Where Life is Unbranded...Welcome to Maverick Country

So goes the latest advertisement for UTA.

The time has come. Josh is off to college. And loving it.

So far...well, he's only been there just shy of a week. We packed his car (with a bit of overflow in mine) on Thursday morning and made the three-hour trek to the monsterplex. We arrived right around lunchtime but he wanted to get settled first. So he checked in at his residence hall, got his keys and the necessary paperwork then we were off to locate his home away from home for his first collegiate year. How exciting!

He's on the first floor so no waiting for elevators or climbing steps. Whew! Now to unload the car in 100+ degrees of full-fledged Texas heat. Ugh! However, there were tons of volunteers on hand to help and dollies/push carts to sign out for use. We flagged down one of the handful of golf-cart drivers and headed to the parking lot. We were able to get all his gear loaded on the cart and dolly the first time around, so now it was just a matter of unloading it then getting it all into his room. And I thought girls packed a lot!

Three hours later, he was all unpacked. J has two roommates and they all have private bedrooms in their "suite," sharing the living room/kitchenette area, the vanity area (2 sinks and mirrors), the restroom and the separate shower. Here are the first pictures of dorm life, they're not very big but it'll give you an idea anyway.

Each residence hall is divided into sections or "houses" and Joshua is assigned to Hawkins House. Each RA (Resident Assistant on staff) is responsible for decorating with welcome signs, name tags, etc. Here are the three name tags on their outer door.

Here's a shot of the living room and kitchenette, this is what you see when you first walk in. You're standing in the living room and the kitchenette is to your right. Ahh....mini-fridge, coffee maker, sandwich maker and a microwave, the appliances of fine dorm food everywhere. Got Ramen? (That's like pot noodle for you UK folks.)


W's room, left of the living room...and T's room, next to J's.


The sinks, just behind the kitchenette...and you can see the "water closet" to the left.


This is the hallway, to the right of the living room, leading to J's room next to the wall mirror and T's room just beyond that. The room at the end of the hall is where the shower and towel racks are.


This shot of J's closet, was taken standing by the window. The pantry/bookcase/linen closet is right inside his doorway, taken from the hall facing towards W's room and the living room.


And here's J settling in...already logged onto Facebook. Priorities.


I apologize for the poor photo quality. I committed the cardinal sin of bloggers and forgot to bring my camera. These photos were taken on J's new camera, but then loaded to FB, where I then "lifted" them and saved them to our home computer. I'm sure there was an easier way, but this was the quickest option I had at the time. Anyway, you get the gist, yeah?

This Post is Brought to You by the Letter "P"

I've been re-connecting with people far and wide over the last couple of years. People I knew when I was in middle school. People from high school. People I never thought I'd talk to again. And people I knew, but didn't really know.

Hmmm...where to start? Well, I found this guy on MySpace who was just a kid of thirteen when I was seventeen and that was probably the last time I really spent any time with him. We went on a mission trip to Mexico with our church youth group (about 30 of us if you included the chaperones) during the summer of 1988. Anyway, I found him on one of those social networking sites and then found the rest of his brothers, sisters and even his parents. He was grown, married and (at the time) headed to South Africa with his wife and kids. While I was reacquainting myself with his siblings, I found one of his sisters lived on the other side of town from me. Through her profile I found another long-lost fellow parishioner that was also in town. Funny how small the world is really, huh?

Anyway, through comments on each other's profiles, blogs and whatnot I started thinking that it was really strange how we could live so close to each other and not get together in person. I invited them over. We caught up, quickly filling in the blanks of each other's lives over the past twenty-plus years. Yes. Twenty-plus. Where these two were mere tweeners the last time I laid eyes on them, they were now full-grown women with jobs, mortgages, significant others and all that.

It just so happened that one of my good friends who had moved to the monsterplex last summer was also going to be in town, so I invited her along for a bit of girly time, too. It served as a pre-birthday party party for her, too. I couldn't resist conjuring up a theme for the day, hence the title to the post. It was all pool time, paninis, (sangria) punch, the PERFECT mac'n'cheese, petit fours (provided by the cat by the bar toasting the good life) pineapples and poundcake.... get it now? The letter "P"!

Unfortunately, I didn't take any photos of the day but if you're really curious you can find some along with a little Sarahenity NOW!

All-Purpose Post

“Focus on the journey, not the destination.
Joy is found not in finishing an activity but in doing it.”
~ Greg Anderson

'Tis true, Greg. Here's a quick rundown of things going on in and around my life this past month:

• Some good friends of ours celebrated TWENTY years of marriage recently. WOWEE! Congrats, Tony and Karen! Also celebrating anniversaries within the last month or so are The Farrs (10 years) and the Martins (8 years). Congratulations to some wonderful couples!
  
