Exploring Montreal

My work schedule in Montreal afforded me plenty of opportunities to get out and explore the city. It was freezing cold there - literally - with temps as low as 0 degrees (negative 14, with the wind chill). But, to me, it was worth bearing the cold to get out and see stuff. I really liked Montreal or else I probably wouldn't have gotten out as much as I did. Pretty much everyone working the events had longer and different hours than I did...my job there is very cushy! So, that left me to explore the city on my own. I don't mind exploring on my own - I'd rather get out and see things alone than sit in a hotel room alone!

I was honestly shocked at how French Montreal was. Of course, I knew Montreal was full of French speaking people - I work with them! But, I guess I just expected it to be partly French/partly English. It was SO French!! Everyone would first speak in French to me and I would have to say I didn't speak it. They all knew English, but it is definitely not their 1st language. Some speak very good English, even with no accent, others struggle to know all the words - just depends on who you're talking to! Everything was in French!

Here is what I did when I got out to explore:

- Explored The Underground. Montreal has the 2nd largest underground city in the world! It was built for people to escape the cold winters. It is very nice - clean, bright, lots of good stores and restaurants. You can get to many buildings downtown and even entire malls without ever setting foot outside. Our hotel was located just above The Underground.

- Shopping & eating in the Latin Quarter. This was my favorite neighborhood that I found in Montreal and I ended up going there 3 separate times! It was very quick and easy to get there on the Metro, which had a stop just under our hotel. There were 2 streets I spent most my time on. 1) St. Denis which was a little more sophisticated and 2) St. Laurent, which was a little more funky. I loved the shops on St. Denis. Here are a few pics on St. Denis...it was a long street and each section had a unique look!


- Lunch at Schwartz' Hebrew Deli. Schwartz' is a very famous restaurant known for their smoked meat sandwiches. It was delicious. I ordered it like most people - with fries and a Black Cherry Soda. The sandwich was good, but the Black Cherry Soda might have been the best I've ever had. It turned out they had Schwartz' bring in sandwiches for one of the weekend parties - if I had known that, I wouldn't have gone there for lunch, but then I would've missed out on the awesome soda!

I was at Schwartz' on the coldest day of the week, yet

there were still people waiting outside to get in!

- Drinking chocolate at Juliette & Chocolat. I had never had this kind of hot chocolate (although, there are at least 2 places in NYC that serve it that I've wanted to go to over the last 2 winters, but haven't made it...maybe this is the year)! It was thick and dark and oh, so freakin' good! I loved it. However, within about 20 minutes, I had a sugar-crash harder than I've ever had before. I became so tired so quickly and generally didn't feel so great. Luckily it didn't last long, but, wow, that cannot be good for you.
- Chez Jose Bakery! When in France (or in a French speaking place), you have to get a pastry! I picked up a delicious tart from this quaint bakery in the Latin Quarter.
- Shopping at Jean-Talon Market. I had read good reviews about this market, so I went to check it out. It was evening when I went, so it was pretty dead. I was able to pick up baguette, prosciutto, olives, cheese, and some oranges to take back to the hotel for a yummy dinner.

Dinner from Jean-Talon and dessert from Chez Jose!

- Walking through Vieux Montreal (Old Montreal). I expected this area to have more shops and restaurants than it did. It was very quiet in this neighborhood, probably partly due to the fact that it was extremely cold the day I was there. It is a neat area with a more European look & feel. Really small, windy streets. I had wanted to go to a cafe there, but it was closed, so I really didn't do much there.
- While in Old Montreal, I stopped by the Notre Dame cathedral, which looks like a small replica of the Paris one. I debated going inside - not sure it could be worth the $5 entry fee. I ended up going for it and was so glad I did. It was absolutely beautiful inside! Pictures cannot capture it. But, the painting all over the walls/ceiling, the stained glass windows, and sculptures were simply amazing.

The outside, made to resemble the real deal in Paris.

