Ugh

Today is an "UGH" day. I almost feel like I'm in shock. I'm mostly confused though. And tired. Tired physically (last night's body combat kicked my ass!!), tired emotionally, and tired of all this crap/drama going on.

The family crap is getting real old, and I'm getting very close to my breaking point with it. Poor DH... I try so hard to put on a good face for him, but when it gets too much, Nicolezilla breaks loose (not lose ha) and no one's safe!! I wonder if/when people will get it... huh.

The work stuff is just ridiculous. I'm gearing up to try out option A, and thinking about option B and C. I think I've ruled option B out, but I would like to talk to my neighbor who is option B about it. If I can get my foot in the door at a decent place and make decent money like her, that would be a very nice option. I don't know if I could hack it with option C, but I can always apply and see how it goes from there.

I know that was all incredibly cryptic... but see, if I don't tell people my plans, I don't have to tell them when they don't work out/fall through/I get rejected!

Oh and finally, I'm tired of feeling overlooked by our families. That is one of the crappiest feelings EVER. Of course, my mom could never make me feel this way though. She really is the best and I'm SO lucky to have her! And DH couldn't either. There's no way he could ever do that.

On days like today I just have to keep reminding myself of all the great things I have going. I have a job. There are a lot of people out there who don't. And while I'm not where I want to be professionally, I know there are a ton of people would love gladly take my job! I have a wonderful and loving husband (who also has a job, yay!). I'm lucky enough to be married to my best friend and that is just AWESOME!! The list goes on from there, but then I'd sound like I was bragging ;-)

So the lesson of today: Stay positive!!!!

Happy (Belated) 4th Of July!!

"You know it really didn't feel too bad out there today. What do you think the high was?" I asked George. "Oh probably only about 102, not bad" he said "Oh no, that's not bad at all!" I responded.

That was an actual conversation for this past Saturday, the 4th. When the F did 102 degrees become "not that bad"??? That is really freakin hot!!! 85 degrees is not bad, even 90 degrees isn't *too* bad! But 102. That's bad!

My BIL (brother-in-law) Paul, aka Paulie Poodles, came down for the long weekend. He came in Wednesday morning and I picked him up at the airport. Thursday we ran some errands, got some shoes for toobin, and Andrew got off early from work (yaaaay!!) so we hung out with him and got stuff ready to head to New Braunfels the next morning. Thursday night we went to Sam's boat for dinner and drinks with our NE friends Chuck and Maria. It was F'ing H-O-T out! Just sitting at the bar outside made me all sweaty and gross feeling. We decided to eat inside so we got a table at, where else, but the actual BOAT inside Sam's Boat. Poodles absolutely loved this!! he had a great time buying the boys "boat shots" of JD (the girls volunteered to be the DDs). We stayed at Sam's for a little then headed home...I wanted to be on the road before 7:30 the next morning!

All of us in the boat

Friday morning we got to New Braunfels at a decent time and headed to Landa Falls for some tooobin on the Comal River. It was my first time toobing in Texas and I was NOT disappointed!! At first I was a little nervous about the water temperature, it stays about 72 degrees all year long (better than the Guadalupe which runs about 68!), but the water was sooo refreshing! It was definitely over 100 so the nice cool water felt amazing. We had such a great time on the River! We met up with Jamie, Melissa, Crystal, Blake, Brian, and Jamie and Melissa's dad Jim. It was really nice having Jim along for the ride, he grew up in New Braunfels and knew all the areas of the Comal to avoid. Because we've had NO rain for a bit over a month, the river was somewhat shallow in some parts, but I don't think it really affected the ride, other than making it a little longer than usual, which we were all more than ok with! Also due to the lack of rain, the Guadalupe (which is longer than the Comal, it runs into the Guadalupe) was very low. Normally they can open up the dam from Canyon Lake and let the river fill up a little, but it was too low even for that! So the Comal was a bit more crowded than usual.