• Made a deposit on a condo rental in SPI...so vacation IS in my/our future. Woooo and indeed hooo!
• Joshua saw three (that I can remember) concerts this summer. Dangit! To be young again.
• We've had several little mini-pool parties this summer or, in other words, I've served two or three dozen pitchers of white sangria. I won't say exactly, in order to protect the innocent. I must say, I can get used to this kind of lifestyle.
• In business news: We went through a rough time in the spring when one of our employees passed away. Something I hope to never have to go through again. We recently hired another employee, extended contracts on a few others, had to let a couple more go and one just moved to another state, so we're now a multi-state employer. Business is going well so far and we really feel blessed. There are things in the works that could potentially increase our size and I'm really hoping it works out. So many people are out of jobs or just plain struggling to stay afloat, believe me, I know how lucky we are right now.
• Joshua has new-found ambition...he attended a leadership retreat in Glen Rose a couple of weeks ago. He wants to change the world and I say "Go for it!" Also, he found out on Saturday that he was accepted into F.L.O.C. He had his interview on Friday and felt pretty confident, but he also knew his peers were also giving good interviews. There were 120 who applied and 50 of those were accepted. Three cheers for J! Hip hip Hooray!
  

I guess that's it for now. A couple more posts to come... and then I'll be caught up!

X + 1 + 2 = Today

Happy X Birthday + One Month + Two Days, Britta!
Glad I got to see you for your birthday...sorry, I'm so late blogging about it. :o/

Adventures in Babysitting

Ok, so...I love babies. I can't help it. I think they're amazing little wonders of science, blessings from God, and all that. I love the way the top of their heads smell. I love little baby fingers and toes. And aren't the little fat rolls on their thighs the CUTEST?!?

I hate being so far away from really good friends that have little ones because I'm missing out on all the fun stuff...although, I have to say that a lot of them are blogging these days about their little angels/devils so I get to see more of them than I used to. I get to find out about the trials of sleepless nights, teething and colic; the excitement of first steps and first words; the anxiety of sending them off to daycare/pre-school/Kindergarten while I share about "my baby's" first dates/college/the great beyond.

I do have some friends nearby that have had babies, too. Pregnancy doesn't just affect my friends that live 200+ miles away. I even got to babysit one of those little firecrackers recently.

Meet Maddie, not the VW one...but the Tucker one. I got to spend some time with her in April and again in July. Bow did his part to help her stay put. I forgot how much a little one can wear you out though. Especially once they've figured out the crawling and eventually the walking.
I've found that Sonic slushes are great for teething babies...as long as your teenage son is willing to share.

So, for all of you with little ones crawling, climbing, scooting, walking, and running through your lives...you deserve a nap. And a cocktail. And a massage. And...

What's Behind Door #3?

I remember the days of yore when living rooms were filled with the sound of Monty Hall making endless deals and finally asking "What's behind door #3?" Hopefully it wasn't a "zonk" but instead maybe a new washer and dryer, or a trip to Bermuda...or even a shiny new car!

I would have loved to have been able to play that game with Joshua to see just how much he would have gambled. Lucky for him I don't have a soundstage and a big curtain or over-sized boxes to hide the surprise we had in store for him.

We had been searching for a few months to find what would be his first car. One that was reliable, safe, with good gas mileage, relatively new and/or in the best possible condition for its age. Keith found a really good deal online one Saturday and I followed up with the dealer on Monday.

The guy said it was still available and I told him I'd be there in twenty minutes. As I drove onto the lot, I saw one of the salesmen showing a potential customer what I thought was the EXACT car I was there to test-drive. What?!?! Sure enough, that was the dealer I had spoke to on the phone and those were the keys to THE car...and that was some other person driving off in it. Nooooooo! The salesman was apologizing profusely and explaining that this other guy was here over the weekend, saw the car but wanted to drive it again. He also said that there was another car that had piqued that other guy's interest so I immediately started praying that the second car was the one he'd end up driving off the lot for good.

Guy comes back and test drives the other car, I get behind the wheel and test-drive THE car, pull over, call Keith, discuss the financial situation and strategy. What to do? I get back to the dealership and the other guy is leaving, telling the salesman he has a few other options he wants to check out first. SCORE! I was able to give the salesman a check for "earnest money" or a down payment, telling him I'd be back at the end of the business day with the hubster to finalize the sale.

Now. To keep from bursting and spilling the beans to Joshua until then.

We finalized the paperwork and payment with the dealer. Easy peasy. Since we had gone to the dealership in Keith's car, I drove the new car home. I forgot that this car didn't have a toll tag and breezed through the toll plazas without paying. Sorry TxDOT. I'm sure you know where to find me. Anyway, we had planned for Keith to get Joshua out of the house and I would drive up in the new car. Luckily, I had my camera for the momentous occasion.

"Is this for me?" I think he was holding back the excitement, just in case it wasn't.