The organ at the back of the church was gorgeous.

This was the chapel -- totally different look than the main sanctuary.

- Went to see Mont Royal. Mont Royal is a "mountain" in the center of Montreal, but to me it's really more of a really, really big hill than a mountain. There is a park on the mountain that was designed by the same man who designed Central Park in NYC. It was hard to get a real feel for what the park is like with all the snow and ice, but I'm sure it's probably really awesome in warmer months. I really wanted to hike to the Chalet that is at the top of the mountain, but the day I went was the coldest day we had and I was a little afraid that I would not make it up and back down! So, I just walked a little ways up and got a little view of the city and the river. I'm sure the views at the top were amazing!

This was the snowy trail that would lead me to the top!

View of downtown from inside the park

I thought this little, red buried fire hydrant was so cute!

- One thing I love to do when exploring a new city is to walk down residential areas. It gives me a better feel for the city than going to the touristy areas. There were some great residential streets near the Latin Quarter that were so cute. Montreal is known for having exterior staircases on multi-family homes. When I saw a picture of them before seeing them in person, I thought they would be ugly. They are actually quite cute in person!

- Tea! I went to a quaint little tea room that didn't end up being at all like I expected! I had read good reviews about it and expected it to be like an English tea room, with yummy teas and cakes and such. The entire menu was in French! So, I did my best to pick out a tea, but finding ones that had words that I thought translated to "floral" and "mint". The food didn't look great, so I just got the tea. It was good and nice to sit in such a cozy, quiet place, but I've definitely had way better tea.

I really liked Montreal and think I'd like to go back sometime in the spring or summer!

Staying & Working in Montreal

So, I am working on a few posts about my week in Montreal. Here is Post Numero Uno!

We got to stay at the Fairmont Queen Elizabeth in Montreal. I was SO excited about staying at this hotel. I had been in 4 other Fairmonts across Canada on previous trips and knew they are spectacular hotels. Unfortunately, this one did not live up to the others. It is no where near the level of hotel as the Castle in Banff or Chateau on Lake Louise. It doesn't even match-up to the Fairmonts in Jasper or Whistler. But, it was a fine, even a very nice hotel. Just not as grand as I had hoped.

The hotel was COVERED in NHL All-Star decor. Even my hotel room card key was decked out.
One night, I came home to find this sticker on my TV...advertising that we could, indeed, get the NHL Network.

From my room, I had a nice view of downtown and a pretty cathedral across the street.


Here is the front of the cathedral at night.
During the All-Star week, my NHL duties were very similar to that of last year. My schedule was different than a normal work week, but light...no more than 7 hours a day and as little as 3 hours (and I still get 2 bonus vacation days for working only 3 hours on Saturday & Sunday!!). Some days, I would work the late afternoon/evening shift and other days I would work the morning shift. We alternated so that I would work an evening and the very next morning and then have 24 hours off before I had to return. Like last year, I was basically helping keep track of VIP transportation. We all felt that the transportation office was less busy than last year. Plus, they had more people working. So, I felt like I had less to do, which was a little disappointing. I still enjoyed it, though. A few fun stories from the transportation office:

- I got to help schedule transportation for 2 actors....Lauren Holly and David Boreanz.

- I also scheduled transportation for many hockey players and team owners, including Dallas' All-Star Mike Modano and owner Tommy Hicks (JR, the son, who is quite cute)! I even got to talk to Tommy briefly one day when he stopped by our office to check on their transportation to the airport going home. He wanted to do a drive-by Schwartz' Deli to pick up food for their private plane. We weren't really able to do things like that, so had to tell him no. He was cool about it and scheduled himself a separate car to take him to get the food for everyone on his plane. He sat in our office for about 20 minutes taking care of all that. I thought his Cowboy boots with the Dallas Stars logo on the shins were a little much! Also, the HUGE gold ring with a star on it! Tommy also ended up sitting behind me at the game on Sunday night!

