Through Rose Colored Glasses, Darkly

Because He Won't Show His Face

2012-02-08T15:21:00.001-06:00

It is February 8th. According to my list, I'm supposed to post a photo of the sun. Mr. Sun, however, is not cooperating, as you can see in the parking lot photo (which is the view from my office window--how I wish the other photo was my view!). Apparently he is either very camera shy or thinks the camera will steal his soul. Either way, I am including a photo of a great sunset we saw at the Mount Magazine Lodge in Arkansas. We managed to get up the mountain and to our room just in time to catch this pretty sight. I'll have to tell you more about that trip later...

Because I Do Have Flying Monkeys

2012-02-08T14:35:00.001-06:00

I know, I didn't post this yesterday like I should have. I blame going to class.

These are two buttons given to me by a favorite coworker. I used to keep them on my bulletin board at work, but now they live in my drawer. Every time I open it, I get a great chuckle.

Because It Does a Body Good

2012-02-06T18:18:00.001-06:00

I have class tonight. That's my excuse for this dinner. Why couldn't dinner photo day have been last Thursday when I made a delicious salad?

Because I Did Not Set an Alarm

2012-02-06T14:21:00.001-06:00

Well, I forgot to set the alarm to take a photo at 10 am yesterday (and I'm pretty sure I was in the shower), so you're getting 10 am today. My work email. I got one acceptance and one rejection from professors I has requested to do book reviews for The Chronicles. The search continues!

Because I'm Not Afraid of Strangers

2012-02-04T14:23:00.001-06:00

I'm sitting on a bus for the OU Alumni Caravan. My wonderful friend Karen invited us to join the OU Club of Collin County at the women's and men's basketball games today. The OU Alumni Association puts on a lovely day of food, basketball, and, this year, a tour of the Switzer Center. So, here we sit, on a bus of strangers, fighting post-game traffic to get to the Switzer Center. And here are my strangers for today's photo :-)

Because They Fit

2012-02-03T17:08:00.001-06:00

Today's photo is supposed to be of hands. So, I thought I'd include my favorite one to hold.

(From our engagement photos)

Because Words are my Life

2012-02-02T13:07:00.001-06:00

It's February 2 (Happy Groundhog Day!) and today is about words. Words are my life. Well, that may be a bit extreme, but words are a big part of my life. As the associate editor of the pictured journal, I spend a good part of my day manipulating language. And I love it. Words are also a bit of a curse to me, as I can't see words without the overwhelming urge to proofread or copyedit them. Oh, the burden I bear! ;-)

Because It Sounds Like Fun

2012-02-02T13:04:00.001-06:00

Thanks to Katie at jackjack1010.tumblr.com/ and Karen the pixelvirtuoso.tumblr.com/, I have decided to participate in Photo-A-Day February. I mean, there's only 29 days :-)

So, it's catch-up time. Here's the February 1 photo. I actually took the photo today--don't tell anyone!

My view at lunch, Sonic. Delicious vanilla Dr. Pepper.

Because Funding is Cool

2012-02-02T11:03:00.001-06:00

I'm having high school flashbacks.

I have applied for scholarships in the past. The first time I was in high school. It was the Juliette Gordon Low Scholarship from my local Girl Scout Council. I got to go to a fancy-schmancy luncheon to accept it. I sat next to a prominent Tulsa lady who was wearing trout earrings. Or perhaps they were bass. I'm not sure. Anyway, fish earrings. The fish was jumping through her ear. It's weird the details you remember. As an undergrad, I applied for one of the scholarships offered by the local chapter of my sorority. I received it twice. I never worried too much about obtaining scholarships as an undergrad or in my Master's because I had the grandaddy of all scholarships at OU: National Merit. OU was (and is) lousy with us National Merit kids.

My thought process has changed since then. Although I am paying for my education with money left by my grandmother, it is MY money. That fact gives me so much more motivation to apply for scholarships. And I have decided that now is the time to start. I have investigated scholarships through the two organizations that were my extracurricular passions in college: my honor fraternity and my sorority. I have asked questions, received answers, and begun the process of filling out paperwork and writing personal statements. And, sadly, this process has made me slightly nervous. Am I worthy of these scholarships? How many other people will apply? What's the competition like? I want to be like the cartoon cat in the humane society commercial that says, "Pick me!" Of course, continuing my education is not contingent on these scholarships. If I get one, would I be stealing it from a deserving person? When they see my income level, will I automatically be disqualified?

Maybe I shouldn't question it.

I also feel awkward asking for recommendations. I really shouldn't, considering I have written recommedation letters for other people in the past and actually kind of enjoy it. There's just something about giving your honest assessment of a person's strengths and weaknesses, and in many cases telling how wonderful someone is. I just hate imposing on people, so for me that is the hardest part of the application process. Personal statements are cake.

My goal is to acquire the "que sera, sera" attitude toward the scholarships. If I receive them, fine, but if not, neither my education nor my self-worth are based on receiving those honors. And I will keep telling myself that every day after I send off the paperwork :-)

Because Coffee's for Grown-Ups

2012-01-25T10:28:00.001-06:00

I may or may not have started drinking coffee.

Now, to most this would seem like a completely inconsequential development. I, however, have taken it to mean that I'm growing up and becoming mature and adult-like. Scares the crap out of me.

I always resisted drinking coffee. My parents didn't drink coffee, although on rare occasions my mother would make a cup on instant coffee and basically sit and smell it, taking a tiny sip or two, when she really felt tired and needed to wake up. I don't really know why they don't drink it, but it was a habit they never acquired. Alec, on the other hand, drinks coffee. My mother felt it necessary (although it really wasn't) to buy a real coffeemaker when he and I got married. She worried about what type of coffee to get and how to make it, since it was not something with which she was familiar, and fretted when she thought he didn't like the coffee that she made. The whole scenario was pretty amusing.

In an effort to help us get out of bed in the mornings* and because I know that he likes a cup to start his day, this week I actually started setting the timer on the coffeemaker. And, since I viewed it as slightly wasteful to use our big coffeemaker to just make one cup, I decided that I would give this coffee stuff a try again. Now, I've been a fan of a good caramel macchiato or frappuccino from Starbucks, but had generally shunned "homebrew." It just didn't taste right--it didn't have enough fattening flavors in it. So, armed with some Vanilla Caramel creamer and sugar, I set about to make the most of my cup of coffee.

It's not horrible.

And it does make me slightly more alert. Moreso than the Dr. Pepper I used to drink sometimes in the morning. But I almost feel wrong drinking it. Like it's out of character and weird. I'm not sure if this is a habit I will continue, but it's definitely worth the experiment. And who knows--maybe I'll just keep brewing it in the morning and enjoy the smell.

*It so far has not worked. We still get out of bed at the same time (read: late). But it sure smells good!

Because Technology is Fun!

2012-01-19T16:39:00.001-06:00

This is officially my first post from the Blogger app on my phone. In honor of this, I will include an adorable photo of my tired-out Bailey dog. Enjoy!

Because I'm a Grad School Snob

2012-01-19T11:38:00.001-06:00

My second semester has begun. And I've realized something about myself: I am a grad school snob.

I am currently taking a class for my third field that is crosslisted as an undergraduate class. It is a class that I wanted to take to learn about a topic in Public History with which I am not very familiar. The information so far has, for the most part, been new and interesting. Then there's the format.

Kids, it's been a long time since I've sat in a lecture room. Even longer since I've sat there and listened to a lecture for two and a half hours. Every week. I'm so used to the grad school paradigm of the wizened professor sitting at a conference table directing discussion of the topics found in that week's readings with ten to twelve students sitting around the table answering questions and expounding upon the points raised in the book or article. Sitting in a lecture class has become foreign to me. And, in many respects, I don't like it.

However, in the interest of finding the positive in all situations, here are some of the good things about lecture classes:

1) I really am getting some good information. I now actually understand township, range, section, and all that stuff.

2) Undergrads dress funny and therefore amuse me.

3) I can really sit back an absorb without worrying about what my next contribution to the conversation will be. I can let my brain be fully focused on what is being said by the professor.

4) Or, if that doesn't work, I can let my brain wander its way on our upcoming trip to Ireland and Italy without worrying about being called on to contribute to the conversation.

5) Having (more) time to write funny things in my margins. At least things that I find funny.

6) Instead of papers every week, we have two tests and a project. I almost don't know what to do with that.

There are a couple of things I don't like, including:

1) I feel like my class discussion skills and assertiveness, which had improved last semester, might atrophy.

2) The chairs aren't nearly as comfortable as in a conference/seminar room.

We shall see how I feel about it as the semester progresses. Perhaps it will be the perfect compliment to my other, more traditional graduate course. Time will tell.

Because It's an Ode to a Nano

2011-12-14T11:27:00.001-06:00

Dear Nigel,

I remember fondly the day I went to the Apple Store and picked you out. I had just gotten my first real adult job (though temporary) at the Historical Society and I was ready to celebrate with my first major electronics purchase. We were installing artifacts and labels into the cases in preparation for the opening of the new History Center, and I thought it would be a good sanity-booster to have some tunage while I installed. An iPod nano seemed the perfect fit for me. Of course, my coworker Mary and I brought some computer speakers out, put them on the installation cart, and then alternated whose iPod we listened to for the duration of installation. It was a glorious time. You saw me through car trips, successful and failed attempts at exercising, and MANY days sitting at my desk writing exhibit text or trying desperately to manipulate PhotoShop into doing my bidding. For that, I shall be eternally grateful. I bought you precious little socks to keep you clean and dry. Then I wised up and bought you a heavy-duty silicon cover to keep you from getting scratched, scuffed, and generally beaten to a pulp.

After six years, the time has come for you to move to that big Genius Bar in the sky. Apple informs me that there's a distinct possibility you might get mad at me after all these years and suddenly decide to retaliate for all those times I ignored you at the bottom of my purse by sparking up in a flaming rage from your very core. We can't have that. So, it is better that you go and spend your golden years with your brethren, sitting around swapping stories of the glory days. Perhaps even playing Glory Days. The possibilities are endless.

While I wait for the new addition to my small but loyal family of electronics, I think fondly of you, Nigel. Thank you for the hours of entertainment, the times of frustration as I figured out how to utilize you to your fullest potential, and the boredom you allayed. The newbie has some ironically big shoes to fill.

Sincerely,

A grateful listener

Because It's Time for Part 2!

2011-11-29T16:52:00.001-06:00

As promised, if just a tad late:

26. When television programs intelligently (or at least hilariously) reference iconic pop culture phenomena, like the Slutty Pumpkin episode of HIMYM.

27. The simple joy of watching "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!" and getting my hopes up with Linus. I think it was a sincere pumpkin patch, too.

28. The safe delivery of the beautiful little girl at the top of this page! Tamara Grace, my cousin Jenny's little girl, born at 9:40 a.m. on Nov. 29, 2011, 7 lbs. 5 oz., 20 in.

29. The fact that baby Tammy wasn't born on a Monday night while I was in class!

30. Advances in technology that allowed my aunt to send me the photo above, and allow me to take many other photos with my phone.

31. The variety of colors of pens and highlighters available in the world. And the green binder clips my boss bought for me. Fun office supplies are a great thing for which to be grateful.

32. A loving God who I believe is actively present in my life and the affairs of mankind. I do not presume to understand Him or ask anyone else to explain Him to me, but I see His hand in both the good and bad experiences of life. And I thank Him for both, as the combination has made me, and is continuing to make me, the person I am.

33. The giant paper clip-like thingy I bought to keep books open while I'm typing or using multiple books. It's awesome. But maybe that should go up with the office supplies. No, it deserves it's own number.

34. DVR. I know how materialistic it sounds, but DVR is really, really cool!

35. The amazing family I was born into. They support me unconditionally and love me all the time, and I don't get to see them nearly enough. And talking on the phone with my Mama makes almost anything better. And talking on the phone with my Daddy takes care of most of the rest.

36. The incredible family I married into. They accepted this nerdy, sarcastic girl into their circle without (much!) question because their arms are inherently open. And they even humor my trivia addiction.

37. My blueberry muffin chef. I've been blessed beyond measure.

38. My Pampered Chef stoneware. That stuff is pretty great! I was a skeptic, but it really does bake things evenly and doesn't burn or stick after seasoning.

39. The freedom to take the occasional random roadtrip or historical marker hunt. I know we won't always have that freedom, so right now it is a privilege.

40. Jergen's Soothing Aloe Relief lotion. Takes care of my dry skin without being too perfume-y.

41. The Chicago Manual of Style, 16th Edition, in both print and online versions. It is my daily reference at work. I sing daily praises to the University of Chicago and the snarky editorial staff.

42. The door on my office. I don't close it often (maybe three or four times in the year and a half I've had it), but those times have been wonderful.

43. Warm snuggly blankets on my couch while watching movies and TV shows I've already seen but are like comfortable old friends.

44. The people I can see or talk to who never fail to make me laugh. Even when I am determined that I'm going to be in a bad mood. Thank you for not letting me stay there.

45. My office Snuggie. I have worn it down to the copy machine. And my warm desk house shoes.

46. Post-It Notes. And Post-It Notes on my computer. Both are fantastic reminders. And great ways to keep information for short periods of time. And it's extremely satisfying to be finished with whatever is on the Post-It and be able to throw it away either in the real trash can or the recycle in on the computer screen.

47. All the travel books we've acquired to plan our next big adventure, to Ireland and Italy.

48. A hand to hold to end this year and enter a new one.

49. Going back to school. As stressful as it is sometimes, it has been fun to sit in a classroom and have to think about things that I would not necessarily think about unless I had to, to analyze arguments, and to formulate opinions based on the evidence in front of me. I should do it more in real life.

50. The ability to write another list of things that I am thankful for, because it means I was given another year of blessings and life. More blessings than I could possibly count or recognize.

Because They Make Me Smile

2011-11-23T13:57:00.001-06:00

When I was living with my friend Briton in Norman while I was working on my Master's degree, we decided to have a movie night with our friend Jo. She picked the movie. The cinematic masterpiece she brought over? Team America: World Police. And if you know Jo, you know that this is a quintessential Jo movie. Now, I had my reservations about watching it. After all, it was a movie about marionettes taking on terrorists, specifically Kim Jong Il, and it just sounded pretty stupid. And gross. And all those things that I raled against at the time.

We decided that the worst that would happen is that we'd turn it off and watch something else.

We laughed hysterically for the duration of the movie. Mostly because, let's face it, marionettes singing about fighting terrorism, being terrorists, and falling in love (ha!) is just so incredibly ridiculous that it's funny. And our friends who brought us South Park have such a unique view on life that they manage to yes, be gross and crude, but also be astute in their satire.

Just now, as I sat at my desk working diligently on this day before Thanksgiving, the strains of "Pearl Harbor Sucks, and I Miss You" came over my iPod. And I smiled. And I laughed out loud. Because as resistant as I was to watching that movie initially, I now have several of the songs from that same movie on my iPod because they make me laugh. Sometimes literally out loud, not like lol-ing in a text message.

And it also taught me the value of freedom: $1.05.

Because It's Thanksgiving, Charlie Brown.

2011-11-23T12:11:00.001-06:00

It's that time of year again, folks. Time for turkey and green bean casserole and broccoli cheese casserole--all things I can't eat. So, for me it's time for my Thanksgiving pork chop, my no-MSG soup green bean casserole, and staring longingly at that broccoli cheese casserole. Yum!

I kid. I think I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving more this year that in the past few years, and I'm attributing that to my current student status. What college kid doesn't want some homecooking? I mean, forget that whole technically being an adult thing. Beyond the food and break from the rigors of real life, it will be great to sit down with my family and well, just sit. And, of course, it is time to reflect on all those things that I'm thankful for throughout the year but only take the time to really consider when I'm thinking about pumpkin pie. For which I am also thankful.

Counting My Blessings 2011

1. The world's greatest caffeine delivery system: Dr. Pepper.

2. My giant 27" HD monitor at work that allows me to have two windows open at once and function in both of them. Efficiency is amazing.

3. The shots that the monkey that bit me on our honeymoon were given before it bit me on our honeymoon OR the fact that I didn't contract any strange monkey diseases from being bitten by a monkey.

4. The fact that I was bitten by a monkey, so that I can have a really awesome honeymoon anecdote. Never thought I would be thankful for that.

5. The safe delivery of little Piper, and the fact that she's cute as a bug.

6. Flannel pants. And a man at home who says, "It's flannel pants time!" when he knows I need to relax.

7. Online shopping so that I can send random presents to friends across the country. And regular store shopping so I can send random presents to friends across the country.

8. Postcards from friends who continue to send me postcards from their adventures even when I am lax in sending postcards in return.

9. Turning 30 and realizing that 30 isn't any different than any other year when you are surrounded by family and friends who love you. In fact, it can be better.

10. Adele. And Sugarland. And Lady Antebellum. And Ben Folds.

11. The "tracking changes" feature on Microsoft Word. How have I lived without this?

12. A grandmother who, despite being one of the few in her family to graduate from high school, or perhaps because of it, saw the great value of education and wanted to make sure her grandchildren would be able to follow their dreams to college, whatever those dreams might include. Through her forethought seventeen years ago, I am able to work toward the completion of my Ph.D. without having to juggle finances. Her desire to better herself and make a better way for her family is a constant inspiration.

13. When the sunshine breaks through the clouds, literally and figuratively.

14. The recliner in our office at home. I may fall asleep in it a lot, but boy is it better than trying to read in an uncomfortable desk chair!

15. Meeting new people at school that I can have intelligent, and not-so-intelligent, conversations with in class. And feeling that I could give those people a paper to read and edit. Maybe. I'm almost there.

16. Adopting the Bailey dog. She's a handful, but she's our sweet, silly, dorky, underwear-eating handful.

17. Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me! Peter Sagal is amazing. With a voice that makes me happy. I want Carl Kassel on my answer machine.

18. My digital camera to record our adventures. And our misadventures. And the shuttlecocks and bowling pins.

19. Catching up at happy hour with Natascha and the crew.

20. Other people's blogs. Thank you for keeping me informed and in stitches. I love seeing photos of your trips, your kids, your new shoes, and hearing about your triumphs and sorrows. It makes me want to reach throught he screen and hug each and every one of you.

21. Carpooling. Yertle gets tired sometimes.

22. Morning cuddles with my Daphne cat. Realistically, I know she just wants to be fed, but it still makes me feel good.

23. The time I get to spend with Briton and Jo.

24. The buttery goodness of pizza crusts in a can.

25. The impending arrival of Tamara Grace, my cousin's little baby girl. I can't wait to meet her and give her her sock monkey Christmas tree ornament!

Stay tuned for installment #2, sure to be a crowd pleaser.

Because We Waited Up for Her

2011-11-18T11:20:00.001-06:00

I admit that I'm woefully behind in updating. The dog ate my motivation. And a few pairs of my underwear.

We recently welcomed new life into the Thompson family. Piper Lee Thompson was born to Toby and Julie at 2:21 a.m. on November 2. She weighed 7 lbs., 9 ozs. and was 19.5 in. long. And she was loved by so many before she even drew her first outside breath. Now that she's out she's being completely smothered with that love by those same people :-)

On November 1st we got a text message letting us know that Toby was taking Julie to the hospital to get her ready for induction. It was a night more than a week before Piper's due date, but she was ready (and her Mama was ready!) for her to make her debut. Alec and I decided to head to down to Ada to lend what little manner of moral support we could (along with Travis-on-a-stick and Andy-on-a-stick) in the waiting room. We arrived at about 9:30, just late enough to miss visiting hours. After being spirited into the hospital through the ER entrance by an extremely excited almost-Aunt Katie, we joined the rest of the family in the waiting room. And let me tell you, I don't think any little girl in Ada has ever had such a fan club for her birth from 9 p.m. to 4 a.m. as Piper Thompson!

