Water Activities in Corpus

This is our friend Doug, driving his boat, The Black Pearl. He lives on Tortuga Lane. Seriously.




Rick tubing the canals behind Doug's house on Padre Island. This is before Doug tried to kill us both. Flipping Rick out of the tube and flipping me out of the loose chair on the boat. Sharks and other saltwater predators don't scare us. Doug and his boat driving does.

A horrible picture of Rick and I at the Bob Hall Pier beach. I don't know who Bob Hall was but he's important enough to have a pier named after him so maybe I should. We spent all morning jumping waves like you do when you are seven. Or when you haven't been to a beach in years. It was awesome. Except when I fought the undercurrent for 20 minutes trying to get to Rick. But I didn't have to go to the gym after that.

These are from we went sailing for the first and only time. You know how that went. I'm way to cool and artsy to look at the camera.

But Rick's not. Notice how hard I am griping the splashguard thing. And how dangerously close my head is to the boom. You can't see it bc of the sunglasses but there is fear in Rick's eyes. I am holding the sail as I take this picture.

We are just excited to live somewhere we can do stuff like this. It's been too long, especially for Rick. We can do spontaneous activites too just bc there is stuff happening in Corpus. The other night we went to dinner, didn't want to go home yet so we went to a Sharks arena football game. We ended up with free tickets so that made it even better. The game itself was horrible. Something like a bad jr high game. But still better than sitting at home watching another movie.

Speaking of movies, watch The Hangover. Go. Watch it. NOW. It's hilarious.

Being a Housewife

...is just the littlest bit boring. Just the teenyest. But Rick's schedule is so cock-eyed, I never knwo when he is going to be home and I just don't like the idea of working somewhere for just 4 months. That's lame. And it would probably be a lame job as well bc I wouldn't want to have a cool job and then leave it so soon. On the upside, I have been able to go to the gym just about everyday, we have lots of company coming in, and I am keeping busy doing stuff with the girls like painting. On the downside, I spend every waking moment with the dogs. I jammed by little pinkie finger spanking Bill last night when he wouldn't quit whining. I guess that's just karma for the dog abuser in this family. And you know what they say about karma. All in all, this time off from work is really going to help me become not only a world class athlete but a world class painter as well. What can I say, I'm really talented.

New town, new friends

Rick and I just got back from dinner at our friends', Marlena and Trey, house. They were in Columbus with us but, unfortunately, we didn't know them that well. We've gotten to know each other a lot more since we live right down the street from each other here. Marlena and I have been going to the gym a lot, walking and talking the whole way there. Another couple, Jeff and Caitlin, were there as well. Apparently they lived right around the corner from us in Columbus and we didn't even know it. I love meeting these new wives. I think it's so funny how you almost have to become instant friends when you move as often as we have. Always meeting new people and thinking fervently to yourself, "Please, please like me." We've been trying to get together about once a week to talk and do something girly. That something girly usually involves eating muffins and more talking, but what more can you ask for?

After hanging out with Marlena, Caitlin, and our respective husbands tonight, I realized how inspiring and uplifting being with other girls, especially wives can be. I don't know whether it is being in the miliary or the need to have strong friendships that makes us open up so much to each other. It's beautiful to sit back and watch it. I need remind myself to reap the benefits from these friendships more. There's this positive energy from everyone that feeds on itself so afterward you can't help but think that was a great time. These two girls especially inspire me to love my husband more, live life better, and just enjoy what you have where you are. It is amazing and I'm really grateful for that feeling.

Now, for a more tangible subject, Rick and I went down to the beach on Padre Island today for a picnic thing with his squadron. We didn't stay long instead going to our friend Doug's house and going out on his boat. Rick tubed and I took pictures and sunburned my legs. On the bright side, I didn't burn the whole leg, only in splotches where I didn't smear the leftover sunscreen from my arms. Because I never get any sun on my legs, I never burn there.

Post of Note

Just a few comments on the world around me today. 1

1) I think ants have infested our couch. I find them crawling all on me all the time and my legs are covered in bites. I'm not sure if they are ant bites, but since I've been spending a larger percentage inside on the couch than I have outside, I'm willing to bet they are. My plan is to wrap the couch up in saran wrap for a few weeks until they run out of air and die a slow death.

2) I'm drinking my first cup of coffee at my house, made by me, since Rick and I got married. Why didn't I do this before? It's been said by some that I'm a grouch in the morning. These are probably the same people who like to wake me up early. Maybe if they brought me coffee I wouldn't growl and throw things at them. Hello. Brilliant.

3) I'm two days strong at the gym this week and (gasp!) I'm kind of enjoying it. I'm planning to go in the afternoon today, instead of the morning, so we'll see if that happens.

