How do you catch Swine Flu?

Sushi and a Shower

I'm so far behind on blogging it's not even funny (I guess that's what happens when you work 60+ hours a week for all of spring)...and this post I wrote a long time ago but never released it for some reason...

Friday night Kris and I went to dinner with Dan and Renee - it was so fun - as always! They all ate yummy sushi while I enjoyed habachi steak and superb fried rice (it was so good I had to order another bowl)!

Saturday I had a shower at my house for my dear friend Amanda. We've known each other since we were 11, it's so fun to have grown up together and seen what life has brought us so far! Here's a pic of the table, I can't find the other pics I took that day, hopefully I didn't delete them off my camera on accident...

Flip & Tumble

After reading numerous articles about the plastic trash the size of Texas floating in our oceans, I've decided to go green. It really is unbelievable how many plastic bags Kris and I can accumulate in one week!!! After doing some research on the different options for re-usable bags, I've decided to go with Flip & Tumble. Although I will say, Baggu was a very close second (and comes in a multitude of colors)! However, Flip & Tumble comes in scarlet and gray, so that right there was enough to convince me to buy. Plus it is very easy to get it back into a little ball, where Baggu takes a little more time to actually fold. I'm very excited to start saving the environment one plastic bag at a time!

I haven't actually placed my order yet, so let me know if any of you have advice or a different bag I should check out before I purchase my new Flip & Tumble.

Tea Party

April 15th marked the day that taxes were due, it also marked the day that many Americans joined in the "Tea Party" to protest the recent government spending, size of the current government and redistribution of wealth. This was the first time since the election that there seemed to be a nonpartisan agreement that the current government is out of control.

Kris and some of our friends went to the downtown Houston Tea Party. I was busy at work so I couldn't join, but I met them at dinner afterwards.

Here are a few pics from the Tea Party:

One of my personal favorites:

My Birthday

Unfortunately my birthday falls during the middle of busy season (and man has it been busy this year). It's always hard to plan anything big since I'm working so many hours this time of year. So for my bithday we just did something low key. Kris took me to dinner at Backstreet Cafe and we sat outside on the patio. The food was excellent. It was a perfect, relaxing, birthday dinner.

April Showers (or Floods) bring May Flowers!

Being a Houstonian, you learn to deal with the rain, otherwise there's seldom a month you would go outside. This weekend was no exception. Friday we had already had intense storms dumping 1-2 inches of rain and some gusting winds. Saturday was forecasted for the same, with a chance of tornadoes or hail. They even canceled the MS 150 (a bike ride from Houston to Austin to raise money for MS disease) which had approximately 13,000 bikers signed up.

Saturday morning I awoke to clouds and light drizzle...it was actually quite nice sleeping weather. Kris was out of town (man did he pick the right weekend to be gone) so I thought I'd spring clean and run some errands. Little did I know the weather had other plans.

Everything I needed was in about a 3 mile radius of the house, which was nice because it didn't require me to go very far (or fill up my 3/4 empty gas tank). It started raining just as I left the house and continued to get more intense as I drove. I finally had made it to I-10 and the Beltway in about 20 minutes (normally a 5 minute drive) and thought "I better go back before the streets flood"...little did I know that it was too late.



By the time I turned around and came home the access road to Beltway 8 was already impassible. Luckily I was in an SUV so I was fairly confident that if the cars could make it through I would be alright. It took me about 30 minutes to drive the 3 miles back home, by the time I got there I noticed the streets in the neighborhood were flooding badly! Some cars were already immersed in water! I slowly made it back to our street and noticed it was completely flooded, there was no way I could get down it. So I decided to pull up on a neighbors driveway, leave the car and walk the rest of the way home. Thank goodness for my trusty rain boots from Target that kept my feet nice and warm on my walk home.



Our truck (the Duck) was still in the street, so that would need to be moved right away. As soon as I got in I had Morgan (the intern living with us this spring) help me move the truck.



I then saw my neighbor outside raking the drains to ensure no leaves were blocking them. So I decided to get the rake and help him. Come to find out, there were no leaves blocking the drains, there was just nowhere for the rain to go. This was getting intense, what if it came in the house?





Luckily after about an hour the rain let up, and the street slowly started to go back down.

Britains Got Talent

This lady Susan Boyle went on Britains Got Talent...her performance was very unexpected!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-KiGva9dV4

She's seriously amazing!!

He is Risen!

Praise the Lord for Easter Sunday - that through Him our sin has been forgiven, death has lost it's sting, the devil has been defeated and salvation is our free gift for eternity!

How appropriate the Christ would die in the spring, the season of renewal and rebirth. Every new plant in bloom points us to the Cross! Every winter, there are plants I look at and think "this guy's not going to make it, it's too late for him" but every spring, some how, they are miraculously born again. We are those plants.

While we can grow on our own and we may be able to produce a small flower or fruit, it is a constant struggle. When we turn our lives over to the Lord, the Master Gardener, He prunes us, shapes us and waters us; that is when we grown healthy, strong and bear much fruit.

He is Risen Indeed!