Toby, Alan, George, and Friends

My man...the Toby Keith!

Apparently one of the bad boys of country.

For years and years and years... well ever since I saw a picture of my Toby; I have wanted to see him live. How lucky I felt that after wimping out paying $75.00 per ticket to see him on my birthdays in Utah, that the tickets were free flowing during March Madness...a.k.a...the Houston Rodeo. When Texans say rodeo, they mean rodeo- cowboys; lassoes; cowboys; bucking broncs; chuck wagon races; oh did I mention cowboys? I was able to go to openning night of the rodeo, a sold out 70,000 crowd to see George Straight. Also, Alan Jackson and of course Toby.

One of the more attractive cowboys... he scored pretty high too; if you're interested in that sort of thing.

Surprisingly, I was not the only one to wear 'mah' cowboy hat an' belt buckle. I also ate my bbq with the best of them.

How can I resist the bandana and cowboy hat??

And here is what Toby looked like performing onstage. Not to compare him to George and Alan, but he really worked the crowd and sung his H-E-A-R-T out.

I wouldn't be a true fan-in-fatuation without adding one more clip of Toby...

Alan Jackson, equally as exciting to see and sing along to. Here is where I was doubly grateful that the music was loud enough to cover up my skills. Or if you take Bone Junior's advice the less you know of a song or melody the louder you should turn up the music and sing.

A song a novice-country music listener might recognize. Or to those listeners that "force themselves" to listen to country to prepare for their trips to Texas. Either way...

What it was like to be breathing the same air as these rockin' country legends...oh and a stadium full of other redneck fans.

Crazy cat lady?

Happy happy happy! Birthday...happy birthday...to YOOOU!

Dear Ronald...you are officially an adult. You get to eat the big boy food. Yummy!

...HAAAPPY BIRTHDAY to you...! So my baby is a year old. Well to be technical he is *checks calendar*

1 year and 41 days old. I kept meaning to commemorate the event, especially since it meant Ronald moved from kitten food to adult food. Thankfully Ronald prefers the adult dry food. Not to mention that I bought him the flavored kind. Lucky for both of us it was his favorite kitten food flavor. So I thought I was the solo-goober who celebrates my cat's birthday, then I - no correction- Ronald received a birthday card from one of his favorite boutiques.

...now all Ronald is doing is bugging me to go get that free toy for his birthday. And even though I have explained over and over that it simply is a sales tactic to get us into the store to get a free $3.00 toy but purchase $15.00 worth of stuff. Do we even need the stuff? Leave me alone... I am off to buy yet another article of clothing.

How To...

argue with a classmate. For a recent writing workshop assignment, my students were to write about something that they could teach about. Some of my students taught me how to make a cheeseburger, or how to make koolaide. I thought I had seen all of the original ideas when I was conferencing one day, I came across this lil' beauty and burst out laughing. This is one of those moments that makes my struggle to remain sane in this class worth it. I quickly grabbed my camera and tried to take a picture of the gal with her brainstorm web.

The infamous student.

Who wouldn't even get out of the way for a brief picture.

Nearly everyone could benefit from the advice so sagely given in this student's how to paper.

His teacher included.

But I'm curious- "What could my wise friends write a 'How To' paper teaching me about?"

HPLuvr the Travel Agent

So when I couldn't purchase an airline ticket to Utah for spring break for less than $450, I decided to accept my fate and attempt to convince a favored guest to come to me. I was very lucky that with less than a week to plan, mi momma rose to the challenge and joined me once again for a vacation in Houston. My challenge was to provide the entertainment. While the Houston Livestock and Rodeo was in town so I made sure that we attended a concert one night [which demands its own blog; coming later]. The other highlight was our impromptu road trip to New Orleans, LA aka NOLA. The French Quarter- a section of New Orleans, has very beautiful houses. There were many stores, hotels, and homes that were still damaged and closed, but seeing as it has been 2 years since Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans is beginning to return to its feet and we were able to walk the streets and see some of the most beautiful homes I have seen.

We still saw remains of Mardi Gras on some of the local homes. I guess that the beads in the French Quarter are similar to Christmas lights on Red Necks homes- both are left up all year long.