Julie was a trooper as the nurses monitored Piper's progress and at one point decided it was necessary to stop her drip. Toby came in and out of the delivery room, sitting with us, letting us know how things were going, being surprisingly relaxed. The doting grandparents were all present, Aunt Katie hid her anxious excitement behind her iPad, Uncle Brent tried to stay awake, Julie's brother and sister-in-law brought her niece and nephew to enjoy the special night, but her poor nephew ended up puking on the waiting room floor. Next to my feet. I now know that I can handle vomit better than my mother. Poor little Mack! Finally, it was time, earlier than we had anticipated. Lovie Kim stood with her ear pressed to the double doors leading to the delivery suite, straining to hear her grandbaby's first cries. We looked through the waiting room window, wondering when a nurse would walk through the double doors and smack Lovie in the face with the door. By that time, Jake and Blake had arrived to hug the proud papa at the appropriate time, and to provide the obligatory "It's a Girl!" cigars. And I believe some beer in the parking lot.

Then, we got the news--Piper was here! Excited by the news, Katie went to put it on Facebook, realizing a few minutes later that most normal people were in bed. I, of course, had posted it as well, so we commented on each other's posts. It was a great night.

A bit later, we got to watch as they cleaned Piper up and got her ready to go back to her parents, who were eagerly awaiting her. We felt slightly sorry for the nurse behind the glass who was being stared at by ten people at 3:30 in the morning while she was cleaning the baby. But not that sorry, because dang it we wanted to see that little girl!

Finally, we dragged ourselves away at about 4:30 a.m. We needed to go to work the next day, so we hopped in the car and headed for Norman. Three hours of sleep later and we were both in our offices, occasionally getting photos on our phones or on Facebook of other people holding Piper. We got jealous. We didn't get to hold Piper, and we had waited up for her. We made the decision that we had to go back and see her up close and personal, not behind glass, that night. So we did. And it was an excellent decision. Now we can't wait to get to know her and watch her grow!

Because It's Cheesy Time

2011-11-18T10:14:00.001-06:00

I arrived at work today (on time!) to a mini-crisis concerning the mailing of one of our publications. After viewing the mini-crisis and briefly formulating a plan to deal with mini-crisis, I went upstairs to my desk. I received a phone call. The phone has distinctive rings for inside and outside building calls, so I knew this was a call from someone in the building (it came from inside the house!). Fully expecting it to be about the mini-crisis, I answered. To my surprise, I heard this:

"You have a flower delivery at the loading dock."

Suddenly, in that moment, the mini-crisis melted away, along with any and all issues with projects at school, stress about reading for class, and trying to make it to the end of the semester as Chapter Advisor for the sorority. All that mattered was that I have a husband who loves me, supports me, and reminds me that, despite all the craziness, hard work, and did I mention craziness?, he can't wait to see what the future holds for us to conquer together. And that I feel exactly the same way. He even though to sent the flowers two days early so that I everyone could see them at work.

So happy early anniversary to my husband, maker of blueberry muffins, stealer of my pillow, and neverending giver of love, smiles, and comfort :-)

Because It's Not a Trip Unless We See Something Historical

2011-11-03T15:28:00.001-05:00

Did you really think I was done talking about our trip to Grapevine? Silly people!

After getting gussied up for the wedding, we headed off to find the winery, which took very little time. So, we went downtown to take a peek. Grapevine has tried to preserve the oldtime downtown feel even with new construction, so all the new buildings are built to look old. Vintage construction :-) We found some lovely historical markers, including one in front of a funeral home near a glassed-in building housing a horse-drawn hearse and some tiny infant coffins from the turn of the century or before. The hearse was pretty cool, but the coffins were creepy, even for me.

We drove up the street a bit and stopped at the park across from the City Hall. The centerpiece of the park was a log cabin constructed in the mid-nineteenth century that was occupied until the 1940s. Look at the photo. People lived there almost until World War II. Wow. We checked out the historical markers (Texas has TONS!), marveled at the grapevine-covered bollards (now that's commitment to a theme!), and then went to the winery for the wedding.

On the way home, we decided to stop on the courthouse square in Denton, Texas for lunch. We ate at a little pub and then walked around the courthouse grounds. John Denton, for whom the city and the county is named, is buried on the lawn of the courthouse. They also have a Confederate memorial, as many southern counties do. This one was a bit different, though. Off to the side of it was a modern plaque that read,

"Denton County Confederate Soldier Memorial"

"The Denton County Confederate Soldier memorial was erected in 1918 by the Daughters of the Confederacy. The monument stands as a reminder of historic events and is intended as a memorial to Denton County citizens who sacrificed themselves for the community. Now, let this be a testimony that God created all men equal with certain inalienable rights. We are all one, citizens of Denton County."

While not a perfect statement, any measure of reconciliation in relation to a Confederate memorial is refreshing.

We headed out of town and drove north, deciding to stop at Turner Falls. We fought the wind, but the view was worth it! The marker up by the overlook pointed out that the highway was built with prison labor, which I have to admit that I found amusing that they felt it necessary to inform all who came to see the beautiful scenery of that fact. We drove down to see if it cost anything to get into the park. Alec tried to joke with the less than jovial state park employee in the entrance shack who was taking her smoke break fully enclosed in the building, but she was less than amused. We drove on.

Remember kids, sometimes the park employees just want their smokes.

Because I'll Never Tell a Lie and Hurt You

2011-10-21T09:45:00.001-05:00

Last Saturday, my friend/sister/brother/former intern/mini-me Kristyn got married. Actually, she celebrated her marriage to Daniel, to whom she has been married for about a year and a half. Theirs is a story of love and war, of marriage in the face of deployment, and of patience. At their first wedding in St. Louis at the courthouse, their immediate families got to share in their joy. Last weekend, the rest of their family and many friends got to revel with them. And they even had a surprise celebrity guest.

I have to admit that I was excited for the wedding--neither Alec nor I had to do anything but show up and enjoy. Cross Timbers Winery in Grapevine was the cute, cozy, and relaxed backdrop for the Brigance's very personal ceremony and reception full of games, wine, barbecue, and photoboothing. The grandparents and parents walked in to "Accidentally in Love" and the bride and groom walked themselves down the aisle to "Crazy Little Thing Called Love." The bride had made provisions for live-tweeting the event in the program, designating the hashtag #danielandkristyn for the event. I took advantage and posted lots and lots of tweets, since she and a few others live-tweeted my ceremony almost a year ago. Because they were already married, they did not need a member of the clergy or an "official" to perform the ceremony, so they had their mutual friend who introduced them lead the service. He told the story of their love, "shameless and obvious" from the moment they met, and did a handfasting instead of traditional vows. They then had one of our other sorority sisters and her husband give them a Polish blessing of bread, salt, and wine. And as the beautiful couple walked themselves back up the aisle, I pulled out the surprise I had carefully planned and brought with me from home.

When Kristyn was an intern at the Historical Society, we had an ongoing joke about Rick Astley. Much Rickrolling occurred. So, I made a Rick Astley fan and Rickroll'd her walk back up the aisle. One side had his photo and said, "Rick Astley says Daniel's never going to give Kristyn up, etc." and the other side had his photo and said "Rick Astley wants to run around and dessert you--with wedding cake." It caught her eye and she laughed. It was awesome.

After that, we grabbed some local wine, took Rick Astley to the photo booth, ate some delicious barbecue and cake (lower layer was spice cake!), tried to play giant Jenga but never got the chance, watched other people play the various lawn games set up for the game theme, talked and laughed, enjoyed the gorgeous weather, and danced on the grass like no one was watching. We hung out with future senator/night Viking Joe Hunt, talked with a lovely older couple who happened to be an engineer and wife who had known Kristyn since before she could talk (like that's possible!), and all in all had a fantastic time. We sat around with Lindsay and caught marshmallows on fire while discussing the greatness of Ben Folds coming to the OKC Philharmonic. We talked to The Aunts and Mama Wagner. We generally relaxed. And then Rick Astley felt like he needed to go home with Daniel and Kristyn, so we put him in their present.

Such a great, relaxing evening :-)

Because Friends Gotta Celebrate

2011-10-14T16:53:00.001-05:00

Last weekend we hopped in the car and drove to Fort Smith for a special occasion. Alec's friend Derek was marrying his sweet Christy. And of course we would not miss the opportunity to celebrate their special day and hang out with them a bit beforehand. We got to Fort Smith at about 3:30 and got checked into our hotel. Thanks to Derek's plethora of hotel points, he got our room upgraded to a suite. It's good to have friends. We had a bit of time, so we headed over to the Fort Smith National Historic Site to absorb some history.

I know: you're completely shocked.

We walked around outside and then headed into the museum in the old courtroom and jail. Their exhibits were well done and had some pretty interesting objects, including a piece of noose allegedly used to hang Cherokee Bill, a notorious outlaw. Only slightly morbid. Their exhibits were centered on Fort Smith's role as the gateway to Indian Territory and talked quite a bit about the sovereignty of Indian nations--still a hot topic today. Of course, I had to count spittoons in the reproduction of Judge Parker's courtroom. I found seven, but I suspect there were more. Alec noted that one panel said that there was a big span of time during Judge Parker's (the "Hanging Judge") tenure that there was no appeals court available to convicted criminals in the area. No wonder so many criminals were hanged out there!

We happened to be at the fort on the anniversary of a day that two men were hanged, so there were nooses hanging from the gallows. They only put them up on days when criminals were hanged. And the boys had to go examine the gallows to see exactly how the worked. It almost looked like they were looking at the underside of a car. Speaking of cars, we passed the horse-drawn paddywagon on the way to the gallows. It started a whole discussion on the origins of the term paddywagon. Thank goodness for iPhones.

Belle Starr also figures prominently into the history of the area, so as we were leaving we wanted to see if the gift shop area had a copy of the book that has the photo of her on its cover that looks so much like me (in which I look so much like her?) to show Derek. They didn't have the one we were thinking of, but they had another one with the same photo. We got to totally freak out a National Park Service employee with it. Score. And no, I am not a scary, horsethieving prostitute.

From there we got ready and headed over to meet up with Christy for a short rehearsal/point out where everyone goes session. We then went to dinner at Landry's near our hotel with the bride and groom and some of the bride's friends. The band that was playing was really great; they played some great 60s and 70s covers of some awesome classic rock. We hung out for a while there and then headed to a bar down the street. Shortly after that, my dinner or something else I ate decided that it didn't like my insides, so I had to retire to the hotel and empty myself in various ways of everything I had eaten in the previous 12-24 hours. Alec went back out to support his friend (with my blessing) and had, shall we say, a very fun night with Derek, as evidenced by the twin puke piles off the tailgate of Derek's truck in the parking lot the next morning. They walked back from the bar and sat on the tailgate for a while, apparently.

The next morning, after managing to drag himself out of bed, taking a long shower, and making himself human again, we made our way over for the outdoor wedding. The lovely bride, walked down the aisle by her six-year-old son, was radiant. The little flower girl was a cutie, and we caught her out back cleaning the grill at one point. We even got to watch most of the OU/saxet game :-) Everyone had a good time visiting, I got to meet some people I'd only heard about in stories, and the newly-minted Alexanders looked forward to a great week in Las Vegas.

Congratulations, Derek, Christy, and Noah!

Oh, and on the way home we passed a historical marker! The beginning of Indian Territory. The text, I have to admit, was not the best and had a misspelled name. But, another off the list :-)

Because He Wanted to Say Shuttlecock

2011-09-30T09:10:00.001-05:00

Last installment, I promise!

After we debated whether or not Pretty Boy Floyd was at Union Station to kill those G-Men, we headed off to the Nelson-Adkins Art Museum for a very specific purpose. You see, the Nelson-Adkins has a sculpture garden on its grounds with a very interesting installation: several large shuttlecocks. You know, the birdies you play badminton with. And when I say large, I mean ginormous. So, in our quest to find oversized leisure equipment (remember the World's Largest Bowling Pin from our honeymoon?) we felt we needed to go see the giant shuttlecocks. Oh, and the 12-year-old voices inside us that kept giggling when we said "shuttlecock" made it something we had to do as well.

We arrived at the Nelson-Adkins and made a beeline for the shuttlecocks. We were in the midst of taking pictures when we heard the voice of God, or, rather, the voice of a loudspeaker say, "Ma'am, please don't touch the shuttlecock." There was no sign in the immediate vicinity of the shuttlecock telling you not to touch it--the "do not touch" mandate was posted on the maps at the openings of the garden, we found later--but there were cameras and speakers posted near the art so that security guards could let you know not to touch the art. I got chastised for touching the shuttlecock, as you can see.

Shortly after that we left the Nelson-Adkins in shame. Well, not really. We left laughing because really? "Please don't touch the shuttlecock?" It just sounds awesome.

We went over to the Plaza to walk around and eat some delicious food at a restaurant called the Classic Cup. I ate something called Dutch Babies, mostly because it was called Dutch Babies. It was a baked pancake with lots of fruit on top and was wonderful. Not at all cannibalistic. We walked into Tiffany's and then back out of Tiffany's. We then walked over to a lovely fountain that happened to have an alligator as part of the scupture work. Shooodit!

Later that afternoon, Alec and I headed over to visit my cousin Sarah and her boys. And a lively crew they were! She has three sons who are almost four, one and a half, and six months. We had a good time playing and hanging out, eating and talking, Alec made a fantastic jungle gym, we watched them play on the "big phone" (the iPad), and by the end her oldest thought we needed to spend the night. We told him we would next time :-) We were just sad we missed seeing her husband, who was at work. Sarah and I are more than just cousins, we are also sorority sisters, so we share an extra special bond.

When we left that crew, we headed over to Shaun's house again for another Pi Kapp night, but this time there were more! A couple of the other guys were in town, so we had a good time hanging out, playing some pong, and laughing. A lot. Mostly at the expense of one of the guys, but I think that has a tendency to happen with the guys.

We finally headed back to Jay and Jinal's for the night. They made us a wonderful Indian lunch the next day before we had to head out on the road home.

So, to evaluate:

1) Everyone go to the World War I Museum

2) Everyone go on the Boulevard Brewery Tour

3) Pretty Boy Floyd probably didn't kill anyone at Union Station

4) Please don't touch the shuttlecock

5) Dutch Babies are yummy

6) It's really great to have friends who live in fun cities

Because We Wanted to Get Our Money's Worth

2011-09-27T10:37:00.001-05:00

Sunday morning we awoke refreshed and renewed. We headed back out to use our second day of admission at the World War I Museum so that we could go to the top of the Liberty Monument and see the two temporary gallery spaces. One gallery had an exhibit covering the experience of the German soldier, complete with pickelhaube covers (a cover to go on your spikey helmet), and the other gallery had some lovely artwork and photography mixed in with some interesting artifacts associated with specific people, giving a more personal touch to the conflict. But before we headed into the galleries, we braved the hold elevator and the windy day to head to the top of the tower (read into that what you will) to get an amazing view of Kansas City. One of the lawns of the memorial was mowed into a lovely argyle pattern, and this giant public art installation across the way spelled "IOU" in railway storage containers. We were puzzled by it, but intrigued. I found a piece on it by the Kansas City Star, explaining that it also has "USA" on the other side and is a commentary on our debt situation. At the time we saw it, I did not realize how close it was to the Federal Reserve Bank :-) http://www.kansascity.com/2011/09/17/3144983/iouusa-makes-a-monumental-statement.html

As old as the elevator to get up the the top of the Liberty Memorial might be, I'm pretty sure it was still faster than the elevators at my work. And, it has a volunteer elevator operator, which just makes it that much more awesome. We had a lovely, if brief, chat with our elevator man on the way up and the way back down from the top. Once down, we toured the galleries and then headed out to go over to Union Station, which is right across the street from the World War I Museum. A former train station (and still home to Amtrak), Union Station now houses such things as a movie theater, a children's science museum, and traveling exhibits. I had a lovely "Ground Control to Major Tom" Space Oddity moment in the science museum gift shop. And no, I did not leave with any astronaut ice cream. *sad face* The ceilings, floors, and fixtures are still beautiful despite much modernization to the building. And outside you can read about the "massacre" of FBI agents that occurred at Union Station in 1933 very close to where the photo with the clock was taken. Supposedly you can see bullet holes in the wall, although our docent outside, a nice older gentleman, is skeptical that the origin of the damage was actually bullets.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kansas_City_massacre

http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/history/famous-cases/kansas-city-massacre-pretty-boy-floyd

I include two versions of the story, because the FBI maintains that Oklahoma outlaw "Pretty Boy" Floyd was a part of the massacre, whereas evidence suggests he was not present at Union Station that day. Interesting debate. Our docent sided with those who did not believe Floyd was a part of the massacre. And, yet again, the Oklahomans follow us!

So, I guess I lied about this being the last installment--more yet to come!

Because the Duff Tour is in Springfield

2011-09-22T10:06:00.000-05:00

We had to tear ourselves away from the World War I Museum on Saturday because we had a date with Boulevard. We had a 3:00 reservation for the Boulevard Brewery tour. You have to call ahead for the tour because it is a small operation, but we had an in because a mother of one of the Pi Kapps works in their offices. Another case of it's not what you know, but who you know. And I'll take advantage of it!

Another great thing about the brewery is that all the tour guides are volunteers. They get paid in beer. They get a certain number of cases per month (it may just be one) and a keg or two a year. With that, they are required to work once a month or once every other month. Consequently, you know they want to be there and they make the tour pretty fun.

As we were a tad early for our tour, we checked in, got our tasting tokens for later, and perused the gift shop, noting what delightful items we would like to purchase for ourselves and others on our way out the door. The funniest part, possibly of the whole experience, was the wine that they sold in their gift shop. "Wine?" you might ask. "I thought this was a brewery?" Well, let me tell you a story.

The brewery opened and they wanted to do tours and have tastings. And then they built an event center and wanted to sell their product through the event center. Well, according to state law they couldn't do that, but as a winery they could. So, they had to start producing wine. Boulevard produces a small amount of wine and sells it in their gift shop (and I'm not sure where else). We picked up a bottle for Amy, Alec's sister, as a small thank-you for taking care of our animals for the weekend. After taking care of Daphne, she probably needed it!

After reading about the wine and laughing, we got started on our tour. We learned about hops and fermentation and all sorts of beer-y types of things. And we went into the barrel room. This is the room where they age their specialty beers in bourbon and whiskey barrels. It smelled AWESOME in there. And what did we spy with our little eyes? Barrels from Four Roses Distillery, the distillery Alec and Travis visited when Alec went out to Lexington in April 2010. And then the "It's a Small World" music began playing in our heads. Darn you, Disney...

We traveled on with our guides through the rest of the brewery, got a lovely view of downtown KC from the event center, had our Laverne and Shirley moment while looking at the bottling room (unfortunately the machine was off and they weren't bottling, schlamiel and schlamozle), and headed over to the tasting room. Yum. While not everything was fabulous, there were some winners. I'm a fan of the Irish Stout and have the t-shirt to prove it. The unfiltered wheat and the amber were tasty as well. Alec, who doesn't like IPAs, liked the Double Wide IPA. And we all liked the Toby beer sign on the wall. After laughing about the sign and taking photos of it, we purchased many things of great importance in the gift shop, including a t-shirt with a camper trailer on it that reminds me of the one that was perpetually parked across the street from my old house.

After we drank enough sample-sized beers to be satisfied, Jay and Jinal drove us to Grinders, a sandwich-y place to eat featured on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. And it was tasty. Then it was back to the apartment so Alec and Jinal could fall asleep during the first half of the OU game. Then we watched some Dexter.

Next installment: Will they make it back to the World War I Museum? Will the wind prevent then from getting to the top of Liberty Monument? All this and more in the exciting conclusion of "Kansas City, There We Went!"

Because I Learned a Thing or Two

2011-09-21T14:46:00.001-05:00

We went to Kansas City on a Friday. By Saturday I learned a thing or two.

