Not A Very Prolific Year

For a year that was supposed to see the world's end, you'd think I'd want to document everything I did in 2012.  Or not, because if the world ended, who would be there to see it?  Like I've said before, the more I actually am busy DOING, the less I find the time to write about what it is I'm doing.

That being said, 2013 doesn't seem to be all-that prolific either.  It's practically June and I've had 3 posts.  THREE posts.  What gives, Mel?

Well... I guess the big BIG news is that there has been a new leading man in my story lately.  His name is Dan.  We call him Dan Lawyer for fun.  I met him on match.com.  Oh, did I tell you I got on match.com?  Hah, yeah.  That happened.  It was MLK day and I just finished watching Obama's 2nd inauguration.  I sat myself on the couch and, influenced by Sarah's online dating stories, I decided to go the Nike route and "just do it."

I went on 5 first dates.

They were all tolerable and decently pleasant.  Dan won out, though.  So, to the victor go the spoils.  He gets me and all my crazy.  (Well, the crazy hasn't quite come out yet.  It will though.  Oh, it will.)

at Spiderhouse, which coincidentally was where we had our first date (this was not from our first date, don't worry Chi Thu, I looked a lot cuter than that on our first date).

It's only been a couple of months, but we've had a great time getting to know each other.  So far, other than weekly movie nights, our days together are pretty random.  Planting succulents, camping in the backyard, Renaissance Fair(e?), reading in Mayfield Park, long walks on the beach down South Congress, that kind of thing.

Back to the rest of life:

January was alright.  We had Hannah's birthday party at my house and that ended with my group of friends in my bedroom eating taco bell.  Eating about $40 worth of Taco Bell.  Yeah.  That's all I remember about that.  Also, Lisa, Mike and I went to go see Keane.  It was... just as spectacular (if not more so) than it would've been had they performed when they were supposed to back in 2006.

This is what $40 from Taco Bell looks like after you and your friends demolish it.

Keane @ the Moody Theater (ACL Live place)

February was good.  I had my first date with Dan on the first.  He actually wanted to go out for Valentine's day 2 weeks after meeting me.  Chloe and Daniel were in town, so we went to see DIE HARD!  Mom & Dad's 50th Anniversary celebration was great.  I also got to see some good friends running the Austin Marathon!  Maggie, Mike, and I went out and cheered with our posters--it was actually a lot of fun!

Cupcakes from Mom & Dad's 50th

Joel at Mile 24 (aka 92% done!)

Maggie about to give B-Go a high 5 at 92%!

March saw Mr. Matt get married to the gorgeous Alyssa.  Somehow I don't have photos of us at their wedding... meh, I'm sure they'll turn up somewhere, no?  :)  I sang during their ceremony "Make You Feel My Love."  I fudged up part of the song, mostly because I got distracted by the little kiddos walking down the aisle during the instrumental.  Whoops!  Anyway, it was quite a night!  It POURED down rain all night, even when we were going to the bar for the after party.  But not when Schutte and I walked to our secret after-after party.  Hah, oh what a night.  

Schutte & I pre-wedding

Schutte, LC & I post-wedding at... where were we?  McKinney Ave?  Something like that.

March also saw Spring Break.  Ahh yes, my first Spring Break as a teacher... So March looked a lot like this:

Texas Independence Day a la JJ Penny and the gang!

Driftwood Vineyard with Miss Bliss!

TEGAN AND SARA and a badly soundteched Macklemore with JJ, Danielle, Dave Behr and Danielle's engineer friend at Waterloo

Dan and me at our first concert (Alabama Shakes) at the Austin Rodeo!

Pi day pies with Miss Bliss and...

JENNY!  GIARDINA!  (LIENHARD!)

First time camping with Dan (...in his backyard.)

Kayla came into town, which naturally summoned Kristi, Eshe, Johnny and myself downtown.

Yes, we danced for far too long at Latitude.

One of my favorite couples, the Cernys, invited me over for some Elk burgers in Manor!

Early Easter with the Chamberlains, my favorite Austin family :)

Renaissance Fair (Faire?) with Dan and these two, Tommy & Kate

 Geez, March was a full month.  Or rather, I took a lot of photos in March.

April.  My favorite month.  Why?  It's birthday month!  :)  I got three days of birthday!  I got early birthday with some teacher friends at Billy's on the 2nd, real birthday with my family (Dan's first time to meet the Chamberlains and Danielle came for dinner too!) and then a final birthday with the friends at Contigo.  

Yeah... it was cold.  Can you tell?

Everyone's getting cozy, even Eshe and Blake who... have probably met once.

Tommy & Kate came with some pretty flowers!

Caleigh (in my jacket... AGAIN, haha) and Hannah, future roomie :)

Yeah, we're all sick of pictures of us two by now

Other cool things in April?  Ryan & Ellie got engaged and we all celebrated at Opal Divine's, Luke & Nia both had their 4th birthdays!  :)  April was a delightful month!

