02.27.10 Paint Yer Pottery

Miriam took me to lunch and to "Paint Yer Pottery" today for my Birthday. She had made me a gift certficate to paint pottery and gave it to me on my birthday, back in November. I redeemed it today. Miriam and I both made dip spreaders. We had a great time and got to be creative at the same time. Our creations still have to be fired in the kiln, so we won't get to see the outcome of our work until next weekend. Thanks again Miriam!

02.26.10 Scenes from a Mall

Juan and I did the All-American Friday night date night.... dinner and movie at the mall. We went to Northpark Center and saw "Cop Out" with Bruce Willis. Unfortunately it wasn't near as funny as we were hoping...it was almost boring. Then we had dinner at McCormick & Schmick's Seafood Restaurant. It was a good night with my hubby.

02.25.10 Girl Scout Cookie Time

Girl Scout Cookies are here! Yeah! I order these from the daughter of a co-worker. I left all six, yes I bought six, boxes at work. I'm hiding them from my husband so he doesn't eat them all. That is, unless Fernando reads this blog and spills the beans. I can't resist thin mints...so good frozen.

02.24.10 40 Under 40 Winner

My friend, Abby Lipperman, nominated me for the 2010 Consulting-Specifying Engineer 40 Under 40 list this year. I found out today that I won! This is an annual list of the most up-and-coming engineers for buildings under the age of 40. Check out the magazine in May where I'll be featured! What a great feeling and awesome recognition. Thanks Abby!

02.23.10 Wall of Travels

This is my photo wall of travels. All photos I've taken at places I've been around the world. I love my wall and look forward to adding to it. I still need to add the photos of Spain from our honeymoon to the wall. If you noticed, the photo on the far left is of me taking a photo.

02.22.10 Olympic Ice Dancing

I've been watching a lot of the Winter Olympics, more than I ever have before. I didn't even know there was a sport called "ice dancing", of course, I didn't know there were a lot of sports in the winter Olympics...Arials, Ski-Cross, etc. In Ice Dancing they skate 3 different configurations. The U.S. team Meryl Davis and Charlie White, pictured above, won the Silver medal; while Canada's Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir took the Gold. Terrible photo, but they were all amazing to watch.

02.21.10 Icky

I went to bed early last night and still did not manage to crawl out of bed until noon. Then I only made it to the couch, to watch the Olympics of course. I've been lucky this year; I haven't been sick with the flu or cold once this season. Yes, I had lots of issues with my stomach; but thankfully those all seem to have been cured by my last surgery. If a cold is the only thing I have to fight thru for the rest of the season...I will definitely feel blessed. For now, lots of lovely medicines hoping to cure my aching body.

02.20.10 Aother Page Complete

All day and I only managed to finish one page.  Here it is!

02.20.10 Is Tea the Cure?

I woke up this morning not feeling myself. Mom came over to scrapbook and by about noon I was definitely fading fast...so was she. We scapbooked a little longer and then I was ready for a nap. Tea always makes me feel better when I'm sick, so out comes our little teapot and steeping hot water. Ahh, the bliss of hot tea. It did make me feel better, even if it was only while I drank it.

02.19.10 Dinner at Cafe Izmir

Juan and I took his son, Adam, to dinner this evening at Cafe Izmir. We had not seen Adam since Christmas...and he lives 2 blocks away! He has been busy with work, he is a waiter at Olive Garden, and school and I can't believe it's almost March. Where does the time go? I love Cafe Izmir, probably my favorite place to eat. It's Mediterranean and fabulous. Hummus, pita, russian salad, tzatziki, saffron rice, and about  more delicious things they bring you. YUM!

02.18.10 Abby Turns 3-0

My friend, Abby, turned 30 today! She is the youngest of our little gal pal group at work. We took her to Traverna's for lunch today. She is now officially old, like the rest of us.  Happy Birthday, Abby!

02.17.10 The Sun is OUT!

Today the sun was out. It is the first time I've seen that lovely blue cloudless sky in what seems like weeks! My car was filthy, so who could resist a quick car wash? My car thanked me greatly and felt a little like the winter blues were washed away with all the grime.

Juan bought a ton of food to make me dinner on Valentine's Day, but we both fell asleep watching the Olympics, man are we old...  so instead, I used the food to make him dinner this evening...chicken, veggies, crab cakes, rolls, and of course, caprese. 

02.16.10 Wrong Day? Wrong Month!

Juan and I have season tickets to the dallas theater. Tonight was our next theater experience. I picked up Juan from work and we started the evening at Dali for dinner. It was not long after we had ordered that Juan said, "Are you sure the play is tonight...I don't see any people over at the theater." Then we looked around the usually packed restraurant and realized we were the only customers in the place. I pulled out our tickets and... yep... tickets were for 3/16 NOT 2/16. We were an entire month early! Guess I put the wrong date into my calendar. We decided that would be our Valentine's day dinner...it was definitely quiet and romantic.  How could it not be when we were the only ones in the place?  LOL

02.15.10 Ohhh the Blood

I am ashamed to say that I have never donated blood.  My husband, on the other hand, regularly donates through Carter Blood Care.  He donated again today and received the GALLON DONOR status because of the number of times he has given blood.  He was given this pin as a representation of the "gallon donor". He is such a good man and I can only imagine all of the people he has helped.