I think he's happy with it. He said he wasn't expecting his first car to be this nice. Believe me, neither were we. He got lucky!

And he's off to go show some of his friends. He's never home anymore!

Day 7 - Wrapping it Up

There really is a lot to see and do in Boston and I felt it was my duty to crack the whip as uninformed tour guide du jour to get in as many of the sights as possible. So our last full day in the city and we were off to the Museum of Fine Arts. So much to see, so difficult to express. Don't get me wrong, I like museums and seeing things collected from all over the world representing many facets of history and art. It's just not easy to blog about. Here was my favorite bit:

Madame Monet in a Japanese Costume, 1875
However, I also liked seeing the works of Gaugin, Manet, Renoir, Degas, Monet, Van Gogh and many others. It was astounding to me how close I could get to the paintings, looking at the layers of brushstrokes and blending of oil paints. I thought the Egyptian mummies and artifacts were fascinating. Again, it's just hard to blog about a trip to the museum. I guess it's because it's too personal to me.

Anyway, after a few hours there, we jumped on the T (public transport) and headed over towards the Prudential Center. We grabbed a little yum-yum (coffee, pastries, etc.) to keep us sated until lunch and tried to get up to the Skywalk Observatory on the 52nd floor. When we finally got up there, we could tell that the weather was not going to cooperate. There were two many clouds obstructing the view of the city below to warrant us paying the money to look out of the windows...so we passed. We hopped on the tube again and headed towards Faneuil Hall Market Place.



Here's a shot of Craig with the statue of Samuel Adams. I think he brews beer or something. Er, Sam Adams, not Craig.

I have to admit, after wandering around there for a while I was pretty disappointed. The guide books said it was a must-see, but I really couldn't be bothered. It was a bunch of kiosks selling the same touristy stuff...and not quite the marketplace I had envisioned or hoped for so we moved on.

Around the corner is the Old State House, site of the "Boston Massacre".
From here, we thought we might follow the Freedom Trail for a bit. We saw a plethora of things, some related and some not so much. I tried to get a good shot of some of the Boston skyline
but these pesky tourists kept jumping into the shot.

We passed some neat little cafés like this along the way. There was so much to see that I was found myself getting a little camera-happy. I give you Exhibits A, B and C:

But we finally made it over to Paul Revere's House.

From there we found the Old North Church where the lanterns were supposed to show one if by land, or two if by sea. All we saw was Paul Revere on his horse legging it outta there.
So once inside we saw the enclosed pews
Some of which had interesting history attached.
While others, notsomuch.


We decided to have dinner in what appeared to be "Little Italy" with all the Italian restaurants lining the streets. The portions were gigantic and if we had eaten there the first night in town, we would have been set for every meal thereafter!

After such a busy day, we went back to the hotel to pack and catch some zzzz's before our early morning flight home. Even though it had been so rainy while we were in New England, I'm not sure I was ready for the scorching Texas summer ahead of us!

Day 6 - Paaahk the Caaah Near Hah-vahd, dah-ling

Although it was yet another wet and rainy day, it was all good. Craig (one of my best buds from college) and his girlfriend, Emily, were flying in to Boston to meet us for a couple of days of sightseeing together. They planned to extend their vacation after we returned to Texas to see more of the sights and just relax a little before they both headed back to school to teach the youth of today to be the leaders of tomorrow. I was just glad to see him after all these years and to finally meet the woman who has captured his heart.
We had a couple of hours to kill before their flight (which was delayed!) landed so Joshua and I headed over to do some shopping in Harvard Square. We spent some time browsing in shops and figured we better find our way to the airport to pick up C and E.
Once the gang was all together, we headed back over to the Square to find somewhere for lunch, catch up and just have a walk around.
Yes, I'm a cheesy tourist...
...but so are they...
..and we didn't follow a tour group around. That would have been über-cheesy.
Joshua rubbing the shoe on the statue, "known by Harvard tour guides as the statue of three lies, claims that it depicts John Harvard, Founder, 1638, but in reality Harvard was a contributor, not the founder; the institution was founded in 1636; and the statue is actually a likeness of someone else."

Here's the famous newsstand, Out of Town News.
Carriage house turned coffee house. We decided it was the nicest Starbucks, aesthetically speaking, we've seen.

After a few hours of that, we headed back to the hotel so that C and E could freshen up because they had been up since the butt-crack of dawn. We made plans to meet back up and head out to Cheers because making your way in the world today takes everything you've got...taking a break from all your worries sure would help a lot...but I digress.
Cue another cheesy tourist shot:

After dinner we walked around Beacon Street. My, my, some of the houses are fancy up that a-way. Talk about location, location, location! You'll be paying a pretty penny or two...


And look at the fancy 7-11!


It had been a long day, but we thought we should spend an hour getting lost before finding the hotel and hitting the hay. How else would you end your day?