Monday is for links

I almost posted on Monday! Forgive me?

I was inspired by Heather at Yummy Sushi Pajamas. Each Monday she posts links to some of her favorite blogs. She has been nice enough to visit my blog, comment AND put me on her Monday link list.

Here is my first Monday link list. Please visit them if you have time and post a comment if you feel inclined.

Yummy Sushi Pajamas
This Fish Needs A Bicycle
Win or lose, we go shopping
- plain simple english
Greek Tragedy
Benjamin Wagner Dot Com

The reason I'm not posting

I'm not posting regularly because I have an addiction. It's an addiction to read/check something like 20 blogs per day, right? I read all these interesting blog entries and am left with the thought that I'm not very good at blogging. Or I think, "I should have blogged about that!" But if I do it now, it's virtually plagiarism. Illegal. Wrong. Bad.

So, I'll try to be more prolific in my posting. Tomorrow I plan to post links to some of the blogs I like to read.

The chair in which I read blogs.

I'm a new fan

I had some great friends in town Memorial Day weekend. We had a blast. They are huge Mavericks fans (as I'm sure you can tell if you checked out the link). So... We watched the two weekend games at my house. I was hooked. They knew about the players and their track records and strengths. It was fun to watch the games with them.

I haven't paid much attention to NBA ball since my hometown team, the Rockets, won two championships in a row (in '94 and '95). Now those were good times! I kept up with the NBA for a few more years, but was frankly more interested in college sports.

I'm not saying I'm not a Rockets fan at heart. What I'm saying is I want the Dallas Mavericks to win the NBA Finals this year. And I want to watch all the games! If you're a Mavs fan, you want me to watch too, because they won both games I watched last weekend. And last night, I listened to the first half of the game while I worked outside in the backyard. At halftime I came in to watch the rest of the game. Not long after I started watching the Mavericks came to life, coming back from behind to dominate the second half and win the series!

Many thanks

Many thanks to Heather at Yummy Sushi Pajamas for the mention of my blog on her blog. She puts of up a list of blogs she's reading every Monday. I think this is a great idea. I plan to do it this coming Monday! In the meantime check out her blog and the others she likes.

Thing Number 9

Number 9 on my 101 Things is "I want to own a hot air balloon someday."

A friend said that MSN's This Week in Pictures May 18-25 had a great shot of hot air balloons. I went to look. WOW! Take a look at picture 2. Now you see why I'm fascinated?

I've been on two balloon flights. One was while I was in college and it was a small balloon with a small basket, holding maybe 4 people maximum. When I visited Australia in 2003, I was in a bigger balloon with a bigger basket. Must have been 9 people and the pilot, but it could have held more.

Of course there are pictures!

My first trip with the AARP!


How about that view?


Notice our reflection in the water?


Packing up and looking into the balloon.


It was a big balloon!

Stylin'

Do you like my new map and the clock? If they are not directly to the right of this post, then scroll down to the end of the page and they should be on the bottom right hand side.

What other cool things should I add to my blog???

Should I post more or less pictures?

Should I write more about my life?

You tell me!

Eating!

I love to eat.

I noticed that I took pictures of almost every place we ate while in Mexico last month. Each restaurant served "salsa" and chips. The salsa was excellent, but it was more like pico de gallo.

Sadly I didn't get a picture at one of my favorite places, the Turtle Bay Cafe in Akumal. I don't think they served chips and salsa.

For fun, I think I'll use a ranking system for the salsa, using a scale of 1 to 5 stars, 5 being the best. Read the picture captions for ratings and see the footnote for a disclaimer.

At Mama's Cafe in Puerto Morales, we ate breakfast tacos with salsa.
Salsa rating: ***


The Mango Cafe, in Akumal, where we had smoothies and breakfast tacos.
Salsa rating: ***


Nearest our hotel, the La Buena Vida had good food,
really good salsa and beverages to go.
Salsa rating: ****


Oscar y Lalo's, between Akumal and Tulum, was on this beautiful bay.
Salsa rating: *****


Que Onda means "This Wave" (I think) and served
interesting Italian food on a beautiful patio.
Salsa rating: NA


McDonald's in Playa del Carmen provided a Diet Coke
(with ice and a straw) and a mediocre breakfast taco.
Salsa rating: NA

Disclaimer: Salsa ratings are solely the opinion of the writer and may not be shared by her traveling companions.

Dirt and Shoes

I like these shoes, they protect my toes, they're rugged and they were a good deal. (They are not real Keen sandals, but rather Sports Authority's own brand.)

After a day of climbing of exploring Mayan ruin sites in Mexico, though, I thought maybe socks and running shoes (without HOLES) would have been better.

Shoes...

No shoes!

The difference is so obvious, right? By the way, I would learn later that some of that was sunburn, not dirt. Sweet!

Mayan Ruins

While in Mexico I visited two ruin sites: Tulum and Coba.

Tulum is on the coast, in fact you've probably seen it in pictures. It's really gorgeous and unique because it virtually hangs on a cliff.

Coba is inland and surrounded by more greenery and vegetation. There is a 13 story ruin here that we were allowed to climb.

