The Waiting Is The Hardest Part

That's the truth when it comes to seeing TOM PETTY and the HEARTBREAKERS! Last night Nathan and I went to see Tom Petty and he put on a great concert. Steve Winwood (yawn) opened for him. We didn't get tickets ahead of time. To be honest, we actually forgot that he was coming on Aug 26th until Sunday night. We drove down to Verizon and bought tickets from a scalper. Neither of us had ever done that before. Yep, Nathan and I are living on the edge in our mid- thirties!

We took our lawn blanket and found a great spot. It was HOT! We enjoyed people watching and let me tell you....some (a whole lot) people with lawn seats at Tom Petty are pretty interesting. This family right next to us was unbelievable! The dad looked like what I imagine "cousin Oliver" from Brady Bunch all grown up. He was short. Looked very lost and confused. Long stringy hair. Button up light denim shirt, only it was totally UN-buttoned. Almost downt to his navel. Gross! He wore glasses and had that strong yellow tint. I even think his eyes went in different directions. (I feel really bad about describing him in such a negative way but I'm not exaggerating at all!) I won't go into details about the rest of the family. I'll just say there was a mom, an aunt or friend, an uncle or friend.....all adults were in their early 40's, 2 teenage daughters and 1 teen son. There they were. One big happy family enjoying the nice fresh air, the festive mood of the crowd and oh yeah, their family supply of POT! I couldn't believe my eyes. These parents smoking in front of their kids and then passing it to them! Wow. Is this what people are really doing?

Showering Brad and Joy

We had a shower for Brad and Joy at work on Tuesday. It turned out really cute. Rachel, Mary, Jen, Julie and I went in on this one. They got a lot of cute stuff. I can't believe we didn't take a hostess group photo.

Picture below....."Dumb and Dumber"
Picture beolow...."Anchorman"

I'm a Fisherman Poser

Nathan and I got renewed fishing licenses and I have my own pole. I do so-so at the fishing part and even putting worms on the hook. I'm getting better at taking the fish off of the hook except for when they're too frantic. Then I get a little squeamish. I don't want to get stung.

I really enjoy fishing. I think it's relaxing. I hope to get a decent amount of fishing in over this next year as this is my first time to have a full year license. I know I have a lot to learn. In fact, last night right before going to bed, Nathan read my post about the lake and then came over to me chuckling. I asked him what he was laughing at and he informed me that what I'd been calling a "trout" line all week is actually called a "trot" line. Who knew? Not me, obviously!

A Little R&R with friends at the Lake

A dear friend of mine at work owns a beautiful lake house on Medina Lake and offered her home to us for a few days. We went up on Sunday and came back Wednesday night. We had a great time fishing, swimming, playing games till the wee hours of the morning and spending time together. Nathan's brother and our niece came too! It was awesome!

Dinner for two for two cute little girls! They had a great time playing together!

















Boys will be boys. Yes, they found time to play video games!



Playing games....


















Here's Rachel making Robyn's yummy olive dip! Nathan, being the olive lover he is, was really impressed.











Joy taking it easy....
















Nathan and Daniel set up a pretty impressive trout line that stretched across the lake from one dock to another. Nathan would periodically go and check to see what fish had been caught. Check out his right shin. A catfish stung him when he was pulling on the trout line and got him pretty good. There was a lot of blood but he lived. What a hero!

About that troutline- we were extremely disappointed! I had such high hopes because I'd never seen one set up. It had all kinds of (fish) goodies. I guess they just outsmarted us. No real big catches.
Look at who else took to the Kayak....
That's our girl! We couldn't get her out of it!
Here's the long, steep sidewalk that leads up to the house. We climbed this A LOT! See how hilly it is? Whew! Nathan and I have a long way to go in our 1/2 marathon training. We ran around the neighborhood and thought for sure we had gone 3 or 4 miles. All those hard hills! Nope. We checked in the car. 2 teeny-tiny miles. Sure seemed longer.






