A Weekend Full of Meier’s

The weekend before Thanksgiving was filled with Meier’s.  Randy & Christine (“R&C”) (Rob’s parents) drove down and Ryan & Stacy (“R&S”) flew down from Colorado Springs.  We hadn’t all been together since last Christmas… so it was quite the reunion.

On Friday night we met up with R&C at Houston’s for some fabulous burgers and catch up chats.  Later that night we ventured out to George Bush airport to pick up R&S.  Smooth sailing at the airport really… no delayed flights or lost luggage. 

In the car, Ryan even asked me to talk about Dave Ramsey and I got to give my Dave Ramsey spiel. I love giving the “debt free” speech and have perfected it to under 5 minutes.  Just ask R&S, I was quick.  The church they go to endorses Dave Ramsey so they’ve heard of him, too.  Why does it seem that every blog I right talks about Dave Ramsey???  Most of my friends seem to be talking about getting, being, or just having been pregnant.  I prefer to talk about Dave Ramsey myself.  J

We headed to Pappa’s Burgers with R&S to meet up with their friend Travis on our way back from the airport.  Since Rob & I and already eaten, we just ordered a milkshake.  Not gonna lie tho… that milkshake might have been one of the best ever.  During this time, we also watched an intense Iowa State, OSU game.  Crazy weird.

We called it quits around 11 or so and headed in for the night.

Saturday, I made R&S cinnamon rolls and Ryan had a bloody nose due to the extreme change to humidity from dryness.  Whoops!  J  It was really, really humid while they were here.  At least 90% on Saturday.  On the bright side, Stace said that she hadn’t had to use lotion as much!! J

We caught the Port of Houston tour of the Ship Channel via boat and got to see some gigantic ships and things on the Houston ship channel.  The tour was free, which made it kind of amazing.  I was kind of hoping to maybe see some historic things, but we didn’t really.  Just really big ships.

For lunch Christine found this place called Azteca’s where we ate Mexican food and then R&C went and did some errands at The Container Store while we took R&S through the classy neighborhoods of River Oaks and Tanglewood.  We reminded them, that no… we would not be living here… but it’s always fun to come and look!!  We came back to the apartment to rest up and watch the first half of the Arkansas game.

That evening, we headed to City Center to walk around, eat dinner and see a comedy show.  We ate at a place called Tuscan Brio Grille which was fabulous.  It was a nice evening so we could sit outside.  The waiter new there were twins at our table, but at the time he came over Ryan was gone to the bathroom so the waiter was trying to figure out who were the twins between me, Robert, and Stacy.  We told him that he would know who the twins were when everyone was at the table.  J

We headed to the comedy club which was very funny.  It was very clean humor, but there were a few too many teenagers in the crowd.  But, it was still really funny.  When asked to describe a Canadian… Ryan volunteered the word ‘Heterogeneous”.  Don’t ask how he came up with that word or even why he came up with that word… but he was awarded the “best suggestion” at the end of the night and the comedy person acting out the word heterogeneous even got his team to guess the right word.  It was very impressive.  All in all, a very hilarious night.

On Sunday we slept in a little and had brunch at this place Chris found in the Height’s called Dharma’s Café.  It was very good food and probably a place that we would go back to.  We then headed out to Houston Zoo, which was very spectacular.  Did you know that you can feed giraffes there??  For $5 you can feed them 3 pieces of lettuce.  Note to self:  bring your own lettuce.  It was a very nice zoo and a lot of it seemed pretty new.  I’m told the African Forest section is about a year old.

We also went up to the Cheesecake Factory at the Woodlands Mall where we were able to meet up with Robert’s sister Jordan who rode down with a friend.  Later, we drove R&S back to the airport for them to catch their flight back home.

It was very nice catching up with everyone and hearing about everyone’s lives.  As you can see, we packed a lot in to a short weekend.  On Monday, I spent the day with Jordan & Christine and their friends at the outlet mall in Cypress and met up with Robert and his dad at the Hard Rock Café.

Phew!  Lots of things to be thankful for this season.  Today, we’re off for one last meal with the Meier’s and then to Canyon Lake to spend the rest of the week with the Hesseltine/Atzenhoffer family.

