half a year later

Tonight Chris shared with me Google Dashboard which told me I hadn't posted to my blog since May 19th. For shame.

During that time I've gotten married.
http://www.chrismacg.com/wedding/Our_Wedding_Site/The_Wedding/The_Wedding.html

It was lovely. There are more pictures but I haven't even gone through them all.

Plus, we installed a new disc golf course at Taylor Lake Village and the inaugural tournament is tomorrow morning. I'll post pix of it for that too.

I have to say that I totally blame Facebook for my lack of posting in the last several months. I've gotten into Facebook and it is so much easier to post little updates like on Twitter than to write a whole paragraph here regarding what is going on.

I'm going to try to change that though. I need more thoughtful posts and less facebooking.

Oh and it's NaNoWriMo again. My book idea this year is to take the good elements from past book ideas and create a NEW book - a good one. But, so far, I haven't had adequate time to work on my book because of all the disc golf stuff going on to ready for the tournament tomorrow. Once that's over, I anticipate having more time to write.

Love to all ~ M

Of Late...

Many things are happening. So much and so fast that, too often, I forget to blog about it. Here are some pictures though and those are meant to each be worth a thousand words.

Kevin & Sophia started playing disc golf with us and they are fiends for the game! Since their first time out they've already played about 4 games just this month.









The day after they started playing they got Brian and Sheryl out to the Seabrook course for a short 9 holes. That was a lot of fun also.









On one of our recent games Sophia found an expensive type of parrot that was sick and no one wanted to help her to bring the bird home with her to rehabilitate it. The same day was also saw a dead seagull and it's probably never a good idea to pick up dead, sick, or dying birds anyway. However for a short while Sophia was carrying the bird through the course in a Bud Lite 4-pack container hence he got the name Bud or Bud light.




Chris and I had our engagement photos taken by Carmen. It is so wonderful to have Carmen and Kevin back in Houston, TX. Getting to hang out with both of them again after them being in the Northeast for so long and then France, has been amazing. Here's Chris and Kevin jamming out on some instruments neither of them usually plays.







We have posted several of the engagement photos Carmen took on Facebook and on our wedding web site but we haven't publicly shown anyone the one picture we've chosen as the official engagement photo yet. Chelsea took this shot of Carmen taking pictures of us.


That's about it for now.
LOVE

10 Days into May

Life feels a bit like someone pushed the fast forward button. I feel exhausted but happy about all the stuff going on. I'm just going to give a sampling of activities of late.

We picked a beach house for our wedding.

Here is a link to the site and lots a cute pictures of the place. Chris and I drove out to Galveston to make sure the houses were in the same condition as the pictures indicated because of the hurricane. This one isn't even one of the ones we traveled to Galveston for but it was next to one we went to see and looked great.

Today Chris's dad posted to Facebook that it was only 4.5 months til the wedding. Wow. That seems so soon. During that time we also have to move. Crazy.

We also finished our wedding website - link posted to Facebook for friends only. If you follow my blog, you should friend me on Facebook.

Lisa had a girls night and boiled probably 10 lbs of crawfish! It was so delish! We also had watermelon mojitos and smoked from a hookah. Nora was the one who brought the hookah and some type of grape flavored hookah tobacco. It was a strange thing to do because I have smoked cigarettes in my youth but it was nothing like that at all. And the smoke came out grape flavored. We had a ball the whole evening.

My birthday was amazing! Chris replaced my car's windshield for me for my birthday - just what I wanted! I love driving with an unobstructed view now. Unfortunately, the day before it was to be replaced I hit Chris's windshield to kill a mosquito and it must have hit right near an existing rock chip but his windshield now has a crack in it so my view as a passenger with Chris is cracked.

Chelsea got me a lovely lavender scented bubble-bath and some coconut scented shea butter body lotion. I love it. The kids both got me a new pink nano iPod that I STILL haven't loaded with music and books. I keep meaning to but things get in the way. I received a new cuisinart food processor from Peter and Frances, along with a gift check for a spa treatment of my choice which is also partially from Chris' granny! Penny sent me a Tastebook - which is a personalized cook book with several recipes in it. I love it! In fact, everything I got was absolutely amazing. I still have not sent out thank you notes.

The day after my birthday Noelle had baby Jackson.