I'd say the only bad part about the trip was when we ran out of beer! Next time we'll remember to bring more!

After toobing we went to Cooper's bar-b-q. Soooooo good! I love bar-b-q. I could eat bbq chicken all day long! Check out all the food Poodles got:

That, my friends, is what $30 worth of meat looks like! He had pork loin, prime rib, ribs, and sausage. Andrew and I split some chicken and brisket and our meal came to a combined $16. This place was pretty cool. When you walk in you're greeted by two bbq pits and someone ready to cut the meat that you want, then they weigh it, cut it up more, and give it to you either on butcher paper or in a tin like above. Just thinking about it now is making me salivate! This is where Poodles had his first ever Jalapeño... wow was that amusing!! Andrew ate one like it was nothing, so Paul thought he could too... bad idea Poodles, bad idea. He looked like he was in so much pain!!! The best part though, was Opi, Jamie and Melissa's Grandfather laughing his ass off at Paul the entire time!

After dinner, we headed over to Mike and Michelle's house on Lake Placid in Seguin. Holy guacamole was this house NICE!!! It actually belongs to George and Cathy (Michelle's parents) and they are nice enough to extend an open invitation to Mike and Michelle's friends and their friends. We hung out there for a little, went on a cruise on their pontoon boat and marvelled at all the other amazing houses on the lake. It was such a nice night out!! Absolutely no bugs too!! Not even mosquitoes!!

The next morning (the 4th) we headed back to the lake house for some water fun festivities. We went out on the ski boat and took turns on the tube. First Andrew and Blake went with Mike and Michelle's son Cade. Somehow, Mike managed to throw Blake off... we're still not sure how that happened... Next Blake, Paul, and Brian went. I was honestly amazed at how well they held on. Brian told Mike to kill them before they went, and man did he try! This was taken right before the whole thing tipped over and they all went flying off:

After that it was the girls' turn. We told Mike we did NOT want him to go as crazy with us as he did with the boys, and like any good gentlemen, he didn't. At first. We were having a great time and we got a little cocky and decided to all go "no-hands" at the same time. Yeah, bad idea. As soon as Mike saw that he floored it, and we went flying on the tube. We went over some HUGE waves, but we managed to stay on! By the end of that ride my arms were soooo tired! My favorite shot from our ride -

At that point, Jamie (left) and I (right) were getting tossed around like rag dolls!! After this picture was taken, I looked over to see if everyone was still on, and I saw Jamie's left leg (the one that's in the air) behind Crystal's head! She somehow managed to hang on though! I'm also, not actually standing up, I was just being bounced in the air. A few more bumps after this and we were done! We were all so tired and the water started getting really choppy. There was one bump where we could all feel our spines compacting. At that point we'd had enough!

After the ride on the ski boat, we took the pontoon boat and ski boat out to the middle of the lake in front of the house and tied them together. We hung out in rafts in the water for the rest of the afternoon and mingled with the other lakers who came to enjoy the day like us. We had such a great time!!! I have a ton of pictures, but at this point, I'm too lazy to put them up, so if you're curious, check out facebook!

Later that night we went back on the boat and headed out to the middle of the lake again to watch the fireworks from the water. For whatever reason (we're guessing the drought conditions) the fireworks were really low, and we couldn't completely see them. But we were all so tired/drunk/happy that it didn't matter anyway! After the fireworks the boys played Corn-hole for a good... ooooh 3 hours? Kailey (Mike and Michelle's 4 y/o) and Cade (5 y/o) took turns taking all sorts of hysterical pictures with mine and Jamie's cameras. They were so cute though!! I finally passed out around 12-1 when I was the only girl left, and I'm pretty sure the boys wrapped up their game pretty soon after.

Now I'm back in my office.... and it's raining. Which is awesome. It's been sooo dry and hot here for so long that everything is dying! I'm wishing I was still at the lake though. New goal in life... Do whatever George and Cathy did and get a similar house!!!