We are connected!

Can you hear me now? How about now?

We have internet, cable and a phone line! Adios to the dark ages!

You can reach us at 281.458.4904 - call us just so our phone rings! Or leave us a message! I'm way pumped about having a phone line, can you tell? :)

And our address for anyone that needs it:

7027 Sanders Hill Lane

Humble, Texas 77396

Pictures coming soon to a blog near you... LISA!

October Birthdays

Happy Birthday to some of our friends and fam that celebrate(d) their birthday's in October!









My Uncle Richard turned 35 October 8. Doesn't he look great for his age? We all went out to eat at San Lorenzo, a Mexican restaurant down in the Kemah area the Saturday before his birthday. It was a surprise dinner and Lisa brought him to the restaurant and he had no idea - when he walked out on the patio SURPRISE! He said in all 35 years of his life he's never had a surprise birthday party. :)



We got the waiters at the restaurant to sing to him - so here's a pic of them smearing his face with whip cream! I guess it's tradition when you go there for your birthday. I know where I'm never going for my birthday!


Hannah Helfert turned 8 this month! What a smarty pants! Shannon sent us pictures from her birthday party and it looked like Hannah and her friends had a great time at a pumpkin patch near their home.

Shannon (Blake's sister), her hubby Joe, and their three kiddos Hannah, Britton and Charlie all live far far away in Baltimore. Here are the three of them playing in the waves on a recent fam trip to Bethany Beach.

We don't see them nearly enough and Blake and I keep saying we need to make a trip out there. We'll get around to it one of these days!

Chris (Blake's bro) turns 41 this month. Here's a pic from his 40th Birthday/Halloween Bash from last year. FUN. L to R Carol as the Queen of Mean, Linda as Border Patrol, Chris as GI Joe (?) Blake and I as Dog and Beth the Bounty Hunters (yes those are real) and Gia as a princess. You're going to have a hard time topping that this year!

Cheryl Brashear (Blake's aunt) celebrated her bday on Oct 11. Here she is leading us in prayer at our wedding. She always has the right words to say - never a dry eye. Cheryl sent us the cutest fall-themed 'Welcome' sign and pumpkin scented candle for our new home. Always so thoughtful!

Erin Hurrle, now Balmert, celebrates Oct 19! Erin and I became BFFs during nursing school and now she lives 'far far away' in Seattle! (Jealous.) She works as a labor and delivery nurse and delivers little babes into this world. Here's a pic of how gorgeous she was at her wedding - and this pic showcases her true personality. :) Miss you Erin!

Travis Stickle (Katie Tacl's boyfriend) is another year older this month also. 'Trav' - his nickname given to him by Mary Foley - Katie, and Maddie all just moved into a new home they built in San Antonio and they're having a great time painting and wall mounting flat screens. The pic above is Katie and Trav aka Summer and Billy Bob at a white trash party we had one night in Lubbock.

Jill Westmoreland, one of Blake's close friends from high school, is a new mom to her baby girl Elizabeth Jean and they call her Ellie (isn't that sweet?) and her birthday is coming up on October 25. Jill and her husband Bradley live in the cutest house near Chris and Linda outside of Austin. I'm sure little Ellie is keeping her busy these days!

Is that a hula hoop?!? Here's Katherine Tomasi celebrating her birthday this past Saturday - she flew in from New York City (she's real big shot now) to party down with all her Houstonian friends. They're was a cute one of Tomasi by herself but I had to use this one so Lauren wouldn't feel left out. haha Love you girls!!

OMG I almost forgot! The mom of one of sweetest little ladies I know. HA! Christy's Mom BETH turned 35 also this past Saturday! She and Richard are the same age! Seriously BETH is a hoot to hang out with and her FWD: FWD: Fwd: fwd: emails always crack me up. :) Love you BETH!

Beth: I promise that I will only call you Liz maybe 2 more times. I looked back on this post and called you Beth and Liz in the same paragraph! Ahhh...

And me! HAHAHA! You didn't think I'd leave myself out did you!?! Happy birthday to me!! What a classy bride with my beer!!!!!

no comcasts aka the dark ages

So I'm at work right now writing this...

...bad I know but all my patients are fine. :)

So we've moved into the house and are busy settling in and making it our own. We're ready for neighbors tho - we're only 1 of maybe 3 families living on our street!

We'll have to think of having a house warming party soon!

And once Comcast comes to set up our internet I'll put up pics and get back to posting more often.

We're off to College Station this weekend to watch the Red Raiders WRECK those aggies!

Raider! Power!

Here's to you Mr Hurricane Ike Survivor!

(You have to sing the title like all the Budweiser commercials.)

My mom's friend Suzanne sent me this and I thought it was great.

PS- Blake and I have power since Sunday night and we are back in our apartment. Woo hoo! Set to close on our home still on Monday so I might be a little MIA for a while!

