This past weekend Travis and I fell in love with the Dodge Magnum RT We decided to test drive one just for kicks and ended up seriously considering to buy one. I was drooling over the Cool Vanilla while Travis was admiring the Magnesium.

I went up to school Monday to work in my room. My goal was to get the furniture moved in to place. Mission accomplished. Tomorrow is our first day back- donuts and bagels served at 8. I think I'll pass on that. Not sure what's in store tomorrow or the year for that matter but hopefully it's not as bad I'm thinking.

This weekend I'm heading up to the hill country with my parents. Saturday I'm going to help my dad up at the ranch and then Sunday we'll be heading back home. Kind of a long drive for such a short trip but it'll be nice to get out of the city. Travis is going to Florida to help his buddy move back home. He's off for 4 days...lucky! I guess I shouldn't be jealous since I've been off for 2 months. lol

Oh, one more thing Travis and I decided to clip and use coupons this month to see if we'd save any money when purchasing grocery items. Low and behold, we saved a whopping $8 at Krogers yesterday! If only it would of been triple coupon day!

This morning I was listening to sound clips from the JB and Sandy show. I was checking out their site and came across a picture of what happens when a Zebra and a Donkey get together...If you look at long enough it's kind of cute!


Pet the Zonkey

What a great weekend! Dinner at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse was incredible. I have never tasted a steak so flavorful. I actually ordered the stuffed chicken but sampled the steak off of Travis' plate. I am sneaky..very sneaky. We actually spilt our meals but for some reason I ate more of his than mine but not to worry I had mine boxed up and enjoyed it last night.

Yesterday Travis and I went into town and bought a new......Greatland® dome tent . I absolutely love it! I can't wait to try it out! It sleeps 4 but it is perfect for 2 and a little pup.

Travis also surprised me BIG on Friday night. On our first trip out to Fredericksburg I went to a quilt store and found this amazing quilt with a not so amazing price-tag. I told Travis about it and even showed it to him one afternoon. He told me that we could go in half on something if I wanted to. I couldn't make up my mind because I had my eye on something else. Well I left town empty handed which was fine because I figured I'd be back the following week and would have my mind made up by then. On the return trip I told Travis I had stopped by the Quilt store and to my surprise the quilt had sold. I told him that I guess a tourist had bought it over the weekend. Little did I know what he had up his sleeve. He had been teasing me all week about how I was getting a surprise when we got back to Houston. A SURPRISE!?!?!

Of course that started the guessing game....Is it something that fits your pocket? What color is it? Is it breathing? I asked every question in the book and all I got were two responses from him, "I have the right to refuse to answer and you'll find out on Saturday."

Well he couldn't wait until Saturday and neither could I! So on Friday he covered my eyes and revealed the surprise. There was the quilt spread out on my bed! I couldn't believe it. I was practically speechless.

I love my quilt and I love Travis!


The Quilt


The design upclose

So now I'm on the search for quilted pillow shams and a new bed.

I'm back!

I got in town this morning around 10. I had gone up to Fredericksburg on Tuesday because Travis was going to be working there. During my stay I learned more about what he does and talks about doing by watching him work and actually doing it myself. I collected a few water samples and helped label over 300 glass jars used for sampling. Thursday I managed to swing by Grandma's house. She was surprised to see me and offered to take Travis and I out to lunch. Travis couldn't make it because of his work load so it was just the two of us! We went by DQ (of course). We talked about the price of real estate in Fredericksburg (which is outrageous) and about my visit in town. Afterwards I managed to stroll down Main Street and did a little shopping. For the most part I just relaxed and enjoy my time with Travis.

Travis will probably be back later tonight. He had so much work left to do on his own-hopefully he'll finish before sunset.

Well next week we head back to school for inservice sessions. Today was our Kindergarten Team luncheon at Kathy's house. It kind of motivated me to get my room ready for the 20 kids I'm expected to have. We are all kind of nervous about this year because we have a new Principal, an extended day and several other changes that are going into effect this coming school year. I'm sure it'll all work out though. Change isn't always a bad thing.

Well this weekend is Travis' mom's birthday. She made reservations for all of us to go to Ruth Chris' Steakhouse to celebrate! I picked her up an antique bud vase from a store called Rebbeca's when I was on Main Street. The vase looks like a round jelly jar with a domed shaped wire lid.

Other than dinner tomorrow- not much else is planned. Perhaps we will practice the Art of Doing Nothing.

helping water the plants

Helping Gi-Gi make cookies

Let's play teacher!

