'll blog all about it... don't worry!

I'll try to blog more! Really! After I finish my papers, get a new passport, work on about 12 projects I've been putting off.... you know how it goes!

Read More

Extreme Make Over Office Edition

We have a front room that we don't really use. It was an extra guest bedroom, but I took all of the furniture out of it to use in Lubbock for school, so it was mostly just an empty unused room. It served little purpose and that bothered us, because well, we pay for it and it just was there. We had talked about making it an office for a while. Matt was going crazy with all of my school stuff all over the kitchen table constantly and I really couldn't work at the house, but I still had a lot I needed to accomplish at the house when I am home like laundry and dishes and what not. Plus, it's such a pain to haul all of my stuff to the library. A couple of weekends ago we finally decided to go for it. Here's how it progressed:

See, boring room.

Some remnants from when there was actually furniture.

So one day, I lost my mind. First, I decided we should paint the room grey and brown. I hate painting, but we decided to go for it. Matt LOVES projects so the fact that I agreed to go with him to the Home Depot was plenty enough for him to be on board.
Then, at some point I became certifiably insane and somehow we decided to take out the carpet and put in wood floors. WHAT?!? Neither of us had done that before. Before I knew it we picked out the wood and we were in the room pulling up carpet. Pulling up the carpet isn't the hard part. Getting the stripping stuff up that holds the carpet down, that's difficult. I was having regrets.

 So now we have a very empty, dusty dusty room. This was all night one.

 Everyone needs a handy husband. It's real nice.

 Every husband needs a photographer. Right?

 Morning 2: we paint. I told you we went with a dark grey and an accent wall of dark brown. Our entire house is painted white and we just went for it. And it actually worked!! Come afternoon 2, we started working on the floors. At that point we looked at each other. Have you ever done this before? Nope. Some how, by the grace of the good Lord, it turn out, and turned out well!

Insert sigh of relief here.

 We're not completely finished. I still have some accessorizing to do. But that's the fun part. Here's how it looks today.

Yay for projects! Yay for accomplishing things together! No idea what our next project will be, but I'm looking forward to it!

Read More

The Best Yet

Sadly, Matt and I wont be together for our first Valentine's day as a married couple. I have school and he has work. The good news is that I've never really been big on Valentine's day because I only like the made up holidays that I make up. It's especially good news that I'm not big on Valentine's day because Matt and I have such a horrible track record with Valentine's day that it's almost comical. Our first Valentine's day was 2008 and it was sort of a nightmare because he, being as thoughtful as he is/was decided to buy me a North Face jacket (all the rage amongst sorority girls every where). Well, he had a college kid budget to work with so he decided to shop on eBay. It turns out, that there is such thing as a counterfeit North Face jacket, and Matt got his hands on one. The sizing was all wrong and it was tiny. Teeny. Tiny. You really don't want something that your new boyfriend buys you to be too small for you. But we laughed it off (or cried inside!) and moved on. 2009 we decided to just order a heart shaped pizza from Papa Johns, rent a movie, and call it good. I still wasn't over the previous year. In 2010 we decided to skip the gift giving and we went to Vegas for a 3 day weekend. It was a ton of fun and much better than returning ill fitting gifts. The only thing was, at the time, I was sort of ready to be engaged and I guess he sort of wasn't because on our awesome trip over Valentine's weekend... he didn't think that was a good time. Turns out he was right in the end because our engagement was perfect... and happened at the perfect time. Anyway, back to the point. 2011 comes along and we're engaged for Valentine's Day. Want to know what Matt got me?? I wish I could tell you! In all fairness, George Straight and Reba McIntyre were going to be in town in a few weeks after Valentine's day and he was going to get us tickets as my gift. Well they sold out in 10 minutes and then were selling for something crazy like 1000's of $$. So his heart was in the right place... he just forgot a back up plan. Now, this isn't a slam on Matt because in all honesty, he is extremely generous throughout the entire year and I've preached over and over that I think Valentine's day is sort of dumb. But I tell you all of this, because you now see how high Valentine's day is on my priority list. We decided to go ahead and celebrate this year on Saturday (yesterday) since we wont be together.
I have to tell you, I had the BEST Valentine's day of my life! In the morning I gave him his gift.

