24 Things I'm Thankful For

It's the month of November, and what does that mean?! Thanksgiving is near! Anyone who is on facebook should be familiar with the annual "I am thankful for..." status updates. It seems like everybody does them around this time of year. So, I thought to myself last night, "I should do a blog post each day of the month until Thanksgiving of something I am thankful for." Now, I know it's the 9th day of the month already. Eek! (Where does the time go?) But, it's better late than never, right?!

Catching up on things I am thankful for: 1-9

1. I am thankful for My Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Because of the price He paid, we have redemption. --"In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace..." Ephesians 1:7 --We've been given a pardon; the free gift of His forgiveness. "For this is My blood that establishes the covenant; it is shed for many for the forgiveness of sins." Matthew 26:28 --Amen!

2. I am thankful for my Mom. She has always been my #1 fan. I can't recall all the times I have needed her and could call anytime (and still do). We have so much fun when we are together and talk at least once a day. She has and continues to do so much for me--through supporting me, to sending me a card or a just because treat, to helping me become the woman I am today. She is my best friend and I love her bunches. :)

3. I am thankful for my husband, Adam. He is a wonderful, loving man of God. I appreciate all he does for us. He works hard, but he never complains. One thing I really love about my husband is his personality. He has helped me to relax and just go with the flow.

4. I am thankful for my Nana (grandmother). My Nana always thinks of me and remembers things that I like or hobbies that I'm interested in. She's constantly fueling my creativity. For this, and more, I love her.

5. I am thankful for my Gran (great grandmother). I am grateful to still have (especially at my age) a living, great-grandparent. She has been a prominent part of my life and I love her.

6. I am thankful for my cousins: Justin, Christopher, and Brayden. These three boys, all brothers, are more like my brothers than cousins. We grew up together and are always together for holidays and important events. I love each of them very much and cannot imagine my life without them.

7. I am thankful for my friends. They are always there for the random phone conversations, the spontaneous outings, and so on. Life would not be as fun without them.

8. I am thankful for my Boston Terrier, Rueger. We rescued him in May of this year. I've wanted a Boston Terrier since I was in high school. We took one in when I was in HS, and I fell in love with this adorable breed. Rueger has been a blessing in our lives and a great little companion for both me and Adam. He is a part of our family and we love him.

9. I am thankful for this blog, that I started at the suggestion of a friend. It began as a way to document our engagement and the wedding planning process. It has developed into a place for me to share what is going on with family and friends, both near and far.

All done for now! These thankful posts will require a post a day, which also means I will be stepping up my blogging. I look forward to sharing the rest of my "thankfuls" with you!

Until next time,

XOXO Amanda

NASCAR

Have you ever wanted to go to a NASCAR race?! Well, I've always wanted to go. At least once. Thanks to my hubby and his awesome job, we got the chance this past weekend. I'm thankful for the opportunities we get to partake in because of the company he works for. (It seems like I've mentioned this a time or two before!) The company rented a condo in the Lone Star Tower. Now, that's the way to watch NASCAR!

When I was in high school, my family and I would go to the dirt track races in a town near by where we lived. It was one of my favorite things to do on the weekends. It was exciting to be out there watching the racers and sensing the competition! This experience always made me think I would like NASCAR if I could go watch it in person. I just can't get into sports on TV...not even watching my alma mater in college football (which my hubby can't understand). I would much rather be there, experiencing it person. Even then, I think I do more people watching than game watching. But still, I enjoy the sights, sounds, and smells of a live sporting event, especially college football!

Back to NASCAR. It's pretty much an all day weekend event. It's at Texas Motor Speedway, which is the 2nd largest sports facility in the nation. Who knew?! I have heard about NASCAR fans (one of my besties is one), but didn't realize how serious they are. There were RVs everywhere, both inside and outside of the speedway. It seemed that many of them don't leave the speedway the entire weekend. There were some elaborate set ups with campers, bbq pits, porta-pottys, etc. One thing the hubby and I noticed were the amount of converted school buses on the inside of the speedway. People created decks on the tops of the busses and RVs to sit and watch the races from lawn chairs.

