Austin

Michael is at a convention in Austin this week. I drove down with him Saturday after my patients and made a weekend out of it.

Saturday night we went to dinner at Iron Cactus and then went to listen to live music. I now truly understand why Austin is the live music capital of the world. It was impressive. What's odd is that Dallas has the exact same potential in Deep Ellum that is a big fail. I guess Dallas just doesn't have enough "weird" in its city limits to keep an artsy area like that going. We listened to a band made up of elderly men (seriously one guy was missing his teeth). At first, we didn't know what to expect. We just went somewhere without a cover hoping it would be good. When we saw the men shuffling their way up to the stage Mike whispered, "Let's stay for a few songs to be nice." When they started playing, they blew us away! We ended up staying until we just absolutely couldn't keep our eyes open because they were that awesome.

On Sunday, we drove out to the Inner Space Caverns. It's been years since I have been to any caverns and what a cool experience it is! We paid extra for a whole 20 minutes of "unpathed caves" where you get a flashlight and go back in the caves as far as you can without crawling to go under something. I wouldn't suggest anyone doing that. It was just a part of the cave with the lights off and they gave us a flashlight to wander around for a few minutes. But seeing the cave is such a cool experience. We saw plenty of little bats and they are surprisingly cute in person. :)

Mike had to start his conference on Sunday afternoon so I rested in the hotel room while he had to work. :P That night there was a little get together for his conference so I got to see some of his co-workers that I knew and meet others for the first time. And guess where the get together was? Iron Cactus! We were apparently destined to eat there. Good thing their food is awesome!

I had to catch a flight at 7:30 this morning. :( Mike drives back on Thursday. I'm grateful I got to spend some time with my hubby even if we can't be together for the next few days.

Why Would You Ever Waste Your Day Worrying?

I woke up today with a new sense of purpose. Isn't it funny how easily it can get lost? In all of the "what if's," "wish I had's," and "waiting on's" I sometimes forget that today is the now. Life is not the past or the future but the present.

This seems to be a practice that I'm not very good at. In the past I have so focused on when I graduate, when I have my own practice, when I get married, when we own a house, etc. etc. etc. and have forgotten that waking up with my pug snoring louder than any human, worrying that I won't have time to brush my hair before I fly out the door to the office and wondering if I'll have enough money at the end of the month to pay my bills is all part of life. Life that no doubt can be stressful, hateful and spiteful but joyous all the same! It's easy to say "life is what you make of it" and "change your attitude and it will change your life" but honestly, I don't feel this is 100% accurate. I do believe that sometimes we can wake up and put on a fake smile and make the day better with the "fake it to make it" attitude but sometimes we just have to wake up to the "Really, God, really?" of it all and enjoy the ride.

Today, I am learning to be grateful for the now. For the miraculous now. Stress, pain, suffering, all of it. Thank you Lord for the joy of pain, for the lessons to come and the knowledge to be able to acknowledge the what the heck of it all and still enjoy it.

Check Out The New Website!

Mike built a new website for the office and it looks ahh-mazing! It posts all of my health blogs on the homepage and has a search feature that will pull up any blog containing your search. Check it out and leave comments!

http://www.wholistichealingchiropractic.com

Happy Birthday, Dad!

For Dad's 50th birthday, we had a "Day of Dad." We all dressed up like Dad in fake moustaches, cowboy hats, button up shirts and boots. Then we surprised him in our "get ups" and brought him his gift, a scrap booked collage of stories that people close to him had written.

Jeff dressed as Dad

Howdy y'all!

Little Val all dressed up. You should have seen her pink cowgirl boots!

Mom dressed as Dad complete with a grayed moustache

Cowboy Mike

Some people just don't fit the look...

Crystal was not about to put on a moustache!

But finally cavedDad seeing us dressed up

He thought it was hilarious
Dad opening his scrapbook
Browsing through it

Opening his card from Val

The whole gang (minus me with the camera)

Dad's book

Dad loved his birthday surprises. As Mom put it, "It's not often that we really get Dad, but when we do it's good." We definitely got him good! I think it was fun for him and it was definitely fun for the rest of us!

Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas, y'all! Our Christmas was wonderful. Good food, good family, good presents...Val fed Santa's reindeer the special reindeer food that she made and picked out jewelry with Grandma to leave for Mrs. Claus on Christmas eve and was up bright and early to see what Santa left for her Christmas morning. Mom made a feast on Christmas day and the boys were obsessed with shooting their new guns afterward which was really cute to watch them so excited. Val banked it from Santa and we played games all day on what he brought her. She was so cute and wanted to wear all her new clothes and hat and gloves all at once. We made great memories and had a wonderful time!

Hey All!

I know I have some mad catching up to do on postings, but in the meanwhile enjoy all of the new stuff I've added to my blog! I've added some people to my bloglist that for the most part are on board with my teachings. Of course, if you read anything that sounds fishy, ask before taking it as face because I haven't gone through everything posted on all of these blogs. Enjoy! Merry Christmas!

State Fair 2009

Valerie after getting the beautiful butterfly painted on her face.

She won those pigs and they didn't leave her sight. She actually fell asleep on the train holding them on the way home!

Snack time. Bring on the fried Oreos!

The cotton candy was as big as Val is.

Mike and Valerie.

Waiting on the train. We waited for one and a half hours I think. Ugh. DART let us down. The good news was there were fireworks going off behind us so we had some sort of entertainment.

Inspecting the cotton candy.
Digging in!

View from the Ferris Wheel

Michael and I went to the State Fair with Jeff's family on the day of the OU vs. UT game. It was crazy crowded but we had a blast. We didn't try the fried butter (none of us were that brave) but we did try the fried Oreos and they were amazing! Crystal said she was going to buy a deep fryer just to make them at home. LOL. I would be there everyday. ;)

Mike and I rode the Ferris Wheel, we watched Jeff and Val ride the Arctic Express, we saw the largest crocodile and alligator in North America, played some fair games and went to the car show. I was worried for Jeff as he rode the Arctic Express; I don't think I would fair as well, but he was just fine. That is, until it went backwards. LOL. His facial expression sure did change but he felt way better than I would have. I'm too old for rides now. I told Crystal if I drive down a steep hill these days, it's enough of a roller coaster ride for my equilibrium. Sad but true! Good thing Val has Jeff for things like this! :)