Maxie B. at the Pioneer Museum

Travis and Maxie

After our camping trip I headed to Johnson City to pick up Maxie. Maxie stayed with Gi-Gi and I for 3 days. We had a lot of fun! Monday Gi-Gi took us to the Pioneer Museum to see some of her Great Grandfather's artifacts. It was pretty interesting and there was lots to see. We did a little shopping and had an ice cold treat at DQ. Maxie and Gi-Gi made oatmeal raisin cookies one afternoon and then Maxie and I did a little more shopping. I'd try to give Grandma a little time to herself so she could rest and restore some energy. We'd visit Travis everyday at his job-site. I am glad I had the chance to see what he does when he is out of the office. Travis stayed at the Miller Inn which was right around the corner from my Grandma's place- so pretty convenient! It was nice being that close. Tuesday was date night out on the town. We went out for dinner at Bejas, a causal Sante-Fe restaurant. We dined on the patio facing Main Street. We started out with chips and queso and a tangy margarita. For the main course I had the Cobb salad and Travis had a stuffed chicken dish and we shared a peach cobbler topped with ice cream for dessert! It was nice to go out and enjoy the small town life. I love Fredericksburg because work isn't the priority for people- it's family. People work hard at what they do but it's family (not money) that keeps them going.
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Last week Travis and I went camping at Inks Lake- which is just North of Marble Falls. The drive out there was pretty. There were rolling hills, winding roads with amazing views of the land and the water. When I arrived Travis was tucked away in his tent but was aware of my arrival- he quickly popped out to greet me. He had picked a great location to camp- close to the water which gave a nice breeze and it was near the restroom. Travis took me on a quick tour of the campsite and then suggested renting a canoe to paddle around the lake. I'd never done that before so I was up for it! At first I was little nervous about being on the water but Travis assured me that the boat was stable! We paddled around for a couple of hours and enjoyed the fresh air! I do have to admit I could use a little help on my rowing technique but overall I got the hang of it. That afternoon Travis set up the hammock and we spent some time relaxing in the shade with our books. At night we built a fire and watched for shooting stars before going to bed. We took it easy on Sunday morning and tore down the campsite little by little before heading to Fredericksburg.

the view from our campsite

Me and Lucy watching the sunset

sunrise...sunset...sunrise...sunset

taking it easy

creepy crawly critter

Travis and Lucy in the water at INKs Lake

Becky- Thanks for all your help with my blog issues! You certainly do have "magic fingers!" So here it is- the latest look for my Blog....is it a keeper? You bet it is!

Last night Kristine and I saw The Notebook. I had read the book last summer and when I heard about the movie I knew I had to see it. I definitely recommend seeing it-and bring a box of tissues. We were both crying and laughing at one another but we gave each other a hug and we were all better!

Tomorrow I'm heading to Austin for some good-time fun with Maxie! On Saturday I am meeting Travis at Perdenalis Falls to go camping- I hope I'll be able to find him when I make my way out there! We will camp out Saturday night then head to Grandma's house on Sunday and stay until Thursday. Should be a great time to take lots of pictures!

I was surfing mtv.com earlier today to find out what's going on in the world of entertainment. I came across a link called 20 Questions about your favorite Real World cast memebers. I personally am a big fan of earlier epidsodes of the show but the San Diego cast was pretty interesting- especially with members like Frankie- woah!

One question in particular caught my eye. What's your porn star name? (Your childhood pet's name + the name of the street you grew up on.) So that's my question to you fellow blog readers. Post your responses on the tag-board located on the right panel of my entry!

Sugar Sham would be mine. It's got a nice ring to it but I have no interest in changing professions!

I hope everyone had as much fun as I did over the Holiday weekend. I decided I'd go over to my parents house to help my mom out. She has been nagging me to clean out my bedroom closet for several months now. Since Travis was out of town I decided that now was a good time to get organized. I decided go the extra mile and clean out the gameroom closet as well. I figured out that if you can't find a place to store something just shove it in the closet and that'll work best. I should have worn protective head gear while cleaning- the closet was jam packed with stuff (not all of my stuff either). That little closet probably took a good 3 to 4 hours to organize. But now you can feel safe knowing that nothing will fall at you when opening the door. Then it was time to tackle bigger and better things like my bedroom closet.... I started cleaning it around 9 o'clock Friday and 10 trashbags later I was finally done. You can actually see the carpet now!