The condo we were in was really nice. What made it even better was all the free food and drinks! But seriously, it was great getting to watch the race from THE PENTHOUSE with minimal noise, no wind, and a view of everything around the speedway. We also had access to a roof top terrace. We went up there about 10 minutes before the races started and stayed about 15 or so minutes in. I was NOT prepared for how loud it was going to be. I mean, every person there warned us but, I really didn't think it would be so loud up on the roof. I was wrong. Also, you could feel the rumble as the cars came around the turn closest to the condo. It was awesome!

Another perk was our access to pit passes and golf carts to go down there. We weren't able to go into the actual pit because the races had started, but we could go into the area near the pit where all of the RVs and busses were. We were told it was like New Orleans/Mardi Gras in there. A few hundred laps into the race (they went for 300 and some odd laps), the hubby and I decided to go down there. Someone had already taken the golf cart, so we walked. It was just as loud inside the speedway, but it was neat getting to see the cars zooming by up close.

Here are some of the pictures I took during the day.

And they're off! 

Coming around the curve.

A view of inside the speedway from the roof.

It looked so close sometimes, but there weren't any wrecks.

The position tower showed how many laps were remaining, how many they had gone, and the position of each driver.

A view of Lone Star Tower from inside the speedway.

The track.

A penthouse view!

The hubby and me.

The winner doing some victory spins!

Texas Tech Race Car! Wreck 'Em Tech!

Get Your Guns Up!

We found some fellow Texas Techsans to take our picture by the car!

Before we went to the speedway, the hubby told me he didn't want to stay for the whole thing. He didn't really think he enjoyed NASCAR because he's never enjoyed watching it on TV. It was a lot more interesting and fun (in person) than he thought it was going to be. We ended up staying until the race was over! :)

Click here if you want to know a little more about Texas Motor Speedway, NASCAR, or who won the race.

Until next time,

XOXO Amanda

Huey Lewis and The News

I love music; all music of all genres (minus techno and [hard-core] rap)! My musical taste is eclectic and ranges from Big Band (the 20's) to present day. I like a little of this and a little of that! What goes along great with music?! Concerts!

My love of both can be attributed to my Mom. She took me to my first concert when I was about 15. It was either Clay Walker, Toby Keith, or Tracy Lawrence. We saw all three of them around the same time, and I can't remember in what order. It's been too long! :) Over the years, we've attended many more together: Neil Diamond, Aerosmith, The All-American Rejects, Alan Jackson, Josh Turner, Eddie Money, and the list goes on...

One of my favorite decades for music is the 80's! I seriously believe some of the best music ever made comes from this decade (no sarcasm intended). There are so many artists/bands I could go on about from the 80's, but I'll save that for a later post. Right now I'm going to tell you about the concert my hubby and I attended at the end of October, Halloween weekend to be exact.

We went to Billy Bob's Texas:The World's Largest Honky Tonk! It's a fun place to attend a concert and the tickets are reasonably priced when compared to a larger venue. If you've never been and you like good music and dancing, you should check it out.  It wasn't our first time there. We saw Dierks Bentley in concert earlier this summer.

Anyway, I'm digressing. On Halloween weekend we saw Huey Lewis and The News! I was so excited and they put on a great show! They didn't play as many of their hits as I would have liked, but the ones they did play were good. They have a new soul CD coming out and played a lot of material from it. (Note to self: check to see if artist/band has a new CD coming out before deciding to go to a concert.) I'm just kidding on that note to self...kind of. But seriously, the concert was great and their hearts of rock n' roll are still beating! ;)

Family Visits and Baseball

I'm still catching up on the blog. Surprise, surprise. One day I'll blog in real-time.

At the end of August, my Mom, cousin, and his girlfriend came to visit. My cousin is a huge Boston Red Sox fan and when he found out they were playing the Texas Rangers, we had to get tickets.

They came on a Thursday and we went to the game that evening. My hubby couldn't get off work so, we had to go without him. It was both my Mom and cousin's first professional sporting event. I'm glad I got to experience it with them! We all had a great time together.