And yes, we sang this song enough times that we both have decided that we have to watch Oklahoma! sometime in the near future. I mean, it is one of the best sequences in the whole shebang.

Bird and I went to Kansas City for Labor Day weekend to hang out with his good friend and fraternity brother Jay and his wife Jinal, and to see my cousin Sarah and her boys (sadly, her husband Johnny had to work while we were visiting with Sarah and her crew). Along the way we also got to hang out with Shaun and Jenny, another fraternity brother and his fiancee, and Topper and Cody, two other Pi Kapps who happened to be around.

We like to pack in the fun.

After a lovely drive through Kansas's rolling Flint Hills (I DEFY you to find anything hilly about eastern Kansas as you're driving eastbound--you could actually see the hills on the westbound journey), we made our way through Kansas City proper to Jay and Jinal's apartment. We ate dinner at a lovely sports-themed restaurant/bar and then decided to go surprise Shaun at his house. He answered the door in his boxers. Ever the gracious host, he invited us in, showed us around, and then he and Jenny had to leave to pick up his brother from the airport. We stayed, and apparently Shaun was secretly glad that we had stayed until they returned. We got hugs.

The next morning Jay took us over to the Liberty Memorial and World War I Museum. IT WAS AMAZING. One of the best museums I've ever been to. They give you a two day admission pass and you can really use it! We got to the museum around 10:30 or 11, walked around the main galleries for about 2 and 1/2 hours, and probably could have spent a lot more time looking at the amazing collection of artifacts, the great explanations of events, objects, people, and timelines, and the recreations of the trenches. The museum really showed what a global conflice World War I was--much moreso than I even realized. It's exhibits didn't really even talk about the United States (although they did have a timeline of what was going on in the US during different portions of the war) until physically halfway through the museum or more, just as it was during the great war. While the photographs were not graphic in showing the horrors of war, they message was clear: this war was completely devastating, not just to a generation of Europeans, but to those who came after them and to the world. This concept was shown in the materials of war and the items used to protect people from those implements. And of course, we found Will Rogers. Oklahoma's favorite son follows us everywhere, and it's awesome :-)

We left the World War I museum, knowing we would have to come back to finish the tour (and hit the gift shop!!) the next day. We had a date with Boulevard. The Boulevard Brewery, that is.

To be continued...

Because Sometimes You Just Need a Belt

2011-09-16T13:21:00.001-05:00

As I perused www.neatorama.com on my feedreader, I came across this gem. Alice-Anne and Robert, it made me think of your Japanese vending machine and its whiskey concoction.

Oh, to live in the good old days... ;-)

*Check out my other cousins (I married into a globe-trotting family!) Alice-Anne and Robert as they recount their adventures in Japan! http://aatalcorn.wordpress.com/

Because We Can Handle the Truth

2011-08-30T13:37:00.001-05:00

I am a happy camper. We get to read a portion of a book that I have had on my shelf for several years for class the week after Labor Day. Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong by James Loewen is an indictment of the textbook industry, lazy history teachers (not ALL history teachers), and textbook adoption committees in the misinforming of America's youth about their own past. I had the benefit of amazing teachers who utilized works beyond the text to teach me about shared historical experience, but this work showed me the degree to which most students are shortchanged when it comes to learning not only the actual facts of history, but how to interpret and analyze those events and apply that analysis to other historical events, and even their current lives and situations.

Not that the author doesn't have a bit of a skewed perspective. He has had experience in writing an award-winning history textbook on the history of a state and having that textbook rejected. Whether or not the rejection was valid, that would sour a person on the process and perhaps be enough to start the mission he began of carefully examining 12 different U.S. history textbooks and finding their shortcomings and inaccuracies. The results were interesting. He also gives an overview of the process of textbook adoption as a chapter in the book.

As I said, I discovered this book a while ago and now we get to discuss a portion of it in one of my classes. *content sigh* Of course, I like his follow-up book even better, Lies Across America, which shows how history has been portrayed on our historic markers and suchlike. The contrasts between markers put up by different interest groups (Daughters of the American Revolution, Sons of Confederate Veterans, etc.) and the time period in which the markers were put up sometimes make for interesting historical interpretations!

http://www.amazon.com/Lies-My-Teacher-Told-Everything/dp/0684818868

P.S.--I promise I won't only write about school--I think I'm just excited and overly mentally stimulated right now, so my brain is saying, "Hey, let's put this all out here right now!" Pretty soon I won't even have anything left to write for my papers. I'll have to turn in blog entries. I'm not completely sure how that would go over. Maybe if I make the photos REALLY interesting...

Because It's Monday, Monday, Gonna Get Down on Monday

2011-08-29T12:25:00.001-05:00

I'm about to go gas up the car, grab some Micky D's, and get the carpool loaded up to head to Stilly for class, week #2. I have now done my first writing assignment for school since I finished my Masters thesis in 2005 and I have to say, I'm pretty sure that this paper was not my best work. But, as an effort to get me back in the swing of somewhat academic writing, I'll take it. I managed to get everything read (well, I think I fudged a couple of articles, but I'll have plenty to comment on in class), and I still interacted with normal humans (and my furry family members) during the week. All in all, a successful first run at this whole going to school thing.

Now, it's time for some real, hardcore class interaction. Let's get the discussion going!

Because I Play Well with Others

2011-08-26T10:50:00.001-05:00

I have a feeling that you, loyal and wonderful readers, may be subjected to the more random and less, shall we say academic? observations I have while doing my reading for class. And that, my friends, will start today.

In doing my reading for Class the Second, Public History, one of the authors was particularly abusive to academic historians, really taking them to task for their lack of concern for how history is perceived in the public and lack of regard for those of us out here providing historical experiences to the public (Hi there! We exist! And we aren't morons!). She bluntly pointed out the divide between academic historians who seem to create interpretations of history merely for each other, not for the general public and the public historian, who works with audiences to create a shared historical experience that the public can digest.

As I read this, I chuckled inside. It made me realize why I chose to work in the public sphere of history instead of the more academic side.

I play well with others.

In the field of public history, historical work is a group enterprise. No man is an island. We're a crazy bunch of folks who work hard to put up that exhibit, digitize a collection, or get a property on the National Register and then have a potluck or a Festivus party. We're part academic, part muscle, and part community.

Not that there aren't academic historians who write amazing works that are very accessible to a general reader. And some of the best people I met in grad school the first time around are now academic historians. They are amazing people who play well with others, too. They partially manifest that in the teaching aspect of their careers. Although they stand in front of their classes alone, they then have to deal with the students afterward. And for that, I do admire them. Yikes.

Thanks, Mama and Daddy, for properly socializing me as a child. I think it truly made me who I am today :-)

Because I Don't Have a Trapper Keeper

2011-08-25T16:34:00.001-05:00

I started school on Monday. I gathered up my kitten Trapper Keeper and my Chip 'n' Dale Rescue Rangers lunch box, got in my carpool, and headed up to Stillwater to sit at the front of the classroom like a good little girl and soak in knowledge. Actually, I went to work for the morning and then caught my carpool up to Stillwater with my highlighters, colored pens, three-ring binder and college-rule notebook in my monogrammed shoulder bag (thanks, Karen!) and completely forgot to eat lunch. Oy.

The joy of college these days (and by the time I finished my previous degrees) is that your professors can have their syllabus available to you before the semester begins through the Online Classroom, some are called Blackboard, functions in use at most colleges and universities. One of my professors took advantage of this, so I had my syllabus for my second class. I had a chance to glance over it and see that it looked much like a normal class--intermittent writing assignments and one larger group project. Reading each week. Class discussion. Standard stuff. My first class, however, would be an unknown.

We arrived a few minutes early to class and the chairs quickly began filling in the small-ish seminar room. The class is essentially full with 14 students and the professor. I will not say much because I do not wish to put too many opinions out here on the interwebs, but I don't know that I'll be a big fan of this class. It's not the workload--the reading load is not unmanageable, the writing assignments are surprisingly small, but we have readings on reserve. In the library. I am a commuter student. In fact, our first reserve readings were not available when myself and my carpool buddies went after class to retrieve them. Some library snafu occurred, causing them to not be present in the reserve room. So, this week we have been tracking down copies of the books closer to home to use. Not a fun prospect. We shall see how the rest of the semester goes. I do believe that many of the other reserve readings are actually on electronic reserve, so hopefully this problem will not occur again. And really, I hope that the library can pull its head out and get the books in the proper locations. I suppose this is my welcome back to graduate work. I've missed you, grad school!!*

I have this tendency to write snarky remarks in my notes during class, so I thought I might share some of them with you. Enjoy!

From Class the First:

-My nose will not stop running!

-The professor just compared grad school to weight lifting. It made me feel nerdier.

-Hint: drinking with the professor is acceptable

-Hope and Keep Busy

-Note to self: bookstore irrelevant

-The dude next to me never smiles!

-The professor keeps licking the corner of his mouth like Barty Crouch, Jr. from Harry Potter

-Writing that made me feel nerdier than the mental weightlifting thing.

From Class the Second:

-Need to find time to study Lefthanded Lithuanians in Oklahoma City 1919

-"Embiggens? I never heard that word before I moved to Springfield." "I don't know why. It's a perfectly cromulent word."

-An episode of the Simpsons is a great way to end class

-You know that guy in class who takes everything personally and is angry about everything? Yeah, he's in both of my classes.

*Despite this little hiccup, I am really excited to be back in class, back on a college campus (even if it is the wrong one--I think I'll get to run around the right one every once in a while to go to the library), and back stretching my brain to its limit. Life's little annoyances keep us on our toes, right? ;-)

Because He Came Home to Visit

2011-08-15T16:09:00.001-05:00

Travis came home to visit. In his two weeks of U.S. travels, he got to spend a couple of days with us here in good ol' Oklahoma. And boy, were we happy to see him!

After a Thompson-style gathering at his folks' house with the requisite hugging and photos, he hopped on the party bus with the cousins to celebrate Toby Neal's birthday (and Jake's too!). We spend the evening talking and dancing (Travis, Julie, and I TORE IT UP!) and laughing and laughing and laughing :-) Before we knew it, it was time to get back on the party bus and head home. After a Taco Bell stop, I got dropped off at home while Alec took Travis and Jeri to their respective homes.

After a good day in the basement of the Alpha Gam house (Go Greek, Go Gam!) and a pink squirrel with my girls at the Mont, Travis stopped by to meet Bailey and Daphne and see Bird's house now that I have moved in and gotten settled. The last time he saw it, it was still technically a bachelor pad. So, as you can see from the photos, Bailey has a new best buddy and we got a chance to hang out with our awesome cousin before sending him back to his home around the world. So glad he borrowed the car and came by!

And, if you haven't checked out his adventures, DO!

travisjthompson.wordpress.com

Because You Can Call Us Twinkletoes

2011-07-29T15:55:00.000-05:00

I haven't written anything about the wedding in a while, so I thought I'd go back to that for a bit.

On our engagement night, my Mama slipped an envelope in Alec's shirt pocket and said, "Ok, we may embarass you, but you're not allowed to embarass us!" They gave us money for dancing lessons. I laughed a little about this, because I never really thought about being too serious about our first dance together. But we had talked in the past about taking some ballroom lessons together for fun, so this sounded like it could be a good time.

Of course, our first hurdle was to find our First Dance Song. Turned out to be pretty easy. For Valentine's Day, Alec had bought us tickets to the Elton John/Billy Joel concert at the Ford Center (now the Oklahoma City Arena, soon to be the newest shrine to Chesapeake Energy). In a strange twist of fate, I had entered a contest shortly before Valentine's Day and after he had given me this lovely present, I won two tickets to the concert. So, we sold two of the seats and used the better ones. We're both Billy Joel fans, so we snuggled up when he sang, "Just the Way You Are." It became our song. And, when we began the wedding planning process, the big winner in the First Dance Song race.

So, come October, we made an appointment at DanceMakers in Oklahoma City to get our groove on. We met with Mercedes, a tiny bundle of suave-ness who managed to make us look good. We had three lessons with her in which she taught us our routine and practiced it with us. In between, we had three practice sessions on our own in the studio. She worked with our awkwardness until we finally began to have some fun with the rumba, and with each other while rumba-ing. Our practice sessions were interesting as we each tried to play coach to the other one and, let's face it, I don't take coaching too well. But we left with smiles on our faces at some aspect of the evenind and DEFINITELY got to know each other better!

The end result was a choreographed routine that we tried to make look less choreographed. We actually messed up a few times after our perfect run-through before we walked down the stairs at the reception (totally perfect, spot on!), and the version of the song was not the one we practiced with. Just a note--if you're practicing a routine, always provide your own music! But we laughed our way through it and made an amazing memory on an incredible night that went by waaaay too fast.

Because It Does Matter

2011-07-28T09:13:00.001-05:00

I just read this article on CNN.com entitled "If Students Fail History, Does It Matter." You can see from the title why I chose to read it.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/07/26/education.history.soboroff/index.html?hpt=hp_c2

The article points out that "Educators and reformers have several explanations for the low scores, including apathetic and disinterested students, poor teaching or problems with standardized testing. Some said that math, science and English get higher priority in schools because those subjects are tested under No Child Left Behind." It also states that "Some wonder whether schools should focus on history at all, when the ability to recall historic facts or themes might not help students land certain jobs later on."

Then there's the ray of hope. "But others say knowing how we came to our current way of life is always essential."

I'm with these folks.

History is NOT just a series of facts, dates, and themes. History is LIFE. Knowledge of our history informs everything that we do, every choice that we make, both as individuals and as a collective society. As the article continues, it discusses apathy in the political process as it relates to the disturbing lack of historical knowledge among students graduating from our schools. The connections are not surprising to me. While I'm not the most politically aware person, my rudimentary knowledge of political history does inform my choices when it comes election time. Historical knowledge and the teaching of history can increase analytical thought, which is essential to almost any job, whether it is one that is math and science related or one in the humanities. Or, even one that might not necessarily be deemed either.

History involves curiosity about how things happened. To narrow history to a series of dates and people to memories is to cheat students from a much more meaningful experience. Our society is soooo fascinated with celebrity and scandal, and history is full of that. Scandal has shaped our history (not exclusively, but there's much more out there that is salacious than people know!). But we reduce history to its most basic parts. That does everyone a disservice. Knowing a date and place doesn't help us know why an event occurred so that we can understand why we should or should not do something similarly today.

I don't know if that is a product of standardized testing, lack of funding, disinterested teachers, students, or parents. Maybe it's a combination of it all. In any case, it definitely matters if students fail history. They may not be doomed to repeat it, but they definitely will not understand their culture, or themselves, as fully, and will not contribute as completely to their community.

Because Ugg!

2011-07-22T14:33:00.001-05:00

I looked in my inbox today and had a moment of "Wow, I think I'm becoming too much of an adult for my own good." Then I realized that no, I would have balked at this when I was 15.

I readily admit that I can't dress myself. When people ask me my favorite stores, I generally reply, "The ones with stuff on sale." I hate buying clothes. I need a personal shopper. I really hate buying shoes because I can never convince myself that the cute ones are practical enough to buy. It causes inner turmoil. I have defective girl shopping genes. I am much better than I used to be. I actually buy things in season now. I don't only look at items on sale. I mean, I do have my limits, but I recognize that a well-rounded wardrobe can consist of that awesome sale find and a couple of great pieces from a real rack. I'm growing up.

And, I will admit, I've owned two pairs of Ugg boots. I bought the first pair right after I had surgery on my foot. It was winter and I wanted my feet to be warm and dry. They worked. I grew to really enjoy wearing them. They were comfy. I didn't necessarily think they were the most attractive things in the world, but they were good with certain outfits. So, when the next winter rolled around (and my other pair had mysteriously disappeared) I bought another pair. Slightly funkier, a bit like biker boots. Still very comfy and WARM.

So today I opened my email and found this ad. Sparkly Uggs. I don't think I can get on board with this. Really? Sequins? Who needs sparkly winter boots? How quickly will they get gross in nasty winter weather? I can see sparkly cute boots, or sparkly snowboots for a fourth grader, but for adults? Or even teenagers? Maaaaaybe the black ones. Or the silver ones. But you can bet I'll be laughing hysterically when Dorothy comes hightailing it down the road in her sparkly red Uggs with the Tin Man, the Scarecrow, and the Cowardly Lion. I may have just planned their advertising campaign...

Because It's a Typical Day

2011-07-20T16:58:00.001-05:00

Walk in, usually late, and open that door that says "Elizabeth M. Bass, Associate Editor of Publications." Set my purse on my desk, set my sippy cup on my coaster, and wake up my computer. It's a work day!

What DO you do all day, Baxter? Oh, it's a mixed bag, my friend, a mixed bag. Lately there's been a lot of learning new software, since I just got my snazzy new CPU complete with the Adobe Creative Suite CS5 so that I can begin doing my publication work in InDesign. Woohoo! After using software that hasn't been upgraded or supported since 2003, this is AMAZING! I mean, it's amazing in general because Adobe is so much more intuitive, but really, 2003.

So, I've been busily making new templates and learning the ins and outs of new software. Fun! And then there's always book reviews. Our scholarly journal has a section devoted to reviews of scholarly books on subjects such as Oklahoma history (duh!), the American West, American Indians, oil and gas history, farming and ranching history, and things of that nature. I get to find the books and find reviewers for the books. So, I get catalogs from various university presses and get to choose what books fit the bill. It's like going to the book fair when you're a kid with your flyer of books to choose from, and boy, did I love the book fair! Bet you would never have guessed that about me, huh? After that, I contact professors, grad students, and other experts in different fields and ask them to review the books for me. It goes a little something like this:

Dear Dr. Hufflepuff,

We have received The History of Duct Tape by Cedric Glockenspiel for review in The Chronicles. Please please please please please do it!!! And if you won't, please pawn it off on someone else!! I'll give you a puppy! And a unicorn! And a rainbow! And two free copies of the issue in which your review appears!*

Best regards,

Desperate Associate Editor Lady

Well, it's a bit more professional than that, but you get the idea. Most folks are pretty psyched to help out.

That's part of a day in the life. There will probably be another installment when we're in the midst of editing. I'll see how well red ink translates to a computer screen. I smell disaster!

*actually a truthful statement

Because We're Living on Tulsa Time

2011-07-19T14:53:00.001-05:00

Tulsa is an amazing city. It's full of history, but full of life at the same time. It's been overshadowed in recent years by the urban renewal in Oklahoma City, but it still has an unmistakable charm from its days as the Oil Capital of the World. That's right, I don't put any quotation marks around it, mister!

You can see the Council Oak, the tree under which the Muscogee (Creek) Indians would meet when they first came to the area they named Tulsey Town after their removal from the southeastern United States. There's building after building of amazing Art Deco architecture, from the Phitower to the Boston Avenue Methodist Church. Art museums such as Philbrook and Gilcrease house precious works of both European masters and artists of the American West. Young and old can take the plunge down a giant slide at Big Splash. Take in a baseball game at the new Drillers Stadium or a concert at the BOK Center. Or really take in a concert at Cain's Ballroom :-)

Side note: I was never allowed to go to Big Splash. It's the giant water park in Tulsa. Looking back, I'm not sure if it was too expensive or too "dangerous." I was an excellent swimmer.

And, then there's the Golden Driller. To many, the symbol of Tulsa. To some, the symbol of a Tulsa that no longer really exists. To me, awesome. The 76-foot-tall statue was originally built for the International Petroleum Exposition in 1953 by the Mid-Continent Supply Company based out of Fort Worth. He was so popular that he returned in 1959 and was permanently installed on the Tulsa Fairgrounds in 1966 in front of the International Petroleum Exposition building. His hand rests on an oil derrick that had been moved from the Seminole oil field. He was made the official Oklahoma state monument in 1979. A plaque at the base of the Driller reads, "The Golden Driller, a symbol of the International Petroleum Exposition. Dedicated to the men of the petroleum industry who by their vision and daring have created from God's abundance a better life for mankind." And he wears a size 393DDD shoe. Pretty sure he could stomp some cockroaches with those puppies!

