congratulations!!!!!!

To my beautiful sister Jessica and my awesome brother-in-law Kevin!!!

A week and a half ago They found out Jessica was pregnant, last week they found out she was 4 1/2 months along and is due mid November, and today they found out they are having a girl!!!! Yay!!! Adding another girl to the fam!!! :) What a whirlwind for them, but everyone is super excited and can't wait to welcome Audrey Burgi, can't wait until November!!!!

A Bit Disgusted....

On a whim last night after work we decided to go down to Galveston so we could sit on the beach (Chris did a little swimming, I did not).  We figured that it was close enough, about 45 miles, and we are really missing San Diego and being able to go to the beach anytime we want.  Well, these are not my Beautiful California beaches!  As I was sitting on the beach waiting for Chris to get done swimming, I couldn't help but take some of the pictures of this beach.  There is no pride in how beautiful the Gulf could be here, and I couldn't believe people could be like this!  There was trash everywhere!!!!  I watched a couple families clean out their BAGS by throwing their garbage onto the sand and then walk away.  And they of course weren't the only ones!  It was so dirty and trashy.  I took a few pictures so you could all see, but they don't even begin to show how messy it was.  I was disgusted and saddened....

Back to Something More Familiar

So it has been a VERY long time since Chris and I have gotten to do something we really love.  Before we ever even dated, when we were just friends and I was dating his roommate (hee hee hee), we loved to go rock climbing together.  Chris even proposed to me by attaching a ring to the carabiner at the top of a climb.  But, unfortunately right after he proposed my shoulder doctors told me I was not allowed to rock climb because of the damage in my shoulder.  3 years, 2 shoulder surgeries, a back surgery and a move to a mountainless city, we went to a rock climbing gym to see how my shoulder would hold up.  I was totally awful because I have no strength in my shoulder still, but it sure felt good to try.  I only top roped some very easy climbs, because I was a little nervous on how it would go.  I had a great time, and I am pretty sure we are going to keep going so that we can get into a little bit better shape since there is not much of the usual activities here in Houston, Texas that we have grown up loving.  You do what you can right?

Chris right after he got finished with the rigorous test the gym put him through so he could lead climbs in the gym.  It was pretty intense actually.  I only had to take the belaying test because I do not want to lead climbs yet with my shoulder so weak.  I passed, thanks Casey for the hours of Belaying you and your friends!  Ha ha ha!

As you can tell I am doing a very easy climb, and not breaking much of a sweat, but believe me, my shoulder was feeling it!

Chris doing the same climb.  It was a lot easier for him.  He sped up it.

And just for fun, and for purposes of my memories, here is a glimpse at our climbing past and how we would like to be again:

Idyllwild, CA

This is our first climbing adventure together.  Here he is belaying his friend Paul, and realized that there were knots in the rope so I am hurrying to take them out before he gets to that point in the rope.  It was very bad, and we had a close call when Paul fell!!  ALWAYS PUT YOUR ROPE AWAY CORRECTLY!!   :)

This is after as we are doing a 3 pitch climb.  I am belaying Chris.

Joshua Tree, CA

This was a fun trip!!!  This was a few months before we actually started dating.  We took a friend that was visiting from France to Joshua Tree, and had a great time!

Me belaying once again!

Chris tired after belaying me for once :)

This was one of my favorite climbs in Joshua tree.  It was a little bit hard for me, and it took me awhile, but I finally did it, even after my fingers were frozen because the sun was going down.  It could have been because Chris wouldn't let me down until I finished!

Mission Gorge, CA.

Last but not least, this is when Chris proposed to me.  We actually didn't take these pictures.  There was a guy there that was taking pictures for the website of this area of climbing, and he took the pictures.  So not only is the climb recorded for us, but it is on the official website for these climbs!  Perfect.  Chris led this climb, and then wanted me to do the same one.  When I got to the top there was a HUGE GAUDY "Diamond" ring attached to the carabiner.  I almost fell off the rock in shock!  It took me awhile to get my bearings, then on my way down, he stopped me half way down, hanging from the rope and proposed with the real ring.  He let me down when I said yes.  :)

This is after the proposal when Chris is climbing again.