What a sweet perfect little baby.



Yesterday we went to the Art Car Parade which has become as wonderful a tradition as the Thanksgiving Day Parade. And we don't have to get up as early.

This is the annual Mother's Day event for Chris' mom, Frances. We get lots of cheeses and drinks and head to Allen Parkway. This year Chris and I had made about 5 gallons of sangria for the weekend. Some was for Matt & Julie's party Friday night, we took some to the Art Car Parade and we have a lot left over. We're thinking of freezing it until the Frio River Trip with Kevin and Sophia in July.

A See-Saw of Little Ups & Downs

Really great things have been going on and some really rotten drama at the same time that adds a bit of a sourness to it all.

Friday night was awesome because at work I got free tickets to the Astros game and we all went. There was a huge thunderstorm during and after which flooded a lot of Houston. Chris got us home safely though but my stomach was in knots the whole time and hasn't settled into place yet.

Chris had a birthday which we happily celebrated with his family and then our annual trip. Between Chris's birthday and mine there are 17 days that we get to be the same age. That time is drawing to a close this coming week. Chelsea, Colin, and I got him a 16GB purple iPod nano that he has been eying, a beard trimmer, and a pair of Oakley sunglasses. He also got several things from his family at a combined birthday dinner for him and Peter. Chris and his dad both have birthdays in April; Peter on the 9th and Chris on the 12th. We ate at Star Pizza which was delicious as per usual. Peter got Chris an absolutely fabulous telescope for his birthday! It is wonderful. On a clear night you can easily see the rings of Saturn and two of it's moons. This thing is powerful! I love it.

We took the telescope with us to the group's annual trip. For several years now we have been taking a trip in April to the beach but, thanks to Ike, there are no more rentals on Bolivar so we headed to the river instead. The place we stayed was so perfect and beautiful and idyllic and wonderful that we all said we wouldn't mind getting the exact same house every year.

You can kind of see the house from the back in this photo of Matt, Lisa, and Chris K. It's directly above them on that rocky cliff overhang. Look at the flat roof with windows along the whole wall. That was the back living room. We were right on the edge of the Blanco River.


Then in the next shot this is the view of the Blanco River running by below from the patio area outside of the house we rented.


A section of the riverbed was higher than the rest right here so we could easily cross without getting wet much above mid-calf and only in some places. Below is a shot of the river from directly on the river. Chris took this one with his camera on the tripod which was situated on the bare rock sticking up out of the river. This is apparently called a "rocky bare."











Here's another picture showing the depth of the drop off after the high "rocky bare" ended.


This is Matt, Julie, Caleb, Chris K., Lisa, & Brandi having a swim on Saturday evening.



The lighting was perfect for this shot. I know the water looks green but it's really just a reflection from the trees overhanging on either side. The water was the clearest I've ever been in. FREEZING but clear.







When Chris and I were standing in the water we were surrounded by little fish and we could see straight down to our feet and all the little fish too. It was amazing and refreshing. Chris K. apparently jumped in the river at midnight the first night of the trip but that night Chris and I were so exhausted that we were crashed out by 11:30 and missed it.

Here is a picture of me chilling by the river's edge. We got all these great pictures because Chris and I had already been swimming once that day and didn't want to go again so we played veggie / fruit baseball while they swam.

This is my favorite picture of Caleb from the whole weekend. He had such a great time at the river.




Ah, this was the life! What a weekend it was.


And then for the down side - Chelsea is not doing well in school at all and is in serious danger of failing the 11th grade. It makes me angry and sad and worried and frustrated all at the same time. Chelsea assures me that this progress report doesn't reflect some missing assignements that she has just turned in but I'm nervous. She is on restriction and that always sucks for me too.

My mother still can't wrap her head around the fact that I'm no longer Catholic like she wants me to be and continues to try pulling her tired old guilt routines - this time about my wedding. She told me that she wouldn't be recognizing my marriage because it wouldn't really be one since only a Catholic wedding would lead me to Jesus or some such rubbish.

I think Jesus would be really happy to know that, of all the people wandering the earth, Chris and I both happened to be in the same city at one time, happened to be interested in writing a novel, met, happily found a mutual compatibility, fell in love, and built a relationship and a family out of our little lives. I don't think that has anything to do with who officiates our vow ceremony.