We did not hire a guide at either site, therefore I'm not qualified to tell you much about the pictures below. You'll want to rely on the links for further information.

Tulum from afar. I wish the beautiful colors of the water were more evident.

I really like the combination of colors in this picture, taken at the Tulum site.

A handy sign that we actually saw after the fact at Coba!

The tallest of the Coba ruins - or the Big Pyramid (see above).
I climbed all 13 stories. If you don't believe that, ask my knees!

Too late we noticed that there had been iguanas
sunning themselves all over the Tulum ruins.

More Mexico Pictures

I got one comment asking for more pictures. I can do that! More comments, more pictures!!! Come on now, read my rarely updated blog!

Speaking of pictures... Would anyone care to comment upon which online photo hosting service is best? I recently read that only a few services guarantee to keep your photos online forever (and therefore safely backed up). I read the article, but now I can't remember which services it recommended. Maybe I'll look into it and blog about it in future.

Sunrise from the condo terrace.


The rare, but lovely, chicken tree.

I like to take pictures of boats.

And boats near jetties.

Something's fishy...

For the record:
I started with 323 pictures and I've whittled it down to 251. I think I could reduce it by a few more if I really tried.

Here are a few snorkeling pictures. Click on each separately for the best view.

One fish...


Two fish...


WAIT, NO RED FISH??

BLUE fish!


School's out for summer!


Camera shy?

Guess how many?

If you guess how many photos I took, I'll give you a mention in my blog as an awesome guesser... No answers from Stacey or Leslie will count.

Be within 10 of the correct answer and you might even get a prize, like a framed photo of me! :)

There are two numbers... The number of pictures that were on my camera when I came home and the number that were left after I deleted the bad ones. Guess either or both.

FYI-I have an underwater camera housing for my camera, so include those pictures in your count. And for the record I arrived on Tuesday midday and left on Sunday midday.

I'm back!

I've been feeling guilty about not posting lately. I've checked my blogging friends and it seems I'm not the only blog slacker.

I've been in Mexico! I spent my 35th birthday in a little town called Akumal, about 60 miles south of Cancun. The condo was great, the rent car was great (always get the insurance!), and the company even better (my college buddies Stacey and Leslie).

I'll write more when my mind gets back from this beautiful place. Our condo is in the second picture below, the short white one, approximately centered in the photo.

Thing Number 47

I mentioned in my 101 things that I procrastinate. It waited to put that down as number 47 out of 101. Would it have been funnier if I had put it down as number 101?

Along those lines, let me tell you a story. Today I finally washed a pair of shoes that got dirty back in late September, when I went to the Austin City Limits Music Festival. It was SO hot and windy and dusty. Really hot and windy and dusty. Like ruin your clothes with red dirt and sweat hot. I don't have a picture of the dirty shoes, but I do have pictures to show the dust bowl that was day 2 of the festival.

The above picture is day 1, just before Lucinda Williams performs.

To truly appreciate this picture, click on it to view it in bigger form.
Sunset, day 2. Or rather "the day of dust."

Fellow Ag, Lyle Lovett, performing live on the evening of day 1.

Yard Work

Today I spent time outside working on the yard. The weather was fabulous.

I trimmed the hedges in the front yard and fertilized the whole yard.

To demonstrate how quickly the hedges can get out of hand, I took two pictures before I trimmed the final hedge... I'll include them both so that you can see how bad the one is and how great the others look as a result of my handiwork.




If you're lucky, and you encourage me by leaving comments, I MIGHT post pictures of my super green lawn next week.

Aggie Link

I haven't seen this commercial on TV, but my coworker said he saw it during some of the NCAA tournament. It's an ESPN commercial for their ESPNU package, apparently a package of college sports.

It's hysterical!

Aggie Commercial

My 101 Things Might Stink

I just read a good list of 100 things on another's blog. It was interesting. Mine is not. Since no one has commented yet, maybe I'll edit mine...

101 Things

There WAS a time when it was cool to list 101 things about yourself on your blog. Leave it to me to be a bit behind the times. This could be fun for the one person who stumbles on my blog that doesn't' t know me well. I think that all my friends know the things in this list.

Post a comment to let me know what you think. Did you know all the facts? :)

1. I was born in Houston, Texas.
2. I have lived only lived in Texas cities: Austin, College Station and Houston.
3. I am an only child.
4. My parents were both in their forties when I was born.
5. I am thankful that I still have them.
6. I think it would be fun to live in NYC for at least a year.
7. I love to travel.
8. I love to fly (as a passenger).
9. I want to own a hot air balloon someday.
10. I love college football.
11. I do not like NFL football.
12. I cannot dance well to rock music.
13. I can two-step.
14. I cannot sing.
15. I would love to be able to sing.
16. I have a degree in electrical engineering.
17. I graduated from Texas A&M University.
18. I am a sales engineer.
19. I think Lyle Lovett is sexy.
20. I have seen him in concert at least 7 times.
    