Waiting for the engaged folk to arrive

Nia blowing out her Dora & Diego cake!

Gosh he's a cute kid.

Luke with his friends at Pump it Up!  May the fourth (birthday) be with you!  :)

May is shaping up to be quite the month too, but it's not quite over yet... so... maybe I'll update more now that I feel slightly more caught up!  :)

Oh-- VIETNAM IS HAPPENING IN LESS THAN A MONTH!

"Oh when the day is BLUE, I'll sit here wondering about you..." - Eisley, "I Wasn't Prepared"

I love Sherri Dupree. She is my inspiration for a lot of things. Do y'all find her face familiar? Perhaps it's from many of the thousands (exaggeration? Yes.) of blogposts that I've written about Eisley (the band she's in). Anyway, she's constantly changing her hair color and she's constantly blogging about it on tumblr and I'm constantly finding myself wanting to BE her.

She likes her hair
Anyway, I guess she inspired me. Also, I've been bored. I want something different with my hair, but I'm too chicken to make any drastic changes. I also kind of want a tattoo, but I'm too scared for something too permanent. At least this is only semi-permanent, I can change colors eventually or just dye it back to black... it won't be exactly the same as my natural hair color, but the way I see it, it'll at least grow back and I can start from scratch again! :)

Look at all the colors!
Thomas helped me bleach it. That was actually pretty fun to do with him! I want to go ahead and dye it blue... but remember the days when I used to do it in high school, the color tends to stick to the tub a bit for a week or so. I don't really want to freak out Thomas's parents with a blue tub. Which reminds me of a HILARIOUS story about Jenny.In high school... Jenny and I both made all state choirs so we were in San Antonio for the convention. She decided that I was having too much fun coloring my hair and she wanted to do it too! So, one night, in our hotel room, I started the process of dying her hair purple. I can't remember if we just did streaks or tips, but either way, we bleached it and then dyed it. She hopped in the shower. About 5 minutes into her shower, I hear her say something, probably an expletive and then my name. I heard the water turn off and out of the shower sprints Jenny. She was wrapped in a towel and I think her hair still had some shampoo in it. She looked like she was ready to cry. She gestured for me to go into the bathroom so I did. I was semi-horrified about what I might find. She looked like she was going to be sick! She pointed to the tub, stained a light purple, and shouted, "AM I GOING TO HAVE TO BUY THE MARRIOTT A NEW TUB?!" I remember clutching my stomach and falling to the floor almost to tears. I probably sarcastically answered her, "Yes, Jenny. You're going to have to pay to replace this tub," before reassuring her that the dye is not permanent and will wash off after subsequent showers. (And in case you're wondering, it did).

Hairspiration
So anyway... yeah. Blue hair coming up soon! :)

My Maid of Honor Speech

Vince Young ain't got NOTHING on me!

You guys, I don't know if y'all find me funny on my blog or not, but I will say this: I KILLED at Jenny's wedding. I did everything a Maid of Honor should. I caught the bouquet (see above) and I wrote a badass maid of honor speech. Jenny and I were never really the SUPER sentimental types. I specifically remember a time our senior year when they were interviewing a bunch of us singers on the football field. We were about to sing the National Anthem at our last Home game of the football season. Again, since it was our senior year (and since our football team sucked and there was no way we'd go on to sing at any playoff games...) this was presumably the last time we'd be singing. While the other people waxed nostalgic, Jenny and I replied, "WE'RE READY TO GET OUT OF HERE!" We were done with high school (despite the fact we had a whole semester left)--we were too cool.

So, no tears were shed (even though my coworkers were SURE I'd turn on the waterworks for my speech). I got a ton of laughs and that definitely propelled me on through. Here is the EXACT transcript (well, I may have adlibbed some lines here and there) of what I wrote:

I have to read off of this paper, because I’m notorious for never saying what I want to and always saying things that result in the audience yelling “That’s what she said!” So please pardon my piece of paper.

Jenny and I have been practically attached at the hip since 5th grade. We were inseparable. We went through heartaches, headaches… and some backaches which were usually the result of us falling asleep after a movie marathon on that old couch they used to have.

In all of that time, we fought ONCE. This is kind of a big deal. If any of you are women over the age of 13, you will REMEMBER how hard it is to NOT fight with your girlfriends. Then in the late 90s, three-way calling was introduced to us kids and friendships were a LOT HARDER to come by. But you have to understand, Jenny and I share the same mind. We were constantly thinking and saying the same things (and subsequently had to make THIS FACE--DO FACE-- all the time). We had each other’s best interests at heart. Jenny was my conscience. If I was at a loss for how to go about doing something or if I needed advice for ANYTHING… she was my go-to girl. :) We are not your typical best friend/frenemy kind of girls. We were in it for the long haul; I’m standing here giving this speech. We meant business.