When we were first driving to the French Quarter, I got off the wrong exit and ended up in one of the scariest neighborhoods I have even been in. We were the only white people there, and even though it was the middle of the day, there were groups of adults milling about the street and chatting on the front porch steps. In fact, as I was attempting to find a street that was on the map that my mother was reading, we pulled into a corner market to both study the map. All was seemingly fine, until a large van pulls up next to us, the driver hops out, quickly moves to the back of the van to open up the back doors and begin to do business with the pair of rather large men who appeared out of no where. With a full tank of gas, and some driving around, we eventually made it to a parking lot near the French Quarter; and we spent 2 days in the French Quarter, checking the craziness that is Bourbon Street, and particpating in a Haunted Evening tour of New Orleans. For those of you who are unsure what the big deal about Bourbon Street is, it has so many bars, there is no room left on the street for anything else. Which is comforting when at 9pm you are walking back to your parked car in the dark, and you turn a corner and the street is lit up like the middle of the afternoon. The only thing I can remotely compare it to, is when you are driving into Las Vegas. You have been driving through the dark desert for hours now, when in the distance you see one heck of a spot light shooting its beam straight up into the sky, then you drive around the mountains blocking your view and even though your car clock says it is 2am, the whole city is lit up like mid-day. I loved the atmosphere of this tourist town.

The street musicians added to the general feeling. And although it is odd to admit it, there are many VooDoo [the religion] and HooDoo [the "black" magic] shops with shrunken heads and VooDoo dolls for anyone that you wish to VooDoo. By the way, how are you feeling? Pain in your side? But that really is a big thing there. In fact go rent Skeleton Key.

...and the hidden treasure of New Orleans... I stepped into a small albums shop. In this shop there were hundreds of signed celebrity albums, movie posters, and guitars. Oh, it was a sight to behold. Then I came across one that I wanted to get for the #1 Fan of this musician. But unfortunately all I could afford to do was to slyly take out my camera and snap a few pictures of this particular treasure and hope that at least one of the pictures came out not blurry. Feast.

Where all the Cowboys Roam

Two weekends ago I went with a pal to see some real cowboys. Literally. Apparently there is a historic ranch not an hour outside of downtown Houston, that a family lived on for nearly 100 years. You are now able to tour the ranch at your leisure, going from one house to the next as the generations began to appreciate good 'old things like electriciy and indoor plumbing. Now at George Ranch there was a cowboy demonstration that we were able to see. I will tell you one thing, I really believe that the demonstration could have just been a cowboy- 'MMMmm; would have been worth my money. But alas I did get more for the money. Apparently at one point in history, the cattle that was being raised in Texas was immune to this particular tick, but when this Texas beef mingled and worked the other outta state herds, these weak-outta-staters were dying. So the federal government told ranchers in Texas that they had to "bathe" their cattle once every 21 days. In that nasty water were some fairy potent chemicals that not only killed the ticks, but also killed the cowboys with their fumes as they watched the herds get their bathes, and it even began killing the people who were eating the Texas beef. But no fear, I asked, and now the cattle get "flea-like" treatments, you know that Avantage stuff that you put on your dogs and cats on their shoulders? Same thing, just put it on your cattle.

Also, noted, this was a walking tour...until I came across this sign and suddenly I wasn't so keen on the walking near the rivers and streams as I had before.

Even if Mr. Alligator was trying to tempt me down there with a soda... I didn't buy it for a second.

Mormon Mardi Gras

This year I was introduced to the history behind this religious holiday. Surprisingly it is more than Bourbon Street, the French Quarter, and drinking. Being a "Yankee" I was not thoroughly educated in all the glory that is Mardi Gras. In fact I even had to look up how to spell it, much less what and when to party.

I for one unquestioningly joined in the festivities by dressing up, but that is not anything too unusual for me.

Apparently during the day in New Orleans it is all about parades and costumes. Our party was more beads and goofy hats and crowns than parades...not for lack of trying! So trust me, guests were crowned AT the party not coming to it.

And the single male selection...I know you are dying for confirmation, so YES that purple winged hat on the right is of a dragon, and YES the wings actually do flap when the wearer pulls the chin strings. Did I mention that I was introduced to all that is the glory of Mardi Gras correct?

