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Sunday, September 28, 2008

Fall is here - Check out my pumpkins!

Today, I visited Central Market, where they had the neatest pumpkins. I always look forward to the holidays, and the first one is Halloween, which I start thinking about at the beginning of Fall. Here is one called Fairytale. It certainly looks like something from Cinderella. This Fall, it will sit on my front stoop.


















Here are some spooky pumpkins I got for the mantel. I just love how the orangeish purpleish one is warty.


Hurricane Ike - Final Update

Some of you have been asking about what I did during the evacuation and also how my house fared during the storm. Now that I am back at work, and things are getting back to normal, this will be my last posting on the hurricane.
First are pictures of our shed. We decided not to build a new one and instead to put more shelving and storage areas in our garage.


Our Shed...Before Ike


















Our Shed...After Ike
















During the evacuation, we stayed at my friends Mindy's parents home. They live on 2 acres, and Lola and Dexter enjoyed running and playing on the land. Mindy's daughter, Alyssa did a great job helping me with taking care of them... she loves dogs!

















We saw lots of critters up in Oklahoma! A turtle was in the yard, and across the street, there were cows. Here is Lola checking out the turtle.


Friday, September 19, 2008

Something Interesting from I-Report on CNN

CNN.com has something called I-Report, a forum where CNN poses a question, and readers write in stating their point of view. The most recent question was "With the current economic situation in our country, What Are You Giving Up?" A lot of people wrote in about how they are giving up things like cable TV, eating out, vacations, and even trading their SUVs down to a more economic car. One posting, which I found to be quite interesting had a different take on things. I'll let you decide how you feel about it for yourselves.

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.
The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.
Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be warm and well fed while others are cold and starving.
CBS, NBC, PBS, CNN, and ABC show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food. America is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be, that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?
Kermit the Frog appears on Oprah with the grasshopper, and everybody cries when they sing, "It's Not Easy Being Green."
Jesse Jackson stages a demonstration in front of the ant's house where the news stations film the group singing, "We shall overcome." Jesse then has the group kneel down to pray to God for the grasshopper's sake.
Nancy Pelosi, John Kerry & Harry Reid exclaim in an interview with Larry King that the ant has gotten rich off the back of the grasshopper, and both call for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his fair share.
Finally, the EEOC drafts the Economic Equity and Anti-Grasshopper Act retroactive to the beginning of the summer! The ant is fined for failing to hire a proportionate number of green bugs and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the government.
Hillary gets her old law firm to represent the grasshopper in a defamation suit against the ant, and the case is tried before a panel of federal judges that Bill Clinton appointed from a list of single-parent welfare recipients. The ant loses the case.
The story ends as we see the grasshopper finishing up the last bits of the ant's food while the government house he is in, which just happens to be the ant's old house, crumbles around him because he doesn't maintain it.
The ant has disappeared in the snow. The grasshopper is found dead in a drug related incident and the house, now abandoned, is taken over by a gang of spiders who terrorize the once peaceful neighborhood.
MORAL OF THE STORY: Be careful how you vote in 2008.

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Hillary and Paul Wedding Pictures - Hot Off the Press!

Over Labor Day weekend, I attended my friends Hillary and Paul's Wedding. I have been eagerly awaiting the finished pictures. Here are some more pictures from the photographer, Chris.

Here is Hillary getting ready. She wore her grandmother's locket (something old), and I helped her pick our her shoes (one of many new things).





Here are the maids of honor (Alexis & Dina) walking Hillary to the church. Hillary's step-dad walked her down the aisle.




What beautiful flowers! Hillary's sister designed them. I just love this black and white bridal picture.














Let's not forget about the groom!











Hillary designed her ring to resemble her older sister's ring, with rubies.
Husband and Wife!












What a party!













The wedding party went to a park near the reception site after the ceremony. There was a kiddie train that was taking some of the kids on a train ride. We got the driver to let us in the train to take some pictures. Aren't they cute?








My Favorite Sites

Engineeringirl is a name that I use to post on some of my favorite sites. Here are some of my favorite sites.



http://www.chron.com/ Houston Newspaper - The Chronicle

http://www.marthastewart.com/ One of my favorite Websites - I luv Martha!

http://www.treehugger.com/ A great resource for living green

http://www.b4-u-eat.com/ A great place to go to learn about Houston restaurants

http://www.foodnetwork.com/ One of my favorite food sites

http://www.epicurious.com/ Another one of my favorite recicpe sites

Hillary & Paul's Wedding

Over Labor Day Weekend, I attended a wedding in Chicago for my friends Hillary and Paul. Hillary and Paul are from Chicago and went to Purdue, but I did not know them there. I met them after I moved down to Texas where I worked with Paul, and coincidentally moved into their same apartment complex. Paul would always talk about his girlfriend, Hillary and the things she liked to do. I said, I have to meet this girl Hillary because I think we would have a lot in common. A few weeks later, we went to Katy Mills Outlet mall (definitely a full day of shopping), and the rest is history.

I was honored to be a bridesmaid in their wedding. It was fun (and stressful at times) helping Hillary out with all the pre-wedding planning, but in the end, it was a fabulous event. Enjoy the pictures, taken by Chris and Carol Buckley, friends of the Bride & Groom, and Chris is Paul and my co-worker. Chris and Carol are in the process of creating thier own photography company called E4. Here is the first cut of the pictures. More to come...