Ok I got tagged....

I did just get back from my vacation, but instead of writing about that right now I'll just answer my tag. The vacation update will come soon...


8 THINGS....

8 TV SHOWS I WATCH

1. General Hospital
2. The Mentalist
3. Brothers and Sisters
4. Desperate Housewives
5. Eli Stone
6. John and Kate plus 8
7. Any HGTV show
8. Law and Order (not my favorite, but my Steven's)


8 FAVORITE RESTAURANTS

1. Kyoto (Lake Charles)
2. Snake River Grill (Lake Charles)
3. Luna (Lake Charles)
4. Truluck's (Houston)
5. Baba Yega's (Houston)
6. Dick and Jenny's (New Orleans)
7. Chuy's
8. Taste of Texas (Houston) --- yes I worked there, but the food is still good :)


8 THINGS THAT HAPPENED THIS WEEKEND - ok this is a sneak peak into my vacation

1. shopped, shopped, shopped at the largest outlet mall in North America
2. ate at a VERY disappointing restaurant for Steven and I's (dating) anniversary dinner
3. froze our BUTTS off in Tennessee!! (Friday it got down to 15)
4. toured the Biltmore estate in North Carolina
5. watched ballerina's at the Biltmore
6. spent LOTS of money at the Biltmore
7. went to a wine tasting at the Biltmore (Elisabeth was a grape juice taster)
8. Had the TIME of my life with my family!!!


8 THINGS I LOOK FORWARD TO

1. Coming to Houston to get to see everyone!!
2. Meeting Lincoln James Glass
3. Going to lunch with Karen and Angela at Taste of Texas
4. My first Christmas with my new family
5. Getting my own class ASAP
6. not having to drive for 13 hours any time soon!!!!!
7. Growing stronger in my faith
8. My next Jodi Piccolt book I will read


8 THINGS ON MY WISH LIST

1. Some new shoes
2. My own classroom soon!!! (I know I already mentioned this)
3. Moving into a house
4. Getting to see my family more often
5. New clothes
6. New purse
7. Our water to be on....... NOW!!! (long story I will explain later)
8. My hubby to be off of work for Christmas and a few days after



Ok now I tag.... Krystyn and Kelly

Off to Tennessee we go!!

We are leaving Wednesday morning at 5:00am to head out to Tennessee! I'm so very excited to go on our first family vacation, and that my Mom gets to go with us! Steven and I are packed (minus toiletries) with our two HUGE suitcases so I am ready to go!!!

I went ahead and packed today because I didn't have to work, so I feel very accomplished and ahead of schedule :). Really, I'm not that ahead because I would have no time tomorrow. This will be my day: I have to work from 7-3:15, go pick up Elisabeth (who I'm PRAYING will be packed), come home to get Lilly and go to Houston. We will be making a mad dash to Houston to pick up Mom and drop off Lilly with Slick (that's what Elisabeth calls my Dad). I could have boarded Lilly, but last time we did it was a DISASTER because poor thing got SOOOO sick!! We only boarded her for two days, and she could not keep food down. Luckily I have my Dad who's gracious enough to watch her for a whole week. Then, we will make a mad dash back to Lake Charles so we can get some much needed sleep before waking up at 4:00am. Wooweee I'm gonna be a busy girl!!

For our trip we have some really great things planned, it includes a trip to Biltmore Estate in North Carolina since we will only be about an hour and a half away from it. I'm most excited about our visit to the estate because I have heard nothing but amazing things about it. We of course will go to Dollywood, go on a ski lift that has a mini amusement park on the mountain, possibly do indoor skydiving, and just see what's out there to enjoy.

The Biltmore Estate


While we are on our vacation Steven and I will hit our one year mark (since we were "officially" a couple). Are we insane or what?? Sometimes I can't believe I have been married to a man for 5 months, and it's only been a year since we were officially a couple! Yes we were insane, but I definitely know it was in God's hands for us to get together. This has definitely been the best year of my life! It makes me sad that we're getting close to 2008 ending because this year has been the most amazing for me! In 2008 I got engaged, graduated college, got married/became a step mom, and moved to Louisiana! I just don't think 2009 will be quite that eventful for me, but it will be an amazing one I'm sure. If you don't hear from me don't worry I will update after we get back :) I can tell you right now that it won't be until after Thanksgiving, so I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving! Make sure to wear stretchy pants :)

Tuesday Ten

Ten things I miss about Houston:

Let me start off by saying, I absolutely LOVE my life and wouldn't change a thing but of course I miss things from my hometown! Secondly these are not in order of importance just merely in the order they popped into my head!!

10. I miss watching my dog Lilly get to play and play and play with Rowdy (Mom's dog)! She's getting a little lazy these days :)

9. I miss the Taste of Texas salad bar!! When you work there you get so tired of it, but now that I haven't had it in a while I really miss it. Maybe I should try and squeeze it in while I'm in town for Thanksgiving. Anyone want to join me??

8. I miss my Mema! I hate that I can't be there for her like I would want to be during this tough time. My Papa is on home hospice care, and it hasn't been a walk in the park for her lately. I just wish I could come and spend time with her more often.