- The car drivers (all volunteers, mostly hockey lovers) often came into the office VERY excited about the players they got to pick up in their car. One day, a driver walks in and the dispatcher asked him, "So, did you get anyone good yesterday." And the driver responded, totally serious, "Yeah, I got the VP of Finance"!!! That, you see, would be one of my bosses! I laughed SO hard and so did my bosses when I told them the story.

On Wednesday-Sunday, breakfast and lunch were provided for all staff in a room in the hotel. I ate there several times, depending on my schedule. It was very convenient to have the food right there when working, but I really prefer to get out and experience the city I'm in, rather than be stuck inside eating hotel food! Some of it was pretty good, though.

I ordered room service for dinner twice. The night we arrived and got in around 9pm, I was starving and ordered then. I also ordered the next night when I had to work until 9pm and had to be back the next morning at 8am. I've never ordered room service where they wheel an entire table into your room...complete with fresh flowers! This Greek salad wasn't nearly what I'd hoped for....but, I had read about their creme brulee and had to try it....fantastic! On Friday night, we had dinner at Le Queue de Cheval with NHL finance people. Le Queue de Cheval is an excellent steak restaurant that was located near our hotel. One of my bosses, Mary, invited me to go with a small group - I had to work until 10pm that night, but Mary said their reservations were at 9:30 and they'd barely be starting by 10. I was so glad I got to go! It was really good food & wine and a very fun night. When I arrived, they were just finishing up appetizers, so I missed out on just that. My filet mignon was so good! We also had great sides to share. The restaurant was filled with hockey folks. One table over was Pat LaFontaine, who used to play for the NY Islanders, among other teams. Pat now has an organization where he is building activity rooms in children's hospitals....really nice rooms with tvs, games, etc.... His thing is to build a room in each city where the All-Stars game is held, so he was in Montreal to unveil the new room there - a big publicity gig. He was sitting with some of his friends/family, as well as the man who is the NHL liaison for Pat's organization. The NHL guy works on my floor, so I know him slightly. Mary knows him and had met Pat several times, so on her way to the bathroom, she stopped by their table to say hello. Well, at my table were 2 guys who grew up on Long Island, thus they are Islander fans and huge LaFontaine fans. So, Mary asked Pat if he would stop by our table to say hello. So, on their way out, they did! My boss, Brian, shook his hand and said, "You're a big fan of mine!" It was soooo funny! Brian turned it around pretty quickly and said, "IF you knew me, you really would be a big fan!" We laughed so hard and forsee that story being told around the office for a long time! Pat's table had a birthday cake brought to their table - the waiters did a very loud song/chant thing with a cake with a sparkler on top. We commented that it looked fun and joked that someone at our table should be having a party. But, we didn't do that and just ordered 3 desserts to share. When Pat stopped by our table, we asked whose birthday it was and he said no one, but he always makes it someone's birthday at that restaurant because it is such a show! Then he commented that it could also be someone's birthday at our table! They left, we got our 3 desserts. Then, came out the birthday cake for Mary -- Pat had told the staff on his way out. It was hilarious! When we got back to the hotel, we stopped by the bar in the lobby to have a drink and say hello to other NHL folks hanging out there. I didn’t stay long – I had already had way too much wine and had to be at work at 8:00 the next morning. It was a late night, but well worth the fun.

All the workers/volunteers for the week were given an entire wardrobe. Many people had jobs outside or highly visible jobs. I did not, so I didn't need to ever wear this stuff. It was an amazing amount that I got that I will never wear....I think I may try to sell it all on ebay!

There was a hat, a short-sleeved t-shirt, a long-sleeved t-shirt, a polo shirt, heavy duty gloves, a hockey puck, a fleece (which I LOVE and will wear), and a scarf!

