Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Month 6 of 12 - "Wake Up In The Morning Feeling Like P Diddy"

What in the world? It is my half birthday. How did this happen? If the way I feel today is any indication of how I will feel in 6 months then I might need the Bachelor's ABC therapist to come pay me a visit (have to read ihategreenbeans.com to get this). Anyway, month 6 covered the holidays. Always a good time, new lessons learned. Now just trucking along to the later half of 26...

*Class parties are easier in third grade – I’m sensing a pattern
*I’m (so far unsuccessfully) devising a way to make it possible not to miss people, I don’t like it
*I don’t think it’s possible to ever be organized enough that the holidays won’t be stressful
*Running marathons as a relay team is super fun, not so sure I will feel the same about running one by myself
*The Lovely Bones has been added to my favorite books list
*Favorite Musical discovery – Red Jumpsuit Apparatus
*Holding your childhood best friend’s baby in your arms for the first time is probably one of the neatest and coolest things in all the world
*I am an “aunt” to the CUTEST, most PRECIOUS, baby boy on the planet
*I absolutely love and adore my family, each and every person in it.
*Christmases with a large family are super fun
*There’s something so cool about watching kids’ excitement on Christmas Eve and also seeing them run down stairs to see if Santa has come, even if it is before 7 in the morning
*I appreciate the advice I get from my cousins and their spouses
*Listen to those who have already been through the things you are going through, they might have something good to share
*It is sad to miss a white Christmas in TX even when you are getting your own
*Being asked to be a bridesmaid for the 7th time is just as special as the 1st
*I’m interested in learning more about soccer (as if I don’t pay too much attention to sports for a girl as it is)
*It has been way too long since I have experienced the excitement of a Cowboys “playoff run”
*No team will ever be as good as the Aikman/Emmitt days
*Enjoy when your team is on a championship run, it might be a while before you get one again (like over 10 years if you're the Stars)
*Girl talk + mellow mushroom = great night
*Avatar 3D will, to quote a certain superhero, “blow your mind”
*I’m patient with people but about as impatient as you can be when it comes to time and waiting for things
*Watching your college football team blow their undefeated season is one of the most heartbreaking things in the world
*I am still SO PROUD to be a Frog
*The world must be coming to an end as I am considering teaching summer school for the first time ever
*The Bachelor just gets better every season…seriously…On The Wings of Love, what’s not awesome about that?
*Dallas Stars Ice Girl is a “really difficult job” – who knew? Silly me, I thought teaching 22 eight-year olds was hard.
*I’m HALF WAY (barf) to 27 and I don’t like it, not one bit

Sunday, January 10, 2010

A Little Perspective

Found this on a friend's blog after a little blog stalking (not ashamed to admit it) and thought I would share it b/c it's got some good stuff, and who doesn't need a little good stuff in their life? Can't say I agree with EVERY point, but a few of them made me think...not that that's saying much...

Written By 90-year-old Regina Brett of The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, Ohio. "To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me. It is the most-requested column I've ever written."

1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.
2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.
3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
4. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch.
5. Pay off your credit cards every month.
6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.
8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.
9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.
10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.
11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.
12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.
13. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.
15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry; God never blinks.
16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.
17. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.
18. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.
19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.
20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.
21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.
22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.
23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.
24. The most important sex organ is the brain.
25. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.
26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words: "In five years, will this matter?'
27. Always choose life.
28. Forgive everyone everything..
29. What other people think of you is none of your business.
30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.
31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
32. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
33. Believe in miracles.
34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.
35. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.
36. Growing old beats the alternative -- dying young.
37. Your children get only one childhood.
38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.
39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.
40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else’s, we’d grab ours back.
41. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
42. The best is yet to come.
43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
44. Yield.
45. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift."

Friday, January 8, 2010

Still Love My Frogs

Until I have the time to write anything on my own about my feelings for the season and how it ended, here is a great article from Killer Frogs.com that Ashley shared with me and I think it sums it up nicely:

I still wear purple and white, I'm still a Horned Frog, For the trolls . . .

Up all night, and the sun brings back the world in its reality. The magic is gone, the dream died. It's s a sad day.

But, like the sun, I'm still here. I still wear purple and white. I'm still a Horned Frog!

Trying to dry his tears last night, I told my son that this is the bad part of being a sports addict -- very seldom do you get to ride your team and see them accomplish the ultimate goal; 99 percent of the time, your held-to-the-heart team falls short.

It rips your heart out, and the pain is almost unbearable. It does one of three things to you: (1) it makes you love your team even more, (2) it makes you find another team that has a better chance, or (3) it makes you leave the sport, to spare your heart.

