Not the Typical Day of Rest

I love Thursdays.

For some reason the population surrounding the family practice where I work does not come to the doctor on Thursday mornings. It's not really clear why, but they don't. So in response to the small demand on Thursday mornings, the owners of the clinic decided to open late on Thursday, like 2 PM. I LOVE this about where I work. It means that every Thursday, I get to wake up a little later, in less of a hurry, and make something yummy for breakfast before Daniel heads off to work. It does mean working much later on Thursday evenings, but that is not the point.

Carrie's Karaoke Party

Well, the working life doesn't give me much free time for blog postings, but I have to share some pics my BIL took from my sister Carrie's awesome karaoke birthday party last weekend.

Here are all the sisters but one, rocking the song "Gangsta's Paridise," a personal favorite from my marathon running list.

"...Cause I been blastin' and laughin' so long that even my mama thinks that my mind is gone..."

Birthday girl Carrie is on the left, and her husband in the middle. On the right is Ginnie, another sister.

Me and my friend Erin:

Two sisters singing Amy Grant's "Baby, Baby"

What a fun time! I hope everybody's new year is off to a good start! Daniel and I are still trying to make the house look like a home... it's a slow business! I'm embarking on a fun new art project today, so I'll update soon.

Picture Moulding

Our first multi-day do-it-yourself project! I don't know whether Daniel and I were inspired by the Galveston historic homes with tall ceilings or what, but we have been wanting picture moulding for the living room almost since we moved in.

Picture moulding is sort of like chair rail, but it goes up closer to the ceiling and is shaped to accommodate hooks, from which art hangs by ribbon or wire. Here's the basic idea:
We found the picture moulding (harder than it sounds!) at Wilson Door and Trim in Garland. Here's the profile of it:
We brought it home:
And painted it white, to match the crown moulding already in the living room:
Daniel used this awesome miter saw, borrowed from my brother-in-law:

And he practiced cutting perfect corners:
And then once the moulding was cut to the correct lengths, we used a wall-mounted laser level to mark where the moulding would go:
We bought a compressed air brad nailer to help with this project, and boy did it make the job easier! With this cool tool, you just push the nailer into the wall, and a nail shoots out of it. It looks like this:
We took turns nailing sections to the wall:
And we got it all up pretty quickly:
So then it was just a matter of hanging the photos and art! We bought frames and red mats from Michael's and framed several pictures from our first few years of marriage. We used gray ribbon, also from Michael's, and used those to hang the photos from the hooks we found at the House of Antique Hardware.

The finished look:

And finished just in time for birthday party hosting! I turned 25 the other day--thanks to my SIL for the below picture... I totally swiped it from her blog :).

Hungry baby bird

Merry Christmas!! Though there were lots of great things to take picture of today, I have to share a few of my adorable niece.

We began Christmas morning (after our own gift exchange between Daniel and me) at my parents' house with opening stockings and eating yummy breakfast casserole. Not 2 minutes after I handed Daniel his plate of casserole, baby Elizabeth perched herself next to him. It only took a few not-so-subtle glances between his plate and his face, and he began to feed her his entire plate, bite by bite.

Isn't she cute?

My sister swears that she does actually feed this little one regularly :).

I hope you all had a fabulous Christmas and are gearing up for a great new year. Updates soon to come on the picture rail, which is finally finished!

Graduation!

This past Friday I graduated from UTMB's PA program... finally! It had been a long time coming.

Daniel's grandparents

Joe and Sarah

Lots of family and friends made it for the ceremony and the celebration dinner afterward, hosted by good friends the Hannings. And I have to say, it was some of the best vegetable lasagna (with alfredo cream sauce) I have ever had. Thanks to Dibella's for that!

My mother, sister, and grandparents-in-law :)

Good friends Sarah and Naomi

One of the Hanning beauties and my brother-in-law

My sister on the left, and my adorable nephew on the right

My mom on the left, Naomi on the right, and the youngest Hanning beauty in the middle

My father-in-law on the left, and my aunt Barbara next to me

Me and the Hannings, and Sarah

Many thanks to all who came, and to those who weren't able, but wanted to come. The PA program at UTMB made for a rough chapter in Daniel's and my lives, but I know that the ability to serve people and to find fulfillment in my career will make it all worthwhile.

Many thanks, also, to those whose friendship and support (financial, emotional, housing, and otherwise) made it possible for me to be successful at UTMB.

An Aggie Kind of Wedding

My friends Julia and Jerry recently had a lovely wedding in Houston, which Daniel and I drove down for. It had been a long time since I went to a proper Aggie kind of wedding. Although--due to the formal Catholic nature of the ceremony--there was no "whoop" at the couple's first kiss, there were certainly some loud "WHOOP!!"s at the reception, during which all the Aggies lined up to sing the Aggie War Hymn together. There's just something so familial about a big group of Aggies.

"Saw Varsity's horns off, Saw Varsity's horns off! Saw Varsity's horns off... SHORT! A--WHOOP!!"

It's nice that Julia has such fantastic taste--isn't this a pretty bridesmaid dress?

Several of my PA school friends

Will update with pictures from graduation soon!

O Christmas Tree...

Our very first Christmas tree! How good does THAT look? <-- that's a Rachael Rayism I've picked up from watching Rachael Ray's 30-Minute Meals almost everyday. LOVE that show.
...Anyways--despite some concerns that my corolla wouldn't be big enough to get the job done, it successfully carried our beautiful tree all the way home from Lowe's. And this is the result! Isn't it pretty? Don't bother pointing out that it doesn't have an angel or star on the top. I already know, and I'm working on it*.

I think our two stockings look a little lonely all spread out like that over the fireplace, but I'm sure they'll have company in the next few years.

Will update soon about our picture moulding project!


*Christmas gift idea?