Also, this HUGE, very warm coat. I call it the "Spy Coat". Those of you familiar with the Fendi Spy Bag know what I'm talking about. It has more pockets than anything I've ever seen! I'm sure I still haven't found them all. It also has zippers in random spots, that I assume are for ventilation. There is also one of those snow duster things that wraps around your hips and a zip-up hood! It is a major coat!

I thought it would be funny to put on all the outer wear at once and model it. Notice that every piece has the All-Star logo on it!

Here's an outtake when I didn't beat the camera timer!

So, that's how I lived and worked in Montreal. More posts to come on my explorations of Montreal and the All-Star festivities I got to attend.

Back to NYC

So, I feel like I owe you an update from my first couple of weeks back in NYC, although, not a whole lot happened!!

-- I came down with a pretty rough cold the first week back and spent a lot of time sleeping! And, did I mention that I pulled my calf muscle on New Year's Eve? No, not from Rock Band! I pulled it running that afternoon. I limped for days. My 2nd full day back in the city, I decided it was all better and attempted to walk home from work (2.5 miles)....about 1 mile into it, I felt a pop and had re-strained the muscle and had to limp to the nearest subway entrance. So, walking around the city that first week back was not so easy. Luckily, my leg got better soon after that and I walked home from work every night during my 2nd week back...despite the freezing cold temps (it was only 9 degrees one night)!!

-- Enjoying the snow! We've had more snow this year than the other 2 winters that I've been in NYC. It still isn't a ton, but seeing it snow many of the days since I have been back kind of make the super cold temps worth it! Here are some pics I took during our first big snowfall....the night my flight to Texas was cancelled.

My cute street in the snow! Central Park bench

There were poor little ducks all over the park!

This is one of the brownstones on my

street. I'm pretty sure it is one of the few

single-residence homes. Pretty fancy!

-- Christina had her birthday party at Essex in the Lower East Side. It was a fun dinner and the restaurant had a cool atmosphere. I'd love to go back there for brunch because that is what they are known for. Everyone went out afterwards....with my cold, dinner was all I could take, so I headed home to bed!

-- I taught S.S. one week and babysat during the parent's CG another week. I had a pleasant 2nd grader point out my gray hairs (you can usually only see them when I wear a pony-tail...maybe it's time I stop doing that)! The other week I had a 4-year old tell me "mommy says she and daddy aren't going to be together anymore." :( She was quite chatty and elaborated on that quite a bit - making it clear to me that her parent's have split. I hadn't heard that from anyone else and haven't asked because I don't want to spill the beans if the parent's aren't ready. Lily did not seem sad...just stated things in a matter-of-fact type of way, but I'm not sure she fully understands what it means. Please pray for Lily and her parent's as well!

--Mindy and I had an awesome brunch at 202 Cafe and had fun walking around Chelsea Market. Oh, how I love a good NYC brunch!

-- Hair cut at Devachan! This place rocks my world every time. I was there for about 2.5 hours this time...it's always such an experience! And I had a new stylist this time who I LOVED. I usually don't like to talk while getting my hair cut - I like to close my eyes and relax! I didn't mind talking to Sophia, though...so fun!

-- Lunch with church friends at Southern Hospitality! This is Justin Timberlake's restaurant. I've been wanting to go there for a long time - I hear JT is there quite a bit. We didn't see him, but had fun anyway. The food was okay, not terrific.

I think that's about it. I flew to Montreal on Tuesday and am here until Monday. I love what I've seen of Montreal and am having a blast working w/ the events group to keep all the VIP transportation in order!!! Will post about my trip next week.

New Year's Eve 2008 (final post from Holidays '08-'09 FINALLY!)

My group of friends had our annual New Year's Eve party this year at Toby & Lisa's. They just had a baby mid-December and were real troopers for hosting a party so soon! But, they knew it was the only way they could participate. We had a smaller group this year - Tonya has to split her vacation time between Maine & Texas now that she's engaged! And others were out of town or sick. Those of us that made it still had a great time! We all brought appetizers and/or dessert to share. I took sausage balls and cake bites. I was so excited to try cake bites in a city where I could get Red Velvet cake mix. I wasn't sure about the flavor at first, but ended up really liking them. It was also nice to be in a place that sells chocolate bark - that is so much easier to work with for some reason. They were my prettiest bites yet!