Travis and Scott took off on Thursday for a 2-day trip to the Sunshine State. First stop UNIVERSAL STUDIOS and Islands of Adventure for some roller coaster action! Then Saturday was race day. Travis and Scott attended a little thing called the Pepsi 400. Travis' drivers of choice are Rusty Wallace and Casey Kahne. Travis made it back early Sunday morning and by early I mean they caught the 5:30 a.m. flight. We dropped Scott off at his house in Spring and then headed back over to my parents place to pick LUcy up and visit with over breakfast. We spent the remainder of the weekend in Conroe and took it nice and easy!

Movie Rental Must- Cold Mountain

One of my goals for the past couple of months is to work on paying off my debt. I've been battling this for awhile and it's not like I'm in over my head but I want it to be over and done with. Julie told me about a man she saw on Oprah this week talking about MONEY. I immediately went to Oprah and read up on some tips and thought I'd share them with you.

From the show Automatic Millionaire: How to Become One

Secret One: Pay Yourself First

Most people live paycheck to paycheck. The average American family has $10,000 debt. Financial expert David Bach says the secret to being rich is paying yourself first. Right now, when you earn a dollar, before it even makes it to your paycheck, you pay the federal government income taxes. You also may be paying state income tax. And on top of that, there are Social Security taxes, Medicaid and unemployment. Don't pay Uncle Sam before you pay yourself, David says. Start paying yourself first—take at the very least the first hour of income that you earn during the day for yourself. You can legally pay yourself first -before the government- by putting that money into a pre-tax retirement account.

How Much Should You Pay Yourself?

David tells you where you'll be according to what you save.

Dead Broke: Don't pay yourself first. Spend more than you earn.
Poor: Spend everything you make and save nothing.
Middle Class: Pay yourself first five to 10 percent of your income.
Upper Class: Pay yourself first 10 to 20 percent of your income.
Super Rich: Pay yourself first at least 20 percent of your income.

Secret Two: Make it Automatic

In order to make paying yourself first effective, the process has to be automatic, David Bach says. You must have a system that will pull that money out of your paycheck directly and automatically—the way the federal government does. Go to your employer and say, "I want you to take money directly out of my paycheck, and I want you to put it automatically into my retirement account." Don't trust yourself to pull that money out, David says. It's not that people are lazy, it's that they're busy. No matter how disciplined they may be, they don't have time to manually write checks and deposit them into an account every pay day.
No retirement account? Some people may not have a retirement account, or their employers don't offer a retirement plan. Don't use that as an excuse—open your own individual retirement account. An IRA is a personal retirement plan that anyone who earns income can set up at a bank, brokerage firm, or online.
David says opening an IRA and making it automatic can be done in 15 minutes. David suggests starting with the following investment companies, brokerage firms and banks.

Secret Three: Buy Your Home and Pay It Off Early

You'll never get rich if you don't own your own home, according to David Bach, author of The Automatic Millionaire. When you rent, you are essentially throwing away the money you could be putting towards owning your own home. Most people are afraid to buy a home because they don't have money for a down payment. Through programs sponsored by lenders, developers and the government, David says first-time homebuyers can finance a house for little or no money down.

How Much Can You Afford?According to the Federal Housing Administration, most people can afford to spend between 29–40% of their gross monthly income on housing.

Pay Off Your Mortgage Early
Wouldn't you like to own your home and be debt-free sooner? Set up a bi-weekly mortgage plan. Here's how it works. Let's say your mortgage payment is $1000. Instead of paying it every month, split it in half and pay it automatically every two weeks on the day that you get paid. Since there are 52 weeks in a year, you'll make 26 half-payments, or 13 full payments—the equivalent of an extra month's payment! Over time, this will reduce your 30-year mortgage by 5-10 years and shave tens of thousands of dollars off your interest payments.

These 3 things really got me thinking in a more positive way.

It's always one thing to hear or read about something but it's the actual DOING that's going to make all the difference. I'm going to try this out, starting TODAY!

Thanks for the tip Becky! I signed up for Upromise. I already know a few people who are seeing the dollars add up (like Julie)! Julie became a member long before she was even pregnant- It's always a good thing to plan ahead. Pass it on.

The baby shower was a success! The house looked so cute with the decorations and the food was delicious! This baby shower really got me thinking about a career change. I'm looking into taking a class at HCC for starting your own business. I'd love to be a party planner but I don't know how to get started and this class will probably give me some direction.

Today I am going to install curtains in my bedroom. They are nothing fancy but they will add a nice touch to the room. Last week I installed curtains in my living room- it really dressed it up! Anywho, I'm going to get my day started! Have a wonderful Monday!