So, some of you may be wondering what this ONE fight was about. The one and only thing we ever fought about was… Boston. Jenny mentioned to me in the summer of 2005 that she was CONSIDERING going to school in Boston. This came out of left field, and I thought she had lost her mind. I was truly worried that she was just going to get away… live this amazing life on the east coast, get really used to cold weather and turn into one of those people who come to Texas and complain about the heat… and I know some of you know EXACTLY what I’m talking about because I’m sure you’ve been utilizing your mini-fans. I had all these theories as to why she was moving up there, and she had all these theories as to why I was so opposed to it, and… well, I guess we know who lost that fight.

In true Jenny fashion, she made up her mind, stuck to her guns, and she got into one of the BEST music conservatories in the nation (I googled Top Music Conservatories in the US, and NEC was on there, so that’s a fact), and she ended up being roommates with a bunch of girls and some guy named Tim.

And thank God she did, because she set her eyes on the prize and decided to claim this fine, young bachelor for herself. (I tried googling Top young bachelors in the US, but results were inconclusive, so just take my word for it). Again, in true Jenny fashion, she made up her mind, stuck to her guns, and here we are at her wedding, where she’s surrounded by a bunch of girls and some guy named Tim.

Tim, I’m going to read a chorus from an epically AMAZING song that Jenny and I sang together in our last show at Dobie at the behest of our choir director Mr. Bready. When we sang these words, as cheesy as they seemed, I know we both totally meant them,

“I will never leave you. I will never go away. We were meant to share each moment. Beside you is where I will stay. Evermore and always, we’ll be one, though we’re two. For I will never leave you.”

These lyrics are from the musical Sideshow in which the two leading ladies were literally attached at the hip—they were Siamese twins. I guess it’s time for us to end our own sideshow, Jenny. I am officially detaching myself and handing you over to your new husband, who, thankfully, is one of the most wonderful men I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing. From here on out, evermore and always, you’ll be one though you’re two. I wish you both all the happiness in the world. To Tim & Jenny's Marriage: May it be VERY PLEASANT and VERY LONG!

Of course, at the very end of my speech, I stared at my bridesmaid table as I said it, and all of them yelled, "THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID!!!!!" And the DJ actually requested the entire room say it on the count of three. :) The best men then had to follow with their speech and kept mentioning how they had regretted their decision to "wing it." It actually was a really great speech and I think the besties made the bride & groom very happy. :)

Jenny Marie Lienhard

I'm doing that thing again where I postpone writing about something because it's way too awesome to put into words--to the point that I either don't do at all, or don't do it justice. So for the most part, I'll try to keep it short and sweet.

Jenny got married. To Tim. Tim is the shit. Here's a photo of the two of them on the dance floor. I'm hoping the professional photographer's camera can handle those dance floor lights better than my sad little sony cybershot could. Their wedding was great. FOR SO MANY REASONS. The ceremony, as "long" and Catholic as it may have been, was SO sweet and very personal. Each set of parents surprised their kids by giving a little speech at the beginning--they read aloud a letter they had written to them. Cue waterworks. Then at the reception, Jenny's dad had to go and be a jerk and SING A SONG right before handing the song over to Tim to play with the jazz band while they had their father-daughter dance. It was too sweet to handle, really.

Here's another lovely blurry photo for you to decipher. In it are: Nina, Brittney, Christina "Boog", Jenny, myself & Kacey. Jenny's bridesmaids consisted of myself and 4 of her cousins. They are ALL AMAZING. I promise. I'm not just saying that. I am in love with each and every one of them for completely different reasons, haha. They're all wonderful and SO MUCH FUN! We had a great time the day of the Bachelorette party and the rehearsal dinner (and events afterwards) was really fun with them--too much fun? Maybe. And thanks to the gifts and talents of Jen's DJ to get people on the dance floor, you could find quite a few of us blue-dressed maids gettin down.

Abby. She was another fabulous thing about Jenny & Tim's nuptials. She is the (new!) fiancee of Trevin, one of Tim's best men (he had two: Trevin & Maika). Right after the wedding rehearsal, I overheard Trevin mentioning that he had just driven through Austin to get to Houston because he had a job interview there. I was so excited! I LOVE NEW AUSTINITES! So a friendship blossomed. Abby and I girl talked about... other weddings we've been to and how excited she is to move to Austin and (hopefully!) get a job at a YMCA. After the reception, Thomas and I ended up in Trevin & Abby's junior suite (they got an upgrade after mentioning they were newly engaged!) and the four of us, along with Maika, just sat around and shot the shit for awhile. I had SUCH a great time with them, it's sickening.

