So. Far. Behind.

This is what I just saw when I opened my blog dashboard: "95 Posts, last published on May 3, 2010"
It has been a looooong time since I last blogged, so I will try to catch this up in the next few paragraphs, without weighing the content down with boringness. :)

I last left off complaining about Kona eating one of my favorite shoes. He has since destroyed at least two other shoes (one mine, one Z's), but is slowly getting better about recognizing what is his v. what is ours and shouldn't be chewed on. I would also list more things for you that he has eaten/chewed/destroyed, however, this would be a very long and boring post. He still has a TON of energy, which we try to work out of him on our evening walks with both dogs. Kona also had a little bout with demodectic mites/mange on his nose. This type of mange is passed from mother to puppy within the first week of their lives, but is NOT contagious to other dogs (thank goodness)! He has since fully recovered and doesn't even have a scar on his cute little nose. Aidan is just fine, and loves having another dog to play with all of the time. Aidan is definitely the alpha in the house, and even though he is about seven years older, he can keep up with the pup!

In May we traveled to Italy! We took Kodi, our friends' yellow lab that we had been keeping since January, with us (yes, all the way to Italy) because his family had recently moved there. Kodi's kennel miraculously fit into the luggage loading door on our smaller plane from Houston to DC, and we didn't have any problems at all picking him up from the oversized baggage area in Rome. Melissa, our Navy friend that lived in HI while we did - and Kodi's mom - picked us up from the airport. We stayed with our Navy friends, the Stacks, at their home outside of Naples. They live in Navy housing, and so did Melissa and her family, so it was a convenient location for us to be to see our friends. They took us all over southern Italy - Amalfi Coast, Paestum, Naples - and we saw so many beautiful new places. For two days we took the train up to Cinque Terre, one of the highlights of our trip! One of the most beautiful places in the world, by far. The weekend we were there, I stayed on Ischia with some girlfriends, and the next day Zac and the guys joined us in Capri. We toured the Blue Grotto (click here for video), hiked up a looong trail to the city center (even longer since I was starving), saw a beautiful garden and the sea stacks of Capri. Which I thought was funny, since we were with the STACK family. :) The next day we visited Herculaneum, a community like Pompeii, but smaller and better preserved. On our last day we drove to Paestum, an ancient Graeco-Roman city. We had an absolutely wonderful trip and miss our friends greatly. And we are already ready for another European vacation! For all of the pictures, please click here.

Then came Mandy's birthday. I drove up to Fort Worth, where we went to a concert in the garden. Happy birthday to Mandy!

Then came my cousin Meredith's bachelorette party at Lake LBJ! Fun times in the sun with family.

The next weekend was Amy's bachelorette party in Austin! We took a burlesque dancing class (awesome), and went to dinner and out on west 6th. So much fun. (Pics will be uploaded to Picasa later.)

The next weekend was my cousin Meredith's wedding in Hereford! Zac and I flew up to Amarillo, spent Friday night in Pampa, and went to wedding festivities on Sat. I just love getting to spend time with the Tabor family, and Meredith was an absolutely stunning bride. Yay for more cousins and an expanding fam.

And then...it was July 4th. We didn't do anything exciting. Stayed in CS for a change and watched fireworks at the Bush Library.

The next weekend was our annual girls' float trip! We floated the Comal and let Zac and Josh tag along. I love living close to the river again. :) It makes me happy.

July 17th was Amy's wedding weekend, which was busy busy busy! I was so touched to be chosen as her matron of honor! I arrived that Thurs. night - helped with some last min decorations and favors. Friday was the bridal luncheon and later the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. The wedding was at Briscoe Manor in Katy, and it was the perfect venue for Amy and Austin. The rehearsal dinner was at Cadillac Bar, with lots of family, friends, good food and mariachis! Sat. was spent primping before the big event. Everything went perfectly and was absolutely stunning. I took a ton of pictures that can be found HERE. CONGRATULATIONS to Amy and Austin!!

And this is where I will end this crazy long post. :) I will finish the rest of the activities/pictures soon!
I keep thinking of things that I would like to blog about, rather than just what we are doing, so that will begin as soon as I finish getting caught up on the summer.
Me ke aloha,
RAWE

Kona just ate one of my favorite shoes...