And it IS "OUR" wedding - mine and Chris's. Not my mother's. She had one and planned it the way she wanted. There is no reason why I would plan my own wedding to be something that goes against every fiber of my being and have it religious in any way. I want it to be fun and beautiful.

Anyway, as a result of the fact that I'm not having a Catholic wedding, my mother said that she would not be recognizing my marriage and that she could not celebrate something that isn't even there. (Yes, these are direct quotes and not hyperbole.) So I told my mom that I would not be inviting her to my wedding. There is no reason I could come up with why I would invite someone to my wedding so they could condescend to me about their religious opinions to me during the ceremony and then join in the Celebration of our Marriage for the reception when she would not be "recognizing our marriage."

Then my mom wrote me a lengthy e-mail about her religious views and how I was pretty much damned to hell if I didn't have a catholic wedding and that she couldn't "just be happy for me" because it went against everything she believes in. But that she really wanted to come to the reception for our wedding so she could be with me on that day; but not the ceremony, just the reception.

So I responded to her in no uncertain terms that for the last time, I'm not Catholic, I don't believe in the catholic religion and that I would never have a catholic ceremony for a wedding and if she didn't like it then why did she have a problem with me not inviting her. It would be ridiculous of me to open myself to that type of judgmental manipulation.

Well then my dad writes to me to tell me how I'm so harsh to my mother, that my remarks are vile and I have crossed the line, I should be ashamed, and that he is not coming to my wedding either.

So now neither of my parents will be in attendance at my wedding. And you know what - that might just help it to really be the happiest day of my life. You never know how mysterious God's ways really are.

Wedding Plans & Karaoke

Chris and I both have new projects, which is kind of fun.

I'm planning a wedding. I've honestly never planned or even helped someone else plan a wedding in my life. I sort of had a brainstorming session with my, now, sister in law, Sheryl when she was going to marry Brian but I didn't like have to find a venue to accommodate a large number of guests for a ceremony that merges my family with Chris's family as well as a big party complete with food, music, cake, nor have I planned so far in advance what I might wear to such an occasion. At first I felt really overwhelmed with all the decisions that I needed to make. However, I've had a couple of weeks now to adjust and get a few things decided at least.

Our plans are slightly flexible but we definitely want to get married on the beach - barefoot in the sand at sunset. I also want a very "green" wedding. I have this book called The Green Bride Guide by Kate L. Harrison which is really truly helpful. We are not only trying to conserve in our budget but we are making earth-friendly responsible decisions about what resources we use.

We've set the date - September 26th, 2009. Now we just need to find a place along the beach that will accommodate a party of about 60 guests, mostly family members, two of whom cannot climb stairs or walk even short distances, and a reception location for a party. That is seeming to be the difficult part.
We're working on a website.
We've designed our "save the date" cards.
Penny has generously offered to do our mailings and invitations. Thank you, Penny!
Rob will officiate. Thank you, Rob!
I already know what I want to wear.
We've got our wedding party picked out - Chelsea for Maid of Honor & Colin for Best Man.
Carmen & Kevin will perform a guided meditation. Thank you, Carmen & Kevin!
We've decided on a menu.
Chris is building a playlist on his big iPod rather than having a DJ or a band. Chris is awesome.

So, Chris's project is building the greatest, most diverse, most eclectic library of karaoke songs in the world and making it available to his friends and family by bringing a CD of personally picked songs for his Karaoke Jam Birthday Party this weekend. I'm poking fun but this has been an interesting and fun project that he's got going on.

Not only have I recently read the words to scores of songs I never knew the words to but we get to sort of practice and pick the best songs for Saturday. A few weeks ago Chris found this venue called Third Coast Comedy that has a family karaoke night once a month. The four of us went and had an absolute blast. So we're going back for Chris's birthday. We're planning to go as rockers from the '70's / '80's or whatever. I have no idea what I'm going to wear or how I'm going to do my hair.

This past Saturday was our engagement party and it was a lot of good fun. Chris's parents gave us a lovely set of summer glasses with a tray for carrying them outdoors. They are all fun colors - bright blue and lime green and orange. My parents couldn't make it because my dad's isn't doing very well lately. But several of our friends and siblings made it and it turned into a karaoke jam well into the night with the little karaoke machine and all these new songs Chris has now.

