We survived

It was a very long two days, but we survived...and the Maroon 5 concert was awesome...worth all the drama.

We...
flew to Dallas on an on-time flight (YAY!!!).
rented our car and drove straight toward Houston.
realized how much time we would have before the concert so we stopped at The Woodlands mall on the way in.
bought some stuff.
tried to find something to eat downtown and everywhere we went was either closed or had too long of a wait.
ate concession food instead.
made fun of the pre-opening act with others we befriended around us (he sort of sucked).
counted down the minutes until The Hives got off the stage so the real concert would start.
screamed, sang, hooped, and hollared during the concert.
screamed, sang, hooped, and hollared during the 30 minute encore. :)
drove straight to Dallas getting sleepy about 2:00 am.
found a parking garage near the airport and slept in the car for two hours before the car rental place opened.
returned the rental and boarded our ON-TIME flight home at 8:00 am.
made it home by 9:30 and were able to catch 2 hours of sleep before Mike's big ceremony. YAY!

A special thanks to my sister, Kristi, and Candice for the calls/texts throughout the night to make sure we were still alive. :) It was greatly appreciated.

Finally

So Friday is finally the big day that I have been counting down to for months...the Maroon 5 concert. I'm really excited, but I have to admit, this 2-3 hour event has turned into a big stress ball and when it's all said and done will have cost me about $700 and a few gray hairs.

To make a long story longer, Mike was scheduled to get his certification through the Assemblies (church) this past weekend. It wasn't until AFTER we purchased the Maroon 5 tickets for this weekend that they decided to change the ceremony to THIS Saturday at 2:00 pm. Originally we had planned to drive down to Houston on Friday for the concert, spend the night, and spend all day Saturday driving back home. Because they changed the dates on us, we have had to be creative to find an alternate solution.

Turns out there are no flights from Houston to Tulsa that would get us back earlier enough Saturday to make the mandatory ceremony. So after a lot of thought, suggestions from co-workers and family, and even offering to sell the concert tickets out of sheer desperation, this is the resolution we came to...and not a very pretty one at that:

Fly from Tulsa to Dallas Friday morning, rent a car and drive to Houston. Enjoy the heck out of the concert we've been so eager to watch for a few years now, which starts at 8:00 (which means M5 won't start playing until maybe 9). Fight the crowds out of the Toyota Center and in lieu of sleeping (who needs sleep), drive straight from Houston to the Dallas Love Field Airport to check in our car and catch a flight home that leaves (fingers crossed) at 8:00 am. Go home, crash for a couple of hours, then go to the ceremony (which I hope we don't sleep through), and then go back home and pass out.

So, if I could get a volunteer to call me, oh about every hour or so between midnight Friday and 5 am Saturday morning just to make sure we are still awake, that'd be just fine with me. Otherwise, I will apologize right now to any one that may receive a call from me during those hours requesting jokes/stories/quizzes or the likes to keep me chatting and awake.

The only thing I have to say about all of this is that Maroon 5 better put on the best frickin' concert I've ever seen to make it worth our while.

Painters

As I mentioned yesterday, I am changing offices next week. One of the requests that I had for my new office (which is currently my boss's) is that the wall paper on the main wall to my half of the space be removed and the wall be painted to match the rest of the space. The wall paper was a gigantic map of the world-wall to wall, so unless you are a geography teacher (like my friend Jeff), you can see where my desire to remove it stems from. Plus, it would completely clash with my wall decor. :)

The wall paper was removed yesterday, and they were scheduled to paint it this morning. My boss came in to tell me that the painter was wrapping up the quick paint job on the wall so I walked with him down to take a look.

Making a wise crack, as I entered his office I said, "Wow! You're gonna get high today from smelling this paint all day."

To which the painter curtly responded, "I hate to break it to you, but you can't get high on latex...it's water based paint. You might get sick, but not high."

(Me staring at him blankly)

"Yeah, I know. It was just a figure of speech."

Thanks for butting into my conversation. Have a nice day. :)

Random Ramblings

Driving to work in the dark makes me feel like it's already winter. And when I think it's winter already, my mind starts thinking about Halloween, and Thanksgiving, and...Christmas shopping! You know, I always say that summer is my favorite season, and it IS! BUT, whenever fall finally gets here, I think deep down I really enjoy the season and all the fun stuff that comes along with it...like the fair.