Yes, that is correct. Kona, our precious little puppy that can do no wrong just ate one of my FAVORITE RED SHOES. In an attempt to try to cool down (he is outside in solitary confinement - aka - alone), I am making dinner and thought that I would blog. It's times like these that I think that if I found and purchased a pair of shoes that I really liked, I really should have bought two pairs. ARGH! What did they look like? They were what I liked to call my Betty Boop shoes because they reminded me of her. Red, kind of pointy toe, sling backs with a stacked wooden heel and reallllly comfortable. But enough lamenting, I will now write about other, happier things.
It has been over a month since I blogged, which is horrible of me! We had a very busy month, and I'm sure that there are many people who will agree with me when I ask "Where the heck did April go???"
First weekend: Easter.
We had a fun weekend in College Station this Easter. We were blessed to have Zac's grandparents, Ben and Nellie drive in from Temple, as well as Zac's parents, Steve and Kay, come down from Allen. Sat. we saw a few sights in College Station, and Sunday we had a delicious Easter dinner at our house. Our friends Kelsey and Mack also came over to celebrate with us. We all ate a lot and enjoyed one another's company. For pictures, CLICK HERE.
The next day Zac and I attended a corps event, Muster of the Regiment. We dressed up and went to the Hall of Fame for the evening with his outfit. Here is a picture of us there.

That weekend Beth and Kate Lynch stopped by on their way to a wedding in Houston. We had lunch at La Bodega, saw the huge ring at the Association of Former Students, tried the new yogurt place Red Mango and showed Kate our house. That afternoon we took bluebonnet pictures of all of the dogs and took them to the dog park. :)

The next week Zac and I passed out Aggie rings! Zac's boss was kind enough to ask if we were interested in taking part in this special Aggie tradition, and of course we jumped at the chance. We loved seeing all of the excited students, friends and families that were there for the festivities. And wow - Ring Day has really changed since we got our rings. I remember the Association was beginning to have a few extra activities going on outside, like the professional photos, Slovacek sausage being given away and friends would go get their rings all together. Now it seems like families are coming in from all over to be a part of ring day! There are professional photographers at several locations, free sausage (still), music playing, Benjamin Knox signing his art, you get your ring ticket ONLINE, a Yell Practice, refreshments everywhere and much, much more! Ha. It really is a big celebration now, and we were lucky to be able to participate in this semester's Ring Day.

That weekend was the K-2 Reunion. For those of you that don't know, Zac was in the corps of cadets at A&M, and K-2 was his outfit. He is now the military advisor for that outfit. One of Zac's buddies, Cameron, came to the reunion with his wife, Michelle and their cuuuuute baby, Nathan! One of Zac's other buddy's wife, Emily, also drove in with her baby, Rylie. So, I was thoroughly entertained at the bbq. It was fun to see all of them, as well as the current and older guys from K-2. Later that night we saw the Bellamy Brothers at the Hall of Fame. They were great live! 

Later that week was one of my favorite Aggie traditions, Muster. I love that Aggies get together on the same day every year to honor all of the Aggies that have died that year. For more about Muster, read this. Days like that help me to remember why I still think that choosing to go to A&M was one of my best decisions.

That Friday I went with about 30 Aerospace students to Johnson Space Center in Houston. We got a (very) VIP behind-the-scenes tour of all 3 mission control rooms (including the historic moon landing one!), the Neutral Buoyancy Lab, robotics labs, a lunar electric rover (which the students got to drive!) and more. I had never been to NASA before, so I really enjoyed the tour and learned a lot. Afterwards I had organized a reception for work for A&M aerospace majors that now work in that area. Fi even stopped by to see me there (since her flight to Ireland was cancelled due to the volcano)!! After the loooong day at NASA, I met Amy and her fiance, Austin, for dinner. It was great to finally get to spend some quality time with both of them. :) The next day Amy and I ran errands and did some shopping, before getting gussied up for her first wedding shower! Her friend Carla opened her beautiful home to the party crowd, and we had an amazingly fun evening! Here are those fun pics! It was so special to celebrate their upcoming wedding and make some fun memories to have forever.