Not that Irol wanted a picture of them, rather as soon as I pulled out my digital camera, Irol was asking "HPLuvr, you do have the tiara in the picture right? The tiara..."

Welcome to the world of Singles.

Instead of drinking...

Seafood Connoisseur

Now me being from Seattle and all...I consider myself quite the seafood connoisseur. This is not to say that I have been a lifetime lover of all things "fishy", I've gone clam digging...once. I tried them, and there will be no way that anything that chewy will ever come into contact with my lips again. But I am willing to try new things, as was my experience with sushi recently. I was the tallest gringo in the place, and I felt that my clothes might match a little too much with zero Hello Kitty anywhere on my person. I was brief-ed on what to expect. We could sit in a booth or at the "bar"; then the Sushi chefs would make their creations right there in front of us. All very fascinating! Especially when Head Chef pulled out a 20 pound Salmon and with the biggest knife I have ever seen proceeded to de-head and de-scale the salmon in preparation of rolling it into our next sushi roll.

As you are sitting in your booth [or in our case at the bar] the plates of sushi would convey by and you would choose what you want off the conveyor belt and enjoy.

Each plate had 3 -4 pieces of Sushi

Purple plates were $3.00,
Blue plates were $2.50,
Green plates were $2.00, and
Orange plates were $1.00.

...and of course there was the $2.50 Budweiser in case you needed to wash out the sushi taste in your mouth!

As we were waiting for seats at the bar I noticed that Sushi Land had an

"All-You-Can-Eat" contest.

Easy you think? Until you read the fine print...30 plates within 90 minutes!! For those of you that think...no problem. Can you imagine making it through 29 plates? Not only would you be unbuttoning the top button of your pants but the extra space made from your sufficiently lighter, smaller wallet would definitely be needed.
"Sushi land also cannot be responsible for any health problems stemming from eating more plates {entrees} than your body was designed to hold"

Thanks! I'll keep that in mind the next time I am being rolled out the door from going for the Sushi Land Plate Champion title.

Conclusion: Be adventurous and try a roll of authentic "raw" sushi [I'm not talking "California Rolls" here] Just don't expect to become a Plate Champion on your first visit. Save that for next time.

Family Fun Night

Ode to my family's fabulousness. For this year's New Year's Eve we spent the evening together. Along with some adopted family members we played games, ate a home cooked meal, and in general made fun of each other's attempts to win. In fact we even attempted to play Trivial Pursuit, a game that not even Einstein himself would be able to successful play. Eventually after nearly 2 hours of trying to get through half the game, we decided that the next person to correctly answer a challenge would be the game winner. After the disappointment of Trivial Pursuit, I admit that I really wanted to play Pictionary. But indeed the game could not be located, and I was unfairly accused of stealing it!! I suspect foul play by those who despise Pictionary. So instead Yanaj suggested that we create our own version, roll a die: odds you draw, even you charades. We all came up with our own actions, people, movies, and events. The highlight of the evening was Yanaj's attempt:

Yup, even we couldn't guess what it was suppose to be, other than "giraffe-man attempting to wear his first necktie". Believe me, I guessed just that; and even that was not correct.

Any ideas?

...Locks...

Over the holiday break in Seattle I spent one of my days hanging out with my Dad. Now it was nice that he could take the days off of work while we were there, and it came in especially handy the day of The Engagement. Not my engagement... Lock #1 Boy That HPLuvr Admits To Liking: Rather the engagement of the unworthy boy that I liked all through high school. Suffice it to say that I probably liked him so long because I did not know him. Here is the scoop. So this boy -lets call him Fabio III- met a girl a year ago, brought her home from halfway across the country, and then proceeded to break up with her while they were in Seattle. Considerate. But that is not the end of it, no this year he decides once again to bring another candidate home, one that had already passed the mother-in-law-hopeful's "FP" test. This new girl then was given an elaborate proposal composed and plotted by mother-in-law-hopeful...and I was invited to go along and "help". Yup, so luckily that was the day me and dad planned to sight see Washington's Northwest coast.

