Tramp-o-reen

Last weekend the National Championships for Senior/Junior Elite Trampoline & Tumbling were held in H-town at Reliant Arena. My long-time (20 years?) trampoline friend Melissa and her fiancee Dan stayed with us for the event. Basically, we partied from Thursday-Sunday with them and then on Monday with our H-town party peeps.

I did see the Final round of competition on Saturday and got to meet up with my old trampoline buddies in the meantime. The meet is the 3rd of 4 Olympic Trial runs and so it was pretty exciting to watch. Ahhhh yes, I remember those times all too well. While I do miss the thrill of competition and the excitement it brings, I can tell you that I do not miss the anxiety and stress that comes with the pressure of performing for the sport. I love "pressure to perform", but after 18 years straight of it, I am happy that I can sit back and spectate now. *sigh* Meeeeeeeeem-ories....of the waaaaaaaaay we weeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrre! Great weekend, lots of fun, good friends.

On Sunday we (Mel, Dan, Mar and I) went to Galveston Beach and it was beautiful. Perfect day for the beach. Sunny, windy enough to keep the heat off, waves at the beach for boogie-boarding and just chilling. Lovely! That night after Mel & Dan left for MN, we went to see the Velcro Pygmies at Sherlocks for the second year in a row. It was great, but I partied a bit too hard. Good times :) Monday was a BBQ at the Wilke residence for some fajitas, margaritas, sangria and good company.

Now, it's back to work. Launch on Saturday, 5/31 of STS-124...Go Discovery!

Mama Loves Her Shows

Even though we just got "the cable" this year, I still think my favorite shows are the "free" ones on regular ol' teevee. ABC is really kicking butt with shows and sadly the season of goodness is coming to an end. Desperate Housewives ends tonight, Grey's Anatomy on Thursday, Brothers and Sisters finished last week (can't wait for next season!), and my favorite, The Office (NBC) is over as well :(

Dancing With the Stars ends on Tuesday (I hope Kristy Yamaguchi wins, even if she does have an advantage) and then to my excitement, So You Think You Can Dance (FOX) starts on Thursday 5/22!! I can't wait to watch the fun choreography and dancing while sitting on my couch with my toes curled in excitment, silly grin on my face and hands clasped in anticipation. What a geek. You know what? Who cares. It doesn't even qualify as a "guilty pleasure" (like America's Next Top Model or Farmer Wants a Wife...what?!) and I put it in another realm than American Idol (yucky poo poo) since good dancing is less subjective than a "good voice". Please.

Anyhoo, my eyeballs are burning from too much tele. Yay!

HGTV

I'm addicted, it's no secret. I just can't seem to pull myself away from those do-it-yourself project suggestions. Luckily for Charlie (and for me!) there's just not enough time inbetween semesters to start any fun home projects, so...for now I watch, listen and take notes.

It makes me want to move back home & help Mom redo my old bedroom...or their bathroom...or anyone else's who wants to collaborate on some "design". *sigh*

JT & DC

Well, I am back from my weekend visiting Jenny T in DC! We had such a good time! DC is beautiful and even though it was rainy (especially on Sunday!), we had the best time ever. My flight got in late Thursday night (midnight?) to Baltimore, ~60 mins from JT's house. It was super stormy and I thought the plane was taking a nose dive into BWI on the way in, but I made it safely on the ground and to JT's house no problemo. Needless to say, Jenny's hands were sore the next day from gripping the steering wheel so tight ;)

Friday Jenny had to work a 1/2 day, so when she got home we went shopping at IKEA and a few other stores to spruce up her place a little bit. After shopping, buying a mirror that was too big to fit in her car, returning the mirror 7 mins after buying it (and laughing the whole way) and setting off to Alexandria (right Jen?), we were starving! We had some delicious Indian food and then went to Murphy's pub for a little Irish song and drink. A band called "Ceann" was playing and Jenny and I saddled up to a table right in front of the band! my favorite song wavers between "Pretty on the Inside" and "Blame the Viking", although "Butt Tattoo" and "Whiskey Hurts My Tummy" (an ode for Charlie) come in pretty close behind. What a hoot! There were only 3 guys playing, one of whom was wearing a white fleece that JT couldn't stand and playing a ukulele electric guitar. They were phenomenal and we had such a good time. Our throats were sore from screaming with and over the music as it played, but it was worth it. As we were leaving and the band took a break, Jenny and I went up to buy a CD. We talked (well JT mostly did cuz I'm shy...yeah) with the lead singer guy, I accused him of being Canadian and sounding like Bare Naked Ladies (well, they do, in a good way!) and I bought a CD. He graciously gave us their 2nd CD free of charge, thanks to Jenny's schmoozing (and probably to get me off his back :). What a great night!

The next day after sleeping in, Jenny and I decorated her house all day long. She cooked a fantastic breakfast and then we didn't eat again until we had awesome burgers at Five Guys Burgers. Holy crumbs it was delish! Burgers and homemade, straight-from-the-potato fries. Can't beat it! We went to Reston Town Center in search of a bar serving delicious pineapple upside-down cake martinis...that incidentally no longer exists (oops). We instead had a drink at the Market Street Bar and Grill and then headed home for an evening of Johnny Depp in Sweeney Todd (enhhhhh, it was fine) and chit-chatting on the couch.

Sunday came all too soon and we spent the latter half of the day walking around downtown DC. We saw the Jefferson Memorial, the Capitol, the Washington Monument, the Portrait Gallery (with all the fancy presidential portraits...we even did a classic waltz (Jenny was the boy & I was the girl) at Abe Lincoln's inaugural ball), and then the White House. Before we hit ol' G.W.'s residence, we ate some delish Tapas at Jaleo. I had to convince Jenny to try the bacon-wrapped dates, but boy oh boy was she ever glad she did! Mmmmmmmmmmmmm... It was pouring rain by the time we had to head back to the car and stop by the White House - our jeans were soaked, but our spirits were still high :) We took some pics and then headed to BWI. I changed jeans in the car on the way there, hoping we wouldn't get stopped by the po-lice. We made it without much fanfare.

In the end, it was a glorious weekend with my best friend and I wouldn't have spent it any other way!

Thanks so much Jen, love you!

D-U-N

Done.
That's right ladies and gentlemen, I turned in my final project for my class today! No more Matlab, no more books. No more orbits, long forsook!

Okay, that was a stretch but I don't care. Yippee! The end of this class (assuming I pass) marks the halfway point of my degree. Well I guess since it's an odd number of classes required and if you're being technical, I'll be over the halfway mark after this summer's class, which starts early July. Come Fall I'll be over the hump and on the downward slope of my Master's degree. When will I be done, you may ask? Why if all goes well, Fall 2009 will be my last class. So, about a year and a half left. Tallyho! END IN SIGHT!

To make things even better for me - yes, I had a good day today - I'm going to visit my BFF Jenny T. tomorrow and I can't wait. D.C., here I come! Probably rainy, but super fun. I get in late Thursday and return home late Sunday night. Monday brings a week filled with some quality jury duty selection time and then the week is booked with fun work meetings and so on...
but for now I choose to focus on the really great parts coming up - D.C., Jenny, seeing Shar-lez (yes, Charlie) for the first time in a couple weeks, not having homework or studying for 2 months. Oh yeah...can you feel it too? Good times!

That is all.
As you were.