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter

Anyone who knows me, knows I love Harry Potter.  It was destiny when the last and final movie came out on my birthday.. which was July 15 (2011).  I’m a huge Harry Potter fan.  I’ve even written a letter to JK Rowling herself and got a letter autographed picture back.  (Granted, she probably didn’t write the letter or even really sign the picture.. but it was the thought that I counted.. and still counts).

I grew up with Harry Potter.  Let me give you the publishing dates and my respective age:

HP & The Sorcerer’s Stone- September 1, 1998 – Age: 12

HP & The Chamber of Secrets- July 2, 1999- Age: 12

HP & The Prisoner of Azkaban- September 8, 1999- Age: 13

HP & The Goblet of Fire- July 8, 2000- Age: 13

HP & The Order of the Phoenix- July 21, 2003- Age: 17

HP & The Half Blood Prince- July 16, 2005- Age: 19

HP & The Deathly Hallows- July 21, 2007- Age: 21

My lovely mom bought the first book.  She had said at the time that she saw it on Good Morning America (back before the Fox News era) and it had good reviews.  At the impressionable age of becoming a teenager, I was definitely more interested in the teen romance novels—not some fluffy magic stuff where the character is at the age of 11.  I read the back cover and put it on the piano to sit for awhile.  I somehow eventually got around to it… I was a big reader back then (and still am).  Now, I don’t think I was 12 when I read the books because I don’t remember having to wait for the first three books to come out.  But, I do remember reading them in the 8^th grade… so that would put me at the age of 13… first year of junior high.

I loved them.  I read the first & second books over and over again.  I’ve never been a huge fan of the third installment and it was definitely the one I read the least.  I remember just waiting and waiting for the fourth one to come out.  I even entered into a contest with Scholastic magazine and I won!  The prize was getting the 4^th book sent to your house for free on the day it was released.  And sure enough, my parents were having a garage sale with the neighbors and when I woke up the book was there.  Best wake-up present ever.  I immediately ran over to the garage sale and even remember my mom being impressed that the book was already there.

So yes, I was addicted to Harry Potter.  I remember several teens reading them at school as well.  It was never uncool to be seen reading Harry Potter.

I think that is what I love most about these books:  Harry Potter will always be cool.  You don’t have to be female to love the books (aka Twilight series) and the story line is so purely good vs evil that it will never go out of style.

JK Rowling has developed a set of books that will carry on for forever.  I know, that I will certainly set my children upon them as soon as they are old enough to read.  It doesn’t matter that Harry and friends start out at the age of 11.  The books are about friendship and battling good vs evil.  There’s little romance and lots of suspense.

I still have all my original Harry Potter books.  The first book is so worn, that you can barely read the words on the pages inside.  But, I’ll definitely keep it for, forever.

For a person who didn’t have that many friends growing up or always felt a little different, Harry Potter was my world that I could escape to.  I dreamed about him and his friends and read the books over and over again.  Every once in a while, a magical word like “Loomis” (light) will pop into my head as though I used it every day.  I’ll never look at broomsticks the same way either. JK Rowling’s books are so well written that you picture everything and feel like you are right there with them.

It was until the movies started coming out that I realized I was pronouncing some names wrong (aka Hermione was always Herimone to me).  I almost didn’t like the movies because the books are so much better!!  But, I learned you just take the movies for entertainment.. nothing more, nothing less.  If you want to discover the real wizarding world of Harry Potter you have to read the books.  Promise.

What brought on this blog?  Well, I bought the last movie over the weekend and watched it while Robert slept.  Just watching it brings on a sense of melancholy and a little depression.  It’s my childhood in one final 2 ½ hour movie.  10 years built up into the epic finale.  He was my world and now its no longer.  I will always love Harry Potter, but I always get a little sad knowing his story is complete.  Though, I will make it to the Harry Potter theme park one day, I swear!!!!

When Dumbledore died in the 6^th book, I cried like a baby.  My mom asked me what the heck was wrong.  I felt like I had just lost my best friend.  Cried in the last book and the last movie, too.  These characters are more than that.. they are my friends.  Harry Potter is a dream world, and unfortunately.. we can only visit it.  But, by golly.. it’s one heck of a world that I definitely spent a lot of time in.  Thanks, JK Rowling and Harry Potter.. you probably changed my life over these books… and if you didn’t change it… you definitely brightened it.