Could Girl Scout cookies come at a better time of year??? I also got him Just Dance for the Wii, which is too much fun, and hilarious to watch. And then I got him a business card holder from a local store which is made out of an oil core... thing... I don't know. He wanted one and it matched the coasters we got for the guys in our wedding so it will look cool in his office. I didn't go too crazy, because remember, we don't really do Valentine's day too well, and I am okay with that.

 And of course we couldn't forget our little love, Pistol!

And then- Matt goes off and makes up for all 5 Valentine's days! Holy Moly! Now, I'm not one to brag on social media about gifts and such because I honestly think it's sort of tacky. But really, how blessed am I to have such a wonderful human being in my life? Don't look at it as bragging.. look at it as me giving him some due credit (which perhaps I don't do often enough)

The gifts were cool and all, but the day was so much better. I would forget any and all Valentine's gifts for the rest of my life if I could have 1 day a year like yesterday.

We just hung out together in the morning which was nice. We spend half the week apart, so some quality time really is priceless. Then, we went to see The Vow, which was pretty good. It was just fun and sweet to watch together. Then we came home and watched our wedding videos (our vows ;)). Then, we went to dinner where it was completely crowded and nuts and even though we had a reservation we just sat at the bar and enjoyed a glass of wine and didn't even notice how much time was going by. We had a wonderful dinner at an Italian restaurant, and even talked politics without fighting (Miracle!!). We came home and topped off the night with..... Breaking Dawn! Matt watched an entire minute before he fell asleep and I wasn't too far behind him. It was just a perfect sweet day of love. I still think Valentine's day is silly. But, I'll try to be a little less of a scrooge about it.

Days like yesterday confirm that marrying Matt was the smartest thing I ever did. Hope your Valentine's day is great! If not- don't worry about it. Eat some guilt free chocolate and tell someone you love them. That's a blessing any day.

Read More

Facebook According to Real Simple

I have a subscription to Real Simple magazine. I have had several magazine subscriptions over the years (Seventeen, you'll be missed...) but my favorite by far has been the one Matt got for me this year, Real Simple. I've gotten a lot of recipe and decorating ideas from it, and overall just good advice. There was an article that I have to share parts of with you titled "Social Disgrace" because it's sooo true! I love Facebook, especially now that every one from college and family has gone their own separate ways and it's a great way to keep in contact and just know what's going on. Well, on the other side, some people just act a fool on Facebook and it needs to be stopped! Actually, it's sort of entertaining, but also saddening. So here's some highlights from the article:

What's the most annoying kind of Facebook update?
24%- Intentionally vague posts meant to generate concern and attention; aka vaguebooking "Jennifer wonders whether it's all been worth it" or my personal favorite "Some people really make me so upset and they're not worth my time" OR OR "I'm going to quit Facebook"- where they try to get people to tell them not to. Then a month later they're back. And then they delete it again! Make up your mind. we're not calling you off the ledge here. It's not that big of a deal.

20%- Chronic complaining
19%- Meaningless calls to action "If you want to fight world hunger, put the color of your socks as your status update for the next half hour. I want to see who is brave enough to take a stand"
Don't even get ME started
14%- Over sharing. Like when people tell the world about the details of their divorce. Or their labor. With pictures Up to the minute.
13%- Miscellaneous posts including polarizing religious beliefs or political statements, indecipherable txt spk, and game updates. Want a one way ticket to being defriended by Shanna? Ask me to join FarmVille.
10%- Posting too frequently. "12:03 Chicken salad or tuna? 12:10 Chicken it is! Thanks for the input!"

A note of vulgarity:

"If it's not something that you would say on national TV, the best strategy is not to post it. Dozens of survey responses specifically mentioned swearing as a turnoff... For R-rated commentary, use the messenger"

Did you know that the average user has 130 friends?

Photos we would rather not see:

Multiple PDA photos
Every single one of the 3668 blurry shots that you took of the Grand Canyon
What you are eating/are about to eat/ have eaten (I'm not sure I agree with this one)
Self portraits in the bathroom mirror (AMEN!)
Inebriated people
Shirtless people
Endless baby pictures
Profile pictures of pets, cartoon characters, or anything that isn't the person in the picture (I say to each his own on this one)
Duck Face (guilty)

I'm not saying that I'm not guilty of some of these things (especially when I was younger), but I think I have around 700 facebook "friends" and I and everyone else need to think twice about what we're putting out there. I really try to live by the rule, "Would this compromise a political career one day?" I really think the party of Shanna is going to catch on one day, and I need to be prepared when that comes around.

Read More