Balloon Fiesta!!

And we are OFF!! :)

O how I love October in Albuquerque! The early morning skies are lit up by hot air balloons! :) O what a beautiful site it is! :)

This is my 4th Balloon Fiesta but my 3rd year crewing with the clutch crew! :) :)

Alan, my fiancé, got me going when we first started dating in 2010.  It tradition to take the whole week off and do nothing but ballooning stuff. They have fun actives during the week that you can do!

Here are a couple pictures:

me and my honey waiting for the GO!

Even after 3 years of flying I still get nervous going up! :)

Up up and AWAY!!! :) :) 

There is nothing like going up in a hot air balloon!!

Balloon almost up!! 

No one reminded me to blog yesterday! And since I blogged about the fiesta last week I don't know what to right about. I guess I'll just inform my lovely sisters about the solo I might be singing.It's a might because I was going to do it with Amy but she is leaving tomorrow but we'll see how confident I feel. Here's a preview. The vocals are a bit shaking but that's cuz I didn't warm up (that's my story and I'm sticking to it).

30 before 30

I was watching an episode of Brothers&Sisters earlier (which was a good series that I just watched entirely on Netflix thanks to a recommendation by Dehli, but I digress) and one of the siblings was turning 30 and had written a list of things when he was a kid that he wanted to do before that ripe old age... And since I am winding up my thirties in a few short years*tear* I thought it would be cool to compile a list of things I'd like to do before my best years are behind me.  

So here goes.... (In no particular order)

1. Go on a cruise
2. Change the oil on a car
3. Shoot a gun... (be afraid)
4. Get to my goal weight (Thank you baby weight for sticking around and wearing out your welcome!)
5.  Have an eighties dance party (because that just seems like something somebody in my generation needs to do at least once in their life!)
6. Go on a road trip with no destination in mind
7. Build something ...out of wood... with my own hands... using power tools and such
8. Learn to drive a stick (again be afraid)
9. Go back to school
10. Move somewhere new
11. Be apart of a flash mob
12. Make homemade croissants 
13. Take ballroom dancing lessons
14. Keep my house "Rose clean" for a week, while the kids ARE home (If you don't understand this then you've never been to my mom's house. Shes a magician for sure)
15. Go somewhere outside of the U.S that I've never been
16. Run a marathon
17. Teach my kids to ride a bike
18. Learn to play the piano
19. Cook a homemade meal for dinner every night of one whole week (and if you know me then you know this would be much be a miracle)
20. Find my soul mate (Ok this might be a bit much before the big 3-0 but you never know. You have not because you ask not, right?! ;))
21. Make an apple pie 
22. Finally read the Bible all the way through
23. Win three people to God
24. Go to Disney World
25. Take my kids to go swim in an ocean
26. Create a nest egg
27. Work on being a better sister, friend, daughter, mother...person
28. Watch a full presidential debate (zzzzzZZZZzzzZZzzz)
29. Memorize the order of the books of the Bible and more scripture
30. Go to a Steelers and/or a Lakers game

And there you have it, my 30 before 30 list... I better get going because the BIG day will be here before I know it... As I mark things off the list I will write about it to keep you updated. I'm excited to see how many of these I'll be able to complete, I hope my sisters are up to some of these challenges because I wont be able to do it alone :)

Venue

Since my plane got delayed from Albuquerque to Dallas. I decided I would blog before I forgot to do it! :)

So this blog is about me and my mom going to see a Wedding Venue today! :)

We went to see the Balloon Fiesta Museum.

I figured since me and my fiancé Alan balloon together that we should get married at the museum where they tell the history of ballooning.

It was very nice and everything I hoped that it would be!

They showed my mom and I about 4 different rooms they had in the museum. But two of the rooms only have about a 40 people limit which I would LOVE to have but I know the wedding will be a bit bigger than 40 people lol which we could turn those two rooms into where the bride and groom gets ready! Which I thought was a great idea, so we can do everything in one place!

This room was upstairs and had a GREAT view of the mountains but it didn't have an outdoor space where we could do the ceremony at. 

They had this exact same room downstairs which had a great outdoor space and a covered patio where we could have a dance floor or cocktail hour at. 

Super glad that I only had to look at one venue to figure out where I wanted to get married at. My mom loved the whole space. So I knew it was the place where Alan and I would start forever at. (which those where his words when I told him I liked the space) 

So at the end of the year I will be booking and putting my deposit down on this place. :) I'm super excited to let me sisters see it so we can start going over decoration ideas!! Thank the lord that my family is the crafting type! (saving money where every I can) 

Albuquerque international balloon fiesta 2012

Ever since I saw the Lost episode where they show Charlie's five proudest/favorite moments (before he dies *sad face), I have been looking for my own. And I am proud to say that I now have an addition to my top 5 favorite moments. Going up in a hot air balloon was an amazing experience! It was too beautiful and peaceful to even think about being scared (to me at least, tasha might have a different opinion). Here are some pictures so you can halfway share in the experience with me.