Toby & Tamara

Elizabeth up front....Todd,

Jenn & Lisa snackin' in the back

Tonya....is this right?

We sat around and talked for a while...it was so great to catch-up with my friends, most of whom I hadn't seen since last New Years! In addition to meeting Toby & Lisa's new little girl, Maggie, I also finally got to meet Jenn & Todd's little girl, Sam. I cannot believe I had to wait almost 10 months to meet her - crazy! Toby & Lisa's other daughter, Kylie, is now 3 and is maybe the most outgoing/friendly toddler I've ever met. She basically didn't know me at all, yet I immediately felt like I was her best friend!

Kylie sure thought this was fun, but those

wood floors are bad for the knees!!

Kylie & Sam!

We also had fun playing Wii! It was my first time to play! We started out with Rock Band then moved on to some Rabbit game that was fun and hysterical. My favorites were playing the guitar and then this dance game on the Rabbit thing.

Todd trying to teach me the drums

I wasn't so good at drums and gave up quickly!

I liked the guitar much better, but I sure

look like I'm concentrating hard!

Now we're having fun!

I like to sing, but thought these

songs were pretty hard!

Toby, Tamara, Jenn, and Todd look

like they're really getting into this one!

Tamara & Elizabeth blowing horns at midnight

Some of us stayed the night and I think I experienced my first sleep walking incident ever. It was a couple of hours after I had gone to sleep that Lisa was in the kitchen making a bottle for Maggie. She had the water running, which I guess is what got me going. I, however, was dreaming that it was Todd in the kitchen (he didn't even spend the night). I was dreaming that he was making pizza and needed help with something, so I got up to go help him. I guess at this point, I not only got up in my dream, but also in real life! The first thing I remember next is standing in front of Lisa and screaming "Oh, my gosh!". It was as if my eyes had been closed up to that point and suddenly I opened them to see her there. It scared the crap out of me!

We had a yummy breakfast the next morning of monkey bread and an egg casserole before heading out. It was a fun New Year's Eve!

More from Texas for the Holidays 2008/2009

So, there were lots more things I did in Texas during my time there that I wanted to get down. I don't have pictures of a lot that I did and it's pretty long because I couldn't figure out how to logically break it up. Hope I don't bore you away!

-Beth & I salvaged a Gingerbread House. Beth had allowed Brian and the boys to decorate the house she had bought. She trusted that her architect husband would turn it into a beauty. He decided to let the boys be creative and do whatever they wanted. It ended up looking like a bit of a mess, of course, but it was theirs! Beth, however, still wanted the perfect house, so she called for help! I went over and while the boys were napping, we scraped off everything they had done and started from scratch. We had a lot of fun and it turned out pretty cute. I went back the next day to help build the mountains and tobagons! I sure wish I'd gotten a picture of the back of the house....the "birch" wreath I made back there rocked!!


-Went over to Michelle's house to see all the work she's done over the past year. It looked great! She has done some really cool things with pictures she has taken during all her various trips...I think I got a couple of ideas from her! We talked for a while and she gave me my "party favor" she had made to give at the brunch I missed due to my cancelled flight -- toffee!

-I met Julie and Amber and we got Starbucks and went to look at Christmas lights. I took Michelle's toffee to share and Amber and Julie both had made goodies...we had lots of yummy stuff! We were a little bit disappointed in the lights this year (recession??), but had fun driving around some pretty neighborhoods and gawking at huge homes. This was also my first time to drive by the Bush's house. We were shocked at how normal and small it looked...it was later that I learned it is much larger than it looks from the front.