The Oklahoma Historical Society also has a historical marker near the Golden Driller that explains the significance of the International Petroleum Exposition. This petroleum industry fair began in Tulsa in 1923 and was a huge event for the city and the international oil community until its popularity waned in the 1970s. The last IPE held in Tulsa was in 1979. The event then moved to Houston, and much of the oil industry followed.

But the Golden Driller still stands. A link to the past, but with each new coat of paint, hopeful for the future. He even gets dressed up for events--I've seen t-shirts on him, but if he wears a 393DDD shoe then what t-shirt size does he wear?!?!

Because There's Nothing Wrong with a Good Ruin

2011-07-15T15:04:00.001-05:00

On our way back from Thompson family fun at the lake for the pre-Fourth of July weekend, Bird and I decided to take a historical marker hunt detour over to Fort Washita. The fort is about 13 miles east of Madill out state highway 199. It is both an Oklahoma Historical Society site and a National Historic Site. It was also BLAZING hot that day, but it was totally worth walking around a bit to see all the cool stuff. As long as I had my trusty shade hat on :-)

Now, when I think about Oklahoma, I don't generally think about ruins. And when I think about nineteenth-century forts, I don't generally think about ruins. When I think about ruins, I think about ancient sites--Pompeii, the pyramids, Athens, Chichen Itza, places like that. But here in Oklahoma, we have ruins as well. Some of them aren't as old as the ones I mentioned, but they're pretty darned cool and have archaeological significance. There aren't necessarily written records of EVERYTHING that happened at these forts, so places like Fort Washita and, particularly, Fort Gibson up in northeastern Oklahoma have done archaeological surveys to find out more about the lives of the previous inhabitants. Where exactly were their homes? What items did they use? How did they go about their everyday lives? It's stuff we take for granted, but awesome to find out so we can compare what life was like then to what it is like now.

On to Fort Washita. To give credit where it is due, I'm taking my information from their visitor guide. Many of the buildings are either reproductions or just the foundations that have been unearthed, but you can imagine what was there before. Especially when you pass the line of latrines on your drive in to the visitor's center.

Fort Washita was established in 1842 near the border of the Republic of Texas. The main purpose of the fort was to protect the Chickasaw and Choctaw tribes that had been removed to Indian Territory from the Plains Indian tribes that resided in the western parts of the territory. It also served as an Indian Agency for the Chickasaws and Choctaws, most famously under Douglas Cooper, who also fought for the Confederacy in the Civil War. The fort was taken by the Confederacy during the Civil War and was never used as a United States fort again. In the 1880s the land upon which the fort resides became a part of the Colbert family allotment when tribal lands were divided through the Dawes Allotment Act. The Oklahoma Historical Society came into possession of Fort Washita in 1962 and it became a National Historic Landmark in 1965.

There's a big open area, the parade grounds, in the middle surrounded by the barracks houses. One barracks is completely gone, leaving only its foundation. The West Barracks, built in 1856, are a ruin, made of locally quarried limestone. These barracks burned in 1917. The South Barracks, originally built in 1849, were reconstructed in 1972 and were in use by re-enactors until last year when arsonists (aka bored late teenager/early twenties) set them on fire. They are the ones with the white covering on them.

You can also see where the fort school was, near the officers' quarters. All that remains of the officers' quarters is the chimney--it's kind of a haunting sight.

Because of it's long history, the fort has three different cemeteries--one that offered rest to federal soldiers who died before the Civil War, although those soldiers were moved to the US cemetery in Fort Gibson in the 1870s; a Confederate cemetery; and the Colbert family cemetery.

While we were walking around, six folks on three motorcycles were also taking a peek at the history. All we could think was how stinkin' hot it would be to be on a motorcycle that day. Ouch. We drove around a bit more and found a map of the California Gold Route. Fort Washita was a stop on the southern route to California to get in on the Gold Rush. Another prominent direction finder? Rock Mary. Dang it! Read my previous post where we DIDN'T find Rock Mary: http://thebaxter-rosecoloredglasses.blogspot.com/2010/05/hinton-and-clinton-and-cordell-oh-my.html

So, another successful historical marker hunt. Where will we find the next one? You never know!

Because We Pump Up a Nerdy Jam, Yo

2011-07-14T16:59:00.001-05:00

I'll admit it, I had lost something I shouldn't have lost.

The glorious mix CD that Jo and Briton made for my bachelorette party.

Last night, when cleaning out the back of my car so that Bailey wouldn't have anything to chew on the way out to the Farm to have her nails trimmed (yikes!), I discovered it, partially hidden under a seat and in a case with another CD. I immediately put it back into my CD player where it belongs. And now, I give you Baxter's Bachelorette Mix, by JoJo and B-Dog.

1) I Believe in a Thing Called Love by the Darkness--Some of the lovely folks in my honor fraternity adopted this as a kind of anthem. An anthem of awesome.

2) A Little Help from my Friends by the Beatles--Because my friends are amazing. Jo and Briton planned a fabulous shindig with bowling, an inappropriate whistle for me to wear, buttons, fondue, car magnets, and a checklist. And a frickin' mix CD!

3) Don't Stop Believin' by Journey--A few years ago I went on a few dates with a boy who then told me that he was intimidated by my intelligence. I was too smart for him to date. We'd always had fun together and had been friends for quite a while. I wasn't too smart to be his friend, just to smart to be his girlfriend. It was at that point that I realized that, no matter what, I would always be myself. I would gain nothing by trying to downplay any aspect of myself. It is never my goal to make anyone feel less intelligent, but no one is going to make me feel like being smart is a liability. This song came on the radio as I was driving down the highway. I rolled down my windows and sang at the top of my lungs. It's been near and dear ever since.

4) I'll Never Go Out of Style on You by Bowling for Soup--I once said I wanted this song played at my wedding reception. I opted against it, but I thought it was awesome that my girls remembered and put it on the mix.

5) Always Look on the Bright Side of Life by the Spamalot cast--Yes, you know you're a nerd when there's a Monty Python song on your bachelorette party mix. Rock on.

6) Use Somebody by Kings of Leon--But then we follow it up with Kings of Leon. We're nothing if not eclectic. And really love Kings of Leon.

7) Just Dance by Lady Gaga--You've gotta have a dance jam! And this one is more than appropriate. Where are my keys, I lost my phone...

8) The Lumberjack Song by Monty Python--A second Monty Python song. My friends know me, what can I say?

9) My First Kiss by 3OH!3 featuring Ke$ha--Another great high energy song. Nice.

10) Anyway You Want It by Journey--Let's face it, I less than three Journey. It's just way too sing-able.

11) Danc Dance by Fall Out Boy--Jo and I have a joke about this song, that my friend Karen actually started. During the chorus, I actually say, "Ted's pants!" and it really, really annoys Jo. It's awesome. Just like when I say, "I'll be your number one with a mullet" instead of "bullet" during "Sugar We're Going Down."

12) Greatest Day by Bowling for Soup--Alluding to the wedding, and the great bachelorette party. And the awesomeness of Bowling for Soup.

13) I Love Rock and Roll by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts--Classic and amazing. Got to do this with live band karaoke. Can't help but sing it.

Every song has personality and was carefully chosen. It was such a great gift and a great way to start and end the evening in the car! And, it's an amazing way to relive the festivities :-)

Because I'm a Worrier (who wants to be a Warrior!)

2011-07-11T14:38:00.001-05:00

I probably won't say too many things about my new chosen school are awesome (sorry, Mom!), but the fact that I already know what books I need for class, and have known for a couple of months now, is awesome. So, last Friday I spent some time ordering my books for the two classes I'm enrolled in for the Fall 2011 semester. My schedule looks like this:

HIST 5120-352 Colonial M 02:30-5:10PM Main Campus MUR 148 8-22-11 to 12-09-11 Cooper, James Fenimore, Jr. 3.00 Normal Grade Rules

HIST 5033-001 Intro to Public History M 06:45-9:30PM Main Campus MUR 148 8-22-11 to 12-09-11 Bryans, William S. 3.00 Normal Grade Rules

And the schedule game with book lists. Seven books for the colonial class, six for public history. I already owned one book for each class, so good on me!

When I look at that schedule, I notice a few things:

1) I have a teacher named after the dude who wrote The Last of the Mohicans. Makes me wonder how he feels about his parents. Although obviously his dad was named after him as well.

2) I will be spending a lot of time in Murray Hall Room 148.

3) If anyone wants to hang out with my husband, he'll be living the almost bachelor life on Mondays.

4) I haven't sat in a classroom in more than six years. How am I going to react to this?! My mind wanders in thirty-minute-long staff meetings. However, I believe they can be classified as "less than fascinating."

5) I will be missing half a day of work every Monday for a semester. How will I stay caught up?

6) I can only take six hours of classwork each semester. How will I ever finish?

7) Hey, by the time December rolls around, I'll be six hours closer to a Ph.D. Glass half full!

8) I've got to pack a sack dinner on Mondays so I'm sure that I eat something.

9) You know, class could really be fun after not being in class for more than six years.

10) Thirteen is a lot of books. And with each shipping confirmation email it feels like they're multiplying. Can books do that? Is it, like, a reaction with the dust jackets or something? Good thing I've already kind of read two of them!

11) I read a lot faster when I was in grad school. Can I re-develop my skimming skills?

I'm convinced that it's possible. I think :-)

Because We're Jet-Setters, Dude

2011-06-30T16:42:00.001-05:00

20. A picture of somewhere you'd love to travel

We have a plan. In May, after the spring semester is over, we want to head to Ireland and then Italy for two weeks. Ambitious, yes. Out of the realm of possibility? Heck no! We want to travel on our own around the countryside a bit, see Dublin and Rome, and maybe take the train on the continent so we can see some things in between. We are in the EXTREME preliminary stages of planning, so suggestions are welcome!

Why Ireland and Italy, besides the fact that our vacation is obviously brought to you by the letter I? Well, I have wanted to go back to Ireland since spending less than 24 hours in Cork/Blarney in September 2007 with my Mama while on our trip to London. I told her we had to sneak over so I could kiss the Blarney Stone (and yes, I know all about it) since we were so close. And now that I've seen how gorgeous Ireland is, I have to see the rest of it. And I have to see all the awesome historical and literary stuff in Dublin. Bird really wants to go to Italy and see all the wonders of Rome and Vatican City, which I think will be most awesome as well. Thus, the "I's" have it!

And, of course, it would be awesome to visit Cambodia! Mostly to see Travis, but I wouldn't mind hanging out with an elephant or a crocodile too. I suppose we could keep the croc at a distance!

Because the Baby Jesus is my Favorite Jesus

2011-06-29T14:33:00.001-05:00

Yes, I'm stealing lines from Talladega Nights. No, I'm not sure if I'm proud of that or not.

Earlier this month, Alec and I decided it was time to take another of our patented Oklahoma road trips. We had long talked about making a pilgrimage, and we use pilgrimage in only the loosest sense of the word, to the National Shrine of the Infant Jesus of Prague. I cannot begin to justice to the story of the Infant Jesus that begins all the way back in Prague, Czechoslovakia during the Thirty Years War some four hundred years ago, so I will leave you to peruse the history on the fine website associated with the parish. This Infant Jesus is not that original Infant Jesus, but one sent over to be an American version.

Our day began as we attempted to get on the motorcycle. I was excited to ride, as this would be my first long-ish ride and the new backrest was now in place. Unfortunately, the bike had other plans. Like having a mostly dead battery (anyone else hearing Billy Crystal from the Princess Bride right now?). So, Bird set up the trickle charger and I put on some sunscreen. We finally headed out the scenic way to Prague, which is pronounced with a long a sound, not like the European city. Makes it so much more fun to say you went to see the Infant Jesus of "Praig."

On our way to Prague, we passed by a country corner with a man selling school spirit yard decorations. They were your typical Sooner Schooners and Pistol Petes, except for one grouping. There he was, SpongeBob SquarePants, waving an OU flag. If we hadn't been on the motorcycle on the way TO Prague, we might have tried to find a way to bring SpongeBob home.

We arrived in Prague, not really knowing exactly where to go, but hoping we would find it quickly and a kolache stand would be right next door. Sadly the only thing that looked open on main street was Subway *sad trombone* So we stopped and looked at the Jim Thorpe historical marker (he was born just outside Prague! He was the greatest athlete of the first part of the 20th century!), admired the mural, found our destination, hopped our (excrutiatingly sore--oh wait, that was just me) butts back on the bike, and drove a bit down the street to the church.

The National Shrine of the Infant Jesus of Prague was impressive. A very pretty chapel. An interesting story. An icon with more fancy outfits than I have, all lined up in a glass case. I felt it would be in poor taste to take any photos inside the chapel, so I didn't. But if you look at the website you get a glimpse of him. And, as much as I'm trying not to be offensive, I couldn't help but find him a bit creepy. And all of the stained glass windows featured him in some way. Must be the thick-skinned Protestant in me coming out. Nonetheless, beautiful and worth seeing. It was amazing how many people from across the country had signed the guest book--Illinois, Texas, New Mexico, and others I can't remember. No telling if they came for blessings or just saw the highway sign, but the diversity was interesting. If you want to hit the gift shop, however, it's not open on Saturday, so no Infant Jesus dashboard bobbleheads for us!

We walked around a bit, found a garden that appeared to feature St. Francis of Assissi (we found a croc for Travis!) and then hopped back on the bike to go once I thought my knees and rear could stand it again. I did learn that, as uncomfortable as those motorcycles with the really extended legs look, they're probably really comfortable because my knees were screaming at me for being bent by the time we finished the day! But, it was awesome to be out in the sunshine and wind :-)

On our way home we made a stop in Shawnee at Sonic. When we stopped we had no idea that we were stopping at the 3000th Sonic. Pin a rose on our noses! They had it bricked into the patio and a plaque out front to boot. I think it made us enjoy our vanilla Dr. Pepper and cherry limeade that much more.

http://www.shrineofinfantjesus.com/

Because We Need to Pump Up the Jam

2011-06-27T16:31:00.001-05:00

13. A picture of your favorite band or artist.

Favorite bands are hard for me. I like a LOT of music, so my tastes are varied. Patsy Cline, Kelly Clarkson, Death Cab for Cutie, Ben Folds, Brad Paisley--it goes a little all over the map. But the three listed above are perennial favs that I can listen to all the time. The CDs should be worn out by now.

Because She Always had Oreos, Even if They were Stale

2011-06-23T15:32:00.001-05:00

30. A picture of someone you miss.

I miss my Granny. She passed away in May 2010. We weren't incredibly close, but we saw each other and talked to each other and knew the things going on in each others' lives. I got to know her and my Poppa better when I spent a summer interning at the Sapulpa Historical Society's Museum with my Poppa--it was then that she learned of my abiding love of Oreos and ALWAYS had some there for me when she knew I would be there, even if it meant that sometimes the Oreos were a little bit stale. They tasted just as good to me :-)

She was a sassy lady who spoke her mind (she was reported to have had the first bikini in Sapulpa!), but always made sure that you knew she loved you. I can still hear the way she would said my name, which was so incredibly distinctive. She was everyone's Granny. I'm pretty sure I still have every Disney movie video she gave me as a kid, too. After she passed, she was described as our family's "glue," and that was probably the best word to describe her. She made sure everyone knew what was going on in each other's lives. She was a matriarchal figure, it seems to me even to our extended family. And she loved her family fiercely.

Even as an older woman, she used email daily as a way to keep in touch, not only with us but with her classmates. In fact, about a month ago, one of her classmates came into the History Center. It was a man I had never met, but he had the front desk call up to my office to meet me. He had seen Poppa last fall, after Granny had passed away, and knew that I still worked here and that I'd gotten married and my name had changed. I made my way to the galleries to meet with this gentleman and his wife, and the other couple that was visiting with them. He even knew about my time on Jeopardy, which Granny would have told him about years ago. I had a lovely chat with them and smiled my way back to my office, thinking of how awesome my Granny was.

And then I realized how much I miss the Glue.

Because Snail Mail is Awesome

2011-06-22T17:04:00.001-05:00

19. A picture and a letter.

How about a picture, a picture of a letter, and then a letter?

My amazing cousin-by-marriage Travis, who is in Cambodia with the Peace Corps and blogs about it at travisjthompson.wordpress.com, recently sent Bird and I letters in response to some goodies we sent him. So, the photos are us with the Travis on a stick we had at our wedding and the letter he just sent me with awesome Cambodian stamps.

Dear Travis,

Can I just tell you how shocked and excited Bird and I were to get your letters and postcard in the mail? Considering how long it took for our package to get to you, we figured that anything you might send would take at least as long to get to us. But, lo and behold, our letters dated June 4 came last Friday. Such a great end-of-the-week surprise!

I loved the paper, by the way. The letters or words on the top were so intricate, and even the border on the left side was decorative. I know that it was just a planning book, but it's amazing how another language can make simple things look so much more beautiful. I mean, it could have been telling me to go to Hades and I would have thought, "Aw, pretty!" It's like the necklace I have that my Dad brought back for me from Saudi Arabia that has my name in Arabic on it. At one point, I wondered if it actually said my name, but then one of my sorority sisters who read Arabic looked at me while I was wearing it and said, "Hey, it says Elizabeth!" Made me feel a lot better about wearing it :-)

I'm so glad that you've been able to use the things we sent you with your students! Where the Sidewalk Ends was one of my favorites, and when we saw it in the store we decided that you had to have it for them. Shel Silverstein was an interesting man--he wrote "A Boy Named Sue" and I'm pretty sure he was a cartoonist for Playboy!

We can't wait to see you in August! Stay safe and well until then. Good luck with your GirlTalk project--it sounds like an incredibly rewarding undertaking with a group that really needs the time and attention. I know you'll make a difference.

You'll hear more from us soon, but I'll stop the public letter now :-)

Big hugs!!

Elizabass Jeopardy

Because It's Happy Engagement Day for TEAM Bass!

2011-06-16T14:44:00.001-05:00

25. A picture of your favorite day.

I'm not sure if it's my absolute favorite day or not, but it's WAY up there, it was pretty awesome, and it happened a year ago today! The photos are from the dinner he planned with our families for had after he popped that incredible question, including the photo of the ring on my hand we sent out from my phone to announce the engagement. And here's the story, as we wrote it together for our wedding website:

"I might have something really cool to show you after work, but I'll have to update you later as to if it's in my possession by then. Have a great day! I love you so much!"

Elizabeth received this text message at 8:53 a.m. on June 16, 2010 from Alec. Elizabeth thought it might be a motorcycle helmet. Turns out it was an engagement ring. Here's how it went down:

After receiving that message, Elizabeth was slightly suspicious of Alec's "something really cool," so she consulted with her coworkers at lunch, who all assured it was no big deal, it was just an engagement ring. She scoffed at them, and told them there was no way he'd send a text message about an engagement ring. To this, one of her guy coworkers replied, "Is he a guy? He'd send a text about a ring."

When Alec and Elizabeth talked on the phone later that afternoon, he told her he was going to leave work early (meaning: at 5 p.m.) that afternoon to race her home and then he'd take her to dinner before her church orchestra rehearsal that evening. So, Elizabeth left the History Center promptly at 5 to head home.

What Alec had actually done was leave work at 4:30 p.m., go to Elizabeth's house, lock the door, spread some rose petals on the floor, shut Daphne the cat in the bedroom to keep her from eating the rose petals, decide he didn't like the way the rose petals looked, sweep up the rose petals and put them in the trash, and spend the rest of the time waiting for Elizabeth while pacing.