Three's a good enough number today. The coffee hasn't completley kicked in and it is just barely 8 in the morning and I have to google how to kill ants in your couch.

Karate in the Garage

No, Rick and I didn't go do karate in the garage. One of us (me) would have gotten hurt and started crying. But can you name that movie?

We did do an activity today though. A really fun adventure that involved water, a boat, a little yelling and frustration, and no sunburns. Any guesses? Really? None? (This is interactive blog day). Okay, you win. I'll tell. We rented a sailboat and went sailing. Which, apparently, slightly terrifies me. We had about 70% of a good time. Once we got past the putting the boat in the water and all that frustration, it was fun. We were just in this tiny Sunfish and Rick kept "hiking" the boat to one side. We would go really fast, my butt would go in the water, and I would scream at him. I was also hanging on for dear life the entire time. Did I mention we were in site of the shore the entire time and in water barely over my head? I did learn all the sailing terms that go with a ten foot sunfish so if you ever need someone to point to the starboard side, I'm your girl. We stayed out for about two hours and will probably go out again. We just have to find someway to avoid putting in and pulling out the boat, aka the 30% that was not fun. Like the complete opposite of fun. Oh and I smashed my finger with the dagger board (let me know if you need a definition of that). That wasn't fun either.

Speaking of fingers, I used my spa day birthday gift yesterday. It was 90% awesome. It loses 10% only for the facial being one of the most painful experiences of my life. I knew I should have snuck out of there when the technician went to get the EXTRACTOR. I can't even talk about it. The massage and mani/pedi were 90% awesome. The pretty pastely pink polish I chose is fleeing from my nails as I type, though, proving I am not girly enough for pink nails. Give me racy red nails any day. They give you enough inner strength to sail without holding on for dear life. Pink is for pansies.

Corpus Christi

Just to let everyone know....I have accomplished at least one of my goals already. What can I say? I'm a high achiever.

I also realized I haven't graced the world with my comments on Corpus Christi. I like our house. Two bedrooms is great for us. And having a guest bathroom is wonderful. I'm not constantly cleaning the leftovers from Rick shaving in the morning (I just let that sit uncleaned in the sink upstairs). We have big windows in the living room and get so much more light that we did in Columbus. We still have random wierd empty places, like a family room in between the kitchen and what we are using as the dining room. I guess most people would put their table there but ours is too big. Anyway, it's hard for me to find a place for everything still. We have one less bedroom and fewer kitchen cabinets. Slowly but surely we're getting there and I'll be able to put pictures up soon. At least it gives me a chance to purge through all of our stuff. Maybe I'll have a garage sale and make a ton of money. I hear old Nintendo 64s have quite the resale value.

Possibly Achievable Goals

I never like to set my sights too far ahead when I set goals for myself. But if I do then I do it with the knowledge somewhere deep down inside me that I probably won't finish or achieve these goals. Sometimes I have no intention of completing these goals and sometimes I completely forget these goals. Just depends. Whatever to make myself feel better. BUT, I was thinking, "Hey, you keep thinking of all these things you'd like to do while you are in Corpus Christi. Why not write them down somewhere so you don't forget?" Then I thought, "What an idea? I can't believe no one has ever thought of this before. I am a genius." (See above: Whatever to make myself feel better). So here we go. Keep in mind we're really only trying for the achievable ones.

1. Write on this blog more than one more time.
2. Write on this blog more than once a month.
3. Keep going to the gym multiple times a week.
4. Take more pictures.
5. Learn to use other features on the camera besides the automatic button.
6. Clean and use the FILM SLR.
7. Take a sewing class. (I meant to type sailing but this sounded like fun too).
8. Go camping with Rick more than once.
9. Don't kill the dogs on camping trip.
10. Take a sailing class.
11. Keep cooking (and eating...duh)
12. Keep sneaking more and more veggies into Rick's diet.
13. Grow something.
14. Go fishing.
15. Take a seafood cooking class at the aquarium (ahhh, the irony).
16. Go to sandcastle building competition.
17. Do a successful hurricane evacuation.
18. Volunteer at the CC Science and History Museum.
19. Purge more of our stuff.
20. Love Rick more (just cause I know he will read this and I'm a sweetheart)

So you don't get to know which are the achievable goals. That why I don't have to take any crap about not achieving them. Who knows I may have never intended to achieve them anyway. So there.

Oh and I was going to put learn to sing on my list but stopped myself for two reasons. 1. It might be considered an unachievable dream. 2. I taught myself to sing tonight while washing dishes. Yes, it was my mixed up version of the Grease soundtrack and no one was around to confirm but I think it was pretty much awesome.