celebrating love...

friday and saturday, tony and i celebrated our love and 2 year dating anniversary by exchanging some gifts and eating the BEST food ever. we ate at bin 555. absolutely delicious. the restaurant was lovely. chill music, low lights, nice decor, perfect seating, and friendly service. we enjoyed some flat bread with the best butter i've ever tasted, yummy hummus, a delish salad with candied pecans, apple slices, goat cheese, mixed greens dressed with vinaigrette (tony had a cesar), seafood paella (THE BEST FLAVOR EVER), perfectly tendered and coated lamb, a yummy very spicy pizza, and some bread pudding. and how could i forget, a pitcher of sangria....soooo GOOD. the food portions were tapas style and it's definitely a place i would recommend to anyone. it was such a lovely and perfect evening. i gave tony tickets for us to see the blind boys of alabama at the magestic, a band that tony had raved so much about. he seemed very impressed with them and always mentioned that he wished we could see them. i'm looking very forward to enjoying that evening with him. in return i received some beautiful earrings, a teacher bookmark, some super comfy pjs, and the cutest teacher survival care package filled with my favorite jelly beans and other healthy and yummy snacks for work. plus the cutest pattern bird card:) it was such a lovely weekend. we also went to go pick out some glasses for me. funny fate, after we left eyemasters, i called home to see if everyone was there. we wanted to go visit since we were in the neighborhood and had a lot of time to spare till my glasses were ready. marisa told me that my mom and alayna were at target (right across from eyemasters) so tony and i went in to look for them. as soon as we were about to go in to target, they come walking out heading straight for us. talk about perfect timing! sunday i got to swim with my family. and even better, tomorrow is labor day. no school! i get to sleep in. does it get any better than this!?

working for the weekend...

everybody's working for the weekend....that song just popped into my head and boy do i feel it. i can't wait for tomorrow. the end of the first week of school. it has gone very well. i have three stooges that are keeping me on my toes and the rest are the typical third grade eager pleasing free spirits. their math appears to be their strong point, their reading...not so much. so there's a long road. but we will get to the promise land... i'm actually watching the democratic convention as i type. a video of MLK jr. is being shown and as he said, "as long as i am following jesus, i know he'll lead me home..." jut sent shivers up my arm. obama's coming up soon. it's going to be an interesting election. i'm so anticipating this weekend! come on day.

ben who?

i was browsing the net and wasting time like too often i can do. then an intense craving came over me. mmmm yummy said my brain. ben and jerry's brownie and cookie dough swirl is just around the corner. i got in my car and stopped. before turning on the car, reason set in. hello? you like totally missed 12 miles yesterday because of water stop and you told me you would make it up today. i cringed and got my butt outta the car. without thinking i changed into my running clothes, filled up my bottles, slipped into my sneaks, put on my watch, and closed the door. 12 miles later, my legs are burning, i'm dripping wet, and i don't even know who ben and jerry is anymore. just do it. old but so true. thanks reason.

busy bee...

what a busy bee i've been. it is time to go back to work. my summer job of playing bum is officially over. last monday i started putting up my classroom with the big lovely help of mr. tony. boy, there's nothing like the smell of an empty school and the sound of potential bouncing off the bare walls. it's the most exciting time when there's so much possibility for the year. as far as sewing is concerned, i've made 8 curtains with each being a different color. it took me an hour and 25 bucks to find the most gorgeous colors i could find for my price range (one being an awesome three stooges one). i've also finished 7 schoolbags... only 15 more to go. ahh! anyway, it was great to go back and catch up with my ladies. there are lots of changes with the new administration. it sounds more structured and i think that's what the school needs. the new message for the school is loud and clear: "we mean business". excellent. friday i was dead tired. saturday morning (4 am kind of morning!) vanessa and i were in charge of water stop for practice. tony, mom, marisa, alayna, and nadia ...oh and tokyo, came out to help and the water stop was awesome. our theme was danny and his love for sports. vanessa's posters of danny and quotes were so motivating and helped the team get through their first 12 miles. so by saturday afternoon i was dead tired too. tony and i went over to my real house house (what i call my parent's house) and went swimming with marisa, alayna, nadia, and my bestest amiga melissa. even being dead tired, there's nothing like being with family. it was so much fun. the girls are crazy adorable. so after almost 3 hours in the pool, i was ready to drop dead. saturday night, tony and i watched some dallas cowboys and michael phelps earn his 8th gold medal. history in the making. moments later, i crashed. i think there was even a little drool. that's usually a sign of me being really really REALLY tired. but boy did it feel great. bzzzzz.