7. I miss Kohl's and New York and Company!! I used to HATE Kohl's, but I have realized that they have really great clothes for work. The closest one to us is in Baton Rough 1 hr and 45 minutes away! Then New York and Co has always been one of my favorite stores, and I know we don't have one here. This just makes me spend less money on clothes, so I guess it's not the worst thing in the world.

6. I miss my nights with Mom. I have turned into a younger carbon copy of my mother, and really miss the nights we used to have. We used to lay in her bed and watch all of our dorky HGTV and TLC shows almost every night. I catch myself watching those shows whenever I can, but it's not the same without my Mama :)

5. I miss traffic! Oh wait that's the major thing I DON'T miss!! The longest I have ever been stuck in traffic here in Lake Charles is probably 10 minutes, so no I don't miss that!

4. I miss good restaurants. We do have a few here, but there's really not many out here which kind of stinks. If I ate fast food, or fried food, or gross greasy po boys I would LOVE the food here. Since that's not the case, the restaurants aren't quite the same.

3. I miss going to my Texas Country concerts with my Dad!! He and I would go whenever we had a chance to Robert Earl Keen, Cross Canadian Ragweed, Charlie Robison, etc. and it's been a while since we've gone. I have heard through friends of some great concerts that have been going on out there, and I sadly have missed all of them :(

2. I miss seeing little Lilly Martin grow up!! I hate that I haven't been there to spend a lot of time with her as she grows up! She's going to be 1 soon, and I can't believe it!!

1. I miss my girls!! You know who you are out there!! I haven't seen most of them since my wedding, and that's rediculous!! Angela, I miss your squeeky voice! Karen, I miss going to Onion Creek and talking for hours! Kelly, I miss your craziness and that big ol belly! Those are the three that popped in my head quickly, but trust me I miss others very much too!!

I have added some pictures of my girls, these are all from my bachelorette party. I would love to add more, but they are all on my laptop which my Mom is using. No, we don't drink a lot! Almost all of us are married and have families, but it was my bachelorette party so we let it all hang out!! Even the pregnant ones had a lot of fun that night :)

Some of us girls at Howl at the Moon
Kelly and I being retarded! We're pretty good at that

My cousins and I

I didn't write this because I'm sad and lonely! There are times that it gets a little tough, especially when Steven's working and I'm BORED out of my mind!! I'm doing really great out here, I just miss things from home. I want all of you to know that I do appreciate you all very much, eventhough I may not call as often as I should I still miss you all like crazy!! I get to see most everyone soon with the holidays coming, and I LOVE that :)

Yay it's November!!

November, December, and January are my three favorite months in the year, and I'm soooo excited November is finally here! It's crazy though to think that 2008 is really close to being over, I guess it's true what they say..."The older you are the shorter the years become!" To tell you the truth I have never felt as old as I do currently (trust me I know I'm not old). My days are filled with working, and my nights are filled with laundry, homework (when we have Elisabeth), cooking dinner, and cleaning. When did I get so old?? It's crazy when you go to your best friend's 30th birthday party, and it's scary when you realize that you aren't that far around the corner. Ok now that I have that off of my chest, here's an update on Laura's life:

For the past 11 days I have been sick! I got an upper respiratory viral infection, and my Doctor told me reluctantly that there was nothing he could do for me. That was frustrating, and once my fever was gone I have had this "gunk" in my chest, and completely lost my voice. It has been a VERY frustrating few days, but I am finally getting back to normal. I am ready for my immune system to get stronger so I can handle working with kiddos, and not get every sickness they carry! I haven't updated my blog lately because of this crud, but since I woke up this morning I have been feeling great! Still coughing, but I have a voice so I'm happy. That's another thing, it's Sunday and I woke up at 6:30am! It will take my body some time to get used to this time change, but 6:30 is REDICULOUS!!!

The hubby and I are thoroughly tired of our opposite schedules, that we know will just get worse as time goes on. With this the hubby has decided he is going back to school to get his teaching degree to teach high school. It will be less money for us, but the schedule will be so much better. Once we have kiddos we know this schedule will just get harder, and harder so Steven will be a student at McNeese University starting January. I'm very happy about this decision, and I think it will be great for us and our family.

We were very boring this Halloween! We saw the kiddo all dressed up for Halloween, and her stepsister. They were so cute! Cassidy (Elisabeth's stepsister) was a southern bell, and Elisabeth was Hermione from Harry Potter. They had a lot of fun, and probably stayed up really late since Halloween was on a Friday. I was a little disappointed that we didn't have a single trick or treater, but we do live downtown so it does make sense. Once we move to the suburbs I'm sure we will have nonstop trick or treaters.

So there's a wrap up of the Falgout's these past few weeks, we have been working, going to soccer games, and being sick. Soccer season is now over, which means we get a break until softball season starts :) We are going on our family vacation to the Smoky Mountains in a few weeks, and I can't wait for that!! It will be Steven & I, Elisabeth, and my Mom! We are going to have a BLAST!! It's our first family vacation, and I can't wait. I hope everyone has had a great couple of weeks, and I promise I will update more often. Until next time.....

The southern bell

Our cute Hermione