Dynamo Game

So the real purpose of us wondering around the UH campus last weekend was to see a Houston Dynamo game. It's on our 101 in 1001 list because this is a *new* MLS soccer team to Houston, and they were the champions in 2006 and 2007. We'd been to soccer matches in Buenos Aires and Rio, so we wanted to see what they were like in the US.

They are currently playing at Robertson Stadium on campus, but are looking to have their own stadium built. I wasn't quite sure how the MLS teams worked, but this particular game was part of a several week tournament called Super Liga with the best MLS teams and the best teams from premier division in the Mexican league.

It was great to see such a diverse crowd here in Houston, especially that the fans were crazy into the game like in South America. They had banners and flags and noisemakers and bands.

We had pretty good seats, but it's tough being a sports photographer. Not enough light, not enough lens, and not enough ISO to make it work well ;)

I was entirely fascinated by all the heading going on during the game. It was supposed to start at 9, but was delayed until 9:30 for TV. We were treated to quite a first half with lots of excitement down on our end of the field.

An amazing act of athleticism and talent (and grain).

We were playing a team from Cancun, and things started to get a little heated between the two teams after we scored a goal, then another goal quickly after that.

The game was very exciting with all the action and all the goals. I even caught this goal as the ball went into the net (far left side at the bottom of the net).

We were even treated to a little pushy-shovey fight after the 3 goal in just a few minutes.

The ref was none too impressed and issued a red card and an ejection to players on both teams. I'll confess that we were wusses and left at half-time, which was after 10:30 since we needed to head to church on Sunday. We had a great time, but we still want to see one of the *HUGE* international games that come to Reliant Center periodically.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: It's catch up day to hopefully do some work, blog my photos from last weekend at the museum & yesterday in College Station.

Assembling the Desk

Just to annoy my husband further than messing up HIS room and the guest room, I've also created a mess in the garage with my old desk & my new furniture.

Then, to take the chaos to a whole new level, I moved all 652,164 pieces for the new desk inside and laid them out in the dining room AND the front living room to get organized.

I guess it's the engineer in me, but I actually enjoy assembling things like this, but only when they assemble easily. I did the bulk of it Tuesday night before and after my mom's birthday dinner.

Wednesday night, I finished up with the desktop and the drawers. I worked really hard to re-assemble my computer with all the cords neatly arranged, my external hard drives and cable modems stacked neatly on shelving. Don't mind my favorite drink (besides wine!) and regular afternoon snack of chips & salsa sitting on my desk ;)

Unfortunately, I hit a little snag when it came to assembling the convertible lounge. I tried in vain, and even had H help me for about 30 minutes, to get the top cross-bar on the couch to attach properly. After a careful study, I realized that the board is warped & had to call customer service to have them send me a replacement part. Hopefully we'll get the shelving hung this afternoon & my book cases moved back into the room, but it might be next weekend before I get my couch assembled.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: We're visiting the George HW Bush Presidential Library this mornign before heading home.

Missing Vizsla

This is so sad and heartbreaking! I don't know what I'd do if I lost Zoe, but I'm doing what I can to help this poor pup. Not sure if I have any readers in the Fort Lauderdale area, but feel free to forward my blog along to any friends or relatives that you might have in the area.

You can watch a super-sweet video slideshow here.

Brien and Linda need help finding their 6 month old vizsla pup Bodi. Bodi has been missing since June 28, 2008 at 7:30 pm and was last seen in Fort Lauderdale at AIA and Oakland Park Blvd. He is an intact male 6 month old puppy wearing a Green Collar, name tag and red rabies tag. His left eye is slightly darker and he has a small white patch on his chest.

Office Floor Finished

This was my newly painted office on Monday night. Those are post-it notes all over the walls to mark a few places I needed to touch-up with paint.

I relocated my computer and the contents of my closet to my poor husband's newly completed office.

The rest of the furniture and junk went into the spare bedroom, with all my new goodies from the Container Store waiting to be hung and organized.

Went with the handyman to Home Depot Monday, and after hours of agonizing over color choices and numerous trips to every flooring place in the area, ended up buying some really nice laminate at only $2/square foot!

Come home at lunch on Tuesday to check out the progress.

It's finished by the time I arrive home from work! I really love it and I'm happy with the darker brown color.

The upper wall looks fairly pale in this photo, but I assure you that you definitely notice it's blue when you are in the room.

Now onto tackling the gigantic desk!

