The Houston Car Show

Tonight Jonathan and I went to the Houston car show. I took off work early just for this because he has been talking about it for over a month! It was quite fun! Sort of like the car shows at the Texas State Fair, except I think a little bigger. Tonight was nice because it was opening night and there just weren't that many people there. We were in and out in an hour and then went and had dinner at Lupe Tortilla. By the way, if you haven't had their steak fajitas or their queso....you don't know what you're missing. I could drink that queso. Ok back to cars....

This is my next car...my mommy car. (No, I won't be a mommy soon but I envision getting this in about 3-4 years. :) Just realized he didn't really get a picture of the car. Its a Lexus RX350. You know, the smallest SUV one. So cute!

Here you can just barely see my man "posing" with an Audi R8. Apparently its very nice because it was one of the few you can't get in. (according to Dub just now, it is about $115K.) I say "posing" because he would not really pose with a car at the show. I think its not cool or something. I had no problem with it. :) You can't see it too well in this picture, but the engine is right there in the back window. Weird.

Then, this was just neat to look at...Toyota made a version of the Tundra all tricked out in tribute or inspired by the country duo Brooks and Dunn. It had this crazy tailgating setup all BUILT IN to the bed of the truck. A flat screen TV, stainless steel grill, steam pot, and serving area.

Then, the bed of the truck had this cover...it is all embossed leather in a cowboy sort of pattern with steel studs. The door handles are silver embellished like belt buckles. What?

Finally, the cream of the crop at the show were these Aston Martin DBS cars. According to Dub, they are 2010 models that have not even gone on sale yet. Just for comparison though...the 2009 models of these went for $270,000. These were roped off completely. These were Bond cars last year. Cool!

After some of these car prices...my request for a little Lexus SUV is just not to far out there I think.

Brain Break

Tonight I am working, but I need a brain break. This entry is just that. This is the first of many nights to work in the coming months. It is tax busy season. Oh joy! Part of me is glad that I am busy because of the past couple months of not being busy at work and the stress that brings in my line of work. Its all about chargeability. Clearly Nov./Dec. is the slowest time for taxes, but being so new to it all I want to be a valuable asset to my company at all times and not feel like I'm falling behind. That being said, I'm eating my words and am very busy. On top of that I'm a bit stressed that I am taking a part of the CPA exam on February 24th and have not yet really begun my studies for it. When will I find the time? I have to pass. I am praying today and everyday until then for efficency with my time, energy, and the desire to study and comprehend and retain.

But then when I sit here thinking about the stress I feel about it all, I realize that I should be thankful that I have a wonderful job to be stressed about and that I have an opportunity to become a CPA. So I'll stay positive and focus on that, especially knowing how hurt parts of our world are right now. I am thankful for the blessings God has given me.

Ok, so enough about being stressed...and a little more on my brain break...

This is what my wonderful husband is doing to help me:

Dishes. :) What a man!

Then, I have been meaning to post pictures of our home as set up as it is thus far and will do a bigger more detailed post sometime in the future. In particular, I will do one on decor, and then one on organization and Elfa Shelving (A true miracle invention). If you know me...you might be laughing at that, but we do have a pretty organized house now. Really! But for now, here is the latest project, our entry way.

We don't have a lot of space but its been needing something at least hung on the walls. On the left is a beautiful tiled cross that Caroline Kieschnick gave us for our wedding. On the right is a little table and mirror that were in my grandparent's house in San Angelo.

Prior to yesterday this mirror had a dark brown/bronze colored finish. Beautiful, but dated, and antique looking. So I took a leap of faith and painted it a glossy white to match all the molding and trim in our house. I was going for a more modern, updated look. I think it turned out pretty good!

Here is a close up shot of the beautiful detailing of the mirror. It is really exquisite carving. I hope I haven't ruined the mirror, but I really do like it better this way and to me it almost brings out the detail more this way.

Then, I bought some fresh flowers (ok, greenery because its so inexpensive and smelled so good!), and put it in this taller vase with turquoise irridescent pebbles in the bottom to bring in the turquoise that is the accent color in pretty much our whole house.
Hope everyone is having a blessed evening and takes a brain break every once in a while. It is quite refreshing. Now back to work.

Been Awhile

Whew. Its been awhile since I've blogged. Really haven't been too terribly busy...but should be. Does that make sense? My house needs organizing, I need to be studying more for the CPA, need to be working out, etc. etc., but all I want to do when I come home from work is hang out with Jonathan or cook. I think I'm finally getting motivated to get all of this on a more steady pace though as Jonathan is away on business this week. He's in the middle of the gulf of Mexico on a boat doing something with collecting data to help us find oil in America. (I think). So, to fill my time...I'm doing all of these things, well not the working out part yet. I haven't found a good place/activity to do here in downtown Houston that is not ridiculously expensive. Anyone know of something? I LOVE aerobics classes and group exercise but don't want to pay the huge fees to join a full gym. I love eliptical machines and have thought about buying one for our home but well that's expensive too. Anyway, maybe this week cleaning and studying at least will become a habit. Well the CPA thing has to be, so I probably won't be blogging to terribly much over the coming months with finishing the exam and tax busy season.

So anyway, I didn't make any new year's resolutions out right, but subconciously I think it is to be more organized and intentional in getting things done. I tend to do better when there's a lot going on, and starting this week its finally getting that way. Work is really picking up and my sweet parents are coming in town this weekend to see our place and maybe help me get a little more organized. That's it for now. Oh and today on my mind are the people of Haiti. I don't know a whole lot about what's going on but I've been praying for the country since yesterday. I can't imagine what it feels like to have such a natural devastation occur on the streets where you live.