Taylor Swift Concert

Ahh Yes.  We went to see Taylor Swift this weekend.  It was us a 41,998 of Houston’s loudest and finest screaming girls.  Oh you think I might be over exaggerating, but I’m not.  Rob was standing there holding this ears hostage from the sound of screaming.  I’m really not joking about that.  I actually had to tell him he was embarrassing me and to put his hands down and not over his ears.

Oh yes, doesn't Rob look exited to be here?!

But, on a fantastic side note, the concert was pretty spectacular.  She put on a great show.  And let’s face it… the main reason I went was to put the rumors to rest… could Taylor Swift sing live or not?  Well, she turned me.  I think she can definitely sing live.  The few times I’ve watched her on an awards song I’ve also thought she sounded a little off.  Maybe because she was not in her element.  In either case, she was definitely in her element in Houston and sounded great.

Taylor Swift-- first song out of the gate.

The teenage girls loved her.  I would have loved her too, except I was starting to feel a little tense at all the high-pitched screaming.  We were seven rows from the floor.  And T-Swift decided to make a little walk around the stadium.  Well, it would have been great for us, but everyone and their dog decided to race down and pile up in the stair well where there was even more high-pitched screaming and little girls surrounding me at every angle.  So, that kind of turned me off.  Had I known that would have happened, I definitely would not have chosen aisle seats. 

Ok, I know… you’re probably like what were you expecting Jessica?  This was a Taylor Swift concert… but I guess I kind of forgotten how excited is to be a kid and your famous role model walks in.  Wait, who I am kidding… I know what that is like, I get that way every time I see Dave Ramsey!  Haha, just kidding (maybe, not really).  Needless to say, my ears are still recovering today.

Oh, let me also tell you about my tickets.  I bought them from this random internet site kind of back in April.  Yeah… super long time ago!  I had almost forgotten where I stashed the tickets and when the concert was.  I was really afraid they were going to be counterfeit.  I brought my paid receipt and everything with me just in case the police wanted to take me to jail.  As, we were walking in I saw that the price on my ticket ($89.50) was indeed NOT what we had paid (I won’t embarrass myself and tell you what I actually paid).  So, I might have gotten just a tad bit ripped off.  All in all, it was about a $270 night.  I’m not sure Robert will let me by tickets online from a random place ever again.  But, the tickets did work!

Bet you can't guess which song she sang for this?!

Oh… so T-Swift didn’t actually start to perform until about 8:45pm.  We got there at 7.  The Arkansas game was going on and LSU/Bama were about to start up.  We couldn’t get our phones to work in the stadium.  Everyone once in a while a text would pop up about the game or I could get my twitter feed to update.  Rob was definitely a little sad and maybe a tad grumpy?  He was really hoping is new 4s would be able to perform better, but alas… when there are 42,000 people in one place… your phone just does not work.

Let me tell you another story… there was this lady, her daughter, and a dad sitting behind us.  All throughout the opening acts she kept telling her daughter that she was not allowed to scream.  “There’s just no reason for that” and I quote.  So, she wouldn’t let her daughter scream.  And then, she told her daughter that she probably wouldn’t get to see Taylor Swift because it would be late and they needed to get to bed.  I looked back about 2 songs into T-Swift and sure enough they were gone.  I don’t even know if her little daughter got to see T-Swift at all.  OMG.  Why pay $89.50 (x3 and assuming you bought them at face value, unlike myself) only to leave???  Yeah, I know… I just complained about screaming up above.. but, if a girls gonna scream… the best place to do it is with 40,000 other little girls at a concert to a pretty darn good idol.  This poor child.  It made me more than a little sad.

She changed outfits so many times, it was unreal.  Not sure how she did it.

On a happy note, there was a mother daughter date directly in front of us… and she got to touch T-Swift’s hand when she came walking around and then proceeded to hug her mom and I kind of thought both of them were going to cry.  It made me really happy though.. that’s how a mother/daughter duo is supposed to react when it’s likely the daughter just achieved a lifetime dream (real or not).

Okay, but enough… laundry seems to be calling my name… and bagel bites.  We really did have a great time at Taylor Swift and she put on one heck of a show.  I almost forgot a highlight—Nelly was there!!  He performed a song with Taylor at the end.  I’d never seen Nelly live before, nor would I voluntarily pay money to see him, so it was nice he just appeared.

T-Swift and Nelly

Until next time…