I bought an iPhone!
I am totally kidding. I did not get an iPhone, I just wanted you to read my blog. How are you?
It isn’t raining today, so hopefully Austin won’t float away. Work is getting crazy so a floating city is not something I have time to deal with.
Have a great weekend!
Party like it's 1999!
Saturday, Eric and Tara hosted a going away party for Mike and Hillary (the other Hilary M!). The theme was High School Homecoming - it was a costume party. Let me tell you – Eric and Tara included all the elements of high school homecoming including: a paper sign for Mike and Hilary to run through and a slow dance.
High School Cast and Crew:
Mike and Hillary: Homecoming couple complete with mums.
Kevin: Drill Team
Sarah: Band Geek
Tab: Goth rocker-chic complete with dark eyeliner and black nail polish
Cameron: Coach complete with really short shorts
Eric: Cheerleader
Tara: Nerd
Ryan and Hilary: Mary Kaye Letourneau and her 14-year old boyfriend. (Ryan thinned out his mustache and I was pregnant in prison)
Check out the pictures for yourself!
Slow times!
I apologize for the lack in posts. NOTHING interesting has been happening in my life, thus the lack of blog content.
With this down time in my life, I did have a self-realization. I now know why I am so busy all the time. Turns out I can’t be trusted with free time.
Example:
Wednesday night, Ryan had class and I realized I had nothing to do. Nothing. No plans. No work that needed to be done. I got home and looked around the house waiting for something to call out to me.
That evening, I ended up watching four “Super Sweet 16” episodes, eating a bag of chips and drinking a beer. Man, did I feel disgusting (physically, gastrointestinally and emotionally – those kids are brats!).
I can not be trusted alone with free time.
Things are about to pick up though. Our annual user conference is around the corner, so work hours will increase. I also picked up more work at church – I’m going to edit some web content.
In related news: Mike and Amanda started a blog! The weblog is entitled “
A&M Livin’”. This title funny because Mike is a big UT fan. So
if you are interested in the life of these crazy kids – log on!
Soon to come: Ryan and I went to a costume party on Saturday. I am waiting to gather all the pictures to post about the party - but get ready - the pics should be FUNNY.
Cat-cam!
Thank you for sending, Ryan.
This guy put a lightweight camera on his cat to see what happens to him throughout the day. This is AWESOME. I will try this with Mercedes. You will see pictures of
a) underneath the table
b) food bowl
c) litter box
d) her own body as she licks it.
Check out his outdoor cat’s photo gallery.
Happy Summer Solstice!
A favorite holiday in the Marchbanks household is today! Summer Solstice!
Ryan and I often feel alone in our merriment - not many of our friends talk about this holiday. Looks like we need to head to
Stonehenge!
Enjoy the long day!
Sick day
I am home from work today. I left work at 2:00 p.m. yesterday and have been home ever since. I'm pretty bored. Here is the list of what I plan to do with my day.
1. Finally e-mail Daren Butler back
2. Watch all the You Tube forwards people have sent me that I don't watch at work
3. Sleep
4. Watch NI stock updates on my iGoogle like a hawk
5. Sleep
6. Scour the internet for a picture of Sam Alexis Woods (who I predict will be the most beautiful baby in the entire world)
7. Fall asleep watching
The View
Amanda is a local celebrity!
Just when you think that you get away from media relations ...
Former PR colleague (and UBC member) Amanda, is featured
here on our local FOX News doing all sorts of exercises!
She is the buff one with the brunette ponytail.
Congrats, Amanda! You can see your media training at work here. Your push-ups were on message!
All Aboard!
BIG NEWS. Last night, Ryan and I booked the most important vacation of my lifetime …
We are going on a Ben Folds Cruise!For those of you who don’t know, I am not well versed in new music. I don’t follow new artists. I don’t have an iPod. Instead of venturing into new worlds of music, I usually just listen to Ben Folds CDs over and over and over. I love Ben Folds!
To save money, our room is Leonardo DiCaprio style down on the low, low deck. (What’s up third class Titanic!) We may have to actually scoop hot coals into the engine to get our reduced rate. I don’t know yet. All I do know is that I am attending the most intense Ben Folds concert EVER! The four day cruise (Miami to Jamaica) is "festival style" - different artists will be playing shows all over the ship and Ben is the headliner. It's like ACL fest in the ocean!
I have a list of questions to ask Ben Folds on the cruise:
1. How many hours a day do you play piano?
2. Is Daren Jesse on the boat somewhere?
3. Is Eddie Walker dead?
4. Will you ever play in the ACL Festival? If so, do you need a place to stay? Your kids can play with our cat!
5. How many times have you sung “Brick?”
I love Ben Folds!
Happy Flag Day!
To celebrate Flag Day this year, Stacie is flying to Austin! OK, so it’s just a coincidence that she happens to be here on Flag Day. We are not actually celebrating flags.
Every year, I attend Stacie, Meredith and Becca’s roommate reunion weekend. I lived in their apartment with Stacie during our final summer of school (what’s up August grads!) when I was taking “Intro to Christian Ethics” and “Prodestant Reformation Survey” and Stacie was taking some sort of math.
