Snow in Houston, TX!

Well we just couldn't believe our eyes yesterday because it was snowing in Houston! I think it started in the late afternoon and came and went into the evening. Apparently it accumulated on top of cars and such, but I was too cold to walk into the parking lot to check. So here's a couple pictures from our patio. Otis is really freaking out.

Little People...Little Tree

Merry Christmas! We went out and found a tiny tree to decorate this year. It's maybe four feet tall, and as you can see we cover it pretty good just sitting in front of it. Oh well, it feels nice to have Christmas in our home. :)

Thanksgiving Weekend

James and I hosted five frens for Thanksgiving dinner, and James did such a good job making the food! I feel bad I didn't take a picture of his turkey before we ate it. I didn't pick up the camera until one couple had already left. Mostly we were lazy all weekend, but managed to take Otis to the bark park once. We watched all three Lord of the Rings movies. I can't wait for our next break in three weeks for Christmas!
Fritz, James, Jo Bo (yes that's a knife...crazy kid), and Sabrina.
The mess after dinner.
Sabrina, Fritz, and James looking at something on the computer...probably this blog! I joke.
James waiting for Otis to swim back to us.
James and Otis watching Lord of the Rings.

Sourdough Pancakes

So Uncle Dave gave us sourdough starter recently, and we were so excited to come home and make a good breakfast. In fact we were so excited, we didn't wait to buy a cast iron frying pan. Instead, I used a big regular non-stick pan, which wasn't good. We had odd-shaped pancakes...
We've since bought that cast iron frying pan.

Celtics and Election Day

I've been waiting patiently all year to see a Celtics game in person, and finally got the chance on November 4...Election Day! James agreed to go to the game, but I said we could leave early to see the results coming in. I guess marriage really means compromising! Haha. We got the best of both worlds because the Celtics, Obama, and Charisse Millett all won. Congrats!
James driving us to the game.
We sat by the championship banners, which is ironic, because I rooted for the Knicks in the 93-94 championship series. All is forgiven because Sam Cassell from that winning Rockets team came to Boston to help the Celtics win last season's championship.
James and I on our way out. We tried to get the court in the background, but that didn't really work.

Nascar race

James and I got to see Uncle Dave and Auntie Annabelle recently for a Nascar race. We had such a good time camping in their motorhome and being with family. Uncle Dave made us sourdough pancakes for breakfast and shared his starter with us, so now we can enjoy yummy Saturday breakfasts. Ayuu can come over anytime for pancakes, Tera and Matt. Anyway, it was so great seeing family, so I highly encourage all of you to visit us if you can.
Racers in the pit waiting to warm up.
Hearing protection and beer is all you need.
Kyle Bush doing his victory spin-out. Everyone booed him all weekend.
Happy campers.

Today was a good day

James here. Well, I guess its my turn - my first offical posting to the chips n pop blog. I voted today....early. I felt good about this. I don't know why, but I felt like i won a prize after I cast my ballot. Maybe its because I feel excited that G.W. is finally leaving office; maybe its because it seems possible that Obama just might pull this off; or maybe its because I got out of work early and got to spend more time with Meryl. Yeah...I think it is a combo of all three. Today's a good day -

Stuff and Apartment Life

We're so excited to have STUFF! Even just the garbage can was exciting for us. I think it was the first thing we both were grateful for. It took us a long time to unpack most things, and we still have things in boxes! It was exciting to open our new appliances and wedding gifts we hadn't seen yet. The first thing we hung on the wall was our very own Gary Eckenweiler print! We're starting to buy furniture and other decorative things and hopefully soon we'll have a meatball dinner for our Houston peeps.
Since I've been home alone with Otis a lot, I get to see what interests him. He likes being the nosy neighbor and watching what's happening outside our apartment. I also have time to watch him sleep...
James unpacking some boxes
Otis watching his squirrel
"Hey. Hey. Hey you...whatchu doing?"
How he fell asleep.
I guess it's too hot for doggie blankets in Houston.

Hurricane Ike

We got hit by our first Texas hurricane, and luckily we're ok. Some wall sections were damp, trees fell down outside our windows, and we lost electricity for four days. Our schedule quickly became timed with sunlight and I finished a puzzle and started another one. We played Sorry, Yahtzee, Uno, Scrabble, and card games to help time pass. We also got to know our neighbors really well, since we were all outside looking for other humans to talk to. All of our friends further in the city had power, so we visited them for TV time and to cook and shower. Today, Friday the 19th, is the first day we went out and bought fresh food. It's funny how you appreciate the small things like ice, traffic lights, and the hum of electricity after going through a power outage. Here's a few pictures from Hurricane Ike.
We put tarp over the windows in case our windows broke from the wind.
We fiit our blow-up bed in our walk-in closet for sleeping during the storm. We were told to wait out the storm in our innermost room of the apartment.
The trees next to our apartment got blown over!
James and Otis posing in front of more debris around our complex.

Houston,Texas

here's our new apartment minutes after we first saw it. this view shows the kitchen, living area, and entrance to the guest room and 'foyer'
we used our blow-up bed as our bed AND table...so smart.
then we finally bought a real table and chairs. :) yay for ikea!
james and our fren, timmy. timmy has been great showing us the town.
timmy had a crabfest at his place, so here's on of the blue crabs fighting for his life before going into the steamer
we're waiting out hurricane ike, and currently it's going to hit west of us. this means we'll be on the mean side of the storm...so we stocked up on supplies in case we lose power.

Driving from Alaska to Texas

James and I left Anchorage, AK on August 18, ONE DAY before Tera and Mattox welcomed Ayuu Cecilia Roesch into their family. Just our luck. Here's a few pictures from our trip.
our first construction delay a couple hours out of anchorage. we made frens with the bikers and a family, in which the husband is from new york and his wife is from unalakleet (jessie soxie, daniel's sister). so cute, just like us. :)
Matanuska Glacier? in Alaska
james in Watson Lake, our second stop in Canada
during one of our construction delays
some type of sheep? in Canada
wild buffalo in Canada
some nice folding action in the geology of the Canadian Rockies
a normal day for us in Canada: fog, rocks, trees, and mountains
this photo is for hockey lovers, namely james and Canada
bye bye to expensive liters of diesel...and bye to Canada
when we entered the US from Canada, we went from sunshine to thunderstorm. you can see the change in this picture.
something in our styrofoam cooler leaked and stunk up the car, so we bought a real cooler and tried, unsuccessfully, to get the stink out.
we are not in alaska anymore...
our first view of tall houston buildings

Married!

James and I got married on July 26, 2008 in Anchorage, AK. Here's a few pics from that party. It was sooo good to see everyone there!