Elizabeth finally arrived home. And then her neighbor came across the street to talk about his camper that had been parked in her driveway for several days since a garage sale the neighbor had the weekend previous. Yes neighbor, you need to move the camper. With that taken care of, Elizabeth went to the door. Why is it locked? She started opening it and Alec finished unlocking it from the other side.

The door opened to Alec standing there with three roses in his hand. He started saying all sorts of wonderful things, and Elizabeth realized her coworkers were right. Then he got down on one knee.

"Elizabeth Mahala Baxter, will you marry me?"

"Of course I'll marry you!"

Hugs, kisses, the ring actually fit even though Elizabeth didn't really look at it for another ten minutes, and then it was time to decide where to go for dinner. Alec chose Charleston's, site of their first date. They loaded into the truck and headed that direction while Elizabeth attempted to call her parents. No answer. Frustration! They got to the restaurant and just as Elizabeth was about to ask for a table for two, Alec cut in with, "Reservation for Bass." Just past the hostess booth, Elizabeth could see the backs of her parents' and brother's heads. His family and her family were both present to celebrate the engagement.

Because We Take Our State Song Seriously Here, Folks

2011-06-15T14:25:00.001-05:00

Oooook-lahoma, where the wind comes sweeping down the plain!

Oklahoma adopted the title song from Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical Oklahoma! as her state song in 1953, thanks to the marketing savvy of future Governor George, Nigh and we take it very seriously. I mean, look at the photos! That wasn't a tornado, people, those were just 70-100 mph straightline winds. Although it could have been a downburst (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downburst). Anyway, we're hardcore.

Last night Bird and I decided to head over to the mall to take care of some shopping that needed to get done, not thinking that the gathering clouds meant anything serious. We figured we'd get some rain and move on. We did not expect the monsoon/hurricane/breath of the gods that tore the fences of our neighborhood apart, knocked down trees, ripped the roof off of a nearby apartment complex, relocated every trampoline in east Norman, and gave Amy a new playhouse in her front yard. The storm looked unpleasant on the west side of Norman, but not nearly as ugly as it was on the east side. On our way home from the mall, we received a call from Amy letting us know that our fence was down and Bailey was going a bit crazy. One of our neighbors was trying to corral her, but she wasn't responding. The neighbor came back outside for another try and found her on our front porch, barking at her kitty sister to let her in. Daphne stubbornly refused. Our kind neighbor took our soaking wet dog to his garage until we got home.

When we approached the east side, we saw downed trees, downed power lines, downed donation huts, and downed fences. No trampoline was left unturned. Just about every fence in our neighborhood had at least one panel down. Our posts were snapped. We had a section of roof shingle from somewhere (we don't think our house) in our backyard. We heard about air conditioning units that were moved. We took a friend over to pick up his wife's car because a wayward trampoline had mauled his truck.

Bailey was okay, but she has issues with relieving herself while on a leash, so this could be a rough few days on her bladder. She's spending today at Doggy Daycare with PaPa and Grandma and the farm dogs, so she'll probably be exhausted by the time she gets home :-) Bird found Daphne under the sink in her old hiding place, despite our childlocks on the cabinet doors. She was determined to be safe! We're just thankful our girls are safe--everything else can be cleaned up!

Because She Brings Out the Silly in Me

2011-06-14T11:48:00.001-05:00

10. A picture of the person you do the most ****** up things with.

Okay, maybe the things we do aren't messed up. They're just super fun. And amazing. And photo-worthy. And hyper. Have I mentioned the awesomeness of my Grand-Big yet?

Karen is my Grand-Big in Phi Sigma Pi. It's her fault I started going on awesome road trips. She told me I was going to WICKED 2 in Kansas City. TOLD me. And you don't say no to Karen. It's her fault I did half the goofy things I did. It, however, is not her fault I sang the Announcements Song--that was E-Beth. She planned trips for us even after we stopped going to National PSP events. She taught me the meaning of Brotherhood, and that included lots of silliness, mirth, travel, and love. P.S.--I need another trip with my Karen, if you're reading!

Karen helped me come out of a shell I didn't even know I had. She stuck by me in a very difficult time in my life. All with the vivaciousness and readiness for another adventure that makes me want to get in my car and head down to Dallas right now to see her and her Jeff.

So, some explanation of these photos:

The first time I really got to hang out a whole lot with Karen was that roadtrip to KC for WICKED that she told me I was going on. There was a pinata. Inside was the requisite candy. There were also condoms and certificates for alcohol. Karen got those, and then stood around looking sad-eyed for someone to partake with her. With sporks in her hair. I think it was at this point I realized how awesome she is. Or that I was in trouble. Either way, I was going to have fun.

She has a tendency to bite my cheek.

We went to Atlanta for National Convention and ran around Olympic Park. I ran through the splash pad. We found a statue to pose with.

Karen couldn't make it to WICKED one year (WICKED was our PSP regional conference). So, since she had channeled my being through an A1 Steaksauce bottle for a birthday party I couldn't attend, I channeled her being through a Shiner Bock bottle for the fun parts of the conference. The bottle was cooling off after some dancing and fun. It had recently been in a fort that had been built in one of the other chapters' rooms.

She (and Lacy) even wore a t-shirt for one of my exhibits around Washington, D.C. for me when we went there for Convention. Even though it was kinda freezing.

Because Reading is Fundamental

2011-06-13T16:33:00.001-05:00

23. A picture of your favorite book

I have several favorite books.

The ones you read over and over again. They range from the classics, like Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen's amazing social satire!) to To Kill a Mockingbird (social consciousness through the eyes of innocence) to modern fare such as The Know-It-All (I'm going to read the entire Encyclopedia Britannica and tell you about it in amusing anecdotes!) and Confederates in the Attic (which sparked my love of travel literature and is also a great study of the perception of the Civil War in modern southern society, from a non-southern perspective). And then there's Cheaper by the Dozen (I haven't seen the movie and have no intention because the book is amazing, written about the 1920s, and has this woman as the mother. True story, man http://www.slate.com/id/2094243/).

I don't generally read fiction, although there are two works of fiction on this list. I read them in intermediate high school and they have stuck with me. Now I read tend to read books by travel writers and historians, dreaming of the day when I will write some great book that only nerds like me will read :-)

Because Irrational Fears are Fun!

2011-06-10T15:29:00.001-05:00

28. A picture of something you're afraid of.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you my irrational fear of birds.

Yes, most are harmless. They will do nothing more than sweetly chirp away in the trees, providing beautiful ambient music for a nature-filled afternoon. Some eat mosquitos. Some dive bomb you while you're standing on a porch nonchalantly talking to a neighbor. Some chase you as you walk with childish carefree abandon around the Tulsa Zoo. Some honk at you incessantly on romantic strolls around ponds.

I'm not a fan. I think, deep down, they know that and they seek me out.

Irrational, yes. Totally unfounded, I think not.

I have faced my fear on multiple occasions. At a Renaissance Faire I once held a Redtailed Hawk on my arm for, like, a minute and a half or something because my friend's mom really wanted me to. It was a very nice, well-trained bird and my mind was about to explode. And on our honeymoon, in an effort to feel like less of a failure after the snorkeling debacle, I held a large parrot/macaw type thing on my shoulder without incident. And then a monkey bit me. I think they conspired.

I blame the peacocks and geese at the Tulsa Zoo growing up.

Because I'm No Julia Child. I'm Not Nearly Tall Enough.

2011-06-10T12:41:00.000-05:00

22. A picture of something you wish you were better at.

Most activities deemed the purview of the domestic goddess are relatively foreign territory to me. Cooking, sewing, these types of things stress me out. It's not that I'm really horrible at them, they just aren't enjoyable to me. I do, however, wish I was better at them. I would like to like them. So, I'm making attempts. Like the ones pictured above.

I've been working on salsa. It's getting better! I just need some better tomatoes. And maybe a different kind of onion. Any tips?

Briton gave me this delicious-looking lemon angelfood cake mix for my birthday. Now, I'm a boxed cake pro, but I've never made an angelfood cake before. Fortunately for me, this one had powered eggwhites, so there was not egg separating involved! We haven't actually had a chance to take a bite out yet, but it looks delicious!

*Funny note* It had a "glaze packet," which was a packet with a powdered substance in it to which you were supposed to add two tablespoons of lemon juice. The powdered substance, to my delight, was just powdered sugar. And that's what I figured it would be. I felt very knowledgeable of kitchen-y things in that moment.

Because My Posse Needed Threads, Yo

2011-06-07T16:02:00.001-05:00

Back to the wedding!

I had chosen my dress, so now I had to choose wardrobe for the ladies who would be standing with me. Now, as we have already discussed, I am a lousy shopper. Now, imagine that multiplied times six, with the Best Woman, bridesmaids, and junior bridesmaid. Yikes. All I knew was that I didn't want something that was too fussy, and I didn't want anything long. I didn't feel like our wedding was an incredibly formal affair, just a nice affair, so I didn't want floor-length dresses. And I wanted dark green. I was really glad that those criteria narrowed things down quite a bit!

I found a couple, but the most economical were at David's Bridal. I had originally thought I might want them to all wear the same dress, but then I decided to have them wear different ones once I saw them in the different styles. It was a better choice. So, there are my girls (minus Katie) in the dresses they tried on to order their dark green bridesmaids dresses. I think it took a total of 15 minutes to get everything figured out. We don't mess around.

Then we walked across the parking lot and ate at Red Robin. Yum.

P.S.--I had decided after I picked my dress that I wasn't going to try to go on some crazy diet before the wedding. I had only given myself five months to get ready, so I decided to just be happy and healthy, take care of myself, and enjoy. Other things would probably stress me out enough. I would make attempts to eat healthy, but I wasn't going to go crazy and exercise constantly or anything. I didn't feel the need to lose weight. I have my whole life to worry about that, why worry in the short time before the wedding? Sure, the photos will be around forever, but so will the memory of being happy :-)

Besides, I apparently get to do this again in 10 years--I'll lose the weight for the beach vow renewal he's planning ;-)

Because I Don't Like to Restrict My Creativity

2011-06-07T13:13:00.000-05:00

9. A picture of the person who has gotten you through the most.

Yes, I'm skipping ahead a bit to accomodate my current access to photos. And the numbers restrict my creativity. Yeah, I'll stick with that story.

The people who have gotten me through the most. This is a fairly easy one. I know that my Mama, Daddy, and big Brother are there to get me through anything. From being my biggest fans to letting me cry on them in heartbreaks, they take the good and the bad. They have known all of me the longest, and still don't mind having me around.

And then there's my girls. Briton, Jo, and I may have been an unlikely crew to become tight at Upsilon Chapter of Alpha Gamma Delta, but despite our differences (probably because of them) we did. These are the girls I call when the world crashes down because I know they're there to help me start to pick things up. But not before we get a Hideaway pizza and some ice cream.

Even in the short amount of time that my husband and I have been together, we have been through some sad times with each of us losing a grandparent, some happy times with the births of friends' babies, weddings, and a new job for me, and I look forward to him being the one to get me through life's ups and downs (with help from our friends and family) for the rest of our lives.

*Way to end it on a cheesy note, Baxter ;-)

Because Interpretation is Important

2011-06-06T10:10:00.001-05:00

4. A picture of your favorite night.

So, we'll face facts--I'm not good at keeping up with this. But, I will make it through, I promise!

Now, how to interpret "my favorite night." It's hard to think of my favorite night EVER, although there are a few that run through my head.

Like a series of Sunday nights after youth choir and church in high school. My friends would pile in whoever's vehicle was in the parking lot (usually Sarah's Jeep that I wasn't allowed to ride in but rode in anyway) and head over to Braum's to sit around, eat ice cream (or, in my case, sugar packets) and laugh at each other.

Or the night we got engaged and we got to start talking about a real future together, not just those hypothetical things we each wanted from some future partner. And then we got to share it with our family and our friends.

Of course there's the wedding, but you've seen ten million photos of that already!

My current favorite night is any night when we just get to eat a delicious, homecooked meal and then sit on the couch for some DVRed TV and family couch time with the kitty and puppy. Or go play some trivia at Abner's Alehouse :-) However, I don't seem to have any photos of that.

There are many more--too many to name. Perhaps sometime I'll post more photos of those!

Because I Feel Like Catching Up

2011-06-03T10:28:00.001-05:00

3. A picture of the cast from your favorite show.

This one's easy.

Ask my husband what DVDs I cycle through on a regular basis. I go from Season 1 to Season 7 and then start again. When the show was originally on the air, I didn't start watching until Season 3 or 4, and that was thanks to my friend and fraternity brother E-Beth who mentioned how fantastic it was. I started watching over a summer at home and was hooked. The fast-paced dialogue, the pop culture references that I don't understand but feel the need to look up in the handy-dandy guide that comes with the DVD set, the strange townfolk, and just the intelligence of the writing (well, until most of Season 7, but that just happened...) all come together to make Gilmore Girls a show that I just can't get tired of. I watch it when I need something on in the background, I watch it when I'm alone and need to get to sleep, I watch it when I can't find anything else on and want something I KNOW I'll enjoy. I get in the mood for certain seasons. I think that someday Rory and Jess will end up together, even though he was a punk and wasn't good for her in high school. He got his crap together finally. Although I didn't cry at the finale, I got a bit misty. And other episodes made me cry a bit. And still do.

Because I Procrastinated...

2011-06-03T10:17:00.001-05:00

2. A picture of you and the person you have been closest with the longest.

Yeah, so I'm already a day behind. They didn't say it was 30 CONSECUTIVE days of photos, now did they? Maybe they did, I didn't read the fine print. Anyway, I'm fudging this one anyway, Here's two photos.

One of my big brother Matt, because let's face it, he was here first and who else was I going to try to sneak a peak at Santa with, fight with, confuse my Mom with Monty Python references with, and know that he's always there for me? Heck, he was the Man of Honor at my wedding for crying out loud.

But, in the non-family category, I've got Misty. Misty and I met in preschool. Then we re-met in 4th grade children's choir at church. And even though we were in rival high school bands, we've maintained a friendship that has transcended distance and time. We don't get to see each other very often, but when we can, we make time to see each other. And eat Mexican food. And laugh. And we keep up with each other's crazy lives as best we can. After all, we are incredibly beautiful diamonds.

Because Mallori is My Inspiration

2011-06-01T13:41:00.001-05:00

My amazing friend and sister Mallori over at <a href="http://nushkoboaiukli-chokvshweki.blogspot.com/">Life is Beautiful</a> has started doing the 30 Pictures in 30 Days photo challenge, and I've been inspired. And, it sounds like it might be fun :-) So, to keep up with the aiukli, I thought I'd join the fun.

My list may differ from hers, but the idea is the same--to explore life in photographs. Such a fun project!

Day 1: A Picture of Yourself with 10 Facts

The photos is above, so here's just the facts, ma'am.

1) I am afraid of birds. But I married a man who's nickname is Bird. Amazing.

2) I have four degrees, two bachelors degrees and two masters degrees. I'm going back for a Ph.D. Apparently I am a masochist.

3) I can't whistle. My friends at church growing up tried to teach me. I failed.

4) I won three days on Jeopardy! my senior year of college. It wasn't college Jeopardy!, although I tried to get on the college tournament.

5) When I was growing up, I thought I would be Miss America, a veterinarian, the President of the United States, or a medical researcher. I am an editor at the state Historical Society and I LOVE my job.

6) I am a sister and a brother. No, I'm not hermaphroditic, I am a member of Alpha Gamma Delta women's fraternity and Phi Sigma Pi National Coed Honor Fraternity, which means I am both a sister and a brother. And some of my sisters are my brothers. Oh, and I have an actual, biological brother and a brother-in-law and sister-in-law, too.

7) I eat my carrot sticks with mustard.

8) I play the French horn, although I haven't had the opportunity to do so since I changed churches in December. I'm a proud band nerd!

9) I may be addicted to Dr. Pepper. And Mr. Pibb is NOT the same!

10) I sing in the car. A lot.

I'm going to continue posts about the wedding, so some days there may be two. Hopefully that's not overkill :-)

Fwd: Because It's All About Location, Location, Location!

2011-05-31T16:31:00.001-05:00

Photos of the staircase at Sam Noble during a recon mission and the mammoth at the reception.

We've got clothes, people, and now we need places! My crazy Google skills were put to good use as we looked up churches and reception halls, comparing prices and availabilities for our chosen date of November 20. Question one: do we get married in the Oklahoma City area, or the Tulsa area?

This was a bit of a toughie for me, as I grew up in Broken Arrow and my family still makes their home there. I feel a strong tie to that area, but I decided that really, I had lived in central Oklahoma for the past ten years, so the wedding should be where we live. It would also be a lot easier for us to plan something where it wouldn't involve two hours of driving to check on the venues, caterers, and whatnot. So, the Oklahoma City area, but where? My church was located in north OKC, but then we had to find a reception site nearby that would be acceptable. This proved more difficult than I had anticipated, partially due to our extensive guest list. Then, something caught my attention.

The mammoth.

How cool is it to spend the evening dancing around a giant mammoth statue? Anyone? I'm the only one impressed? Okay, well, that's cool with me.

There was this little part of my brain that also felt like it was almost a way to have my Grandma Joye at the wedding. What, crazy bride lady?! You see, my Grandma Joye, my Mama's mother, collected elephants. When I was younger, I'd dust her collection as the "chore" I would do over at her house. She passed away right at the beginning of my eighth grade year, and I have most of her elephant collection. In a strange way, it was like having a part of her there to enjoy my wedding day, even though I knew she was enjoying it in her own way without aid of a giant mammoth statue.

Of course, this left the matter of a church. I didn't have a church home in Norman, and asking our guests to drive from north OKC to Norman was not something we wanted to do. So, we started investigating Baptist churches in Norman for capacity and willingness to let nonmembers get married in their facilities. Based on those two criteria, we narrowed it down to First Baptist or Trinity Baptist. Trinity was less expensive, so that was the choice. We already had a minister, so we didn't need to worry about that, which was nice.

Just like that, invitations could be printed!

Because the Lion will Lie Down with the Lamb, Eventually

2011-05-27T10:31:00.001-05:00

This is the type of standoff we're getting daily in our house now.

Bailey, the 40 lb. puppy, desperately wants to play with big sister Daphne, the cat. Daphne isn't having any of it. To compound this, Bailey is also scared spitless of Daphne the cat. Daphne the declawed, 6 lb. cat. All Daphne has to do is hiss and Bailey goes running in the other direction. These interactions generally last 5-10 minutes. It makes for an interesting evening.

We've set Bailey's LARGE crate up in our bedroom. To give us some space to put pillows and other items, Bird rigged up a piece of cardboard over the top and covered it with a blanket, also giving Bailey a cave-effect. In a fit of whimsy and to save some space (and because it was a tall place that Bailey couldn't get to), we put Daphne's carrier/den on top of Bailey's crate. So, two nights ago when Bird went to put Bailey in her crate for bed, the puppy wouldn't go in because Daphne was sitting on top of the crate looking down at her. Daphne wasn't hissing or being menacing--she was actually rolling and looking cute--but Bailey was so freaked she wouldn't go in. Cat was briefly moved, dog was inserted into crate, and all was right with the world.

Someday those two will get along, I swear!

Because We Needed a Posse

2011-05-25T11:27:00.001-05:00

Now that I've gotten the severe weather-ness out of my system, back to more fun topics :-)

I should have started with a disclaimer that "Objects and subjects in this story are more disorderly than they appear." Meaning that the product of writing about a wedding six months after the fact is a more subject-based storyline than a chronological one. So, we reach the subject of attendants, which I will mostly address from my side of the aisle.

One the first things we had to think about was who would we have up there with us for this shindig? We knew who we wanted to perform the ceremony, if he was willing. My good friend Katie (who is like a little sister to me) is married to a music minister (who happened to be my orchestra director at the church I had been attending). We wanted him to perform the ceremony, which would be his first wedding to officiate. I think we surprised him when we asked, which was kind of awesome.