MANDATORY EVACUATION 1 1/2 oz. Absolute Ruby Red vodka 1/2 oz.vermouth Clamato Prune juice Combine vodka and vermouth in cocktail glass. Fill remainder of glass with equal parts clamato and prune juice. Stir. Drink. Ask next-door neighbor whose ficus tree blew over and crashed onto your roof - even though you'd warned him for months to uproot it - if you can use his bathroom. Repeat.

CATEGORY 5 1/2 oz. vodka 1/2 oz. tequila 1/2 oz. rum 1/2 oz. bourbon 1/2 oz. gin Sweet-and-sour mix Splash of fruit juice Combine vodka, tequila, rum, bourbon and gin in a tall glass. Fill remainder of glass with sweet-and-sour mix and splash of juice. Stir, then garnish with an inverted drink umbrella. Drink during peak storm hours, and vow not to believe anyone who tries to tell you the hurricane that flooded your garage and destroyed your shed was just a Category 1.

CONE OF PROBABILITY 1 oz. cinnamon schnapps 1 sugar cone Pour the schnapps into the sugar cone. Every time you hear a TV weatherman say, "cone of probability," bite off the end of the cone and down the shot. If you hear Jim Cantore say it, drink two shots consecutively. (they should change this to the "Cantore Zone"... damn him. Have you ever noticed that, despite all the cone of probability talk, if Cantore is parked in front of your house your ass is toast?)

FEEDER BAND 2 oz. Midori 2 oz. rum 1 scoop vanilla ice cream After your home loses power, combine Midori and rum in a cocktail glass. Add a scoop of the vanilla ice cream that is melting in you r freezer. Stir, and drink through a straw.

BEACH EROSION 1 1/2 oz. Goldschloger 1 1/2 oz. apple brandy 1 pack Sugar in the Raw Combine Goldschloger, apple brandy and sugar in cocktail glass. As you drink, seriously contemplate moving your Yankee ass back to Wisconsin where it belongs.

DOWNED POWER LINE 1 1/2 oz. rum 5 oz. Jolt Cola Combine ingredients in a cocktail glass. Drink while trying to figure out how the heck you're supposed to go two freakin' weeks without television and AC.

FLOOD ZONE 2 oz. Kahlua 2 oz. Baileys Irish cream 4 oz. rum Serve in a 6-ounce g lass and laugh-cry deliriously as the mess spills all over the countertop.

COLD SHOWER 2 oz. Blue Aftershock 4 oz. Sprite Combine in a cocktail glass with crushed ice you received after waiting in line for three hours at a mall parking lot. Take a deep breath, sip and scream like a little girl when the cold beverage hits your tongue. Repeat.

LOOTERS WILL BE SHOT 1 oz. Jack Daniel's Splash of sarsaparilla Rock salt Load both barrels of a shotgun with rock salt. Climb to the roof of your house with gun, bottle of Jack Daniel's and can of sarsaparilla. Fill shot glass with Jack and splash of sarsaparilla. Watch for looters. When you spot one, blast his ass with rock salt. Drink shot. Repeat.

THE CHAIN SAW 1 oz. Goldschlager 1 oz. Rumplemintz 3 oz. Jim Beam Splash of vermouth Combine Goldschloger, Rumplemintz and Jim Beam in an empty soup can. Add splash of vermouth. Drink. Remove chain saw from garage and attempt to cut up fallen tree limbs in yard. Ask neighbor to drive you to hospital when it all goes horribly wrong.

FOUR-WAY STOP 1 1/2 oz. vodka 1 1/2 oz. vodka and Midori 1 1/2 oz. vodka and Galliano 1 1/2 oz. vodka and grenadine Pour each ingredient into a separate shot glass. Serve one to yourself and three other people. The person with the clear shot of vodka drinks first. The person to his right drinks the Midori shot, and so on. If somebody drinks out of order, develop a quick case of road rage and beat the living crap out of him.

BLUE TARP 1 1/2 oz. Curacao 2 oz. pineapple juice Splash of lime Combine ingredients in a leaky paper cup and serve. Wait six to eight months for someone to repair the cup. If you're impatient, hire an unlicensed , out-of-state contractor to do the job for an exorbitant sum and pray he doesn't hurt himself in the process.

FEMA FIZZLE 1oz. Southern Comfort 2 oz. sloe gin Tonic water One week after the storm has passed and your neighborhood is still in ruins with no sign of help on the way, combine Southern Comfort and gin in a cocktail glass. Fill remainder with tonic and add a dash of Angostura bitters. Serve with a nut brownie. Before drinking, raise the glass and say the toast, "Doing a helluva job".

