Tornado, anyone?

This was taken from our porch this evening:

photo by Daniel

Crazy! Hard to tell how far away it is, but we hope that if any more of them form tonight, they stay over the water.

Addendum: Apparently the tornado did come on land. Around 28th streeth. It blew off the roof of a few houses and injured 3. News article here.

Fun Weekend!

Mom and Dad came Friday evening for a fun-filled, albeit short, weekend. The Texas Star Oil Rig museum is so cool that Daniel and I have actually seen it twice now. I know that if I find it interesting, almost anybody probably would :).

Mom and Dad, on the Billy Pugh:
The Billy Pugh is used to transport people
from ship to oil rig platform

Daniel, matching the geologist:

Daniel wishes to call attention to the fact
that he doesn't have a comb over.


This poster demonstrates all the layers you have to
drill through to get to the oil:


At the beach:


Feeding the seagulls:


For dinner, we ate at one of our favorite restaurants in Galveston:
Rudy and Paco's
(image from here)


After our celebration dinner at fabulous Rudy & Paco's...
In honor of PA school graduation and 2 new jobs!

Hopefully we will soon be celebrating a new house!

We got JOBS!

Both of us! On the same day! Can you believe it? Thank you to all who have been praying for us. We believe God has his hand on us. Actually, we would believe that whether we got jobs or not.
Anyways, we are very thankful for your prayers, and we are psyched about our new jobs! I'll be working for a family practice in Oak Cliff, and Daniel will be working for Fairchild Semiconductor in Irving. WHOOP!

Next on the agenda: we gotta find us a house!

Cruisin' and a Snoozin'

Wow... just got back from the cruise to Cozumel and Progreso, and we had a great time! We mostly spent our days reading, napping, and enjoying all the great views. Exhibit A:

The view from our cabin:

At first I found it really unsettling to see the water going by us so quickly... but after a while I got used to it. As we traveled further from Galveston, the water became bluer and bluer.


Our first stop was Progreso, a pretty poor town with decent beaches and really nice people.
A restaurant across the street let us sit under these umbrellas all day... in exchange for keeping the orders coming... which we did :).

We were cautious about how much time we spent in the sun, and I am PROUD to say neither of us got burned (much).

Our second and last stop was in beautiful Cozumel, where the water is crystal clear and the people speak remarkably good English.

We went snorkeling and kayaking in Cozumel. The kayaks were really cool because they were clear, so we could see the bottom of the ocean wherever we went. Two people to a kayak, so I was in the front and Daniel in the back. On reflection of that activity, I think all pre-marriage counseling should take place in a double kayak. Thank goodness Daniel and I make a habit of speaking kindly to each other. That's all I'm gonna say about that. :).

Crafts and Giraffes

My nephew's 1st birthday party was a week ago, and in honor of the occasion, and his jungle-themed* nursery, I made a giraffe-shaped growth chart to hang on his wall. I would love to take credit for the idea, but actually it came from something quite similar found in a charming nursery boutique called Texas Kid Company in Beaumont, TX. Anyways, enough words. On with the photos!

Here is my adorable nephew:

Isn't he cute? He toddles.

Here is Joe, my Beaumont-Grandpa.

He cut that giraffe shape from only a rough sketch!

Here is naked giraffe.

And here is giraffe-in-progress:

Even though I resented at the time, I'm glad Daniel made me lay down a drop cloth. I got significant amounts of yellow paint and lacquer on that piece of plastic.

And the final result!

Happy birthday, Jonathan!

* I know giraffes aren't found in the jungle, but I challenge you to find a nursery jungle theme without them. It's just part of the deal.

A Tasting for Some Other Place

Yesterday Daniel and I surprised our good friends, Joe and Sarah, in Beaumont to attend A Tasting For Some Other Place. It's a community-wide fundraiser for the charitable organization, Some Other Place. A whole bunch of churches and other organizations sign up to have a booth of some delicious food, and people attending the event pay $10 to sample EVERYTHING. Oh man. It was all good.

One of the fun things about going to visit Sarah and Joe is that you get to ride the Ferry to the mainland (instead of driving through Houston).

This is what a ferry looks like.

Here is our car parked on the ferry:

And me, pointing to where we're going:

Our friends, Sarah and Joe--at the tasting:

Mmm... fried green tomatoes!

And my very favorite... bread pudding with some heavily rummed up sauce:

And finally...

Our drive home... gorgeous!

Ohhh Sweet Deliciousness...

The best coffee house, by far, on the island is Mod Coffee House. If you come to Galveston, you must go to Mod's for coffee and a treat. How many coffee houses can boast 3 sitting places: the main room, "the loft", and "the library" (for us students).

I like their regular coffee with cream and sugar,
but they make excellent lattes, too.

My absolute favorite: cream cheese icing sandwiched
between two carrot cake cookies. No raisins, pineapple chunks,
or unidentified objects in these babies. Just pure goodness.

This is Phil, the pastry chef who makes those sweet wonders

Daniel and I spent most of our first year of marriage in this coffee house, studying silently beside each other. They are good memories to have... but I'm glad that intense study time is over! Here's to the occasional carrot cake cookie and non-obligatory time at Mod's!

The Coolest Thing About Galveston

As we are making preparations to move back to Dallas, most of my "we-have-got-to-get-out-of-here" thoughts have begun to fade. Instead I keep noticing the things I will miss... a lot. Like every morning (or at least some mornings), I get to exercise on the seawall... which overlooks this:

The beach at 13th street, 7 AM today

And in the evenings when we grill on the front porch (which has a fan!), we can hear the ocean waves.

Our house, which survived Ike.
(Ignore the face peering at you from above)

It's a pretty sweet house. It is happiest when it has visitors to fill up all its rooms. I think we will miss it a lot.

Blogger's Intimidation

My first blog entry, and I'm stumped. They make it so easy to set up one of these that you only have to have formed the thought, "Maybe I could blog..." and you click a few things and you're a blogger! From what I can tell, the best thing about blogs is the pictures. Exhibit A:

Daniel and me, nervous about all the ensuing life changes
(New jobs for both of us, house shopping, moving to Big D, curtain shopping again)

Welp... That pretty much sums up our life at this moment. Will update soon.