Next, attendants. Now, I pretty much had mine in mind, depending on how many we decided to have. Jo and Briton were no brainers. The aforementioned Katie. We both thought we should have Natascha, because if it hadn't been for her, we would never have met in the first place. And of course, my future sister-in-law Amy. But among those people, choosing a Maid or Matron of Honor would be difficult. We were sitting at my parents' dining room table one morning very shortly after the engagement, sorting through our posse. I mentioned something about his sister and my brother and said, "It would just make so much more sense if my brother was over with me." To which he replied, "I couldn't think of a better Best Man than Amy Bass." So, Brother became my Man of Honor and Amo became the Best Woman. Such a simple solution. We both would have been honored to have them up on either side, but it just made more sense to us this way. It was our day and we would do what we wanted!

The fun part, of course, was telling each of them. Since we were in Broken Arrow, I got to tell Matt that day. He and I went to go do something, so we climbed into his truck and I said, "Matt, I have a question for you." He looked at me nervously and said, "Oookay..." "Will you be my Man of Honor?" "Sure!" You see, rather on a lark my brother had gotten ordained online a few months before (he was helping his boss do it so he decided to as well). He was sooooo afraid I was going to ask him to perform the ceremony that any other request was cake! We got a good laugh out of that one.

A few days later we were back in Norman, having a few beers at Abner's Alehouse. Amo and Norquis stopped by while we were hanging out. Bird decided this was the moment to ask her to be his Best Woman. He starts describing all these qualities of a Best Man in terms of things that she has done for him in the past. She is just sitting there, evaluating in her head who he could be talking about, while I'm trying not to smile and Norquis has already realized that Bird is talking about her. Finally, Bird stops and says, "Amy, will you be the Best Woman at our wedding?" and she just kinda sputters, sits back, and agrees wholeheartedly. A highly amusing scenario!

And the photos are: Matt and Amy walking back up the aisle, Bird and his Best Woman, me and my Man of Honor

Because I'm Paranoid Now

2011-05-25T10:13:00.001-05:00

I've never been one who was afraid of storms. As a little kid I have a vivid memory of my Aunt Sherry and Uncle Tommy, who lived down the street at the time, over at our house playing a board game with my parents on the night of a storm. My cousins Tammy (who is a year older than my brother) and Jenny (who is my age) were hanging out with us. The weather got stormy that night and I the sirens went off. As our parents continued their game, Jenny and I began loading my stuffed animals into the closet under the stairs, which was our tornado safe place, much to the amusement of our parents. The storm came no where near us. I'm pretty sure that's the biggest reaction I've ever had to the possibility of a tornado until yesterday.

The combination of driving through Joplin on Sunday and the information our meteorologists had on this storm beforehand had me completely on edge. They closed most area schools early, then they closed state agencies early. I debated starting for home or staying at the History Center with its delightfully large concrete basement. I finally decided to head south, as most of the storms appeared to be tracking north. Alec headed for home as well. EVERYONE was on the road. I briefly considered going back to the History Center, as I wasn't sure I could make it home in time to avoid the storm, but I pressed on south. As we drove home the sirens sounded in various parts of Oklahoma County, but everything was west of us. We got home, cleared out the closet, put Daphne in her carrier and got Bailey's leash, put them in the closet (which led to some hissing before I covered up the cat carrier), and hunkered down with the radio turned up. In case the power went out, we had a flashlight and my weather radio (thanks, Brother!), but we didn't end up needing them. Alec grabbed the motorcycle helmets (I put mine on at one point--when they mentioned southeast Norman). Soon, however, it was over for us. After some portions of Goldsby were leveled, the storm headed out of our area and we emerged from our makeshift bunker.

We began checking on people and other people began checking on us. That evening, I couldn't stop watching the weather coverage. We watched Anderson Cooper in Joplin as the storm headed that way and the sirens went off there. I checked my Twitter feed and Facebook constantly. I corrected the Weather Channel guys and gals when they mispronounced Oklahoma town names. Finally, after the line of storms had passed my family in Broken Arrow and had gone through Joplin, I let myself put my phone down.

I don't know if I'll ever react to another storm like that, or if this is an isolated incident related to recent events. Maybe I'll never look at severe weather the same. One thing I do know--I want our next home to have a real tornado shelter. Everyone's invited. We'll have bunker parties.

Because Timing is Everything

2011-05-23T15:27:00.001-05:00

I never thought I'd see the day that our nerdiness might help save our lives. I know that sounds flippant, but I believe it to be true. I know that God works in mysterious ways, and I know that sounds very cliched, but by choosing to go to a museum in St. Louis that we had decided we weren't going to spend the time to see on this trip, we avoided the very real possibility of being in Joplin at 6 pm when its citizens' lives were changed forever by a massive tornado. And I believe that God made that appointment for us.

I preface this story with the reason for our trek to St. Louis. One of Bird's fraternity brothers got married in St. Louis this past weekend, so we trekked up there to enjoy some time with the Pi Kapps. I haven't gotten too many opportunities to hang out with his friends from college, and I have to say that I always have fun, but I think I finally REALLY relaxed with them this weekend. I know, it took me long enough ;-) It was a lovely wedding, fun reception, and the rooftop bar at the afterparty hotel had a great view. After we shut the bar down, some of us felt the need for some Taco Bell, so we walked to one close by, conned some guys in a car into buying us a couple of boxes of tacos, and had a lovely picnic on the Taco Bell lawn at 3:00 am.

The next morning, Sunday, Bird and I got prepared to head out from the hotel. We were going to go to the City Museum in St. Louis, which when we got there we decided really wasn't our cup of tea. So, we left and decided to go grab something to eat before heading down the highway. Then, Bird said we needed museum redemption, so we went to the Missouri History Museum over in Forest Park to see some exhibits (hi Kristyn!). That one decision changed our leave time by about an hour and a half to two hours.

We started driving down I-44. By the time we were getting close to Springfield, one of the radio stations started running weather coverage for storms headed into southwest Missouri from Oklahoma. All of a sudden, they're talking about tornado warnings and watches and flood watches and other nasty things that make you not want to be on the highway. The clouds start getting dark ahead. Then we hear that a tornado has hit Joplin. We call and check on some folks. Folks call and check on us. We decide to pull off the highway in Springfield and reassess our situation at a Buffalo Wild Wings.

Then we see the disaster coverage and realize what we're dealing with. We hear that they've closed I-44 at mile marker 18 and are diverting traffic. We look at the weather maps on the giant screen at the nearly empty BWW. We, as good Okies do, interpret the hook echoes and the pretty colors. And we worry about how to approach this situation. After some wings, we decide to get back into the car and head out. Bird is about to top off the tank when the torrential downpour hits Springfield. So we sit in the car for a bit and call his cousin Tori, who is conveniently enough a student at Missouri State. After a lovely visit with her and some of her sorority sisters at her new house, we get back on the highway for real, knowng that we will have to find a way around Joplin to get home.

As lightning illuminates the skies south of I-44, we arrive at mile marker 18. We are diverted off the interstate into the unknown. We go north to avoid any storms to the south and then head west. It has been hard to get cell phone reception, so getting a map on the iPhone has been a challenge. We finally have one, but it is hard to find a road that goes where we need it to. We choose one. And it takes us into Joplin.

I have never seen anything like it. We were nowhere near the bulk of the damage and we were trying to avoid as much as possible (and were being diverted away as best the overtaxed emergency services could do), but we could still see the giant uprooted trees and the huge number of downed powerlines that almost made it impossible to navigate the streets. People wandered in family groups down the darkened streets. Shed walls were on the side of the road. I don't even know how many ambulances passed us with their lights and sirens on, besides the other emergency vehicles driving down the otherwise eerily quiet streets. Other cars moved at a snail's pace. I looked out the window and all I could say was, "Oh, my God." I feel grateful that we passed through in the dark--I would not have wanted to see that in the light of day in person.

We finally got to an intersection that appeared to be a command center. Several fire trucks and police vehicles were there and men and women in scrubs or other uniforms were parking cars on the sides of the road and walking toward the lights. As we turned the corner away from the chaos, I breathed a bit easier for us, as I knew that we were only a minute or two from returning to the interstate. Then I said a prayer for the people walking to the command center, because their jobs were just beginning.

About twenty minutes or so after we had gotten going on I-44 again, I looked over to the driver's seat, as Bird had gotten very quiet. It was late and he was tired, so I wanted to make sure he was ok and didn't want to switch. "Are you ok?" I asked

"I'm good. Just thanking God."

We had been listening to the radio weather and disaster coverage for a while at this point. If we had timed it differently and been in Joplin, the places we would have taken refuge would most likely have been just off of Rangeline Road and I-44. Those places don't exist anymore. I firmly believe that God guides and directs our steps, and I thank Him for keeping us away from there. I don't understand why we weren't there and others were. I don't pretend to have all the answers. But I do know that the people of Joplin need help. Here's one way, through the American Red Cross: http://newsroom.redcross.org/2011/05/22/joplin-tornado/

We're grateful for every day that we're given, but there are moments in life that remind you that every day is a gift. Nothing gives you an attitude adjustment like driving through the results of an EF-4 or 5 tornado.

Because I'm Not a Good Shopper

2011-05-20T12:25:00.001-05:00

I hate shopping for clothes. I think I have terrible taste in clothing. I take every opportunity possible to let other people choose my clothes for me. My lovely friend Jo is an assistant manager for a major department store chain and she is excellent at helping me with this. My mother has a lovely sense of style and is also an excellent seamstress. I missed that gene.

I can find a heck of a deal, though. I'm one of those people who thinks that paying full price is a horrible thing. I almost never buy anything, especially clothing, that isn't on sale. Jo tries to break me of that on a regular basis.

All that to say that I was not looking forward to shopping for a wedding dress. I'm pretty sure that makes me a defective girl. All you ever hear about is how women are soooooooo excited to go try on DRESSES!!! O.M.G!!! I, on the other hand, almost dreaded it. But, I kept telling myself that it could be fun. Women have fun doing this for a reason, right?

So, I gathered up my Mama, my Brother (who was my man of honor and took his job very seriously by manning the camera), Jo, and my friend Katie and headed to the dress shop. I had told my mom that I was trying on dresses to see what I liked so she could make the dress, which did not elicit the response I had anticipated--she seemed freaked. With this in mind, we began.

My helper lady who's name I can't recall at this moment was pretty awesome, and I think I tried on about 25 dresses. No, really. It took 3-3 1/2 hours. I had bursts of fun. Mostly, I just viewed it as a job. But I was surprised that it wasn't a completely distasteful job. I enjoyed it in spite of myself. And they broke me down.

Initially, I had not intention of the strapless dress. But, once I started trying the dresses on, it was kind of like, "Hey, why not? Let's give it a shot!" Gateway drug mentality.

Eventually, I started trying on whatever they put in front of me (I only pulled the Bride Card on one dress, a mermaid-style dress. That wasn't happening).

Then, I walked by one and said, "Hey, I'll try that one on." I had seen it on the way in and thought it looked antique-y, but really fussy. By the time I'd tried on so many, it wasn't so bad. Apparently, it was the one my Mama pointed at on the way in and said to my brother, "She will NEVER try that one on."

Guess which one I picked?

Of course, my Mama wanted to make sure that I would be comfortable in the dress for the duration of the wedding day. So, she told me to dance in it. I obliged.

I don't know if embedding this video is going to work or not, but I'll try ;-)

After purchasing the dress, we walked across the parking lot and ate giant hamburgers. I decided that losing weight in five months was not something I was going to worry about--I had enough to do ;-)

And now you know way too much about my shopping habits. But it was a successful trip!

Because It Was a Big, Important Day

2011-05-19T10:14:00.001-05:00

So, we got married six months ago tomorrow.

I know, six months already! I can barely believe that it's been that long, and at the same time I can hardly believe that I haven't known him my entire life *insert dry heaving noises here* Yes, I realize we're vomitrocious, but we're still all icky in love.

I did realize that I never blogged about the whole entire process of putting together the wedding, so I think I'll do that now, with six to eleven months of separation from the events. And we shall start In The Beginning...

We got engaged on a Wednesday night, June 16. For me, it was out of the blue. Of course, he'd planned everything to the most minute detail, but I pretty much had no idea. I might have caught on a little by the end of the workday on Wednesday, and I knew we were headed in that direction eventually, but he did pull off an amazing surprise, complete with our immediate families at dinner. Because of the big surprise, we hadn't really discussed the whens, wheres, and general details of the getting married process. As we drove around that night telling people and showing off my freaking awesome engagement ring that Bird picked out all by himself, we started to discuss dates. By the end of the night, we had decided sometime in April to avoid OU football season and any winter ice storms.

By the next day, I didn't want to wait that long. And Bird just wanted to get married when I did. So we looked at February. Ok, that might work. Then that creeping voice said, "No, just find a bye weekend in the OU schedule and do it in the fall! You can get it all planned!" So, we looked. And the bye weekends were waaaaay to soon. Next best choice--Baylor away game (apologies, Dr. LaBouff)! Thus, November 20, 2010 became the day of all days. Of course, this leads to the inevitable, " You know you're an Okie when you plan your wedding around the Sooner football schedule" comment. Later we learned it was the opening day of deer season. Sorry, boys!

This gave us five months to plan an extravaganza. Now, I wasn't really concerned with planning some day centered on me--I just wanted to have an awesome party to celebrate the fact that we are spending the rest of our lives together. It was our goal for everyone to have fun. The ceremony was VERY important and we included some very meaningful elements in it, but whatever we did for the reception, we just wanted to have fun with our friends and family. And fun turned into dancing with the mammoth at the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History.

But before all that, I had to pick a dress.

To be continued...

Because I Want to Be a Better Blogger

2011-05-18T21:31:00.001-05:00

I'm testing out some new ways to publish to my blog that have been available to me forever but I have ignored until now, when I've decided that I want to keep up with it better. So, this post is coming to you from my email account. I've also set up my "mobile device" to post to my blog. Gotta love the fancy names for cell phones now that they're so much more than just cell phones.

As I type, the cat is growling and hissing at the dog. Did I mention that they haven't quite reached a truce yet? No real incidents, but Bailey wants to play and Daphne wants to be left the heck alone. Although it took Bailey a danged long time to realize that Daphne was watching her from on top of the glider rocker most of this evening. Puppies are fun and oblivious.

So, we'll see how this posting goes! And I'm even going to see what a completely unrelated photo does!

Because Daphne Needed a Furry Sister

2011-05-18T20:39:00.006-05:00

We adopted a puppy named Laverne.

After mentally preparing ourselves for the prospect of adopting a puppy, and a large one at that, we had been on the puppy hunt for several days. And while none of them had “Will Not Eat Small Tabby Cats” stamped on their profiles, this little black lab mix puppy at the Central Oklahoma Humane Society spoke to us. Well, after a few others spoke to us and said, “My owners want waaay to much money for me.” So, Bird and I headed to the Humane Society last Wednesday to investigate the pup.

I beat him there by a few minutes and went in to visit with Laverne. Apparently when she was initially brought in at about two months old, Laverne had a sister who they called Shirley. Makes more sense now, doesn’t it? So I walked in to meet Laverne and she promptly peed all over the floor in excitement. I know I’m a thrilling individual, but I was unaware of my effect on puppies. We played for a few minutes, then Bird got there, played with her, and asked the relevant questions. We decided that yes, Laverne was indeed the puppy for us. She had been brought to the Humane Society at about two months old and adopted out to an older woman who lived in an apartment. She was then brought back by the older woman who was unable to keep up with the rambunctious lab mix in the apartment environment. She was a good dog, just not the dog for this woman. The benefit, however, is that the woman had done some training with her, so now at a little over four months old, Laverne is housebroken and crate trained. And a member of Team Bass.

And now named Bailey.

Because You Only Thought I Was Done!

2011-03-30T20:25:00.003-05:00

So, you know that honeymoon that I took forever to tell you about? Well, I forgot about something.

You see, my husband's awesome cousin Travis (therefore, my new awesome cousin Travis!) who is a Peace Corps volunteer in Cambodia and blogs about all of his awesome adventures likes to put videos in his posts. Before he went to Cambodia with the Peace Corps, he was a TV reporter with WLEX in Lexington, Kentucky. Did I mention that he's awesome? In honor of Travis, I did a couple of videos on my little camera while my husband and I were in Cozumel at the San Gervasio ruins. So, since I didn't manage to integrate them into my actual posts, here's the San Gervasio ruins in Cozumel.

So, Travis, it wasn't nearly as exciting as what you're doing, but it was fun! We'll make some more for you as we head out on more weekend adventures as the weather starts warming up!

Because OMG OED

2011-03-30T18:32:00.002-05:00

The Oxford English Dictionary came out with its updates. Every year, the OED (yeah, I abbreviate it—that’s how we editors roll) adds words that have become ingrained in the popular usage to its already back-breaking book that defines the very things that compose it: words. In recent years, such erudite entries as “bootylicious” have become a permanent part of our language. What did the scholars at the OED feel was ripe for entrance this year?

OMG.

No, really. OMG.

They put OMG in the Oxford English Dictionary. They refer the group of “words” as initialisms. They include “words” like OMG, FYI, and LOL. If you read the article, they note that these initialisms are mostly linked to modern technology and thus, are mostly used by a younger demographic, although the OED researchers did find some specious connections to the past for OMG (a letter from 1917), LOL (in the 1960s it meant “little old lady”), and FYI (was used as early as 1941). Now, I don’t think the researchers at the OED needed to find past usage of these “words” to give them legitimacy—there’s nothing wrong with including words that arise as language changes and includes more and different words. My problem with including them is that they aren’t WORDS. They stand for words. And, tangentially, if you can’t spell OMG, you’ve got bigger issues than needing to look it up in the OED. (That kind of rolls off the tongue if you read it out loud!)

Of course, perhaps there should be a place where these words are defined so that people don’t think that LOL still means “little old lady,” because how awkward would it be if the person on the other end of my text or tweet thought I was calling them a little old lady when in fact I was giggling at their humorous remark. Instead of a compliment, they would perceive an insult. No good! And maybe the OED is the only place official enough for this defining to take place. It just seems odd to me to have a book that defines words define things that stand for words. It kinda makes my brain hurt a bit.

But, that’s only because I’m thinking about it too hard. They also added taquito! I’ll start thinking about taquitos instead. Yum.

Check out the updates at the Oxford English Dictionary website

Because We're History Nerds

2011-03-16T18:22:00.006-05:00

The cruise had to come to an end sometime, and Sunday finally came. We got our debarkation group number and went to get some breakfast and wait for our number to be called. Once off the boat, we headed for the Tampa Bay History Center to kill some time before we had to head off to the airport for our journey home.

The TBHC had some great experiential theaters with holographic projections, dioramas, and ambient sounds and lighting. The best part, however, were the fun artifacts on display. Like the conquistador armor--it always amazes me how small they were!

We couldn't get too far away from Oklahoma, even in Florida! A significant portion of the exhibit space was devoted to the Seminoles of Florida, inevitably leading to graphic panels on Oklahoma.

Another big part of Tampa history is the cigar industry. With immigrants from Cuba and a good climate for the production of cigars, it became a booming business. So, booming, in fact, that the factories would employ lectors (no, not Hannibal, so we don't need any fava beans or chianti) to read to the employees while they were at work. They would read books, speeches, and other written items until they began inciting the workers to unionize. The TBHC has a lector in their cigar room.

Alec decided that, since the cigars were right there, he could try to get some. Unfortunately, it was just a display...

And you can't have a cigar store without the stereotypical Indian.

And some pretty awesome advertising.

I had a bit too much fun learning about the ranching industry in Florida. Yee-haw!

And I Can't Fight This Feeling that we found the REO Speedwagon!