The next day a big group of us got to go on a private tour of the ins and outs of NASA. Haha, some of us got a SUPER SPECIAL tour in which the interns wove us in and out of buildings we weren't really supposed to be in. Haha! It was awesome watching Tim nerd out. Apparently he's a HUGE space geek. :)

Okay, that's all I'm going to write. Suffice it to say that I had an AMAZING time. My best friend is married off to a wonderful man and I will be visiting her and her new husband in Boston ASAP! :) I love love love love LOVE her. And Tim.

Having a (Bos)TON of fun!

Here's some more photos from Boston... bc I know you're dying to see it.

JJ's here! Brunch @ Trident


We walked the Freedom Trail... literally


Buddy pigs out on the ride back to our hotel


BEER! HARPOON!


JJ finds some kids to play with!


Jen graduates!


I ditch best friend Jenny for a NEW best friend--QUINCY JONES!

A Bones-Heavy Stream of Consciousness Update

There are some things a-brewing in my life. I'm not 100% sure where I stand or how I feel, but when/if they happen... you'll know... because... I'll blog about it. :) In the meantime, this post will be a completely disjointed blog about random things running through my mind.

I haven't worked out nearly as much as I thought I'd start working out again. I believe this is due to my want/need/infatuation/obsession for/with Bones (mostly Booth, from Bones).

I haven't read anything at all lately.

If I'm not watching Bones, I'm probably doing Harry Potter Trivia. I will be studying that tonight. For tomorrow. Because I WILL kick ass. Tomorrow is Harry Potter Pub Trivia @ Opal Divine's. LC is supposed to be on my team. She's doing better than she was a couple of weeks ago... but... I don't know. I need to make sure Jon (my cousin) is ready for this. OMG he better be ready for this. I wish Katie was coming. Alas, she is busy. But man I wish Katie was coming! :) Right now it's just me, LC & Jon on my team.

Booth.

By the way this post is being written as a stream of consciousness (as are most of my blogs, but as this one doesn't really have much of a purpose, it'll be more apparent). Hence, there will be random mentions of the new leading man in my life.

Luke does this new thing where he scrunches up his face and it's almost too much to handle.

Yesterday, LC came with me and Johnny to our regular Thursday dinners at Lisa & Mike's. Johnny only recently started coming with me, but it's been pretty fun. The nights typically just consist of regular NBC Thursday night line-up + dinner + Project Runway. David and Donson came over (is it gross that every now and then I still get the urge to call him Ddogg? I mean, he is 30 now. It is still his screen name though... I'll think on this some more) and then eventually Val came over after her class.

I bought a Double Down and a bunch of KFC little buckets. I just wanted to try it. We cut it up into little pieces and tasted it. It's not really bad... it just tastes like chicken and cheese. I think it's the idea of eating it like a sandwich that's disturbing. It's just... wrong.

Seriously, Luke is SO CUTE. OMFG.

I keep trying to look up things to do in Boston. I just want to go eat places. And I am SO EXCITED about the Red Sox game that I'm going to :) I got tickets for Buddy and myself. Jenny suggested it because she'll be there with her family and I'm pretty sure Tim's family too. I used to say that one of my goals was to attend a game in every ballpark in America. I don't think I got a shotglass from the time I went to Petco Park to see the Padres play. It's hard to remember though... if only I had a way to display all my shotglasses...

Special Agent Seeley Booth. oaeiwfklsdnrkjlgalksfd

I'm helping Lisa and Mike pack on Sunday, I think. With the stipulation that I get to watch Bones... :)

Bones.

OH MY GOD... BONES!

Things To Get Life In Order

Here are some things I need to do in order to get my life back together... it is currently in shambles!

1. Do laundry. I've been saying this for days.

2. Finish my damn book, or at least read SOMETHING.

3. GO TO THE GYM, DAMMIT! You were doing so well and then you fell off... and you said you'd get back on, but alas, you did not... and you SUCK.

4. You bought a Bible... read it.

5. You got yourself an "adoptaplatoon" penpal... WRITE TO YOUR PENPAL!

6. Focus.

7. Fucking lose that weight already you lazy ass mother HEIFER! (See what I just did there?)

8. Get inspired again.

9. Cook more... that one time was nice... DO IT AGAIN!

10. STOP TALKING TO YOURSELF VIA BLOGSPOT! KTHXBYESENS!

On a slightly better note, Buddy and I bought our tickets to Boston today! I know, I know, I was JUST THERE a year ago... but Jenny's graduating! I have to! :)

The school she's graduating from

Just another something I'm looking forward to seeing again... the beautiful flowers! :)


But of course, most of all, I'm excited to see my JenJar! ("Oh heyyyy!")

People Coming and Going from Austin

Just some photos of Jenny's visit to Austin:

High school ended 5 years ago, but not this duo!

Jenny at 6th and Congress

Byron's Goodbye--just like the good ol' LHS days.

Barton Springs & Zilker Summer Musical