That was also the Sat. of Zac's grandmother, Betty's, 80th birthday party! I was sad that I wasn't able to join Zac there, but they all said they had a wonderful time. Family flew in from MN and CA and of course drove in from around Texas.

Sunday I met my friends Jamie and Jennifer for lunch on my way back to College Station. It was so fun to catch up with them, and to meet Jamie's precious son, Garrett! He is about 7 or 8 months old right now and super cute! 

Finally, this past weekend my friend Ellen drove down to visit! We had dinner with some mutual friends that live here on Fri. night, then Sat. we went to the quilt store, Wings 'n More for lunch and then just ran around CS shopping and talking. It was so great to be able to have her here for the night/day!

Zac has been so busy finishing projects, studying for finals and working! I know that he will be relieved when the semester is over, as will I! Work has been ridiculously busy lately! 

Hope that all of you out there are doing well, staying healthy and making sure that you stop and smile from time to time.

Me ke aloha,

RAWE

SURPRISE!!

I had an incredible weekend! 

Friday night Zac and I didn't do much; a little cleaning, cooking and watching a movie. I knew that Saturday was going to be a REALLY busy day.

Sat. morning I went up to the museum early to volunteer for the annual Easter Celebration! The event went smoothly, the weather cooperated (even if it was a little chilly and windy) and there were soooo many people in attendance. I went straight from there to the Physics and Engineering Festival to take pictures for work. After being there for an hour, I left to meet my cousin Emily, her husband Jonathan and Zac for lunch at Layne's! I was so excited that Emily and Jonathan were coming to hang out in College Station with us for the day/night. They got to see our house, the dogs and a lot of what has changed here since we were students. We gave them a tour of our house, CS and the Bonfire Memorial. (Emily and Jonathan were freshmen here when Bonfire fell in '99.) After the tours we came home and changed because Zac said that we had dinner reservations. I kept trying to guess where, but he would not tell me (typical). We ended up driving in to Bryan, to Mr. G's Pizza. We walked in the door and a bunch of people yelled "SURPRISE!!" really loudly. It took me a few seconds to process what was going on before I realized the fun surprise was for ME! WOW! I was surprised, indeed! Mandy, Beth and Zac had been plotting against me, with the help of everyone, to get me - and it worked! Mandy, Meranda, Beth, Mai, Teal, April and Becky all came in from the metroplex - Mary Alice, Jonathan and Emily were here from Austin - Jesse, his friend and Kevin came in from San Antonio/Houston - Amy and Austin came in from Houston, and Kelsey, Mack, Spike and John (and Zac of course) were here in town. :) Am I blessed or what? I have the most thoughtful/caring/fun family and friends in the whole world. Thank you, friends!! We had pizza, cake and opened presents at Mr. G's, then everyone came to our house to hang out for a while. Afterwards we headed up to Northgate. What an incredibly fun birthday celebration that I wasn't expecting AT ALL! 

Sunday morning some of us went to breakfast at Coco Loco before heading back in a million directions. That afternoon, Zac, Mary Alice and I installed my birthday present from Zac, fireplace glass! It is absolutely beautiful, and I love how it looks installed. I wanted something that wouldn't ash and stain the rock or make a mess. Mary Alice saw this done on HGTV, and luckily I had a birthday coming up so I asked for it. :) We love it! 

CLICK HERE to see a few pictures from the surprise party, and the installation of the fireplace glass! For more birthday celebration pictures, see Facebook!

Me ke aloha,

RAWE

Hamm Visit, Shelton Visit and More!

Where to begin? Since my last post a lot has been going on!
The last weekend in February, the Hamm family came to College Station for a visit, and so that Mary could shoot to qualify for nationals. Zac and I had SO much fun with Mary, Reed, Kaylie and Carter. Mary shot well, and this time Kaylie wasn't so scared of Zac. In fact, she loved him.

Kaylie was here on her 4th birthday! I can not believe she is already 4 years old. She is such a beautiful little girl, and says some pretty hilarious things. I made a list of a few of my favorite quotes of hers over the weekend she was here.

• Kaylie eating one of our Yoplait Whips yogurt: "I think your yogurt turned in to ice cream. Can I have a different one?"
• "It's my birthday?? I think I need more presents!!"
• Talking to me in the car: "You need a hair cut!" (I'm trying to grow it out for Amy's wedding in July.)