One of our stops was a Granite Falls High School basketball game that my cousin was playing in. We only stayed long enough for the first quarter to end with a boy on the opposite team blowing chunks all over center court! YUCK!! We decided to make tracks and onto our next stop...until it was discovered... Lock #2 Car Keys: see anything wrong with this situation?
Believe it or not we were only standing in that freezing cold parking lot for less than 10 minutes! No one even came up to ask what we were doing...nice to know that our vehicles are safe! Either that or it has always been my Dad's plan to make sure that I could take care of myself in any car situation, flat tires, oil changes, smoking engines, and locking my keys in a locked car quickly.

Finally, digging deep for Lock #3 Apartment Doors: Nearly a year ago my good friend Nonnie flew to Utah to visit her family and me. We had arranged for an airport pickup time, and all went smoothly until we were hauling her luggage up the three flights of stairs up to my Salt Lake City apartment. I was excited to show her my place, in fact had been talking it up quite a bit. Except when I went to put my key into the deadbolt lock. Nothing happened. Hmmm...strange, it had always worked before. I checked to make sure I was using the correct key; I was certain that Bone Junior also had not switched our keys as a joke...almost certain. Finally, embarrassed, I stormed to the manager’s office and asked what the heck was up, my key was not working. Apparently maintenance had come to fix something in our apartment, finding that their key did not work, they decided that they had to change the entire lock. They came back to let me into my apartment. Once in my apartment, I looked over the copy of the maintenance request and job form...for our next door neighbors! No wonder their key didn't work, it was for another apartment. Luckily for me they switched the locks and once again I could go on talking up my new Salt Lake City apartment. My only advice would be to carefully watch the locks in our lives, you never know when you will loose, change, lock or hide them just as you need one!

Holidays over?

Now that the holidays are over, and I have survived my first full week back in Portable Land I have found the time to catch everyone up on whats been going on. Over the break I got to spend the best time back at home in Seattle. While there I was able to spend some quality time with those back there...and with them some crazy things happened. First of all, I went...

...wait a minute I am being threatened within an inch of my lap top's life... actual update to come later, again later.



Strange, this reminds me of another picture I've seen. Perhaps to pay tribute to one of our favorite visitors so far :)

The Good, the bad...

...And the men you could swing around their well developed biceps on. I haven't seen a movie this good since I was sitting in the basement of Janay's house back home in Bothell, with her and Bone Junior. On this night we had rented The Transporter, and all I had to say was....WOW!

Although, the only truly unbelieveible part about The Marine happened when yet another building was exploding [the total count was already up to 3 at the 15 minute marker] the camera was pulling a paneramic view and I saw that the price of gasoline was only $1.74! Apparently this amazing movie has already made it into dollar theaters across the nation. My recommendation would be to wait until you can check it out for 24 hours for a $1 at a Redbox. Just make sure to split the cost with other people.

Now onto a movie that really got me going:
The Holiday - starring Kate Winslet, Jack Black, Jude Law, and Cameron Diaz. To my memory this is the first Jude Law movie that I have seen, and let me tell you unlike some movies I've been forced not to sleep through, I really believed the chemistry between Jude and Cameron. Now the critics have been rather harsh on this movie, don't believe them. By halfway through the movie I wanted to do a vacation house swap! For now due to the fact that I do not want to "give away" too much of the movie all I am going to say is that mi favarito part is when Jude and Cameron are in a homemade tent and they are holding hands. Kudos to my roommate who got Jude Law on their pillow case. *Jealous*

What do you get to come home to?

What I come home to each night.
One of the most anticipated things about moving out on my own was that I would be able to adopt a kitten. In fact I already knew what he was going to look like and what his name was going to be. What else would a Harry Potter lover name their pet other than Ronald Weasley; although the name Sawyer came in a close second. Next came the fun part...shopping for him. As for his Kitty Toys; Ronald has chosen not the “cute” expensive toys I buy from Petsmart or Petco, but rather caps. Now I say caps as in shampoo bottle caps, perfume bottle caps… and I reluctantly agree that yes they fly on my hardwood floors much smoother than anything we have seen so far, and they make a great sound, as if they are trying desperately to escape and as we all know, boys certainly love the chase. Either way, my Ronald does not stick to conventional kitty ways. He always looks up at me, or down on me, depending if he has just woken me up by jumping on my face, with the most innocent "I love you so much" look that it is difficult to be mad at this one. Most recently during the infamous Bone Junior visit, Ronald treated our guest to the full service "wake up" call. To further explain; as Bone Junior was attempting to sleep in on the rare morning off for vacation, Ronald decided that he didn't want her to miss a moment of her visit to Houston sleeping longer than she needed to. To make sure that this travesty did not occur he took it upon himself to initiate Plan A. Materials Needed: 1 spring-y door stopper, one front paw, and stalwart courage. Later described as Ronald batting at the spring-y door stopper until Bone Junior nearly lost her mind...he was locked him out of the room not once, but twice! No need to set the alarm. No wasted time here. We deliver.