Lee Roy Selmon is a huge hero in Tampa. Apparently he saved the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from being a truly terrible football team and made them contenders. Boomer Sooner!

Alec participated in the Tarpon Fishing Festival. Well, in the recreation of the Tarpon Festival. Makes it a lot easier to pick up the fish when it's fake and fiberglass.

The one thing that disappointed us was the distinct lack of pirates in the TBHC. We really thought we'd learn more about pirates. I'm not really sure why we were under that impression, but we had pirates on the brain. Perhaps it was because we knew about the Gasparilla Pirate Festival, during which Tampa is invaded by the full-sized version of the pirate ship photographed below. In fact, this was the only pirate-y thing we found in the museum. But, I suppose that is fitting if it is the only real pirate-y thing in the area. Although, they could make something up. We would never know.*

We finally had to get to the airport and return to reality. We were really happy that we had waited to take our honeymoon until we had time to move my stuff, settle in, and let the holidays pass us by. We could be truly relaxed and just enjoy each other's company, the fun excursions, and the beautiful scenery around us. And the monkeys.

*Disclaimer: I do not encourage the making up of historical facts. Unless you're doing it around the lunch table at my work. Then it's just funny.

Because Memory Lane is Chautauqua Avenue Tonight

2011-03-09T00:19:00.002-06:00

Tonight I am a substitute House Mother.

The fantastic House Mother at the Alpha Gam house is away at a conference for work tonight, and we have to have an "adult" stay at the house with the collegians each night. I volunteered for the task as I live close and, although I do have a husband to take care of, he is pretty self-sufficient on most fronts. I'm pretty blessed that way.

I enjoy spending time at the Chapter House. It's not about recapturing some lost part of my youth or feeling young again, it's about seeing how things change, yet they stay exactly the same. It's seeing how the experiences that I had in the three incredible years that I lived in this building and among the same kind of women are still happening, both the good and the bad experiences, and shaping the women of the Chapter into the women they will be when they leave that Chapter House and the University and go out into the "real world," although you can't convince me that what you experience in college isn't real :-) I know that I'm not "one of them" anymore and I'm fine with that--I don't expect to be. I know that we share the same core values that make us sisters and that's a bond greater than any age difference. I hope that I can continue to feel this way as I get older, and that the women of the Chapter will continue share their rich lives with me as I get the opportunity to share with them.

As I sit here in the guest room, I can almost feel the same way I did nearly eight years ago when I did live in these rooms. It's easier to stay up late here. It's easier to get distracted from your work and just chat for a while here. I remember the noises--the footsteps outside in the hallway, the sound of people on the stairs coming in from studying or being out, the banter of inside jokes being told down the hall. It seems like yesterday. And while it will be hard to fall asleep here since I can't have a boy in my bed (no boys on the second floor!), the familiarity of this place makes it easier than any hotel I might be in alone. To a degree, it still is my house, in that I feel like I can always go home again.

Although I'd really have to get used to that whole community shower thing again. I have lived by myself for a long time now ;-)

Because of the Unicorn Fist Bump

2011-03-08T23:52:00.008-06:00

Our last day on the boat. While we were sad that our glorious days of relaxation were coming to an end, we were ready to get back to Daphne and home. Well, I was ready to get back to Daphne, anyway. And we figured it was time to return to reality.

We did as little as possible on our last day on the boat. We lounged, slept, ate, watched bad movies, and wandered around the boat trying to find a place to be both outside and warm. Once again, it was a windy, chilly day, so sitting outside in a bathing suit wasn’t really the best of options. We did spend a bit of time on the deck reading in our regular clothes, though, adding to the relaxation factor. As we wandered around Deck 9, we saw the bars that we had passed by many times on the trip. They had decorative unicorns on the front of them with their hooves raised to each other. I looked at them, looked at Alec, and said, "Those unicorns look like they're fist bumping." He looked at me, shook his head, and said, "I'll never be able to look at them the same way."

Of course, we hit the 5 p.m. sushi bar, as we had pretty much every night. Alec had found the sushi early in the trip and used it as an appetizer for dinner, since we were signed up for the 8 p.m. seating for dinner. It was a smart idea, and tasty, too. Of course, we also had a tendency to wash the sushi down with some ice cream from the machine on Deck 9. Hey, we were on vacation. On a cruise ship. We had to take advantage.

After sushi, we hung out in the casino a bit, Alec called a dealer a cheater*, we lost, and we left the casino and headed to dinner. Our waiters had been dancing and singing for us each evening, so we waited with baited breath to see what they would do this evening. Unfortunately, the second night they did some Flo Rida, so it was pretty much all downhill from there. What tops “Apple Bottom Jeans” sung with an Asian accent? Anyway, they serenaded us with “Leavin’ on a Jet Plane” tonight, which was very apropos. Excellent job, Kamal.

Our tablemates, one couple from Maryland, one couple from Jersey, and us. Had some fun conversations and no lulls or awkwardness. What more can you ask for?

And then we got this strange little guy as our last towel animal. We’re still not sure what he is. Prairie dog? Upright worm? Really not sure. Suggestions would be appreciated and sincerely chuckled at.

We walked around the boat that night, taking in our last night on a giant floating town, sat and listened to a pretty good acoustic guitarist in one of the bars playing all kinds of covers, I drank the best mojito EVER, and then we packed it in. And packed it up—you have to pack your bags the night before so they can unload them before you get off the boat. That was a bit weird, but it sure makes unloading in the morning easier! The next day-Tampa Bay History Center and then home sweet home!

I'm the King of the World! Sorta...

Because We're Good at Pinching Pesos

2011-03-07T18:24:00.014-06:00

Our last port was Cozumel, and the weather was uncooperative. The harbormaster closed the harbor to ships smaller than 50 feet, so our excursion, which involved a boat ride to a beach, was canceled. All the beach and water excursions were canceled because of the weather, actually. This day was supposed to be our big beach and water day, and my big "worry about getting a sunburn" day. So, the good part was that I didn't end up getting sunburned on the trip! The bad part was missing out on a whole day of beachy fun. It made us sad.

Because our excursion was canceled, we decided to just take a cab into the shopping area and hang out, look around, eat some tasty food, and have some drinks. We got into the cab and started talking about going to the museum over by the shopping area, and the cab driver told us that we should head over to the ruins at San Gervaisio. We conferred in the backseat, discussed how much cash we had brought with us off the boat, and decided sure, let's take a ride out to the ruins, an exceptional historical site (notice the sign!).

They had raccoons that they fed tortillas at the admissions area. Banditos!

The ruins here in Cozumel were different from Altun Ha in Belize. There weren't the massive pyramids here--the structures were much smaller. You could still see the roads, too. There was an archway through which we joked you could see the end of the world coming in 2012.

As we were getting ready to leave the archaeological park, we stopped and listened to one of the guided tours that happened to be in English. The guide was describing the site and talking about the goddess to whom it was dedicated and when people would visit. It was dedicated to the goddess of the moom, and Mayans would send their young women there to worship the goddess of the moon to ensure fertility. That's right, folks, we visited the shrine to the Mayan fertility goddess on our honeymoon. And no, we didn't leave any sacrifices. Our cab driver asked us if we did and we assured him that we did not--we'll wait a while and go back :-)

After we returned to town, we looked around, bought a couple of things in the shops, walked on the beach, and then assessed our monetary situation again. We realized that we had exactly enough to get some ceviche and one cerveza a piece at this little restaurant off the main street and take a cab back to the port. And let me tell you, that ceviche was amazing!

His "The Most Interesting Man in the World" pose.

It tasted even more delicious than it looks.
After we ate, we took a cab back to the port and got on the boat one last time. From our balcony, you could see how blue the water was despite the cloudy sky.

All that's left is a day at sea and then time to come home!

Because It's UnBelizeAble!

2011-03-02T19:52:00.015-06:00

Port day three, and time for us to brush up on our Indiana Jones impressions. Belize was our day to explore some Mayan ruins. We were signed up for a bus tour through Belize City and out to Altun Ha, the Mayan ruin.

The tender ride to the dock was long and bumpy, but we arrived in one piece and dry, although one passenger on the tender couldn't say that she arrived dry. Once we arrived at port, we boarded our bus and met our tour guides for the day.

They pointed out the sites around Belize City, which included a lot of different schools and, well, not a whole lot else. It was an experience to drive around the city and see how the citizens live considering that most tourists only hear about the beautiful beaches and rain forests. You could see remnants of British control:

The mahogany tree, official tree of the country:

And the "Vote Castro" sign that Alec had to get a photo of--the countryside was covered in them :-)

The road also had a lot of these signs that made us giggle, because we're both twelve years old.

Then, of course, there were the ruins themselves. Altun Ha is an archaeological park. The artifacts that were found at the site are housed at the museum in Belize City since there was not enough funding to create a museum at the site. One of those artifacts is a large jade skull, one of the largest pieces of carved jade recovered in the Mayan culture. It is a Belizean national treasure and is carted out for special national events and dignitaries, but a replica is actually on display in the museum.

"Archeological investigations show that Altun Ha was occupied by 200 BC. The bulk of construction was from the Maya Classic era, c. 200 to 900 AD, when the site may have had a population of about 10,000 people. About 900 there was some looting of elite tombs of the site, which some think is suggestive of a revolt against the site's rulers. The site remained populated for about another century after that, but with no new major ceremonial or elite architecture built during that time. After this the population dwindled, with a moderate surge of reoccupation in the 12th century before declining again to a small agricultural village (Altun Ha, Wikipedia)."

It was drizzling off and on that day, and when it rains they don't allow visitors to climb the structures. I was about to get severely bummed when they decided to go ahead and let us go up. We climbed the slippery and steep staircase to the top of the pyramid, giving us a great view of the complex, as well as a view over the canopy of the forest. So green!

Apparently no human sacrifice occurred at this site, as there is no ball court present. Instead, the residents of this site participated in the ritual of blood-letting, or running barbs over their tongues or other sensitive bodily parts and letting the blood flow as a sacrifice. Ew, and messy.

And here you can see the staircase. Our legs were very, very sore after these stairs and trying to control our legs enough to not slip on the slippery rocks. After we made it down the pyramid, we made our way toward the bus with a stop at a snack bar to pick up a real Coca-Cola and a Belikin beer, the beer of Belize. Later, at the port, we tried the Belikin stout, which was pretty good. I wasn't as big a fan of the lighter one that Alec picked up.
Then it was back to the boat to clean up for another formal night and some fun with comedians and crazy audience members. Fun times!

Because Who Wants a Rabies Shot?

2011-02-24T21:42:00.012-06:00

I realized today that I’ve been putting a whole lot of photos up and I know most of you have probably already seen them, but I can’t help it—I love them so much that I’ve become that annoying aunt with the slide projector and screen who invites you over to see her vacation slides. So kids, come on over and watch some more slides with Auntie Elizabeth.

We got to sleep in a bit on our second port day (by this point in the cruise I’m pretty sure the only thing that gave me any concept of what day of the week it was would be the little schedules of events that we received each evening for the next day. You thought I was going to say my Days of the Week underwear, didn’t you!), which was really nice. The sun was fully up and warm when we left the ship for Roatan. Cruise ships have only been coming to this small island for a very few years (maybe less than five), so it’s still pretty untouched. And absolutely beautiful. I’ve been using the photos from here as desktop backgrounds on my computer at work and they totally look like ones that came with the computer, the flora on the island are that vibrant. Believe me, it’s not because I’m that good of a photographer!

The port area had the usual shops (and a Ruta de Evacuacion!) but they also had history of the island, which was nice. Lots about the conflicts between British pirates and Spanish conquistadors and land owners and of course, the natives who lived on the island to start with.

From the port, we got on in a van and drove past beautiful scenery, a very crowded city, and more beautiful scenery to the Gumbalimba Nature Park, where we would catch our catamaran out to the reef to snorkel.

The boat ride was relaxing.

The water felt awesome.

I was a giant snorkeling FAIL.

Alec made his way out to the reef and I couldn’t put my face in the water without panicking. As soon as I put my face down, I couldn’t see anyone else and then that whole feeling weird about breathing underwater thing that I thought I’d kicked the day before reared its ugly head, so I bravely gave up. So, I sent Alec on and went back to the boat with one of the nice snorkeling guide dudes. I think I need some more practice before I try that again.

After the snorkeling debacle, we were going on a tour of the nature park. Like I said, beautiful flora, and we were going to get to interact with the fauna, too! I decided that since I failed at snorkeling, I would stare a different fear in the face and laugh at it—I would let a parrot sit on my shoulder. My fear of birds is legendary (yes, I realize the irony, being married to a man called Bird), so conquering this would set the universe right again. Everything was great! Parrot was wonderful! No incident!

Then we met the monkeys.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I was bitten by a monkey on Isla Roatan.

We both got our photos taken with the monkeys, no problem.

But after the photos, I went to take photos of these little rat-like things called island rabbits. As you can see by the blurriness of this photo, the monkeys got jealous.

One came up to me on the rail I was leaning over to play with my camera, but I did not see him. He tried to grab my camera. I moved my hands back. He bit me. I apparently made some loud-ish noise and jumped back. He called for reinforcements. The next thing I know, there are two monkeys baring their teeth at me. Needless to say, I was done with the monkeys. They get their shots every six months, so I haven’t had any strange tropical illnesses pop up, but really? Who gets bitten by a monkey on their honeymoon?! By dinnertime I had decided it was a pretty good story.

We drove back to the port through the gorgeous scenery and went back to the boat so I could recover from my horrendous injury. I mean, it’s a wonder I could even lift my arm for that photo.

After dinner, we had a debate over what animal we got on our pillow that evening. Our thought was a gremlin at first, until we purchased the towel animal book later in the cruise. Not the Gizmo type of gremlin, but the kind on the airplane wings in that William Shatner episode of The Twilight Zone. So, now I’ll have a guessing game for you—name that towel animal!

Because They're Heroes in a Half-Shell

2011-02-23T18:26:00.015-06:00

Grand Cayman! Getting up early! Yes, folks, it’s our first port day.

We woke up, grabbed some quick sustenance from the breakfast buffet on Deck 9, then proceeded quickly to the bowels of the ship to board a tender for our short boat ride to the port. It was a beautiful day to be outside—the type of day that makes you forget that wherever it was that you came from it was cold and January.

We arrived on shore, found our excursion group, and made our way to the bus for our ride out to the Turtle Farm. We drove through Hell on the way out to the farm. No really, Hell exists and it’s on Grand Cayman. It has a post office and everything. We made our way out of Hell and proceeded to the Turtle Farm.

Our first stop was the Breeding Pond. Boys, if you want good odds, here’s your place. There are 400 turtles in here, ranging from 200-700 lbs. each. The ratio of females to males is 3:1. The unfortunate part? If a male isn’t a good, um, breeder, the ladies remember it and he’s marked for life. So, make a good impression, guys! How YOU doin’?

After the Breeding Pond, we moved to the tanks with the babies. We got to hold some Wee, Not So Wee, and Friggin’ Huge turtles. In actuality, we started with the year-old turtles, moved to the eighteen-month-old turtles, and then held a two-week-old turtle. Whoa!

Post-cute turtle holding, we snorkled in a man-made lagoony thing. With some small-ish turtles. Pretty sweet. Well, once I got past the whole, “You expect me to breathe while my face is under water? Are you nuts? I’ll drown!” thing. There were colorful fish, turtles to chase, and a glass wall between us and the “predator tank” full of nice, peaceful animals like sharks and squid.

We finished snorkeling, got dried off, and left to head back to the port area. A commercial area was just beyond the port, so we set off to walk around and take in some sights. The square commemorating war heroes was quite nearby, as was a post office proclaiming Grand Cayman’s allegiance to Great Britain. God Save the Queen!

Oh, and we found the Colonel eyeing his next victim at the local Kentucky Fried Chicken.

Our bus driver out to the Turtle Farm told us all kinds of tidbits about the island, including the low unemployment rate (emphasizing that people were only really unemployed if they wanted to be unemployed) and the fact that all beachfront property was public—no private owner could cut someone off from the beach. The only way you could own beachfront property, he wryly stated, was to be deceased, since the cemeteries were all located on that prized beachfront property.

We made it back onto the boat in time to win trivia again that afternoon! Another Ship on a Stick! Then dinner and a relaxing evening to get ready for the next day’s port: Isla Roatan.

Because Sometimes Life Interrupts

2011-02-13T13:45:00.003-06:00

Friday afternoon I had to make a phone call that I didn't think I would have to make within the first three months of my marriage. When you get married, you realize that not everything in life is rosy and happy--you'll have arguments, jobs might be lost, people get sick. Loved ones die. I just didn't think that, three months into our marriage, I would be the one to tell my husband that his grandfather was dying.

On Thursday, Alec went to a conference in Tulsa for work. He would be coming back around 5 p.m. on Friday. He called me at about 4:30 p.m. on Friday to let me know that he was on his way back to Norman. About fifteen minutes later, his sister called me to tell me that they had removed Gramps from all of the various tubes and things that he had been connected to for the past little while, leaving him on a morphine drip to keep him comfortable. He wasn't expected to make it more than a day. She was unsure if her brother was done with his conference, but wanted him to be prepared when he came home.

I got off the phone with an obviously upset Amy and took a deep breath. I knew he was in the car and on his way home. Do I call him, or wait until he gets home to tell him? After hemming and hawing for a few minutes, I decided that I should call him. As much as I didn't want to give him that news over the phone, I felt like he needed to know as soon as I could tell him so that he could have as much time to process it as he could have.

Gramps passed the next day, Saturday. I did not get the opportunity to know him well, but I feel blessed to have spent the small amount of time that I got to with him. We went over to see him shortly after our engagement, as each couple does, and received his wisdom from many years of marriage and from finding companionship in his older years. Of course, the things he said are the things engaged couples hear in counseling or from EVERYONE, but it's different to hear it from someone who lived it through nine children and fifty years, until death did them part. He and I chatted about the Historical Society, as he played his saxophone for the USO shows that the Historical Society did around the state a year or two before I started working there, but that my coworkers STILL occasionally talk about. They sounded like a lot of fun :-)

I sit around and listen to the stories that the children and grandchildren tell and I have to admit that I'm a little jealous. I didn't really know my Grandpa because he passed away when I was almost three, and my Poppa and I didn't really get to know each other until after I graduated from college. I enjoy getting to know my husband's family, my new family, by hearing these stories. These stories keep these precious people alive to us.

Because We Less Than Three Trivia

2011-02-10T21:32:00.003-06:00

Our first full day of cruising was relaxing. After being rubbed briefly with hot rocks the day before when we passed by the spa (they were doing little teasers for their services, so we sat and got about a three minute long hot stone massage each), Alec decided he wanted to join in on my already-planned massage, so we booked a couples massage for our first day at sea. We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast in bed, looked out on the balcony, got dressed, and headed up to the spa for our massages. Our tiny little Scottish masseuses were wonderful, and soon we were in full relaxation mode for the trip.

We spent some time reading up on top deck by the pool, enjoyed some fruity drinks, and then headed back to the room for a bit. We got back just in time for the Afternoon Show on one of the ship’s TV stations. Part of the show was a call-in trivia contest for prizes. Now, I have to preface this by saying we had tried an “Urban Myth” trivia earlier and had not won, but this sparked our desire to win a coveted Ship on a Stick. The Ship on a Stick was just a plastic trophy of a Carnival cruise ship held up from a base by a “v” of gold molded plastic. But it was a symbol of triumph! We made it our goal to win a Ship on a Stick. So, we started trying to call in to answer the trivia questions.

FINALLY, we managed to get through and answer the national sport of Canada.* By then telling Wee Jimmy, our Scottish cruise director, the name of the oldest Beatle,** we won the prizes! Our prizes were a bottle of champagne, a beach bag (which was good because I’d managed to forget the one I had right next to my suitcase), a rum cake, and a Ship on a Stick. Success!