I'll never take electricity for granted again

Well we are still without power! CenterPoint Energy's website has a link that tells people their projected date of electricity restoration and we're pretty low on the totum pole. :) Our leasing office has told us it might MIGHT be on on Friday. As in next Friday.

So thank god Carol and Charlie do have power bc that's where we're shacked up! Along with Pops and Lou also.

So quick update: our apartment had some water damage, not rising water, but for some reason our carpet and walls in our dining room were soaked. Hard to tell what happened bc neither of us were there when the storm hit but oh well! We've told our office about it and don't have to worry about those repairs.

Our house in Fall Creek? Not so lucky. A pine tree in the vacant lot next to us decided to rest itself on our roof. So it went thru the roof and caused some structural damage to the roof and water damage to the walls inside. But on Monday when we went out to go look at it - we weren't there 5 mins and someone with David Weekley came out to look at the damage also. They said they'll have it fixed for us to close on Sep 29!

So we had damage and still don't have power but we're not hurting by any means. In fact - as I type Blake is getting ready to leave with his dad to go hunting, and I"m about to get packed up to escape to the Jacobson's river house!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone. Our love to all that are still without power - hopefully you'll get it back this weekend!

Ike update -

So it's Sunday and I'm praying PRAYING that everyone that's SUPPOSED to come in tomorrow shows their happy faces at work!

MD Anderson has officially activated the 'recovery' team so I only have to sleep up here one more night and come to work at 7 and wait for the other team to relieve me. I'll be one unhappy camper if no one comes in.

Mom and Dad are home with electricity and have their home all cleaned up. Jason and Christy are with them until Jason's APT has power.

Charol and Charlie's house, Pops house, and our APT still have no power but they're ok except for fence damage and downed trees.

We don't know about the new house. :/

Blake, Carol, Charlie and Pops will continue to stay at the Marriot until their homes have power.

That's all folks!!!

I hope Raider Red can swim!

My old neighbor in Lubbock, Jason Davis, sent me these pics yesterday of Lubbock.

"Last night we had 9 to 10 inches of rain in Lubbock. Most since 1911. My backyard flooded and water was in my garage. These photos of Jones Stadium are as of 9:00 AM this morning. There is over 1 million gallons of water on the field and both field pumps are broken. Right now there are 7 Lubbock fire trucks trying to pump the field for tomorrow night's game. I had over 9 inches of rain just at my house and I have heard Lubbock got more in other areas."

That was yesterday morning and then last night I got a text from my friend Brent who said that they had successfully pumped the water out and we beat SMU 43-7.

That's what I like to hear!

Jason was our neighbor with the cute Jack Russel terrier, Radar. When he got Radar he named him Radar because he was thinking 'How neat, I'll get a dog that'll go flying with me!" (Jason's also a pilot.) But the first time he took Radar up he got airsick. Poor thing.

But here's a cool pic Jason took of our neighborhood the day I graduated from Tech and we were all in the back yard playing washers. See Blake's truck with the UHaul attached? :)

"Hit me again Ike and put some steak behind it!"

I'm sure I won't get any sympathy since we have AC - but we officially have no water here at MD Anderson.

That means no showers.

That means you can't wash your hands after you clean up poop.

That means I just peed, couldn't flush, and then couldn't wash my hands either.

GROSS!!!

7027 Sanders Hill Lane

Everyone's been asking for pics of our home so drumroll please.......... HERE THEY ARE!

So before the storm, all the cabinets, granite, tile, fixtures and trim were in the home. And all the interior walls were painted 'crisp khaki' (Low VOD emission paint too I might add). Outside brick is done and so is exterior paint. So all we need is some plumbing and carpet and I'll be a happy camper! :) Oh and landscaping too.

We went with David Weekley and HIGHLY RECOMMEND them if anyone is thinking about building a home.



Our floor plan. Except the formal living room will be an enclosed study, our front porch extends to the end of bottom left of the house, we have a fireplace in the corner of the living room, and then have a covered back porch.

See? First Best Buy and now David Weekley. Like how the extra game room is referred to as the 'children's retreat'? Pushy!


Framing for the foundation. Granddaddy witnessed the foundation getting poured. :)
Framing! Exterior brick all done! Like our trees? Blake had to have that front porch.

View from the back porch - of course we'll have a back fence.
Fireplace, that back hallway goes to the master bedroom. The tv will be mounted on that back wall to the left.
View from the back of the home looking towards the front. Like the arched doorways?

View from the front of the home to the back. To the right is the enclosed study and then in the background is the formal dining room. The door for the study is actually glass pane but they painted over it. I guess it peels off. Hopefully!


And the breakfast area!

Ike Update

Well it's 7:30 am and everything is operating normally here at MD Anderson! After I got done with my shift last night at 7, we ate, showered in the OR locker rooms, played a little catchphrase, drank a little vino and finally settled into bed. We woke up this am at about 5:30 and now I'm back to work!