02.14.10 Great Love Day

Today is Valentine's Day. I am sort of a sucker for all the romantic mumbo jumbo that accompanies this day. I never thought I would find someone to celebrate this day with each year, but I have. Juan tried to get us dinner reservations last night, but we had waited to long. Today he brought me beautiful white tulips and pink roses in addition to yummy chocolates. He does know what I like!  He is also making me a romantic dinner tonight...am I lucky or what? I have realized that we do a pretty good job of celebrating our love everyday. Maybe that's because we are still newlywed and maybe it's that it is just the two of us, but I am blessed. I sure do love my husband!

I made Juan a coupon book for Valentine's Day. It was filled with coupons for all his favorite activities, as well as a few photos of the two of us.

A couple of Valentine's Day cards that I made for my mom and sister.

We also babysat my nephew Jakob today. Juan taught him a new game....Ding Dong. Check out the video to see them both! Click here to see Ding Dong

02.13.10 Birthday Fun

Juan and I took Mom to the movie Avatar in 3D this afternoon for her birthday. She had already seen it, but she wanted to see it again. Neither Juan or I had seen it. Afterwards we took her to Applebee's for dinner....that's where she chose....I promise. They had a great weight watchers salad for 6 points that she wanted. It was a great afternoon celebration.

02.12.10 Mama's Birthday

Mom's birthday was today, so Vanessa and I spent the night with her and had a slumber party. Once Jakob went to bed, we laughed our butts off trying to take a photo of the three of us in our jammies. Too fun! Happy Birthday Mom! I love you a ton!

02.12.10 SNOW has Arrived!

We awoke this morning to 12" of snow! It is a historic record for Dallas. I was amazed as I walked outside to view our neighborhood. There were trees down everywhere. Our neighbors tree across the alley fell into the alley and one fell on their garage. It was definitely beautiful though. All schools are shut down, in fact the entire city is shut down, except for ccrd. The roads weren't too bad because no one was on them.  

02.11.10 Airports Closed!

Our meetings in Houston ended at noon today. We were scheduled on the 2:00pm flight on Southwest Airlines back to Dallas Love Field. When we returned the rental car, we learned DFW was closed. Once we got through security we learned Love Field was on a "will advise" and none of the flights had left Dallas since about 9am. There were four flights infront of us that did not even have planes yet, and our flight was already delayed until 3:20pm. After standing in the standby line for about 30 minutes and not even moving, we decided to drive back to Dallas. We left the rental car agency around 1:00pm and it was pouring rain. It didn't turn to snow until about 90 miles outside Dallas. We arrived around 6:00pm to a mess on the roadways. Luckily the traffic our direction was fairly light, the other direction was at a standstill. Dallas had gotten 6" of snow and it was not letting up. The record of 7-1/2" was sure to be broken. I was very glad to arrive safe at home.

02.10.10 Clear Lake Travels

Traveling again today. This time to Houston for the Clear Lake Heart Hospital 5th/6th Floor design development meetings. We had meetings all afternoon and tomorrow morning at the facility, so we headed out to dinner with the Perkins+Will architects to Kema this evening. The crab house had closed so we ended up at Landry's for dinner. 

02.09.10 ACE Bowling Fund-raiser

Tonight was a bowling fund-raiser for ACE, a program to promote architecture, engineering, and construction to high school students. The monies were raised by companies sponsering teams to bowl in tonights team competition. ccrd sponsored a team and so did Perkins+Will.  I flew in this evening from California, so I was too late to bowl; but I still got to enjoy the event.

More event photos:

02.08.10 Back to "Cali"fornia

I traveled to California again today, Burbank this time to complete due dilligence on the West Hills Hospital 6E Renovation. Roger and I flew in late this evening. Our flight was delayed, so we did not arrive in California until about 11:30pm. I was shocked to see they still have Full-Service gas stations. Gas is sooo expensive in California; especially compared to $2.43 per gallon in Dallas.

02.07.10 Juan's Grandma Visits

Juan's grandmother is 83 years old and lives in Laredo, TX, on the Mexico border, with Juan's Aunt and Uncle. They were in Dallas visiting this weekend, so we went to breakfast at Juan's mother's house to see everyone.  Juan only gets to see his grandma about once a year or so. This was only the 2nd time I've met her.

02.07.10 Scrapbook Layouts

Just a couple of scrapbook layouts I completed this weekend.

02.06.10 Starbucks Ritual

Juan is completely addicted to Starbucks coffee, usually a Pike. He can't start the weekend without it, nor most weekday mornings. Even when we were on our honeymoon in Spain, he had to search out a Starbucks. I'm not a coffee drinker, but I am rather fond of their Soy Chai Tea Lattes. A tall is the most I will drink, but Juan gets the venti size for himself.

02.05.10 Jakob and the Marbles

We babysat Jakob for a couple of hours this evening so that Vanessa could study for her exam tomorrw. First, we headed across the street to the grassy area to let him wander. He immediately found a stick and was thrilled. Once the sun went down, we headed back inside where Jakob immediately began to point up to the top shelf where, he has learned, we keep Juan's marbles. He played with them for over an hour. He loves putting them all in the jar, one by one. He is so methodical and dedicated to completing his task. He is such a smart little boy.

02.04.10 Snoozing

I worked late this evening and didn't get home until after 10pm. I found my husband asleep on the couch in the living room, curled up with my blanket. This is his favorite spot to snooze!