Here's a pic of me and Daniel being goofy.













After a long day of fun...
I'm passed out while watching the Olympics.












Zeta was soooo happy to see her momma!

What 8.8.08 Means To Me

No, this isn't another post purely about the Olympics. It's much more than that. You see, my grandpa, Tom Young, Sr., is where I get the Chinese part of my heritage make up. He was all Chinese. Born in China. Born in a little village called Toi San with a population of about 10,000.
Pop had 3 brothers, no sisters that we know of. We don't even know a lot about his brothers. What we do know is that one left home and moved to Mexico and he and his entire family were killed at a big soccer tournament when the bleachers collapsed. Another brother was a doctor in China but was also killed along with their father by communists after World War II in, what was described to me as, a red title wave. Basically, attacks, wave after wave kept occurring killing countless people.

Pop left home at the young age of 16 to find a better life for himself. He was alone not counting a few acquaintances from his village of Toi San. He ended up in America and settled in San Antonio in 1924. He really had no formal education so he tried to go to school as an adult and studied on an elementary level (1st or 2nd grade) and was ridiculed a lot so he stopped and taught himself how to read and write in English and Spanish. He married my grandma in 1939. They honeymooned in El Paso and almost decided to settle there but they came back and lived and worked in San Antonio. They had a little grocery store and they also managed a little Motel, The Green Courts on Fredericksburg and Medical, which is now no longer around because they were torn down.

Pop was a great cook! He made the best- Chinese food- of course! I remember (very little because I was so young) big family gatherings with a feast set on a never ending table. He really knew how to bring a family together. He loved his family more than anything and always put them first. That was the glue. He died May 18, 1981, a month after my 7th birthday.

It was cool to watch the opening ceremonies that took place last night in China. I know my grandpa would have been proud. Not of the ruling class but of the "everyday" Chinese people who were represented on a global scale. By the way, he would have turned 100 years old yesterday [8-8-08].
In the picture above (approx. year 1975), my grandpa is the one in the bottom right. My brother, Tommy, is to his right.

In this picture you see my grandpa in the center with me in his lap. Kelly is in the blue and my cousin, Sandra, is in front of our grandma. Mamo is standing behind Kelly.

Ready for the Olympics!

I can't wait for 8.8.08! The start of the 2008 Summer Olympics. I've always loved the Olympics. 1984- I remember sitting on our den floor (frog style, most likely) -jaw slightly dropped-eyes glued to the TV as Mary Lou Retton took the floor for her time in the spotlight. She's still the only American to have won the Olympic All Around title. She was the first woman to win a gold medal for gymnastics and she won the All Around Gold Medal in womens gymnastics. I wonder if that stat will be broken this year.
PS...I also love Track and Field, Swimming, Soccer...just to name a few.

Daniel's Birthday

Happy Birthday, Daniel! Today is Daniel's special day and I believe it was a great day to close out a great vacation for him. We'll have to check out his blog to hear about his travels. We got together for dinner at Sylvia's tonight and to celebrate the day that Daniel came into the world. I, for one, feel like the world is a better place because he's in it! Love ya, Big B!!

Hello, Lover......

........Those are the exact words Carrie Bradshaw said while window shopping when she spotted a flashy and sassy pair of Manolo Blahnik's.

Here is my "hello, lover" shoe....

Yep, it's a croc. CROC! The comfort of a croc shoe with a HEEL! Yippee! Now, I know the style isn't über chic but I love these shoes!

The Girls and La Fogota

Last week Shannon D. came into town for the Texas Choral Directors Association conference. She lives in the Houston area and we try to get together whenever she comes for a visit. Karen organized a girls dinner us.

One Man's Trash- Another Man's Treasure

Today we had a garage sale with Nathan's parents and with Joy and Brad. Everyone came over around 7am and we got everything situated and ready for a day of 100 degree shopping. We did pretty well and got rid of just about everything! A good chunk of change for each of us-worth the work and sweat! We all had a great day hanging out.