We sat next to an interesting group of people from Boston. They were an entertaining bunch! One guy kept dozing off during the game. My cousin would yelp and startle the poor guy.

We were walking back to the car after the game, when a bike cab came by offering us a ride. Our car wasn't very far away, but he insisted. So, after a few minutes of "are you sure," "yeah, we're sure," and "oh, come on,"... we finally gave in and piled in the bike cab. Let me tell you, that guy earned his money/tip with us! :) It was fun and I think we are glad we hopped in after all. Our driver was a hoot and we chatted the whole way to the car.

When he dropped us off, I told him I blogged and asked if we could take a picture with him. Of course, he said yes. So, we took a picture. I just wish my Mom could have been in it.

We had a fun night and weekend. I love it when family comes to visit. It's a wonderful treat!

Me, Mom, K, and J

K, the cab biker, J, and me

Until next time,

XOXO Amanda

Carnival Sensation

Our cruise ship was the Carnival Sensation. It seemed pretty big to us, but we were told by our dinner companions that it was one of the smallest cruise ships they had ever been on (they were "experienced" cruisers).

We did two excursions on our cruise: 1. Snorkeling - which if you know anything about me, you know this was a BIG DEAL! I'm terrified of open water (lakes and oceans). I am also terrified of sharks and whales. When I see a whale tail on TV, I want to puke! No lie! They make me shudder every single time. Bleh! 2. Blue Lagoon Private Island Getaway - this was nice and relaxing. We rented some snorkel gear and played around in the lagoon. We spent the rest of our time lying in a hammock. It was perfection!

The best thing on the cruise ship was the piano bar! When Adam and I were going to school in Lubbock, we went to Louie Louie's Piano Bar. It is a dueling piano bar. If you've never been to one, I highly recommend it. They are great fun! While the piano bar on the cruise ship was not a dueling piano bar, it was still a ton of fun! Our piano player, Adam Saxe, was very talented and kept us entertained each night of the cruise. There's a picture of him posted below. He told us he is often told he looks like Alan from The Hangover. So, he borrowed someone's glasses and sang "The Tiger Song". It was priceless!

Here are some pictures of the cruise.

The main deck.

In the main lobby looking up.

I loved how everything was lit up in the evening!

Looking down on the main lobby. Again, every thing is lit up in the evenings!

Our room was cleaned every evening while we were at dinner. We would return to find a towel animal. This was the only one that we could tell what it was - a seal or walrus.

Putt putt anyone?! We tried to play, but it was too crowded and people weren't really playing putt putt. They were just putting around! ;)

A view of our ship from the boat ride to our private island excursion.

I love lighthouses. They remind me of God's love and guidance for us.
Psalm 18:28 You light a lamp for me. The LORD, my God, lights up my darkness. (NLT)

After our excursion, we walked around Nassau for a bit.

In front of the cruise ship.

This band was awesome! They were singing Under the Boardwalk by the Drifters. One of my favorites!

Another view of the ship.

This is Allen, our awesome waiter that I mentioned in my previous post. Each night the waiters did something different for entertainment. Here they were all dancing to Low by Flo Rider. It was comical!

Us with our dinner companions and Allen.

Adam Saxe - the BEST piano bar player ever!!! He put up with us multiple nights in a row and played all of our requests, no matter how strange they were! He also listened to my ipod to play Brandy (You're A Fine Girl) by Looking Glass. He had never heard of it and was able to play it after listening to the song for about 30 seconds. That's serious talent right there!

Me and Adam on our last night! No, we did not coordinate our outfits. We find ourselves matching pretty often, and not on purpose! :)

XOXO,
Amanda

Our First Wedding Anniversary

I should start off by telling you a little about my hubby and how awesome he is! I am so proud of Adam and how hard he works. Well, his hard work paid off. This spring/early summer he won an all-expense paid cruise from work. Woo hoo! Actually, it was a prize package that emphasized the cruise, but we had a couple different options. We looked over all of the information and decided that we would go on a cruise since neither of us had ever been on one. Also, we decided to book it as our 1st Wedding Anniversary!!! What a wonderful blessing it was!

