i miss you.

when i was growing up and i would have my friends drop me off, i used to stand right in front of the door and ring the doorbell. my grandma would alwayyys check the window next to the door to see who was there since we didn't have a peep hole and since i was standing in front of the door she couldn't see me. no matter how many times i did it, she was still surprised when she opened the door and i was face to face with her! she'd always say "oh, hi dear!"

about a month into living in new york city i did a crazy thing and purchased a plane ticket the night before take off and flew home. my friend kalie picked me up from the airport and dropped me off at my dads. i hid my suitcase behind me, hid behind the door and rang the doorbell. my gran came to the door and when she looked out the window and didn't see anyone, she opened the door. her face went white and it looked like she had seen a ghost. she was so taken back! she had a hard time wrapping her mind around me actually being there, in the flesh! after she got over the initial shock, she was excited and immediately offered to make me some lunch.

we took this picture just a few minutes after i'd surprised her at the door. 

i miss her so much. i so badly want to call her and hear her cheerful voice and little laugh. at 87 she was still way too spunky and sassy. she was the best, the very best. 

i'm a travel agent.

yep, you read that right! my dad and i started a franchise with Cruise Planners and we now have our ownnnn business!! we signed up with them way back in april. we were going to go to training in june, but my dad had all of his heart stuff going on so we pushed it back. i've been laying low about it because i wanted to go to training and learn more about the company.

we went to ft. lauderdale, fl the week before last and had an entire week of classes, learning and cruise ship tours! we had to be at the convention center at 7am everyday and we wouldn't leave there until around 5 or 6pm. we'd get dinner and go home to just lay in our hotel beds, we hardly did any site-seeing at all! haha...it was so fun to be there with my dad though and we laughed so much.

the first night we were there we had a cocktail party. i thought this was so funny because my dad does freelance work for a woman in georgia and he got on the hotel computer during our work party to do work for his other client. that man.

after the welcome party on tuesday we went out. i went for my 3 mile run and my dad went walking. i made it down to the beach! it wasn't as hot as san antonio is, but it was way more humid! i ran along the beach for maybe 1/4 of a mile before realizing it was the worst idea ever and found myself back on pavement. it was the only time during that trip that i went running even though i had big plans to do so. just too busy!

wednesday is the day that i ate nonstop. they constantly had food for us and i took advantage of it entirely. have you ever eaten so much that you threw up? i hadn't either until this fateful day. i woke up at 11:30 pm and tossed my cookies (and cake...and chipotle) then fall back to sleep and didn't wake up until the morning. weirdest thing ever!

 

Don Shula was the coach for the Miami Dolphins and apparently has steakhouses throughout florida and has started opening burger places called shula burger. it was pretty good.

cruise planners gave everyone $25 american express gift cards because the whole day we were running behind and we are partnered with american express. we took our cards and went out for a nice dinner at bimini boatyard bar and grill. i went out on a limb and ordered mahi mahi (this is about the time i found out that 'mahi mahi' and just 'mahi' are the same thing. i'm glad i asked my dad and not the waiter). we started out on the patio but it started pouring rain!!!!

on saturday we got to go to miami and tour the carnival liberty! it was so cool to be able to see all the different suites! they served us an awesome lunch which included crab cakes, salad, steak and creme brûlée. are you getting a good understanding as to why i threw up the first day there? 

check me outttt.

on sunday, our last day in florida, we got to tour the largest cruise ship in the world! royal caribbean's "allure of the seas"! it was a night and day difference from the carnival liberty. it is HUGE and has so many cool amenities! we got to see the largest suite on the ship (there is only one of these rooms) and it was beautiful. they had their own loft, hot tub out on their personal balcony and a baby grand piano in their living room. amazing. the other rooms were awesome too and the coolest thing about this ship is the option to have a room with a window or balcony looking into the interior of the ship.

it was such a fun trip! i love being business partners with my dad.

if you like me and want to support us you can like us here:

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we specialize in cruises but we can book your hotels, airfare, land tours, etc. etc. etc...we do it all!

this is my one plug for robinson's cruise planners, my blog isn't going to turn into a business blog. i just wanted to let everyone know what i am up to!

perhaps to bloom.

I was leaving the South

To fling myself into the unknown...

I was taking a part of the South

To transplant in alien soil,

To see if it could grow differently, 

if it could drink of new and cool rains, 

Bend in strange winds, 

Respond to the warmth of other suns

And, perhaps, to bloom.

-Richard Wright

fourth of july 2013!

we had such a fun time celebrating the 4th!! 

the 3rd is my mother in law kathy's birthday, so we had dinner and played games with her until they went to bed. after celebrating, jon and i packed up the car and left san antonio for austin! we drove directly to a nice little neighrbohood and set up shop! we slept happily but uncomforatbly in the land cruiser. we woke up and brushed our teeth on the side of the car and were packing up when the neighbor came out to take out his trash. he came up to jon and told him he liked his car and thanked jon for his service. jon told him we slept in front of his house in preparation for the parade and the neighbor didn't care at all! people here are so nice. he also let us know that the parade was just a little neighborhood thing and it wouldn't be too crowded....we are so used to california. 

the parade was indeed a little neighborhood thing, but it was so cute! we loved being there with all these nice and happy texans. butttt.....

the best part of the day was hanging out with this girl!!!! she is selling over the summer in dallas and her and her friends came down to celebrate the fourth! she is the main reason we went to austin, and we had so much fun!!! the first place we went to was a river that looks shallow in these photos. there was an area of the river that was about 12 feet deep and had rocks we could jump off of and stuff. it was a ton of fun and the water was perfect. i love laughing with jessie so much and always remember why we have been friends forever. i laughed so hard while jon was splashing us and we were splashing each other. so childish! 