Texas Country

Better late than never, I always say...haha.

I just got back from a crazy, short, exhausting trip to Dallas for a research project that I'll be working on this year. It was all expenses paid though so thank you, ACU! My classmates are so funny so we had a really good time. Dehli actually came over to the hotel and chatted it up for a little while so that was definitely the icing on the cake!

Anywho...my blog today is about my newfound love for Texas Country music. Having lived in South Texas for the past 8 years, I do listen to Country music and I absolutely love most of it. In recent conversations though, it was discovered that I didn't know any "Texas Country" music...which, if you didn't know, is different than mainstream country and is, apparently, a HUGE deal up here in Abilene. And since I started watching Friday Night Lights, I figured I needed to become a bit more accustomed to the West Texas way of life.

After hearing some of the names, I did know a few...I just didn't know they were classified different from the rest, like Pat Green, Cross Canadian Ragweed, Randy Rogers Band, Eli Young Band (although, they are pretty mainstream now), and Kevin Fowler. But I guess you learn something new each day...

A friend from church made me two mixed CD's for my birthday stocked full of what he calls the best in Texas Country...and I must say, I really like it! So good job, Kirk! A couple are a little too Honky Tonk for my taste but the rest are really good.

Dehli, here's a picture of some of them, you need to check 'em out.

My top three songs right now are:
1. Who I am by Wade Bowen
2. Next to Heaven by Aaron Watson
3. Good Night for Dancing by Josh Abbott Band

Honorable Mentions - Constantly by CCR, Crazy by Casey Donahew Band, and Feet Don't Touch the Ground by Stoney LaRue.

Del, I'll try to figure out dropbox and see if I can send 'em over to you lol.

Well I'm gonna curl up with Revenge so ttyl!

State Fair..

I totally SPACED yesterday and forgot to blog! :(  So I'm doing it today! :)

I went to the Dallas State Fair last Monday with my boss and her family. It was my first fair that I could remember  It was SO much fun. They had tons of booths, games, rides, people, and animals! 

My ticket to get in

Dallas state fair is known for their fried food. Yes I said FRIED. They have the most fried for EVER. Anything you can imagine its fried! So of course being a cooking and food tasting guru I just HAD to taste a couple of things! (fried beer, fried cheesecake, fried butter, fried bacon cinnamon rolls, fried salsa, fried cookie dough)

 Here is the fried jambalaya served with a onion ring and spicy sauce. It was to die for!! This was the first year having it. It also won the best tasting award this year. Which, in my opinion, it was well deserved. I could have eaten about ten more of them. lol

 Here is the BIG Texan. lol :) he is in the middle of everything. :)

 Next on the taste test was fried mac-n-cheese. Which i thought was okay. If they used my mommas homemade mac-n-cheese it would have been a WHOLE lot better! Plus the bun that they used made it to breadie if that makes any sense. :)

 One of the waterfalls. :)

 They last thing we tried that was fried was the guacamole!! :)

 My boss and I waiting for our order of guacamole!

 (and YES i did wear my redskins jersey to a DALLAS event)

 The inside of the guacamole. It was pretty good. A bit spicy and the batter was just a bit too thick. But over all it was good. Better than the mac-n-cheese but not as good as the jambalaya.

Midway is where all the rides are! We didn't ride any rides but we saw some pretty crazy and scary rides!

 See i told you.. Anything you can think of they have it fried. Fried bubblegum! Did not try it but talked  with a lady in line who said it was a sugar rush.

 You can't go to a fair and not have funnel cake!! but red velvet sounds even better!

 The last then we ate before we left was of course the funnel cake. It was very delicious. It was nice and hot and soft. Yum. Just melts in your mouth kinda goodness! :)

This was the tickets that we had to use to buy everything. They don't use cash or credit cards. So everywhere there are stands to get tickets so you can buy food, water, games. Something I thought was pretty different. 

Friday Funday

Today is a good day. The kids and I will be hitting the road tonight after work to head to Albuquerque, New Mexico. We are going to visit my parents and will be there for a week. All of the sisters will be through at some point during that week and I cannot wait. It feels like it's been forever since we've seen each other. We are going for the Hot Air Balloon Fiesta and are so excited we can barely contain it!!!

We will all be blogging about out experiences there in the next couples of weeks. We will have a whole week dedicate to the Fiesta :)

I hope you are as excited about clocking out on this Friday evening as I am!