We went to the fair twice this year. We went Friday to the Switchfoot concert, which was awesome! They never disappoint me and I always leave their shows super pumped about seeing them again soon, then I have to listen to their CDs for like two weeks straight. However, with the Maroon 5 concert only 10 days away, I've been jamming out in my car to nothing but M5 since the Switchfoot concert.

But back to the fair-we usually only go for the food. And with the concert as the only exception, that is the reason we went this year too. Between Mike and I, we ate: An Indian taco, fudge newberg, cheese on a stick, chicken gyro, cheesecake on a stick, funnel cake and lots of pop. I feel fat just thinking about it now.

Upcoming CD's I plan to purchase: Carrie Underwood "Carnival Ride" on Oct 23, Britney Spears "Blackout" on October 30 and One Republic, sometime this fall. I can't wait.

Speaking of Britney, I think I've been reading too much Britney coverage lately. I had a dream last night that she and I hung out together for a day. But in my dream, it was pre-post partum Britney...not crazy Britney.

We went to a costume party on Friday and hosted one at our place on Saturday. It was a lot of fun. I always enjoy dressing up-this year as Mrs. Pirate. (I'll post pics soon) Saturday we went on a scavenger hunt around my neighborhood, which was fun, although I was surprised how many houses told us they didn't want to help us. LOL Only a handful closed the door in our faces without saying much. :) We ended up having a tie because our team "borrowed" a few items since I knew the neighbors, so the other team didn't think that was fair. I guess it wasn't, but still our stuff was cuter than theirs. :)

My aerobic class was officially cancelled because they couldn't find a teacher to commit. BUMMER. I'm really sad about this, because Monday nights were the only nights I was actually excited about working out. ha ha I need to think of a good motivational reward for working out consistently...suggestions?

Next Thursday, I am changing offices at work. I'm moving three offices down and sharing an office with my co-worker/friend. We are quickly running out of space here at work and cube land is rapidly taking over our floor. :( I agreed to split an office with Canaan since she is my friend. :) ha ha I've been in my current office for 4 years, so I'm afraid I may continue to walk in on the newbie since I am a creature of habit. A few things I will miss about my current office: the printer is right outside my door; the elevator is a straight shot from my office (ha ha), and the view of the parking lot from my window that has created many funny blog stories. I think I may have a window watch party my last day in this office. But I'm looking forward to some things too: new furniture, sharing an office with my friend, and we've talked about getting a fish...which sounded like a good, fun plan until she mentioned taking turns cleaning out the fish bowl. :( I'm the person that wants pets with no responsibilities, so I'm going to have to think really hard before committing to a pet, which has been temporarily named Fred. :)

Mike and I have already started Christmas shopping, but we still have a long way to go. We didn't want to be bombarded with hundreds of dollars worth of presents all at once like last year. Hopefully we can stay on top of this, since Christmas season is also Birthday season around my family.

Okay, I've rambled plenty...if you are even still reading this, I'll be surprised. :) Congratulations...you've made it to the finish without killing over. Two kudos for you.

In San Antonio I...

walked on the Riverwalk.
ate ribs at Tony Roma's for the first time.
sang kareoke to "Love Shack" with some co-workers.
managed to stay clear of any foot injuries for the first year.
paid a butt-load of money in cab fares...mostly to the golf course.
tried a variety of cheesecakes-all seperate occassions.
had dinner in the Tower of the Americas.
worked out once...with half-hearted effort.
made up for my fruitless workout with all the walking I did.
was amazed at how much coffee our geo-guys drank.
talked on my rental phone. A lot.
missed my husband and my doggie.
was sick the entire time.
rode in a golf cart.
saw Tony Parker's house.
ate more than my fair share of Mexican food.
went to Dick's Last Resort.
took more medication in two weeks than I've taken in my entire life combined.
ate a Texas-shaped waffle. Three times.
met "Hints From Heloise" columnist, Heloise.
ate a ton and had a blast-admist all the work. :)