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: Doing my long run today this morning, and we're headed to a grape harvest festival tonight.

Tagged

I've been tagged by The Good Wife! Can I just say I love her profile picture ;) I don't normally do the blog tagging, but I thought I'd play along this time & share some blog love by introducing my blog friends to each other. I'm also in the midst of painting, flooring, assembling, building, decorating, hanging, organizing and such at home, so I'll be back to regular blog posts in a few days.

Ten years ago I was:

Graduating from high school & heading off to college! My 10 year reunion is coming up, so I'll be combining a lot of flashbacks, high school memories and old photos in the next few months.



What are (non-work) things on my to-do list for today?

1. Keep working on my office
2. Pack for our over night trip to Messina Hof Winery
3. Water the yard if it doesn't rain
4. Ready my running stuff for my Friday morning long jog
5. Get some much needed sleep


Five snacks I enjoy:

1. Yogurt & cereal
2. Sugar free Jello & Sugar Free Cheesecake Pudding
3. Low Fat Peanut Butter
4. Tortilla with melted cheese
5. Guacamole
6. (Cause I don't enjoy it very often...) M&M Blizzard from Dairy Queen


Things I would do if I were a billionaire:

1. Travel everywhere & anywhere
2. Donate lots of money to charities

3. Spend time learning & reading

4. Get another Vizsla ;)

5. Do some wonderful things for my friends and family who deserve it



Places I’ve lived:

1. Houston, TX- born & raised here
2. Macon, GA- 2 years of college
3. Austin, TX- 2 years of college
4. Back home to Houston now



Jobs I’ve had:

1. Working in construction with my dad when I was 14-16
2. Receptionist for my step-mom at her office 14-16
3. Receptionist/sales for a dental office (MOST.HATED.JOB) 17
4. Current job- interning & then full time since I was 18



I will be tagging:

1. Amanda at Life & Times of New New Yorker- loves books, her dogs & exploring NYC
2. Kristyn at Fruit & Bread- awesome blogging about life, travel and photography
3. Ashley at Life, Love & the Pursuit of the Next Great Vacation- I drool over her travel posts
4. Lyndsay at Giggles n' Grins Photography- adore her mom skills, beautiful children & gorgeous photos (she arranged our wonderful Bridal Trash the Dress session)
5. Dennis the Vizsla at his Diary of Destruction- his zany stories & photoshop stuff crack me up all the time, Zoe has a V-crush

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: Today (or maybe tomorrow) is bonus day at work.

House Repairs

We've been busy beavers around our place lately taknig care of a ton of little chores and getting things marked off our "TO DO" list. Although my house was built around 2002, I already have quite a few rotten boards along the back of the house. I don't think the homebuilder used treated wood or put enough coats of paint on them.

It took a while to find a handyman to actually do the work, but I found an awesome crew that came last week and did the work in less than an hour (while I was at the vet with Zoe).

They tore down all the rotten boards along the roof line & replaced them with some hardiplank boards. See our garden back there?

Although the raw color of the hardiplank is fairly close, we still need to paint it just to seal and protect it. I made a deal with H: I'll paint the hallway if he paints the wood on the back. He agreed, but now we need a free weekend to stay home and do the work.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: Now mom will have to find something else to nag me about fixing when she comes over to visit.

Happy Birthday Mom!

Today my wonderful mother is another year older, wiser, more beautiful and more precious to me. I found the above awesome old photo, which was taken on her 18th (or maybe 17th) birthday with my dad. Yup, her nickname was possum- I'll have to ask her about that one day.

And this fabu photo of us was taken when I was about 2, and my mom's co-workers decorated her office for her 30th birthday. My mom has done incredibly well for herself professionally over the past 30 years, and I'm very proud of how far up the corporate ladder she has climbed. She's always winning awards at work, and getting promoted.

More recently, we had some family photos taken in the summer of 2003. I love this pic of mom & I, and I even have it framed in my bedroom. Being an only child, she did spoil me quite a bit growing up. However, I thought she was an awesome parent and I think she did a fantastic job of raising me right, teaching me to value education and hard work, and showing me how to love unconditionally.

This is another favorite photo of us, and it of course includes H. Both my mom and Gram look so beautiful, and I was so thankful for all their help with my wedding and all the things that they did over the past 28 years that helped me prepare for marriage. They treat H like a son, and they love him as much as I do.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM! I Love you very much- XOXO!!

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: The office floor is going in today!