13 days of gratitude.

Many of my Facebook friends are making daily gratitude posts. I haven't followed suit this time around, but I love the idea. It's been life-affirming to see so many counting their blessings online.

While most of my friends' posts are serious, listing real blessings like the special people in their lives, I can't help but think of the more trivial niceties that make everyday life so peachy. As Robert Earl says, "It's the little things!"

So here on this 13th day of November, 13 of those little things that make me happy:

1. sweatshirts 
2. Dixon Ticonderoga pencils
3. Maxwell, the Geico pig 
4. pumpkin spice K-cups
5. Longhorn Network on U-verse
6. videos of runway models falling down (evil, I know) 
7. pajama bottoms
8. that drumroll at the beginning of "The Eyes of Texas"
9. my heated throw that makes chilly evenings like this one so cozy
10. the new Pentatonix Christmas EP
11. green apple candy corn
12. photos of cats wearing clothes (especially UT hoodies)

(Wait for it...)

Not my ChaCha, but man,
if I don't love that face!
(From the Co-op's
Facebook page)

And last but not least...

    13. photos of any animal in a costume

The little pink leggings? The sleepy Elmo 
that looks like it's eating the puppy?
I can't take it!  HAHAHAHAHA!
(Help me.)

Weekend wanderings.

March 3-4, 2012


Highlights from our weekend:

Lunch with Memaw at Meadow Lakes

Gorgeous redbuds from our Saturday morning walk

Sunday morning with the cousins
(We went to Nana and Papa's church because they were
recognized for "staying the course" in their marriage.)

Sunday walk with the boochies at the "Mommy Park"

The K9 Guzzler, a new doggie water fountain

Silly geese.

March 1, 2012


On this particular morning, several faculty and staff members noticed we had some visitors waddling around campus.

You know your school has a good reputation when everybody is FLOCKING to your campus!

These guys really stopped traffic, but at least they're obedient. Soon after crossing the street, they headed straight to the office to check in like good little visitors!

View from the stands.

 Oct. 14, 2011

As Brett and I sat near the top of the stadium for the BHS-RHS game, we enjoyed the view of the Fort Worth skyline as the sun set.

 

 

To our left we could also see Dallas.

What a gorgeous night!

It was a dark and stormy night.

Oct. 17, 2011

After an afternoon indoors, I left the house to pick up Katie after a youth event. When I rounded one corner, I could see the sky was all kinds of CRAZY.

When I got to the church building, Katie texted to say they were still about 20 minutes away. That gave me time to walk around the church grounds and get some shots of the brewing storm.

As darkness fell, lightning began to light up the eastern sky.

With the weird weather surrounding us, I was sooooo happy to see that church bus pull into the parking lot!

Summer iPhone Photopalooza.

VBS 2011

HGTV-addicted kitty

Shopping break

Sophomore ID

She loves her football

Girl after my own heart

Back-to-work sunrise

All hail the Groupon!

Rare sight: RAIN

Great headline

More cool sunlight

Sunday afternoon at the hospital

No evil at all

Katie, upon seeing the massive blender: "What would you blend in that, your husband?"

Sign of the times

Another groovy sunrise

Little fella spooked me as I ran

HELP! Strange water droplets are appearing on the sidewalk!!!

Marching and melting

After the Tower.

As we walked from the Tower back to our car, we noticed this amazing mural of Texas.

Houston and Southeast Texas (and a rose for Tyler)

San Antonio and the Metroplex

West Texas and the McDonald Observatory (a UT facility)

Pretty nifty!

The bees' knees.

Walking back to our car after church, we discovered the sidewalk was off-limits, marked off by yellow caution tape. Why?

BEES. Lots and lots of bees.

Dripping off the tire swing like, well, honey.

Pretty freaky!

Why the end of school is bittersweet.

Especially since I teach seniors.

This is also why I have a love/hate relationship with graduation.

Traffic jam.

On the way home from Austin last weekend, we were zooming north along I-35 when we ran into some bumper-to-bumper traffic. I couldn't tell if there'd been a wreck or what. And then I thought I saw plumes of smoke.

But what I thought was smoke was actually a whole bunch of

BATS!

They were heading out for their nightly foraging, just pouring out from under a bridge near Georgetown.
It was incredible to see these long, thick streams of bats taking flight. No wonder all the drivers were slowing down!

Later on, as we continued driving north, Katie and I were also treated to this:
It was nice to have these natural diversions to spice up our drive home!