21. I am never too full for ice cream!
22. I love to go out to eat breakfast.
23. I love toast with real butter.
24. I have never been skinny dipping.
25. I cannot live without my Palm phone.
26. I was never a Girl Scout. (There is a story here.)
27. I like camping.
28. I like hiking.
29. I have never broken a bone. (This might be a lie now, I'll tell you for sure later this week.)
30. I never had a dog or a cat.
31. I did have a few fish.
32. I must have a carbonated beverage with pizza and burgers.
33. I did not watch Seinfeld in prime time.
34. I spent a month in the Philippines.
35. I have totaled a car.
36. I hate the game 42.
37. I love to play spades.
38. I play Golden Tee.
39. I traveled to Australia on my own.
40. I love to snorkel.
41. I do not scuba dive.
42. I would like to visit all 50 states.
43. I have visited 21 states.
44. I love watches.
45. Once my Dad and I caught 93 fish in one hour.
46. I have too many pairs of shoes.
47. I procrastinate.
48. My DVR has changed my life.
49. I have been on a jury.
50. My cell phone rang while I was in the jury box.
51. I love to go to movies.
    
52. I believe in heaven.
53. I believe Jesus died to save me from my sin.
54. I love to ride my road bike.
55. I rode 105 miles on it in a day - twice.
56. I never met either of my grandfathers, they died before I was born.
57. I don't mind yard work.
58. I hate to clean house.
59. I think Sudoku puzzles are fun.
60. I have a lazy eye.
61. I used to wear an eye patch.
    
62. I have had eye surgery two times.
63. I do not throw like a girl.
64. I can throw a good spiral.
65. I love to play football catch, frisbee catch, or softball catch.
    
66. I played soccer at the YMCA on an all boys team.
67. I love to read fiction.
68. I listen to audio books in the car.
69. I can install a ceiling fan.
70. I prefer 2%, but drink 1% milk.
71. I used to have reflux.
72. I have no cavities.
73. I played saxophone in high school band.
74. I have been snow skiing one time.
75. Sometimes I have number dyslexia.
76. I like fresh lemon in my Diet Coke.
77. I prefer fresh lime in my iced tea.
78. I like to drink water from a bottle not a glass.
79. I don't mind doing laundry, but I do not like to fold and put away clothes.
80. I like to wash dishes, but do not like to unload the washer.
81. I broke my VCR the other day.
82. I have a backup VCR.
    
83. I have been known to cry at medical shows, Hallmark movies and Extreme Home Makeover.
84. I enjoy cooking on my grill.
85. I am clearly struggling to find interesting things for this list.
86. I once owned a car for just seven months.
87. Because of that I technically owned three different cars in one year.
88. I do not like coffee.
89. I love to listen to music.
    
90. I like some radio talk shows.
91. I love to go to the library.
92. I belong to two libraries.
93. I have developed a love for reading blogs.
    
94. There are about 5 blogs that I check daily.
95. I like scented candles.
96. A lawn mower will fit in the trunk of my car.
    
97. I like reality shows. I know, but I do.
98. I wear my college (Texas A&M) ring all the time, even in the shower.
    
99. I like to listen to radio talk shows on a solo road trip.
    
100. I almost never remember a bathing suit when my hotel has an indoor pool!
     
101. I have thick hair.

Can you tell I was reaching at the end? And that I'm in a hotel room in Houston for work?

Let me know what you think. And go ahead, post 101 things about yourself on your blog!

Logic

I just want to go on record to say that I'm pulling for LSU. Who cares about my bracket? I'm out of it anyway because, being a good Ag, I picked A&M to win out.

I like the way my friend Joe Hays' brain works. He had a great blog regarding sporting logic on Thursday, March 23rd. Here's a quote:

5th Grade Logic
Duke got beat tonight. LSU stung the Blue Devils with an eight point win. So, and this is where the 5th grade sporting logic comes into play, if LSU beat Duke by eight and the Aggies lost to LSU by one, then the Aggies would beat Duke by seven. Cool, huh? I'm a huge Duke fan but A&M is where my heart is, so it's kinda cool to say that my Aggies would beat Duke by seven...according to my fifth grade logic.

If we continue with his logic: since LSU beat UT by 10 points and the Ags lost to LSU by just one point, then in our fantasy world, the Ags would beat Texas by 9 points.

A girl can dream, right?

Mission Impossible

So, I bought several new pairs of pants this week. I needed them. I've donated or thrown the old ones away (depending on condition).

I have tops to wear with each pair of pants, however I could use a cream colored top to give me more options. I'm looking for a simple short sleeved V neck or crew neck cream/tan/off-white sweater...

Apparently there is no such thing. I have been to Dillard's, Foley's, JC Penney, Steinmart, Kohl's, TJ Maxx, Target, Academy (there was one here but it was sized for a junior!). I don't even know where to look next.

I can, however, tell you where to find cream colored t-shirts, completely see through cream colored polyester shirts, cream colored shirts with beads (or for that matter, sequins), see through loose knit cream colored sweaters, cream colored long sleeve sweaters, cream colored sweaters with bands that accentuate the wrong thing on me, and cream colored sweaters with gathers in the area that need not be accentuated.

Let me know if you need help finding a sweater. I'll take out all the guess work!