She really is SO funny.

March 8th I drove to Austin after work to meet Mary Alice, Jessica and Tiffani for the John Mayer Battle Studies concert. Yes, I have seen him several times in concert, and he does not disappoint. I think this was my 6th or 7th time to see him live. Love it. He is so talented.

And now Spring Break is upon us! Zac and I both had Thurs. and Fri. off. :) Whoop for working for TAMU! Wed. afternoon Tony, Barb, Tommy and Amanda drove down to visit us! That night we gave them a driving tour of campus, visited the Bonfire Memorial and had a fun dinner at Wings 'n More. Thurs. morning we got up, had an awesome kolache breakfast and drove to Brenham. We first visited Blue Bell Creamery! (All with hundreds of other families also on spring break.) We took the tour of the creamery, learned how they make their glorious ice cream and even got to try a scoop at the end of the tour. I had the most amazing flavor: Southern Blackberry Cobbler! If you can get your hands on it - buy some - it's in a lavender colored carton. Afterwards we drove in to Brenham to ride their antique carousel. I chose to ride a horse, and not sit on the benches. There was a sign telling adults to ride on the benches, but what fun is that? On the way back to College Station we stopped at Washington on the Brazos and walked the grounds before driving back for a Freebirds lunch. Everyone left full and happy. Then the Sheltons had to go back to Carrollton. We had so much fun with them here. :) 

This past weekend I went to a baby shower for a friend of mine from the museum. There was an exciting moment when one of the gifts caught on fire - the gift was not damaged and was extinguished by a glass of Sprite! At this momentous baby shower I ran in to my cousin! Natalie was in town visiting her God parents - and neither one of us knew that the other was in town. It was such a fun surprise. 

To see more pictures of these events, CLICK HERE! 

More blogs to come soon!

Me ke aloha, 

RAWE

Aidan is here! And it is snowing.

Mom and Dad are here. They brought Aidan with them to finally be back with Zac and me. :) They also brought their dog, Mabel, so the house is dog-filled! (That's 4 dogs with the puppy and Kodi, the dog we are dog-sitting for!)
And it is currently SNOWING in College Station! This is the most snow I have ever seen here. It's nuts! Here is a pic of the snow covered house.

Me ke aloha,
RAWE

I have a job!

Yesterday I received a job offer, and accepted it!
I will be the new Communications Specialist for the Aerospace Engineering department for A&M.
I am very excited about this experience, and I start work March 1st.
WHOOP!
Me ke aloha,
RAWE

Mandy and Josh!

Something REALLY exciting happened this week! Thursday night Josh popped the big question to Mandy! And of course, she said yes. :)
Mandy has been one of my bestest friends for the past several years. We first met at a MSC OPAS retreat at Texas A&M, and clicked from day one! Many college memories were soon made with Mandy during OPAS activities, various Aggie traditions, football games, study time, hangout sessions and going out. We were even roomies for our last semesters in college, with Mary Alice. I am so thankful to have her in my life!
Josh and Mandy have been dating for the past few years (longer than Zac and I have been together! :) ) and last year had a baby -- Meranda! She is one of the cutest babies in the ENTIRE world, even if I am biased because I am her Auntie.
Josh sneakily planned a perfect evening and proposal. This is the Reader's Digest version: After taking their beautiful daughter to Mimi's for a sleepover, Mandy and Josh had dinner at Eddie V's in Fort Worth. They sat in the lounge area - Mandy's suggestion - and Josh gave Mandy three letters. (I'm sure he super pumped that I am sharing all of this with everyone.) One letter about the past, one about the present and finally one about the future.  I was so impressed with his creativity and romanticism. WAY TO GO, JOSH! He then got down on one knee and proposed - and she said yes! WHOOP!
Since Zac and I have been living so far away until recently, we haven't had a ton of time to spend with Josh. We did have a blast with him and Mandy on NYE this year, and we are so looking forward to many more nights, memories and fun ahead! Welcome to our little family of friends, Josh!
Again, millions of congratulations to Josh, Mandy, Meranda and their families. I am looking forward to dreaming about, celebrating, partying for, planning and attending your wedding.
Me ke aloha,
RAWE