-Christmas with the Cousins! We went over to Susie's house this year to celebrate Christmas on the Tuesday night before. Susie is the one who is a cousin to both my mom and my dad. We had a delicious dinner of spinach lasagna that Susie had made. I made some Fruit Salsa and cinnamon tortilla chips to take...yummy stuff!

Bella has always had a

bit of a crush on Brian

Ryder, opening a gift from Susie's famThe boys playing with their

new toy from Susie's fam

Jake & Bella opening their gifts

It was Bella's birthday, so she had lots of gifts!

Lots of clothes for her American Girl doll.

Bella, shy to be modeling her

new sparkly top and tutu!

-Mom, Beth and I hit some of the after Christmas sales on Friday. Love that day for shopping!! We started out at Wisteria, which was a new experience for me. Wisteria is a catalog company, but they have a warehouse in Dallas that has excellent stuff and some of it is very, very cheap. I didn't buy anything, but if I had a house in Dallas, man would I have fun in that store! We also hit up Crate & Barrel, Container Store, William Sonoma, and Pottery Barn. Crate & Barrel had tons of free yummy food floating around, so that was a fun surprise. Beth and I both bought several things there.

-I spent a night with Ryder & Beau while B&B had a date night. Beth thought they were going to an early movie and then dinner...Brian surprised her with a night at a trendy hotel in Dallas. She was SO surprised! I had a great night with the boys...it was hot so we got to play outside! Ryder says the sweetest things. I was getting juice for Beau in the kitchen and Ryder wheeled in on one of the bikes and stopped and watched me for a sec and then completely out of the blue said, "Susan. I love you." I was shocked...what a sweetheart! After the boys went to bed, I made cute flower-shaped sugar cookies for my friend, Jessica's, birthday.

I had been saving some Baylor Bear tattoos for the boys that I got back in the fall at the Baylor/UConn football game. The boys loved them and I taught Ryder to do the "Sic 'em Bears" claw.

-Shopping and lunches out with mom! We hit up a few malls more than once. Is anyone else having trouble finding clothes lately? Where are all the cute winter skirts this year?? We ate at a couple of my old favorites...Texadelphia and Lovers EggRoll. We also went shopping with Beth and the boys at Snyder Plaza one day - such cute stores! And Target, which was awesome since I never get to go there!

-SIX movies! I rarely see them in New York, so this was a real treat for me! I saw 4 movies with my mom, 1 with friends, and 1 with mom and other family members. In order of favorite, to least favorite, I saw:

1) Slumdog Millionaire (by far, the best I saw over the 2 weeks. loved it.)
2) Valkyrie
3) Marley & Me
4) Four Christmases
5) Doubt
6) Benjamin Button (I hated this movie with a passion.)

-EY reunion dinner. I met up with 5 of the girls I worked with at Ernst & Young. It was so much fun to catch-up with these girls and get the latest gossip on EY happenings. As of October, none of the 5 of us work there any longer, but Eliza was there recently enough to get us the scoop! We ate at Fireside Pies....delicious salads and pizza! Before dinner, I picked Kelli up and got to see their newly remodeled house and new baby, Lee! Plus, play basketball with 3-year-old Gil for a few minutes.

Kim, Eliza, Kelli, Stephanie, and I

-Playing with Sam! I was supposed to babysit Samantha on New Year's Day, but Jenn got sick. I went over anyway to drop off Jenn's purse that she had left at the NYE party and got to play with Sam and catch-up with Jennifer a bit more.

-Lunch at Chik-fil-a with Deanna and baby Owen. So great to catch-up with one of my favorite people and see her baby for the first time since the day he was born a year ago!

-Girl's night in! A few of my girlfriends went over to Worley's so I could see them and so that we could see Worley's new house. She has done such a good job decorating! It was good to catch-up with everyone and then we played "Apples to Apples", which was really fun!