For me and my son, the last part is out of the question. We're addicted, and we have to feed it. I told him that if he needed to find a second team it was okay, that even if he decided to root for Texas -- since it has all the advantages to be a perennial contender for the championship -- that it was okay, and he would not hear a bad thing from me.

"But, I already hate the Longhorns," he said. That bring tears to my eyes. Ryne roots for who is dad roots for, hates the teams his dad hates. Maybe I do him a disservice by that; I know his pain, and last night I hurt for him more than anybody in the world.

However, his dad has no choice but to root for -- and continue to be ever so proud of -- the TCU Horned Frogs!

I can't root for the teams/schools that have all the inside tracks to the top. I can't root for the schools in a corrupt system where they have every built-in and built-atop-upon advantage imaginable.

I root for the small school. I root for the school that battles the odds. I root for the school that has no right being able to compete with the huge mega state schools, but does anyway. I root for the TCU Horned Frogs, and always will.

I have no connection to TCU, other than buying tickets. I didn't go to TCU, and I don't have the means to donate to the program. TCU gets nothing from me other than ticket sales, and the free advertising I proudly sport on my chest, my back or the back of my car. The only connection I have to TCU is that it is my hometown team.

But, TCU needs me. And I need the Horned Frogs.

As the game kicked off, I realized this one event meant more to me than any sporting event ever. "Son, I want this more than even the Steelers winning the Super Bowl." He asked, "What about the Cubs winning the World Series?" Yeah, this meant even more than that.

I was so disappointed last night. But yet, my heart swelled with pride that the Horned Frogs were even there! I remember as a kid TCU being one of the worst programs in the nation -- a bottom five, if not the bottom. I can remember just being proud to see TCU being on the scores at the bottom of the screen, next to the big names of college football. I was proud that they even scored at Nebraska, even though they lost by 50+.

If somebody had told me that TCU would be a perennial bowl team three decades later, I would have said they were crazy. Had they told me TCU would be a Top 10 team, and playing for a share of the mythical national championship, I would have said they were craziest person in the world!

It's unreal to see from where this program has come!

My heart aches today, but I'm as proud of the Horned Frogs as anybody could be. I'm just as proud as the Boise State fan today, which has seen his team just recently join the big-time and has already put itself in elite status amongst the biggest-name programs in the history of college football.

And I'm certainly as proud of TCU as any fan of Texas, Alabama or any other big school. In fact, I dare say I'm more proud than most of them.

I am not a wagon-jumper. I ride from start to finish. I don't brag about my Horned Frogs to say that "Your team sucks." I brag about my Horned Frogs because I am so proud of what they have done -- against all the odds. I brag about them to pat them on the back, to let people know that the underdog, the disenfranchised can succeed.

Because of all the hurdles, the successes of TCU football mean so much more to me in the long run.

No, they may not have reached the ultimate goal. They may never reach the top.
But like they say, life is a journey, not a destination. And it's been one helluva journey!

The trolls will come and gloat. The text from my son this morning indicates there's plenty of them at his school today, making it a miserable day. They troll because it's the only way they can deal with the disappointment of the 99-percent failure factor for their own teams. They can't win it all -- at least not all the time -- and thus they cover their own pain by rubbing it in my face when they can. Sometimes they even jump from bandwagon to bandwagon.

But not me. I still wear purple and white. I am still a Horned Frog!

Whether or not I ever get to celebrate TCU winning a national championship, I'll die wearing purple and white. I'll die a Horned Frog.

And nobody, no thing, no amount of facial rub will ever change that. Nor will it cause me to be any less proud of my team.

GO FROGS!!!!!

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

One of the things I would like to witness in my lifetime...

If you don't watch Glee already check this out and I'm sure you too will become a fan.

What other show causes a random mob of people to break out in dance in the middle of a mall?

Yeah didn't think you would be able to come up with with any.

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

New Best Friend

Some of you might not know this but I was once a child performer. True story. By this I DO mean that I dressed up in a red button down, denim skirt and red cowboy boots and sang George Strait songs on my parents' coffee table. Not sure if you will ever be blessed enough to witness that little gem, but in the mean time enjoy this video of my new best friend. My mom shared this with me, telling me I too did not know the words to the songs I sang (mom also likes to lie). Anyway, I'm pretty sure we could have created a good duet back in the day.

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Month 5 of 12 - Words Fall Through Me

If you've missed what's going on with this blog idea, you can find the explanation here. Anyway, another fairly uneventful month. Busy as usual, lots of sports, TONS going on at work, went home for Thanksgiving, threw a Christmas party, and had one of the more emotional sports days of my life (Cinnci.beating Pitt. by 1, then the stupid last second TX win - ugh). Other than that just trying to stay warm and get ready for Christmas!