Touch the MOON

Come visit me here in Houston! The wonderful city where almost anything can happen- heck I am touching the moon, which strangely wanted me to tell those watching me make a fool of myself that Houston, you have a problem but don't worry I am imported. Well, I may be exaggerating a bit, but if you follow my pal, Janay's dad's, advice when visiting Houston you will return home with all limbs intact. It has been awhile, but when Janay accompanied me here for my interviews last April her dad made sure to tell us not to go playing in any of the canals. Thanks for the advice. We were also informed by Janay's mom that we were not to stay out too late or be out too early in the morning. Great. Interpretation: No swimming in any of the canals too early or too late at night. Noted. But with these rules, what is there left to do? Well, there is always Kemah's boardwalk, the place that only tourists go to purchase overpriced Tejas merchandise. But this way we still saw some water, and the wild reptiles are in large tanks. For those wondering- we did not get there too early, and only stayed until dusk.

Now fast forward six months...I find myself driving through the George Bush International Airport to pick up no other than the Bone Junior. Apparently some people need a fix of the only person they know who appreciates chick flicks, and TGIF reruns...but lets not forget the one who also asked if they stopped a carnival ride so Bone Junior could get off of it because she was "having too much fun" too. The Bone Junior and I spent the next 4 days living it up. I remembered what it was like to have friends who know too much about you and tease you about it all. It was great. Which accounts for my posting of the toilet photo! My Bone Junior fix was filled...and for those of you wondering about the story behind this lovely picture; Bone Junior is always interested in science, here is one experiment she was conducting almost exactly 1 year ago. Please direct further inquiries to the one and only to get the gory details and the conclusion to this fascinating experiment.

A funny thing happened today...

Rule #1: No candy allowed anywhere in the school. This includes classrooms, cafeterias, and hallways in the whole state of Tejas. A particularly hard rule to abide by the day after the Sugar Holiday. I reminded my kids yesterday afternoon that NO CANDY would be tolerated, and if I found any I would throw it away. Well, Thurston [my partner teacher] brought some candy to share with other teachers in a planning meeting this morning. There was some left over once the meeting broke up, so we put it in a pile on her desk. The students came back a little while later and saw that nice juicy pile of candy and asked why she had it. Proving once again to be the quick witted teacher that she is Thurston waits until her homeroom is back in their seats before she answers those students asking why she was allowed to have candy and they were not. Not skipping a beat she tells the kids, "I told you that candy was not allowed, this is all the candy I found in your backpacks while you were gone." Some of the students got very quiet, unsure how to proceed. You can see the student's dilemma; do students claim it might be their candy and get in trouble for bringing it? or do they kiss that particular portion of their candy stash goodbye? Well, one student decided that the trouble was almost worth it. She did not claim any of the candy was hers, rather into the dead silence that rang out as the class was digesting the information that their teacher had caught them bringing candy to school, this student asks "Did you get some of that candy from a purple backpack?" Smart gal, not quite admitting guilt, while still getting the facts...did Thurston confiscate my Halloween loot or not? Morale: You just remember that your teacher always knows...or will find out!