Sorry if this post was boring, but it was fun for me to go down memory lane!

Art Car Show

I know, I know....It has been like an eternity since I have blogged.  But, I got a little blogged out after blogging our whole trip to Asia.  But, not only that, we have not done anything too exciting.  We have done a few things, like camping, working, Chris rode his bike in the MS 150 and we started salsa dancing classes (which is a lot of fun, but I think Chris will only last one session).  

I had a to put up some pictures we took this last weekend at the Houston Art Car show.  It was pretty amazing what they did with some of these cars.  And these aren't even the best ones!!  The lighting was that great, so sorry about that.  People are very artistic with their cars, I had no idea this world existed!  Not only that, but most of these cars are licensed and drive around legally!!  But, less talk, take a look at these cars:

This is a genie car.  It had a strobe light inside with a bed, and smoke came out of the top!

I think this one was going for a Christmas theme, but I am not totally sure.

If you take a close look you can see that this one is done completely out of easter "peeps"  Bet you didn't know the art you could do with those!

Awww....the Crapper Car...Need I say more?

I found this bunny one a tad bit scary myself.  When the car drives around the bunny actually moves up and down.  I saw it drive.  It really does.

I don't really know what is up with this golf cart, but it was artsy.

And last but not least, these two go carts were made into bunny slippers.  I want one of my own!

So, you would think there was an waster theme, but it actually wasn't.  It just so happened that those were the pictures turned out.  I found out that there is an art car museum around here, so if any of you come and visit we can go check it out :)

The Great Asian Race: Day 15 - Day 16 The Conclusion!

I know, I know, you thought you would never see the end of these posts.  Yea, well I thought I would never get through them.  My blog is going to be very boring after this one.  I won't really have anything to write about.  Oh well.  

Day 15

Today we are waking up and taking the train back to Tokyo for the day.  yay!  Another ride in the bullet train!

This is really the room we paid $100/night for.  Yep we folded out that little futon mattress and slept on the floor AND had to share a communal bathroom.  Not as nice as previous hotels, but it was the experience that counts, right?

This is what I usually looked like while traveling

You can't really tell, but under all of those clouds is Mt. Fuji...

Once in Tokyo it was a whirlwind of sites since we only had a day!

Chris in the electronics district.  Boy did he love it there!

Checking out all the sites in Tokyo

A Kabuki theatre in the Tokyo National Museum

The 3rd tallest building in the world, and we are headed there to take the elevator to the top!

The sunset at 47 stories up over Tokyo.

I don't know what this building is, but I thought it looked cool.

More overlooking Tokyo.

And we are still up there as it gets dark.

This is Hirojuku.  It is where the young adult girls get all crazy with their outfits.  Gwen Stefani says she gets a lot of her inspiration here.  It was pretty crazy!

Next onto Shinjoku, actually I don't know how to spell it, but you get the idea.

This is a picture of the busiest intersection in the world.  Not too busy at night, but during the day it is crazy!

I know I didn't get many fun pictures here in Tokyo but we were traveling around the city so much that I didn't get my camera out all that often.  We stayed in the city that night, and luckily had a bed to sleep on.  We even had Karaoke in our room!  ha ha ha!  Gotta love Karaoke hotel room!

Day 16

Our last day in Asia....Sad, but I was about ready.  Our plane did not leave until 2:00 so we decided to go to the Imperial Palace before we left.

Chris getting ready to walk through the main gate

The path through the Imperial East Gardens

Guardhouse

The memorial site of one of the brave Samurai warriors.

Tea Gardens at the Imperial Palace

Kind of like a shed in your backyard, but one made out of stone!

I love this picture.  It is the moat surrounding the Imperial Palace.  It looks so serene with the swan.  I was pretty proud of myself for taking such a good picture!  ha ha ha
The Tokyo train station.  We spent a lot of time here getting around!! Our last sight of Japan before the Plane.

And there you have it.  A wild and crazy 16 days!!!  I can't believe it took me so long to finish!!!