I'll get an up to the minute count on songs. One sec...
As of this moment Chris has over 2,000 karaoke songs - it wasn't an exact count after all - but a good rough estimation. He bought a huge package of CDs but he's also scouring the net for others.

Anyway, so yeah, he's obsessed at this point. I still haven't thought about what I might sing on Saturday. I'm more concerned with catching it all on video. Last time we went, Colin stole the show with his dance moves. And I learned that Chelsea can sing just about anything. She's great at karaoke! I told Rhonda that Chris would have just about any song she would want and she named two Melissa Ethridge songs that he did not have.

He's been going through this whole library of songs playing each song so the lyrics are scrolling across his screen and he sings each one for anywhere from a few lines or just the refrain to the whole song. It has been the best fun watching Chris running through these songs.

Then I guess we have a "together" project of cleaning out the empty house so we can get it on the market as soon as possible. We got approved for a home loan and want to move forward but need more of a down payment. We have access to about half of what we truly need. But selling Chris's house would be the best solution to everything. The thing is that we have a couple of things pressuring us - our lease expires at the end of next month and we found two houses that are on the market right now that are gorgeous and perfect for us. I want to grab the one before someone else takes it. The other one is the back up house which is actually on the same street so the location is still incredible, and it actually has a nicer yard (front & back) and a bigger kitchen. But the upstairs lay out won't suit our needs well. So we are buying a house and getting married all in the same year. We need money! Thus our project is fund raising. We're planning a garage sale. We've got several items for e-bay. We are unloading everything of value that we can. We are also interested in any fund raising ideas you might have. Thank you!

much LOVE

Say it with iPods

Chris and I got engaged over the family vacation from which we just returned! We are both so happy! And now the most FAQs are

1. When's the wedding? to which I have to say, we don't know but are considering either June or September, 2009. It will be a small "GREEN" beach wedding and that's about all we've decided so far.

And

2. How did he do it? Well, we were on the first night of our little river trip to New Braunfels with the family and after settling the kids in for the night, Chris asked me if I wanted to go for a drive. He said he had been looking at the map of the area and there was meant to be some nice scenic overlooks around. We had, earlier, been at the Canyon Lake Dam and watched the sun set over the hills so I was prepped for more gorgeous scenery in the winding river roads of New Braunfels. We kept hitting dead ends and closed roads at first so I was beginning to like the idea of finding a bar and going out for a pitcher of beer but Chris was determined so I just enjoyed the drive and the company. We found a little hill with a great view of the stars and got out to have a look. Chris and I are notorious star gazers anyways so this was simply amazing.

Then Chris told me that he had a present for me and to close my eyes and hold out my hands. I did and he gave me one of the brand new iPod shuffles that's tiny with a little clip on. He had the clip of the iPod engraved with the words "Then it's Love, Yes it's Love" - lyrics from an Echo & the Bunnymen song. I was very happy with the iPod and opend it up all unsuspecting and put in the head phones. The first song playing was that Echo song - What if We Are.

The new iPod shuffle talks to you. You press a button and it tells you the name of the song. So he told me to press the button to find out the name of the song. I did and the little digital voice came back with "Melissa, I love you. Will you marry me?" So I looked at Chris like, Wait, What was that??? and he pulled out the ring and repeated the words from the iPod. I said Yes! It was so romantic and wonderful and perfect.

Not only did I get a gorgeous engagement ring, a wonderful fiance, and a nice star-gazing evening, but I also got one of the new iPod shuffles! Really, though, I couldn't be any happier.

Chelsea is a Licensed Driver

My daughter got her driver's license on Thursday. Chris has been teaching her to drive for the mental health of all involved. I'm a very nervous passenger and have an unnatural fear of falling off the road into the ditch or over a cliff edge. I have no idea why but I recognize that it is my problem and not necessarily that there is anything wrong with the driving. So when I've taught Chelsea to drive in the past, I have really freaked out and it has, on occasion, ended with both of us in tears, me scared to death and Chelsea wounded as if she couldn't do it. This is all my own fault.

So Chris took over teaching the rules of the road to Chelsea and she took her driver's test on Thursday during spring break. I must say that she is an excellent driver. Way to Go Chels!