Thanks to my good friend Layton, the lanai preparation has developed to an almost final stage. I have two things to show for the work that Layton and I did: (1) a semi-circle dirt area in my back yard; and (2) peeling skin. It seems that Layton doesn’t burn when standing around in the sun, but that same luxury is not extended to me. The good thing is that it wasn’t as bad as it could have been (which kind of surprised me given the amount of time we were out there digging around).
The next stage is to dig out some channels towards the house to protect the foundation, and then start the brickwork (border). following that, we will be cementing the interior (in sections). The discussion over the color of the bricks, final concrete and the design of the sections is still ongoing.
As you would imagine, there is a downside to doing a project like this, and having dogs. This problem is made all that more challenging when it rains.
Home Life
After years of talking about a patio extension, I woke up this morning determined that today was going to be the day (besides, I’m procrastinating about other stuff). So after relaxing in the sun this morning, while I did my yoga-like activities, I built up the momentum to get things started.
Did I mention that it was meant to be cloudy and a little rainy? Well when I started (as Phase 1 pictures were taken) it was sprinkling a little – yeah, a sun shower. But that quickly stopped. By the time I got to pulling up the sod, I was saturated and starting to thinking just oatmeal wasn’t going to sustain me.
I’ve stopped for the day, and will continue working on this tomorrow and over the weekend (I’m hopeful I’ll have an extra pair of hands to assist on Saturday and Sunday).
Click on the image above to see other pictures relating to this project.
Home Life
It’s somewhat hard to believe that eight years ago today, Chris and I landed in the United States to officially start our lives together. After much discussion, we chose March 5, 1999 as the official beginning of our relationship, and the date to count anniversaries from. It has been an incredible eight years, and each one I am extremely thankful for. In 1998 when I told my mother that I was planning to move to the United States, she asked me two questions: “do you love Chris?” and “will this make me happy?” – both of which I answered yes. She also shared her views on making decisions that you will live to regret for years to come, or – as we more appropriate to our conversation at the time – not making a decision that I would regret for the rest of my life. It was a new journey for me, and for Chris – and today we celebrate the eighth year of our journey together.
This picture was taken in September 1998, a few days after I met Chris for the first time. My ex and I were visiting friends in Dallas, and Chris had recently become a roommate of theirs. Days before we landed in Dallas, Chris was sent off to New Orleans (he worked for State Farm National Catastrophe at the time). After we landed, we decided to pay Chris a visit in New Orleans, and here is where this picture was taken, at Pat O’Briens.
We have had an incredible journey together, and I am hopeful that we will have many more to come. I think we are different people today, compared to those two sitting in that picture, but we are stronger, wiser (a nice way of saying ‘older’) and still very much in love.
Happy Anniversary Chris. I’ll always love you.
Home Life
Earlier today, like much earlier, I was out and about with a few other people cleaning up trash around the City (as part of the Keep Frisco Beautiful campaign). It would have been nicer to see more supporters actually helping, and at one point I was thinking there were as many organizers as there were volunteers. Still, after our city’s mayor said a few words (to the press), and then said a few more words (to more press), he actually said a few more words (to us) and set us free to go grab some trash. (I make this general observation about the length of time it took to set us on our way, as I am not a morning person, and I’d been there for an hour already.)
Anyway, I worked with a couple of other members of Frisco Pride, and collected a good amount of trash. At first we thought the area that we were assigned was too small (for the amount of time — we were wrong). Sadly, most was related to building materials (like plastic wrap, etc.), and got me thinking that I hope the city actually gets a clean up bond or payment from any builder (chances are this is not the case). After an hour and a bit of cleaning up, we finished, and I came home to wash the morning off me.
When I got home, I found this on the answering service (we have Vonage, so it emails any messages left as WAV files *snicker*):
[audio:cbm_jul29.mp3]
That was Chris (who is in Florida for the weekend). Isn’t that sweet? He might be a litle off key, but I loved it 
Of course, the safe thing about Chris being in Florida is I can post this just to prove how sweet he can be
(Side note: the little WordPress audio tool/plugin can be found here.)
Community, Home Life
You know its finals week coming up when the garden gets a make-over In an effort to not study for finals, I decided to work on the garden yesterday and today. Today was unexpected, especially given how achy I was last night after going through and tearing out weed, grass, and who knows what else.
Today, after lunch with some friends, we managed to visit Lowe’s and picked up a bunch of plants (I think 36 in total). All but five are in the ground or in a pot.
I hurt!
Home Life
Chris and I bought a new bed today.
Home Life
I don't say this often, but Chris is not looking pretty. He decided to tackle some vines in the creek area over the weekend, and the poison ivy won. He looks so rashified. He says he is feeling okay, but looking at him you would think otherwise. He says he is heading to the doctors today… hope so.
Home Life