TGIF

School might not be so overrated

I've never been excited about my college major; Accounting. When asked why I chose it I'd reply very vaguely with a 'I'm good at math' or 'job security.' It's not awful by any means but I sure wasn't passionate about it. Yesterday, however, we had a guest speaker, Perry something or other, a NMSU graduate who majored in accounting. Mr. Perry didn't just give a lecture for an hour and a half; he told us a little about his background and let us ask questions. He spoke of all the different things you can do with an accounting degree, he pushed graduate school while you are still in school mode (bleh), he informed us that he currently makes 2 MILLION dollars a year, and that we, as entry level public accounting students, can make a starting salary of about $50,000. All that made me VERY excited but my favorite part about Perry was that he took every chance he got to glorify God, which is uncommon on a college campus. He said that putting faith and family before your career is the most important thing you can do. 

So basically 2 and a half years later I know I made the right choice sticking with accounting. Who knows maybe that'll be me in 30 years making the big bucks, giving inspirational speeches, but most importantly using a career field to uplift my God.

Loss for words

I don't have anything blog worthy to say today so I'm going to leave you with this picture. It so perfect, I think, don't you?! Its not over yet...

P.S. Since my sisters and I started our new blogging schedule to make sure we all get on here at least once a week I have realized I have no life. I need to change that so I will have something besides my reality tv worthy drama to talk about!!!  :)

Favorite Scripture

Whew...it's my day again. This past week just flew by! Today, I thought I'd write about my favorite scripture (Our blog is totally and completely random, but I guess, that's the beauty in the chaos).

When people ask me what my favorite scripture is I usually freeze. My mind goes blank and the only scripture I can ever think of is John 3:16...which is a great scripture, and probably the first I ever memorized...long before we were ever attending church...however, it is NOT my favorite. LOL. It is (or it was):

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14

And basically, I said alllllllll that to say that my new favorite scripture is:

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Deuteronomy 6:5-7

I think that above all else, we must be in love with God. Only when we truly LOVE him will we be able to passionately live for him and obey his word. I really like this scripture because it shows the important of spreading that love around to other people, specifically at four different times throughout our day:

1. When you sit at home - That means when you're sitting down to eat dinner, when you're sitting on the couch, when you're sitting out on the porch with family, God should never been far from your thoughts and conversations. God isn't just something for Sunday Morning church services, but He must be taken home with you. Instead of eating with the TV on and the cellphone out, try talking about God or reading your Bible. 

2. When you walk along the road - Since they walked most everywhere they went back in the day, I imagine that God meant for them to talk about Him when they walked to and from work and when they went to draw water from the well and when they headed over to the neighbor's house to share the latest gossip. Turn the radio off in the car every once in a while, say a prayer for the people you pass (or that pass you, if you don't have a lead foot, like me). Take your headphones out of your ears, say hi to the people you walk by. 

3. When you lie down - Bedtime prayers...not something invented by parent's to make children sleepy. Hahaha. Right before bed a great time to unwind from the day, to check back in with God. 

4. When you get up - The Bible says in Psalms 3 that we lie down and sleep and wake the next day because the Lord sustained us...thank Him for it :)

I bet we would be amazed at the opportunities we miss every day to talk to someone about God or even just the chances we have to be kind to someone because we are so distracted by other things. Or how about all those things that he's waiting to tell you about your life, things that you are eager to hear as well, things that he hasn't gotten the chance to tell you yet, because you just haven't spent any time with him lately.

Pay attention.

Be aware of the people around you.

Make time for the Creator of your world.

Keep your eyes open.

Fashion Show

Well I guess while I'm waiting for my pictures to upload to my computer I can start writing! :)

So if you don't know already I am engaged! :) I got engaged April 11, 2012!

This past weekend was my first EVER wedding event that I went too! It was so much fun!

Hotel it was held at.

It started out with a fashion show. It had about 8 bridesmaid dress and about 10 wedding dresses. I fell in LOVE with one of the wedding dresses!! I will try it on in March/april when its time to start dress shopping!! After the fashion show they had tons of vendors upstairs showing off what they do. They had about 50vendors giving away free stuff. It was pretty neat. I got a couple cute ideas from all the displays that they had.  They had cake tasting and people walking around with different types of hors d'oeuvres. 

Susan and her daughter Kim went with me. Susan is my nephews grandmother.  They have been so great welcoming into their little family since all my family is away from me. They had a great time too! They got some goodies. :)  

The models at the show were very good. Some of them were kinda stiff but the others were very good. Working the runway! 

The Models in the last dresses. :) 

Here is the wedding dress I fell in love with at the show. 

It's from Victoria Nicole. It's a vintage old lace with a bow-tie in the back with a pinkish tint underneath the lace. That is Victorias signature color.(pink) so every collection has a couple dresses with pink. It was very pretty. All three of us did the OO as soon as we saw it. I looked it up online and WANT to try it on when I do my wedding shopping. it will be a must. :) 

Here are just a couple pictures from the events 

And the last picture of the event!  ME! :) I thought i would wear my favorite color. YELLOW which will be also the color of the wedding. My wedding colors will be yellow and grey. I'm super excited to go to my wedding events to get more ideas for my big day!