-Mom and I made the knock-off recipe for Sarabeth's Tomato Soup for my last family dinner. It turned out pretty good! Beth and her family came over, as well as my uncle and his girlfriend. After dinner, we put the boys to bed and everyone but my dad went to a movie.

I helped get the boys into their bath before we all left for the movie. I bowed-out when I saw brown things floating in the water...even Beth freaked, but Brian really stepped-up.

Just before the "incident"....who looks more
guilty? Spazmatic Beau or Vampire Ryder?

-I had almost a full day before leaving on Sunday. I went to church with my parents...I was so tired that morning, I couldn't stay awake during the sermon! I got to see Jenn & Todd one last time since they go to the same church as my mom and dad. Then, we met Beth & fam for lunch at Mi Cocina...I had hardly had any Mexican food while in Texas and it is my favorite. For some reason, we were all exhausted that day! Beth and the boys came home with us and everyone but my dad took naps before I packed up. Beth and the boys took me to the airport...so sad to say goodbye after so long!

Road Trip!

The Saturday between Christmas and New Year's, I took a short road trip down to Austin and back to see some college & high school friends. It was great that I got to see so many people on such a quick trip! Unfortunately, I wasn't so good at using my camera these 2 days, so this post will only have 2 pictures that I ripped off of Jessica's Facebook.

I left late Saturday afternoon and headed straight to Jessica's in Austin. Just like last year, we went to dinner at Guerro's (unfortunately Luke Wilson was not there this year) and then we went to the Old 97's concert at La Zona Rosa. It was a fun night! From the looks of this picture, you'd think I really enjoyed some margaritas at dinner! Nope, no alcohol involved. We took this picture 3 times and I could not keep my eyes open!Sunday was Jessica's birthday so we went to brunch that morning. I can't remember the name of the place, but it was really cute and great food! We also went and did some shopping on South Congress which was fun. I am still not sure that I made the right decision to not buy an awesome vintage coat I tried on.

Sunday afternoon, I went to see my college friend, Janet, and her husband, Matt, and baby, Zachary. Zachary was just waking up when I got there and came right to me and snuggled....just a little while, though, until he realized his mom was just right across the room. It was so sweet, though! I had fun catching up with Janet and Matt, too, and hope they can make a trip to NYC this year!

Jessica had friends over on Sunday night for pizza and games. It was fun and I'm glad she enjoyed her birthday! We played Catch-Phrase and then Taboo, both games I love. I wasn't having my best night, until I had a really good round of Taboo that won the game for my team! We also played Balderdash, but I just don't think that is my favorite game...it did provide some good laughs, though.

I made cookies for Jessica's b-day

bash. Fun, multi-colored flowers!

Monday morning, I woke up early to go over to my college roommate, Nicole's, house. We were supposed to go to breakfast that morning, but due to some last minute company and a last minute interview, she didn't have much time. So, I just went to her house quickly to visit and drop off a baby gift for her newest, a boy named Thomas. It was nice to chat with her, hold the baby, and see all her family that was in town!

After Nicole's, I headed to Waco for lunch with my high school friend, Courtney. It was great to catch-up with her for a couple of hours! I took a quick drive through Baylor before heading back to Dallas. That campus has been on steroids since I graduated. One of the newer buildings is a HUGE science building. I've seen it a few times before, but never noticed the scripture written at the top of the building, "By Him all things are made...." I thought that was a pretty cool statement to make in an age where most science progams insist that evolution is taught and creationism is not. Go Baylor! I hope they continue to teach according to the Word, rather than conforming to the world, for many more years.

When I got back to Dallas, the boys were at my parent's house. I walked over to Ryder and he looked so happy to see me and said "Hi, Susan!" (Unfortunately, for some reason he started calling me Susan on this trip, rather than SuSu, which he had always called me in the past). Then, my mom walked into the room and he said, very excitedly, "Look, Kay Kay! Susan is here!" It is so fun that he seems to know me so well now! I think Beau's getting there, too, it's just harder to know since he doesn't say complete sentences yet!