*Even though I believe the past influences us I don’t think I learn much from my own
*Seeing Amon Carter Stadium sold out is amazing
*Love OT games v the Spurs, particularly when the Mavs win
*”So is your face” is my favorite comeback these days, no it doesn’t make any sense
*Favorite music discovery: Secrets in Stereo and Augustana (recently REALLY discovered them)
*I’m a bit of a teenage girl when it comes to the Twilight series
*I like third grade so much that for the first time ever I didn’t mind having to work half of the Thanksgiving week
*Every now and then I leave school and stop for a second b/c I feel so lucky that I love my job and that I have such cool kids to come hang out with every day
*I really like when friends will talk about and/or share books with me
*My Lan = awesome Vietnamese hole in the wall in fort worth
*I love the I have parents that will go on adventures with me like driving out to Dallas at 9:30 at night just for some Pinkberry yogurt
*I realized that I have only been genuinely surprised like 3 times in my life
*I like it when someone is successful in doing so
*Every morning should start with breakfast made by mom and time to sit and read the paper
*Starting Thanksgiving morning with the turkey trot is probably one of my favorite traditions in life
*It’s really nice having someone to hang out with when I come home
*I love being with people who remember old school Plano
*Sometimes my expectations of something can be totally off
*I forgot how much I love Mavs games – I’ve gotten to go to two amazing last second win games this month and it’s reminded me I like basketball too
*TAKS being stressful has finally hit…I was naïve to think I was going to escape that feeling
*GLEE makes my week a little bit better, does this make me lame?
*I’ve recently discovered a love for baking
*I’m entirely too emotionally invested in TCU football
*I feel actual pain that TCU got so robbed by the BCS
*I’ve been reminded of the fact that I would NEVER survived somewhere that was actually cold, considering I have been miserable with the weather and we haven’t gotten bellow 25

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Baby It's Cold Outside

I am not a big fan of winter. This is primarily because I do not enjoy being cold. Hence why I live in Texas. However, since I wrote my 10 favorite things about a season I do love, I figure I should try and be positive and write my 10 favorite things about this season as well. Here’s what I came up with, had to stretch it a bit…

10. Downtown Fort Worth at Christmas Time – This is the time of year where Fort Worth puts up a huge beautiful tree in the middle of downtown and Christmas lights are everywhere. The Pier1 Building even lights up its roof with green and red (replacing the perfect purple that previously was there to honor TCU), which makes running on the trail particularly fun at sunset. I have been known to drive out of my way at this time of year just to admire the decorations.

9. Scents – I love the smells of winter. Fires burning, pine trees, all Christmas candles, cookies…mmmm.. What’s not to like?

8. Coats and Scarves – This is the time of year where the fall coat is put away (some days at least) and the winter coats come out. (Remember I have a slight obsession with coats). Since I spend the majority of the season in this clothing (especially in my classroom where there is no heat), it is extremely important. Still looking to add to my collection this year...
I also love scarves. But only if they are soft, itchy just doesn’t make a girl happy. Cuteness is important as well. Warmth follows next.

7. Starbucks – This is the time of year I make the switch away from iced coffee. It is the only season where warm drinks get such attention from this customer. Every thing about Starbucks in the winter makes me happy. Special drinks. WARMTH. Christmas cups. Love it.

6. Christmas Hockey Song – You will realize why this is so important in number 3, but I’ll explain a little here too. Every year the Stars create a special video montage put to “Carol of The Bells” (rock version of course) to play before games. Just gets you in the spirit of Christmas…and great hockey hits…(side note - the fact that hockey is a part of winter is important as well)

5. Tacky Christmas – The Tacky Christmas sweater party I throw yearly with two of my great friends has become one of my favorite traditions. Every year it is fantastically tacky. Just wouldn’t be Christmas anymore without it.

4. Bowl Season – While it is quite sad to see the college football season come to an end, the winter ushers in the exciting culmination of all the work done in the fall (even if that work has not been properly appreciated – just saying).

3. Music – Christmas music. Enough said. Okay we all know I can’t be that short, but I’ll stop after this - it’s the only time of year you can play it and it makes my life a little better for 4 weeks.

2. Giving gifts – I absolutely love giving people gifts. It is so much fun to try and find something that lets someone know how special they are to you. The more meaningful the better. I get so excited about giving people their Christmas presents I can hardly stand it.

1. Christmas – It’s the thing that makes this season bearable. Despite not liking winter, it gets major points for containing my absolute FAVORITE holiday. I realize a lot of my numbers already have to do with this holiday but oh well. From decorating the tree, to seeing my kids get excited (even if it is a little too much at times), to the music, to being with family, there’s nothing about this holiday I don’t love. Plus, most importantly, it is a celebration of the Lord I love so much, none of the rest of this matters much in comparison to that.

Here's to trying to enjoy this time of year and stay warm! Only 2 1/2 months until Spring...