our next destination was hamilton pool. 

it was so amazing!!! i wish these pictures did it justice. we hiked 1/4 of a mile down to the pool on a pretty trail and then came upon this wondrous view. the water was a bit chilly....but once you got in, it was awesome. my pictures don't show it, but there was water dripping from the rocks all along the top creating little waterfalls. it seemed like a good idea to hang out underneath them, but it felt like a waterfall of bb's if you catch my drift. 

this is a good picture of one of the 'waterfalls'.
very painful i tell you.

we got bbq for dinner with our new friends and had a good time. then we split up which wasn't a good time and gave me separation anxiety. jon and i weren't sure where we wanted to watch fireworks, so we just started driving. we stopped in blanco and asked a policeman where the fireworks were being held and he referred us to a teeny tiny town 20 minutes away called albert. 

it was really nice! there was a bar and a dance hall and that's about it. we tried ordering food at the bar and the lady sent us to the pavilion where there was a family/town? barbecue going on which meant free food for everybody! plus a little fireworks show which was really cool since they were RIGHT in front of us. i was a little bit frightened though since 1/3 of the fireworks were going off on the ground instead of up in the sky, but what do you do?

i love celebrating the 4th with my man, it is always something new and adventurous. i love america so much. it seems like we truly celebrated independnece day at church the sunday before when we sang america the beautiful and the star spangled banner. chills for days.

i wasn't mad coming home to these puppies:

homemade fried pickles from kathy:

and jon holding a toad he found in the driveway:

texas is pretty fun, i guess.

you can't really go wrong with:

celebrating belated birthdays.

introducing your pets and having everyone on edge except logan who is allwayyys like "whatevers!"

sending your man off to his first day at the university!

seeing twins loving each other.

THIS. JUST THIS.
(i got the photo in a text)

crazy chickens in the house.

you can kind of go wrong with getting rained out from tubing down the comal river in new braunfels. we lasted a good 45 minutes before the rain started coming down so hard it felt like nails on my back/shoulders. also, i did wear a swimsuit it just looks like i didn't.

you can also kind of go wrong with going downtown for a boat tour down the riverwalk but getting rained out of that too. it still made for a fun and pretty night at the riverwalk. 

i could argue that there is nothing wrong with this picture, but i think alex and kathy would disagree. "we" poured cement for the chicken coup and almost everyone got soaked with cement. i'm sure i would have been soaked with cement too, had they let me help to my full potential.

you can definitely not go wrong with getting marine corps awards even though you are out of the marine corps.

the sunsets haven't been anything toooo crazy, but i did appreciate it this night. no matter where i am, sunsets always remind me of my dear friend katie.

you can't go wrong with a beautiful day on canyon lake. orrr

with facetiming your dad on his birthday and seeing this hanging into the shot.

pouting at work. (or can you?)

having four dogs. (logan needs the most work, but jade, who is not pictured, comes in at a close second.)

WITH SEGWAYING. ANYTIME, ANYWHERE.

all of us at the texas state capitol in austin, tx.

and i mean that. if you've never segwayed, you need to search groupon extensively until you find a segway tour near you. it was the best thing i've ever done in my life and i can't decide what is funnier: 

me infuriating jon by circling him over and over anytime we stopped

or

alex tipping over on the segway (which the tour guide said was impossible), getting back on and tipping right back over again.   

alex: "I'm sorry, sir. I don't know what happened."

tour guide: "I don't know what happened either, but i do know you and your sister have been messing around this entire time and I haven't said anything."

'your sister' is me and he's right- we were messing around the entire time and no, he didn't say anything. best night!

i'm not mad about exploring the 10 acres that make up the hagerman compound with alex even though we almost tipped, but don't tell anyone. i guess being around children causes me to revert in maturity.
(jon didn't witness this, thankfully)

i'm mad but strangely comforted by this image.
seriously zombies, just go somewhere else.

i am furious about this room, but it's made so much progress.

see?:

i could be upset by working in the food industry still, but i'm actually not. it pays way more than panera bread did and it's much more fun. (although i miss mendez.) and i never leave feeling like i need my entire body sanitized, which is a big bonus. i work with my sister in law kaitlyn and work both in the store and on the pizza truck.

there is absolutely nothing wrong with swimming in pretty lake travis before ziplining thousands of feet with your fun family in austin.

or working on a pizza truck. the best part about this is sweating gallons upon gallons. its like being in a sauna or doing bikram yoga with pizza and without yoga. it sounds awful but it's actually quite nice.

(i am pictured, talking business (pay) with the owner of the store and truck. he's also the chef.)

i can say there is nothing wrong with going to the horse races but i can't, with confidence, say there is nothing wrong with gambling and especially gambling for your 20 year old sister and 16 year old brother who aren't of age yet. fortunately, we all came out on top!
(and no, i'm not addicted, but i can't say that with confidence either.)

can i leave you with two pictures? one of my cooped up cat who found the only open window in the entire house and one of my dog who unmistakably resembles the dog from Up. 

i'm pretty happy here, it has been an awesome 3.5 weeks so far. we've vacationed here so many times that it felt like another vacation for the first few weeks. it's starting to feel a little bit more legitimate that we are actual texas residents who have jobs here and go to school. it is weird, but i am loving it!

(and so is logan, but that's obvious!)