3

it is unbelievable that 3 of my favorite little people are turning 3 this spring. where has the time gone? it was only yesterday that i was holding you, snug as a bug, swaddled up and cuddly. those days are long ago though. now you are going to be 3.

i have to tell you, 3 is freaking cool. you are big enough to play and understand games like hide and seek, tag, and chutes and ladders but still little enough to crawl in a lap and read books and snuggle.

(super max to the rescue)

you can comprehend pretend and with just a blanket you can become a superhero, live in an awesome fort, or become invisible to those around you.

(ben and the gorilla we named sam)

you say what is on your mind and you mean it. you laugh and play and learn and love and never seem to run out of energy.

(sweet maggie rose enjoying a sweet treat)

when you are 3, you are becoming the person you will always be. and i am so happy that i will get to live vicariously through 3 of the coolest 3 year olds around. happy birthday loves. here's to being 3!

(side note: when i turned 3 there was a taco villa birthday lunch and a gift of my favorite food, chips and salsa, from the neighbors. awesome. and i wonder why i have a mexican food addiction.)

new cards

cort gave me an awesome card from a new paper company that she discovered this weekend called southern fried paper. they are super cool and i want to be them but will settle on buying all of their cool cards and sending them to some of my favorite pen pals. here are some of my favorites i found on their site:

this second one pretty much describes me right now :)

good night friends~

the start of a new week

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this is a good one for a sunday evening. i start thinking about all of the things that must get accomplished in the upcoming week and begin to dread the stress and hustle of the beginning of the work week. this is a good one to come back and reread. i definitely will. and for any of you who have anxiety or illness or are just waiting for the weekend to come again, when you need some encouragement, take a moment to listen and you will hear me whispering some to you :)

to the lucky man who ends up with me

these guys (and some others not pictured here) are giving you a lot to live up to...

thank you for helping me move, fixing my car, picking me up from the airport (even when the roads are icy), hanging/installing things in my home, picking up my mail, providing interesting conversation, letting me be a part of your children's lives, giving me a "guys" perspective, supporting me in all that i do, and mostly for being such amazing husbands and fathers to women and children whom i love dearly. you guys are the best.

finally getting around to it

as all of you who know me know....i LOVE my birthday. it is one of my favorite days (or weekends) of the year because i get to hang out with my awesome family/friends, receive calls/texts/emails from my favorite people, eat my favorite foods, open presents, and celebrate my life. this year was no different....it was wonderful.
SO, i have been meaning to post about it for a while (seeing as my birthday is at the beginning of january) but i just got the photos uploaded, so here it is (finally)...

on the evening before my actual birthday, i got to watch the cotton bowl, eat one of my favorite meals and have my favorite cake (thanks cort!) with two of my favorite little aggies (isn't joe the little jokester...flipping off the camera) and some of my favorite grown up aggies had birthday morning breakfast at my favorite dallas restaurant with some of my favorite people (including anna, the photographer)

spent the day laying around, laughing, watching one of our favorite movies, walking around downtown, and playing pre-dinner video games with my sister

and ended the day with pizza at louie's and hanging out at barcadia, playing skee-ball and giant jenga, drinking tasty beverages, and spending time with my dear friends who came out to celebrate with me (pictured here are a few who were captured on my camera)

if the birthday weekend is any indication of how good the rest of the year is going to be, i have a lot of fun times to look forward to!

home away from home

picture found here

i love this place. when i am not travelling i spend a significant amount of my work time here. for some reason the holiday berry hot tea or the non-fat iced latte combined with an atmosphere of really good satellite music, loud coffee grinders, and other hard-working patrons makes me very productive. i probably love this place so much because it is an escape from my messy office and it offers me the opportunity to be around other people, but regardless, it holds a special place in my heart and if you haven't visited this local establishment, you definitely should. click here for their website.

words to live by

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after an awfully stressful day, there is nothing like a 2 minute conversation with your sister on skype instant messenger that isn't supposed to be funny but due to made up words and emoticons you can't help but crack up (yes we are aware that we are not 10 years old. we know we are 28 ;)). laughter really does make everything better.

mid-day blog break

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i am swamped. out of town 3 days last weekend. out of town 4 days this week. currently in midland texas, sitting in a hotel conference room (that has a funky smell to it) multi-tasking. and by multi-tasking, i mean taking a break to write a quick entry that is long overdue, eavesdropping on my staff who are in a training and my boss who is on a conference call, and pretending to stare at spreadsheets that need to be corrected asap. i swear i will get back to them in just a minute.
mostly, i am thinking about the fun things i have coming up in march: a relaxing weekend when i get home tomorrow to do what i want (a haircut, a patio, finish my good book, catch up on dvr, and hopefully play with a kid friend or 2); next weekend when my mom, granny, and sister are coming to dallas to visit (been homesick and am excited to get some squeezes from my momma); the concert ticket i just bought to go stomp and twirl to robert earl keen, old 97's, and the o's; the super fun brunch that chelsey and i are planning for cortney and crosby at the end of the month; and the big glass of wine i plan to drink as soon as this long day of meetings and entertaining staff is done :)
hope you all have a fun march planned and are having an equally productive and speedy week~