Happy HAPPY Halloween

I have had quite the great weekend; and I didn't even have to get trussed up in my costume to have it. I was not looking forward to the pre-Halloween jitters in my classroom, but it actually went all right. As I was driving home, looking forward to a quiet evening grading papers and watching some movies, I noticed that I had a phone message. ME! A message. Which is very exciting because I had no idea who had called me [i.e. I was not expecting to hear from a particular person] Rather it was a friend inviting me to celebrate with her and her roommate the Sugar Holiday. Ordering pizza and watching a crazy scary movie. I have no one to blame but myself seeing as I was the one to choose the evening's movie. If you have never seen Wolf Creek, I don't particularly recommend it for the faint of heart, especially considering I saw an edited version. The movie began with the disclaimer; "30,000 people turn up missing in Australia every year. 90% are found within 24 hours..." This is based on a true story. Sound like a campfire ghost story yet?? The movie goes on to scare the living daylights outta me, so much so that I woke up at 5 this morning with a heck of a crick in my neck and an episode of Full House playing over and over again. It was all okay though, the light was on so I was safe!

The 80's are back

If you needed further proof that the 80's were truly making a comeback...why not look to the elementary classrooms of America. One of my little 3rd grade gals showed up on Friday wearing what I would like to refer to as a true flashback of my grade school style - granted my mullet trumps any fashion worn any day, haven't seen the picture yet? Oops! - Anyway the gal was wearing a bright pink stretchy mini-skirt OVER black leggings. The only things that could have made it nearly a perfect flashback would be the black leggings would have been stirrup pants and she would have had alternating-color slouchy socks. Oh and don't forget the banana clip for her hair and a plastic shirt clip to pull the shirt to one side.

Forgot what slouchy socks were? I google-ed and discovered a "Before" and "After" how to pic-to-guide in case one forgot how to create this unique look. *Required: extremely tan & shiney leg*

BOY WAS I QUITE THE FASHION LEADER

One lucky ebay-er is now the happy owner of this colorful set of 6 "banana clip for every outfit" package for the grand price of $20.50 + $3.50 shipping! Where was I? Oh yeah, trying to forget the last time my mom made me wear one of these hair delights.

Am I addicted to Fabio?

After life with friends, I have had to fill my time with a poor substitution. Well, not so poor, just less interactive and this substitution doesn't laugh at my jokes. Since moving to Houston and into my own apartment, I have rigorously scheduled my week out according to TiVo and new season episodes. So lets begin with my top 5:

#5 Ugly Betty - Watching 5 minutes of this Series Premiere had me thinking it was the television version of The Devil Wears Prada. I must admit that this show has made it into my weekly "Must Watch" list. In fact the show has me permanently scheduling the show time slot into the TiVo (for ease hereon referred to Fabio II, for reasons known). A good show has you rooting or at least connecting to its characters. Now I have never been employed by a high fashion magazine (heaven knows why not?!) nor do I connect with the oddly honest yet likable Betty Suarez; but rather it is like waiting to watch a train wreck happen; waiting to see the next cringe-worthy outfit that America will be wearing next.

#4 Bachelor Rome - I personally vote for the lone brunette in the sea of blondes; especially if that sea is the Mediterranean...did I mention that it is near Italy?

#3 America's Next Top Model - 13 teens and early 20-somethings, where Melrose is old at 23. Television cannot get better than this. I stay tuned each week to see what Miss Tyra Banks has in store for the smaller and smaller group of Top Model wanna-bees. I almost lost it when on one of the first episodes of the new season when my idol Queen Latifa came strolling out. This season's competition is getting stiff, and the challenges are getting more intense, but keep an eye out...my vote is for Cari Dee. {2nd row from bottom, blonde gal on the right!}


#2 Grey's Anatomy
...Dr. McSteamy...
newest permanent cast member on the show;

'Nuff said







#1 LOST - Oh where oh where do I begin? Now this would be the original show that got me hooked on the "once-a-week" dramas. I was on a cruise to Key West, Mexico with some friends this past June. In the evenings after the activities that did not include consuming copious amounts of alcohol were over, there was not much to do, so we would retire to our cabin, get into those trusty pajamas...and crowd around the lap top to watch season 1 of this fabulous show. I was hooked 7 minutes into the pilot episode. We laughed when we decided that it was slightly disconcerting to be watching a show about people being stranded on a deserted island when we were miles out to see with no land in sight. Didn't stop me from watching the show though! Besides each week I try to decide if it is good guy Dr. Jack or bad boy Sawyer that I'm in love with more...

Conclusion: Fabio II is well worth the extra $7.50 per month.