We never lost electricity here and we don't have any structural damage or anything. Just some leaky roofs and such - but we're comfortable and eating well. A lot more than everyone else in Houston can say I hear.

Blake evacuated to the Marriott Downtown since his mom is considered one of their essential personnel and had to stay thru the storm. So Carol, Charlie, Pops, Lou, Blake, Greg (the Reverend Blackwell) and Paula all 'hurricationed' together. After our friend Jon lost power in Clear Lake at about 7 last night he drove up to join them also. This morning they still have power and just had to sleep part of the night in the hallways in case the windows in the rooms shattered.

Mom, Dad, Jason, Christy, Millie and Jack all hurricationed in Jason's apartment off Westheimer and Old Farm. They lost power and probably don't smell too great but they're all in one piece.

They just drove by our apartment and all the windows are intact and it doesn't look like there's any water inside the apartment. Who knows how our home in Fall Creek is. :/

I hope everyone is safe and dry. Let's hope they get electricity restored ASAP so life can return to normal.

Love to all!

Our Hi Fi Tri

So Lauren and I are doing a Triathlon on October 25. Why? I don't know.

We'll be doing a .3 mile open water swim, 19 mile bike and 3.1 mile run. We've been training for 3 weeks now and I'm up to running 2.25 miles now - which is saying A LOT. I think the most I've run my whole life straight is mmmm a mile?

It'll be taking place on Galveston Island - if there is one after Ike - and it's benefiting the RESOURCE CRISIS CENTER OF GALVESTON COUNTY and Cherish Our Children International (an organization that raises funds for abandoned or neglected children.) Come out if you like - I think some people are coming down with airhorns and a skateboard so Lauren can pull me across the finish line! :)

Let's plug Best Buy, shall we?

So Blake and I spent a lot of time on Consumer Reports.com and talking to lots of sales people researching appliances for our new home - and I thought I would share the fruits of our labor with you. And when I say fruits of our labor - I mean it will take us 36 months of laboring to pay off these fruits! (Thank God for no interest financing. Cha ching!)

But they sure will make it fun to do laundry. :)

First our tv - A Samsung 46'' 1080p 120 mHz flat panel LCD tv. (This is the purchase I was least involved in.) The Geek Squad will be coming after we close on our house so they can wall mount this sucker in our living room. Fancy!

Then, the washing machine. A white, LG 4.2 cu ft front loader. It has a 'baby wear' cycle. Jeez! Even Best Buy wants to know when we'll be having babies! My fav feature:

"4-tray dispenser with prewash, wash, bleach and fabric softener compartments. Distributes cleaning agents at the proper time during the cycle for improved performance."

Our dryer (we splurged on a steam dryer.) A LG 7.3 cu ft white front loader. And of course we got pedestals for both these bad boys so our 6" plus tall backs don't have to bend over all the time.




Then the fridge: LG 26.5 Cu Ft Stainless-Steel Refrigerator. (We kept it old school with the side by side.)

Random Pic Catch Up

Strap yourselves in for a random collection of pics from the past few months!

Born to be wiiiiiiild!

I finally caught a ride on Richard's Harley and I have the exhaust pipe leg burn to prove it. But this stuff works miracles!

Pictures from this yrs 5th Annual Memorial Weekend River Trip. Kellie and Lauren finally got to sleep in a tent (yea!), we didn't see any stripers (boo), and Blake lost his wedding ring (double boo.) Don't worry - it's been replaced by a nice sterling silver impostor.

Katherine flew into town for Kellie's mid August Weekend of Birthday Festivities: Friday night fancy dinner at Timpano downtown & Saturday night drink fest at Pub Fiction.

Our Mad Potter Party

Back in July (waaaaay back), Haley (the great organizer), put together a night of painting at a pottery studio in the River Oaks area. Mad Potter.

It made me think of Katie, Kellie, Erin, and I at Glaze Gallery back in our high school days. Tear!

Mad Potter has a diva night where ladies can come paint and drink bottomless wine! I'm not sure if getting schnockered is really conducive to pretty pottery but who cares!

I painted 4 tiles with our new home address on them - 7027 Sanders Hill Lane. And I plan on laying them in a flowerbed in our front yard or something. Some other ladies painted trivets, ice cream bowls or cups. And some people (LAURA) commissioned their artwork out to other artists (LAUREN). :)

I forgot to add that the studio supplies boas, glasses and crowns for you to wear when you paint. The glasses that Kellie is wearing are her own prescription pair though.

Laura with her plate that she did all on her own - JK!

Pretty pretty Haley with her pretty pretty cup!
Kate was dancing because she was flying out to see her bf in Seattle the next day.


Are you eating the plate Lauren?

Good times ladies! :)