After that, it was formal night on the boat, so we got all gussied up and went down to dinner with our dining companions. We were seated at dinner with two other young couples, one married and one who had been dating for two or two and a half years. Good dinner conversation. Delicious steak and lobster.

Then it was time to go to bed and dream of sea turtles and Grand Cayman, our port for the next day!

The towel animal for the night was an elephant! He was so cute that I couldn't use him, I had to put him over on the couch so he'd be there in the morning :-)

*Lacrosse (Bird knew)
**Ringo Starr (Baxter knew)
Team effort!

Because Penguins are Cool (Literally and Figuratively)

2011-01-27T12:48:00.011-06:00

After falling asleep at 8 p.m. Eastern time and sleeping through the night, we woke up refreshed and ready to take on the day. And by take on the day, I mean act like small children at the Florida Aquarium. Fishies! Penguins!

Before we headed that way, we looked out our 15th floor window and, what did we behold but our boat! In port! It looked so ready for us. We couldn’t begin boarding for several more hours, however, giving us plenty of time to hang out with the penguins and seahorses.

We got to the aquarium and began our tour with some time at the touch tank with the rays and nurse sharks.

We then found out it was time for the penguin show! We made our way to the penguin stage. Well, the penguin carpet and benches. The little guy was wheeled in by his trainer in a little blue wagon. The trainer introduced us to Sandy the Penguin, who proceeded to wander around the red carpet that was surrounded by visitors, including me. I felt like a preschool kid at storytime—it was awesome. We learned what their behaviors mean, what environments they live in, that they can shoot their poo up to four feet, all kinds of interesting tidbits. And I got close enough to get some great photos of Sandy the Penguin.

We wandered around the rest of the aquarium, I successfully avoided some free-roaming birds, we touched some starfish and other invertebrates, and we gawked at some pot-bellied male seahorses that might or might not have been carrying babies. Alec generously offered to carry our children in the manner of a male seahorse, so we’ll see how far medical science has advanced by then. Something tells me I’ll still be the pregnant one, Lord willing.

From the vantage point of the back of the Aquarium, the cruise ship was tantalizingly close. It’s right there! Can’t we just jump on?

Once we had our fill of the Florida Aquarium, and purchased a small penguin in the gift shop, we made our way to get our bags and go to the port to get onto the boat. Now, getting onto a cruise ship is a fun process that involves getting to know your fellow passengers for a while before getting on board. In other words, you get to stand in line. For a while. For various reasons. They check your passport. They check your carry on items. They make you swear that you don’t have the flu and, if you do have a slight cough, you’ll let the ship’s doctor check you out. They issue your Sail and Sign card, AKA your “if you lose this card you will be stranded in your room and won’t be able to eat or drink or won’t be able to get back on the boat after a port day” card. Finally they scan your card to let you on the boat. And then they take your picture. And take your picture. And take your picture.
But then, magically, we made it onto the boat. And to our room. To see our extended balcony. And, of course, to call our parents to let them know that we’d made it onto the boat as scheduled and were sitting on our extended balcony. Rock on.

I was overwhelmed by the overwhelmingness of the decoration on the boat—the only thing to compare it to is an elaborate Vegas casino. As our ship was the Legend, each area was themed around a different Legend: the steakhouse was the Golden Fleece, the casino was named after Merlin, the lobby was the Colossus, the top deck had unicorns and Camelot and such, and so on. We made our way up top to watch the ship depart and wave goodbye to the good ol’ USA for the next week. It was a pretty evening to be on a boat.

I’M ON A BOAT!!

Because Nothing Says "Honeymoon" Like a Big @$$ Bowling Pin

2011-01-26T14:20:00.007-06:00

On January 8, we left on our honeymoon. And it was glorious.

Well, I could have done without the whole being at the airport at 6 a.m. thing, but it was still glorious. We got on our all our flights (we flew standby, so it wasn’t a guarantee!) and we made it out to Tampa, the first stop on our cruise adventure. The cruise ship was leaving out of Tampa the next day, so we wanted to be sure we got there good and early. After checking into our hotel-the Hyatt Regency Downtown-we opted for a rest break before heading out to explore the area. Refreshed, we put on our walking shoes for a stroll around downtown on our way out to Channelside, which is the shopping/eating area at the port. But no walk for us would be complete without historical markers! Tampa was lousy with them. Lots were for Fort Brooke, which was active during the Seminole Wars.

We were also on the lookout for something fun in Channelside: my research had told me that Channelside was home to the world’s largest bowling pin. Roadside attraction-score!

After finding the world’s largest bowling pin and a willing soul to take our photo, we moved on to more pressing matters, like finding food. There were several delicious-looking restaurants about, but we settled on a Greek place over by the water. While basking in the warm weather and enjoying the squawks of nearby seagulls (Mine! Mine!-Finding Nemo, anybody?) we ate delicious hummus from a mortar and pestle and some tasty gyros, washing it down with a pitcher of white sangria. Possibly the perfect harbor meal.

We wandered around Channelside for a bit longer, partook in a daiquiri (White Russian, yum!) from Wet Willie’s, the daiquiri establishment in the complex. Check out the apostrophe in the shape of a finger—it made us think of Alec’s dad. We watched the spray paint artist for a bit until we were jealous of his gas mask (I think he could have survived mustard gas in World War I trenches with that thing), enjoyed the warm weather and sunlight, and then headed back to the hotel.

And we were passed out by 8 p.m. Eastern. For you folks who don’t convert time, that means we were asleep by 7 p.m. Oklahoma time. I guess that’s what happens when you’re awake at 4:30 a.m. to finish packing. It just meant we were that much more refreshed for the next day: Embarkation Day!

Because Nothing Says "Happy New Year!" Like a Banjo

2011-01-06T23:25:00.012-06:00

On New Year’s Eve, we finally made it to the American Banjo Museum! We really know how to party.

Actually, itinerary for the evening included dinner and the OKC Thunder game, so it put us in perfect position to hit up the Banjo Museum, as it sits amidst the over-priced parking lots that are Bricktown (my husband, by the way, is a master parallel parker, making our evening’s parking not $20, but free. Rock on). We had long wanted to go to the Banjo Museum—it fits into our goal of seeing weird and quirky tourist attractions wherever we go, especially if it’s in our own backyard. The Banjo Museum did not disappoint. We begin in stereotype land:

Actually it was a pretty darned good theater experience on the history of the banjo, including some lovely images of the Jazz Age. Of course they didn’t forget everyone’s favorite green felt friend,

and everyone’s favorite prematurely white-haired Jerk.

I was most struck by the beautiful art on some of the banjoes. A few examples:

Looking at this banjo made me want to plan a trip to Washington, D.C. Dan, Katie, and Jack, we're coming to visit, all thanks to the Banjo Museum!

Every banjo should have a cabaret dancer on it somewhere.

An electric banjo. I had no idea these existed!

They had recreated a Shakey’s Pizza in the upstairs of the museum. Shakey’s was apparently known for pizza, the banjo, and somewhat amusing signage. And a blacklight player piano?

From there we went to Chelino’s for some tasty Mexican food, and then hustled our way over to the Oklahoma City Arena to cheer the Thunder to a victory over the Atlanta Hawks. I don’t understand basketball all that well (I mean, I understand it fairly well, but what is and isn’t a foul STILL escapes me), but that never stops me from having a great time at a game.

Tip-off at the Thunder game. Thunder up!

From there we went to visit with the Ottises and some others at their home to ring in 2011 with several games of Catchphrase. Alec and I have decided that when we are on the $25,000 Pyramid, he gives the clues and I respond, because I really suck at giving clues! Now, to go back in time and get on the $25,000 Pyramid…

Happy New Year! And here's to finding a way to get on the $25,000 Pyramid.

Because I Feel Compelled to do a 2010 Year in Review

2011-01-06T23:13:00.002-06:00

Courtesy of Karen, my own personal firebreather:
1. What did you do in 2010 that you’d never done before?
Got married. I also cooked a turkey for the first time, but I’m pretty sure the getting married thing trumps the turkey.
2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I am one of those cynical people who doesn’t make New Year’s Resolutions. I think, however, I am making a break from my cynicism this year to make one resolution—to do what it takes to make my head hurt less often. And keep in touch with you lovely people by updating this blog. And eat out less.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
The Friedmans had their Jack Ryan, the Mays had Mason, the Berberets had Emma, the Haxels had baby Pearl—2010 was big on the cuteness.
4. Did anyone close to you die?
My Granny passed in May.
5. What countries did you visit?
None this year, we kept our traveling more local. However, we’re headed out of country on Sunday!
6. What would you like to have in 2011 that you lacked in 2010?
A puppy.
7. What dates from 2010 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
May 6-the first birthday when my Granny didn’t call to sing to me; June 1-officially starting my new job as associate editor at the Historical Society; June 16-I came home to find my boyfriend in my house with a beautiful engagement ring and a proposal; November 20-we became husband and wife
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Planning a huge wedding in five months and not shooting anyone or myself; getting a new job at the Historical Society
9. What was your biggest failure?
Not getting our house organized and presentable by the end of the year. And not completing some projects in the exhibits department before leaving for the publications department at work.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Well, my foot bump is back with a vengeance. Not cool, foot bump, not cool.
11. What was the best thing you bought?
My husband’s wedding band ;-) Or possibly the Christmas tree ornaments at the places we visited on our trips this year.
12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Our family for putting up with us and putting together one great wedding and party, and all the friends who traveled from far and wide to be there.
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
My own in many cases, and in some stressful situations the behavior of others who I will not mention.
14. Where did most of your money go?
This is tough, because though lots of my money went to the wedding, I’m not sure it was most of it. I would probably say gas traveling between our northern and southern estates (my house and our house).
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
The marriage. I was excited for the wedding, but I was (and am) more excited for the whole marriage. I mean, the wedding was just a day that I can relive over and over by watching the video ;-) Oh, and resuming our roadtrips around the state.
16. What song will always remind you of 2010?
Need You Now by Lady Antebellum, Stuck Like Glue by Sugarland, Just the Way You Are by Bruno Mars, Billionaire by Travie McCoy, California Gurls by Katie Perry
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder? Happier!
b) thinner or fatter? Fatter…
c) richer or poorer? Richer
18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Historical marker hunting, cleaning and organizing, cooking, going to the movies, spending time with friends
19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Working, sitting in front of the tv being lazy
20. How did you spend Christmas?
We spent Christmas Eve with his extended family at the Thompson Family Christmas Party, then we woke up Christmas morning, opened our presents, loaded up, headed to his folks’ house, opened gifts and ate a bit of breakfast, and then headed to my family in Broken Arrow for Christmas dinner and a couple of days of visit.
21. Did you fall in love in 2010?
Every day ;-)
22. What was your favorite TV program?
Big Bang Theory
23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
Maybe one of the Oakridge Boys. The bearded one. I lost him for a brief period of time.
24. What was the best book you read?
What did I read this year? It’s not been a good reading year for me. I’m still reading this great book of essays on each state written by authors from each state like Sarah Vowell and S.E. Hinton. It’s modeled on the WPA State Guidebooks from the 1930s.
25. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Hank Green and the Vlogbrothers on YouTube. His songs are pretty darn awesome.
26. What did you want and get?
I got a KitchenAid mixer as a wedding present. It’s awesome. And this amazing throw blanket that is soooo comfy for the living room. Oh, and I can’t forget the Snuggie that helps me get through the cold days at work.
27. What did you want and not get?
A puppy. We have to wait until it’s warmer. And the squishy gel pad for the kitchen floor for my feet. We’ll be getting that with leftover gift cards.
28. What was your favorite film of this year?
I always have a hard time remembering what movies come out in what year by the end of the year…Harry Potter 7 Part 1, How to Train Your Dragon
29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I turned 29, and on the Saturday after my birthday Alec and I went Historical Marker Hunting across western OK. It was awesome.
30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
I’m not sure there is anything. An unlimited gas card?
31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2009?
Evolving
32. What kept you sane?
Hugs from Alec, phone calls from my mama, Starbucks caramel frappuccino, the ability to banter back and forth with friends on various social media outlets
33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
You know, I love me some McDreamy, but John Krazinski is pretty adorable.
34. What political issue stirred you the most?
As a state employee, I keep a weather eye on the state budget situation mostly. It’s fun.
35. Who did you miss?
Lots of people for different reasons—I miss getting together yearly with my Brothers from across the country, I miss my Granny, I miss
36. Who was the best new person you met?
I really love talking with Lindsay on the Twitters—I know we’d met before, but we talk way more now; getting to know my new cousin Travis better though his blog—we met the year before but I know him much better now. Oh, and Roy Clark.
37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2010.
Cooking a turkey is intimidating, but not difficult.
No one remembers the centerpieces at your wedding. All they remember is the love and the fun.

A Very Team Bass Christmas

2010-12-30T12:53:00.017-06:00

Before backtracking to our traveling adventures and wedding planning adventures, I thought I would address something more immediate—the Christmas season. Yes, that busy time of year when normally sane persons run about with antler headbands or red felt hats and sing “Feliz Navidad” while driving through neighborhoods at speeds that at any other time of year would alert the Neighborhood Watch. It truly is the most wonderful time of the year 

Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas to a Baptist without a good, old-fashioned church program complete with lots of choir singing, so I took my place in the orchestra and Alec and my parents took their seats in the congregation for Quail Springs Baptist Church’s Christmas program. Alec decided he needed to document the evening with our new camera; so, helpless to defend against the attacks from above, I got my photo taken, as did the choir.

Me in the orchestra pit

One choir choiring

We continued the holiday season by going to his company’s Christmas party at Nonna’s. I got to practice being a good corporate wife and got all gussied up, nodded, smiled, shook hands, didn’t spill any gravy down my cleavage, and managed to not do anything too embarrassing. He ate a delicious, though mostly raw, steak.

Which brings us to the Thompson Family Christmas Eve Party. I missed out on attending this party last year because of Blizzard 2009 (cue terrifying music and cool meteorological news report graphics), so this was my first experience of a full Thompson Christmas Eve. It was fun, funny, entertaining, and slightly exhausting. There is no shortage of love in the room, just as there is no shortage of competition over the perfect Dirty Santa gift. And now that I’ve seen the true strategy that goes into Dirty Santa, I’m really ready for next year. Watch out, this little Baxter has a competitive streak too ;-) It was fun watching the little ones open their presents, mill about the room and talk with my new family, and just feel comfortable. I’m very grateful for that feeling.

The kiddos opening their presents

Many cousins cousining

Bird opening his Dirty Santa gift

Christmas morning arrived too soon, if that’s even possible! Team Bass was TIRED. But, even when you’re tired, Christmas is exciting  We woke up, went into our still-needs-to-be-finished-being-organized living room and opened our presents to each other and, let me tell you, I am one spoiled wife. After that we got dressed, divided the presents under the tree between his family and my family, put them in separate baskets (well, a basket and an ice chest—we’re resourceful like that) to take them to their respective destinations, loaded the truck for the trip to the Farm and Broken Arrow, and headed out. First stop: the Farm.

Daphne enjoying her presents from Santa

Our first Christmas tree together, with all of our newlywed ornaments

Christmas morning at the Farm with the Basses involved a delicious and large waffle and lots of gifts. Oh, and dogs. Six of them. Abby and Boozer, Amy’s hound dogs, came out to visit for Christmas. And, as we were taking Daphne with us to Broken Arrow, she hung out in the laundry room with the door closed. She found a lovely hiding place behind the dryer. Like I said parenthetically before, Team Bass is resourceful like that. I was one spoiled daughter/sister-in-law and aunt, and we had lots of fun seeing everyone’s faces as they opened their treasures. Too soon it was time to pack up for the second stop: Broken Arrow.

Buttercup enjoys opening her Christmas present at the Farm

Papaw, Amy, Boozer, and Norquis soak up the Christmas spirit. And, in Boozer's case, hide.

John and Maddie open presents. Maddie's presents consisted of lots and lots of boots.

Grandma got a new camera for Christmas! Careful, she's watchin'!

We arrived for Christmas dinner at 1:30 p.m. at the Baxter house in Broken Arrow. After unloading the truck, releasing the Daphne, and hugging the parents, we finished some last minute things and sat down for dinner. Christmas in Broken Arrow at the Baxter house involves way too much food and lots of gifts. Oh, and games. At least one. This year’s game of choice, Quelf, was brought by the newlyweds. It was a strange version of Cranium in which there were no right or wrong answers except in the trivia section. And it had an element of Three Man in that there was a Rules deck that you drew from when you landed on blue squares. It was odd, but made for a fun hour or so. And this year Mama Baxter and Aunt Marilyn joined in, making it that much more interesting. The toy helicopter made the day more interesting too, but the picture is funnier than anything I would say about it.

Mama Baxter hands out presents. Well, she hands them to me and I deliver. It's a team effort.

Game time! And the boys can stop calling me a cheater, because I didn't win this year! So, does that make Brother a cheater?

One of the Quelf rules was that Joe had to sing "99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall." Brother and Will help him with some choreography.

Watch out for those Christmas UFOs! It's Santa Claus vs. the Martians! Or Joe's helicopter, whatever. Maybe it's his new sleigh!

We stayed in Broken Arrow until Monday afternoon and had a lovely visit. We’ve gotten to see my parents quite a bit in the past little bit because of the wedding, which has been very nice. Before we left BA we met with our renters and signed the lease, so my house is now officially rented out starting next year. It was a busy first Christmas as man and wife, but it was full of family and love and laughter, and who could ask for more than that?

Maybe pie…

Team Bass

2010-12-30T12:48:00.001-06:00

A few weeks ago, my loving husband and I were trying to come up with an email address for our new AT&T stuff. One of the conditions of me moving in with him after the wedding was that he get cable in some form, and he opted for the U-Verse (I mean, a girl’s gotta have her History Channel). As a part of my wedding present from him, which was a “Living with Me” survival kit, was the confirmation form that the U-Verse installer guy was coming on the Monday after the wedding  So, we had to come up with an AT&T email address thingy. In doing that, we went through some different names, one of which was TeamBass. We didn’t end up going with that, but after a while I said, “Hey, you know that if you arrange the initials of our first and middle names, it spells TEAM Bass. Travis Elizabeth Alexander Mahala Bass. Neat.” He kinda loves it. Really, I do too. Thus, Team Bass was born.

Watch out, world.

What I Learned in School, er, Work Today

2010-12-28T14:00:00.001-06:00

Today I learned something very valuable. I learned how to blog from my phone.

I know, I'm behind the times, but I'm ok with that. It makes it seem that much more special :-) So now, I can update from literally anywhere. I can sense the fear and trepidation in your demeanor.

So, ladies and gentlemen, the long silence is over. And boy, do I have a lot to catch you up on!

Back to the Future, er, Our Trip...

2010-08-30T21:50:00.006-05:00

...or, time to hit Quartz Mountain!

We continued our trip south and made it to Quartz Mountain State Park. It was a gorgeous day, as you can see in the photos, so we spent some time walking around the lake and my man even got in some wicked rock climbing.

I even managed to find some paddleboats! And I discovered that it's much easier to operate a paddleboat when you're nine than when you're twenty-nine. It doesn't hurt that, when you're nine, usually your parent does most of the paddling. I did feel obligated to do my fair share ;-)

Of course, we didn't forget the purpose of the trip. On our way out of the park, we found a historical marker!

And, though it may not be a historical marker, it's one of the coolest things we saw that day:

So, I got to see the place that Katie-Sister went for SummerArts every year. Looks like lots to do and a place worth returning to! I think, if we'd had time, there was a lot to see and do.

And in our next installment, Altus, Medicine Park, and home! I might actually get to the end of this one-day adventure :-)

Interrupting the Trip Log Again...

2010-08-10T20:51:00.002-05:00

...to belatedly announce our engagement! Go here to get all the details :-)

November 20th and the future, here we come!