dear tony...

dear tony...look at what i finished. with 23 days to spare too! don't you like it. just for you! i think it should take the place of the bouquet bit but that's my opinion :)

running pretty...

what a run today. but let me back up a bit. i just got back from a little trip i took to austin to visit my lovely pal elva. we caught up, had wonderful girl talk, and found her a gorgeous wedding dress! go elva...go elva...you look sexy...in your wedding dress! i met her friend and fellow bridesmaid morgan who gave me some sexy sexy advice (big smile) over some kickin margaritas on the rocks. tokyo joined me on this trip to play with elva's pups and boy did he have a great time. snoring away as i type right now, he's knocked out. this morning elva and i ran at town lake or what's now called lady bird lake and boy was it pretty out there. a bunch of joggers, walkers, canoers, stroller babies, and bikers were out and about breaking a sweat. the shade from the trees and the view of the lake made this run quite enjoyable. i can't wait to go with tony someday. i didn't have my camera but i found some great pictures from runbob.com that sums up the beauty.

ah california...

ah california, how i miss you already. the cool breeze, the nature, oh the flowers! what a wonderful vacation. tony and i stayed at a super cute hotel right off of the beach. it was the cheapest hotel we could find but it was the best i could ever ask for. no air condition (ekkks!) was a concern at first. but we soon found out it wasn't needed and it sure wasn't missed. the texas heat was out of sight and out of mind! day and night, the windows stayed open and the most lovely breezes swept through the room. what i'm really going to miss are the moments before going to bed when i could hear the laughter and chatter coming from the cafes down below right outside our window. it wasn't the loud annoying type of noise but a more comforting type, sounds of people simply enjoying each other's company and having a great time. the first night in LA was spent doing the really touristy type stuff like driving around sunset blvd., hollywood, beverly hills, rodeo drive, you know the typical LA glitz, glam, and what not. it was nice because i had never seen it before, but i don't think that's the stuff that's going to stick with me for this trip. although, i will remember my amazement of the number of luxury cars LA has going on with its bad, luxurious self. i've never seen so many shiny cars! my little ol honda accord would be put to shame if it ever shared the road with those sparkling zoom zoom puppies. after the tour thing we saw jonny lang, guitarist extraordinaire, in concert at the house of blues and o my god! what a talent. how intense. and i mean sweaty, veins popping from every part of his body, squinting eyes, bloody fingers type of intense. i had always wanted to see him perform since i was in high school, so this birthday present from tony was a dream come true actually. mr. lang and his band are words-cannot-describe-in-a-good-way type of musicians. enough said. the next day jenny, tony's friend and lovely tour guide for our trip, took us around santa monica and i got to meet up with a lovely old roommate from college. we went to santa monica pier, did some shopping, ate some excellent seafood, and enjoyed each other. i've never been so tired at the end of my days! but i think the best part came when we went to the vineyards in santa barbara county. of course, on the way we gawked at the humongous "homes" in malibu and i swear i saw sally fields on the highway. can't officially confirm, but jenny and tony agreed. anyway, wine tasting was buzzalicious. amazing drive, amazing views, just amazing. we had a picnic at one of the vineyards and i saw lavender. what more could i ask for. and i brought a yummy dessert wine back home, thanks to my wonderful tony. this trip was perfect. much more than i expected, but i guess i didn't really have any expectations, just that i wanted to have a great time. well, i had all that and more. what a trip to remember! so what of LA will i bring back with me? definitely the water, the canals, the art, the hippies, the homeless, the traffic, the wine, the yards, the style, the freedom, the shopping, the cafes, the view, the trees, the flowers, the lavender, the music, the food, the boutiques, the joggers, the surfers, the yoga on the beach, the roller skaters, the bikers, the flip flops, the sand, the people, jenny, paola, her brandon, the waiters, the kindness, the freakish, the green, the birds, the concert, the houses, and most definitely the beautiful weather. ah california...