Our first wedding anniversary was great! The night before our anniversary Adam made dinner. This wasn't just any dinner either, it was very special. The first year anniversary of our relationship Adam invited me over to his house in our hometown. It was our after our first year of college. He made dinner - salad, teriyaki chicken, sauteed mushrooms, asparagus and dinner rolls. He remembered this all these years later, and made the same meal for our first anniversary as husband and wife! :) Ladies and gentlemen, my hubby is a romantic at heart and definitely a keeper!

After our special dinner we exchanged gifts and ate the top tier of our wedding cake. Okay, maybe not all of the cake. We each only had a couple bites, but it was still good and just as pretty as the day of our wedding!

Most of our actual anniversary, August 14, 2011, was spent traveling. It was the day our cruise left Port Canaveral in Florida. We woke up early for our flight from DFW to Florida, but it was worth it! The cruise ship departed in the afternoon so, we had a little time to explore the ship before dinner. We weren't quite so sure at first that a cruise was going to be for us. There were people EVERYWHERE and it seemed that it was going to be a very crowded week. However, we learned that it's just typical first day hustle and bustle. It wasn't so bad the rest of the week. Don't get me wrong, it was crowded, but much more enjoyable after the first day.

The first night at dinner was fun! Let me clarify, all of the nights at dinner were fun thanks to our dinner companions and our awesome waiter. But, the first night was special since it was our anniversary and my hubby had a little something up his sleeve. Even though it was a casual dinner night, we kind of dressed up to celebrate! Adam had told the staff that it was our anniversary. Our waiter with his two assistants brought out a cake with a candle and serenaded us with an anniversary song to the tune of Happy Birthday. It went something like this...

Happy Anniversary to you, kissy kissy (at which point we had to share a kiss!). This was repeated about three times, with our waiter Allen shoving us together on the "kissy kissy" part. Then we had to blow out our candle together. It was a little embarrassing, but fun at the same time!

Here we are before dinner.

We had a wonderful first wedding anniversary and couldn't be more blessed. I'll post pictures and more about the cruise later.

Until then,

XOXO Amanda

A Bible Verse and 10 Things About Rueger

Psalm 34:17-18 The Lord hears his people when they call to him for help. He rescues them form all their troubles. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; He rescues those whose spirits are crushed. NLT

It's no secret, I tend to be a worrier. I'm working on it everyday and the more I build on my relationship with God, the better I get. I saw this Bible verse twice today in two different places and thought it was worth sharing. It made me happy when I read it because to me, it means there is ALWAYS hope.

Anyway, I thought I would share a few fun facts about Rueger (since my last post was introducing him). I don't know why I picked 10 things to share about Rueger. It just seemed like a good number! :)

Rueger Trivia
1. We have had Rueger for a little over 2 months, but it feels much longer (in a good way)!
2. His favorite toy to chew on is a Nylabone Dental Chew Dinosaur.
3. His favorite toy to play with his a squeaky tennis ball. And, if he wants your attention, he squeezes it against your leg until you play with him.
4. When we first got Rueger, he didn't like riding in the car. After a trip to Hobbs and riding around town with my Mom and her dogs, he learned to enjoy car rides.
5. Whenever we go somewhere in the car, he almost always goes with us. Provided we don't have to get out, or one of us can stay in the car with him.
6. He has a baby pool in our backyard that he likes to wade in and use as a large watering hole. :)
7. He is very sociable! He loves meeting new people. He likes kids and other dogs.
8. He snores, sometimes rather loudly, when he sleeps. He takes after his Daddy! ;) He also sleeps with his eyes slightly open; it's kind of creepy, but cute at the same time.
9. He likes his reflection most of the time. The other times, he is frightened/threatened by his reflection and growls at it. It's kind of funny! This was one of those threatened times...

10. I saved my favorite for last! Rueger LOVES ice!!! Whenever he hears the ice maker, he comes running to the kitchen. He stares at the ice maker waiting for a stray piece to fall to the floor. When that happens, he grabs it up before I can! :) If that doesn't happen, I usually give him a crushed piece. Either way he's happy!

Well, I hope you enjoyed the Bible verse and the trivia about Rueger!

Until next time,
XOXO