What was that about, Stacie? Why were you taking math?
That summer, Stacie taught me about Goldschlager and “That 70’s show” and I taught her the freedom of not wearing pants. Her class was at 8, and my classes were at 1, so we had our evenings together to head to Common Grounds.
Anyway, that one summer has earned me a ticket to their roommate reunion train. Stacie will fly in to the ATX and we will spend the weekend in San Antone with Becca, Meredith and her baby, Mabry!
Assembly Required!
Last week Ryan and I made the trip to the Austin IKEA for the first time. Man, IKEA is fun!
We purchased and assembled the long-coveted china cabinet with the instructions photographed here. Good thing I know Swedish – I was able to lead Ryan through the process. That same night, we unpacked our china from their original boxes (yes, they have remained unopened from our wedding in 2003). I am so pleased to have a china cabinet!
Enchanted Rock Editorial!
Ryan and I took our rescheduled camping trip this weekend. We spent Saturday night at
Enchanted Rock hiking, caving and (accidentally) rock climbing.
Ryan took me caving because it was “easy – like walking through a small hallway.” It was not. It was totally fun – but not as easy as Ryan explained. You are crawling, squeezing, and scooting around narrow, slippery granite. You have to pull yourself up and push yourself through lots of rocks! We have scrapes and bruises to prove it!
So, we got out of the cave and laughed about how much more difficult the caves were than Ryan remembered. Ha ha. After some friendly banter, we decided to hike down to the bottom. We looked to our left: drop off. We looked to our right: drop off. Hmmmm. How do we get down … OH we have to rock climb back to the top (Ryan didn’t remember this part either).
So, Hilary “I have never rock climbed in my life why are you doing this to me” Marchbanks sets up for her first rock climb - 1600 feet in the air. No training! It was scary! But Ryan was cool, calm and collected.
When we got to the top, Ryan then admitted that he acted cool, calm and collected so that I wouldn’t freak out, but he was really worried because I had never done anything like that before. “Nothing like almost killing your wife!” he joked. I punched him (I’m kidding).
Then we talked about how much we loved life and each other. We saw a lizard and talked to him about how lucky he was to be alive. We made sweet, sweet love there in front of the tourists. (I’m also kidding about making the sweet, sweet love.)
We got back to our campsite to set up our tent. Then we hiked back up to the top for some star gazing, enjoyed a dinner of campfire hotdogs and s’mores (Ryan dropped a flaming marshmellow on his knee – scar to prove it) and hiked around the rocks the next morning.
It was a great trip!
Enchanted Rock Pictures!
The big, pink granite Enchanted Rock
Ryan during the first hike
Hilary at the top of Enchanted Rock
The end of the cave!
The end of the cave!
See the trees at the top? That's where we were climbing!
UBC June Meeting!
The second monthly meeting of the Uptown Buffet Club was a success … Well, kind of. Morgan and I didn’t follow the rules. We decided that we wanted to go to CiCi’s so we didn’t draw buffet names. To stop a repeat uprising in July, we drew the July buffet location immediately after the June meeting.
As you can see from the picture of John, we did extensive research to decide which buffets to include in the July drawing. We projected a buffet Austin search on the wall.
Morgan drew the revered and feared Thomas Super Buffet ... that should be an adventure!
Anyway, back to CiCi's. The mac and cheese pizza is super delicious, but the highlight of the evening was DEFINATELY "Pizza Thomas." He gathered all the children for a prize drawing preceded by an awkward attempted comedy-esque routine. I think he’s local – I am not sure you can look for him at all CiCi’s.
I saw the sign!
I grew up in the Bible belt. Actually, I think it's safe to say that Oklahoma City is one of the shiny diamonds in the huge belt buckle of the Bible belt. It's a pretty evangelical place.
There are several Protestant churches in Oklahoma, so when driving down any given road, you will see lots of church signs. Some are straightforward (Sunday Morning Services at 8:45, 10:30 and 11:00 a.m.), but some church sign coordinators try to be clever. Usually, the signs illicit a... "Huh?" response.
This website categorizes all sorts of such church signs! Funny stuff. Thanks for sending, Stephanie! Enjoy!
Ellie and Will are parents!
Willow is Ellie and Will’s new kitty! Meow!
A neighbor of Ellie and Will’s found a wittle bitty kitten (on Willow Way) and Ellie and Will “can’t say no to baby kittens.” She is only 4 ½ weeks old! She’s so young she can’t take care of herself. Ellie and Will have to feed her 4 times a day with a wittle bitty syringe and even teach her how to use the bathroom. As evidenced by the picture, they are loosing sleep. Being a parent is stressful!
Their three cats are jealous that Willow is getting all the attention. Hopefully they will be friends soon.
Congrats on the new addition, Will and Ellie!
The big, pink granite Enchanted Rock
Ryan during the first hike
Hilary at the top of Enchanted Rock
The end of the cave!
The end of the cave!
See the trees at the top? That's where we were climbing!
