It Took 23 Years To Break My First Bone

I have broken my first bone. One of my toes...the little ring toe on my right foot to be exact. I'm now in for a 6 week recovery time according to the doctor. I never thought that something so little could be such a big inconvenience. I can't walk very far, which means no exercising and it certainly puts a damper on some other fun things that I'd rather be doing than sitting with my foot elevated.

How did it happen?

The husband was goofing off and pretending to fall on the bed instead of walking the dog. I watched him dramatically fall onto the bed from the living room and saw him bounce off and heard him hit the floor. I ran to see if he was okay and hit the dining room chair next to the bedroom doorway with full force. There was a scream...and thus the broken toe. The husband was fine by the way. He had been laughing about his fall until he heard the scream.

It's sad...not even a good story to tell. Oh well...now I can saw that I kind of know what it feels like to break a bone...even if it is a tiny one.

2nd Married Halloween (in pictures)

First Business Trip - SMX East

We went to NYC for the SMX East Conference

The Javits Convention Center

Damon and I on the Today Show

Catching up with Leanne 

(my favorite old roomie)

San Francisco

As Time Goes By...

Another two months have passed and I think it's time to pick up the blog for a little while again. We'll see how long this stint lasts.

1 Year Wedding Anniversary

My New Baby...DSLR Camera That Is

The Canon EOS Rebel T1i Digital SLR Camer

Specs, Pics & Video

The Birthday Post...coming soon

• Boot Camp at Work
• Team Meeting
• Team took me out for Lunch
• Kyle sent Tiff's Treats (aka Best Cookies Ever) to my Office
• Busy Busy Busy at Work
• Home to See Kyle
• Open Presents which consisted of these knock-off Huggable Hangers that I've wanted for re-organizing the closet and a bunch of camera accessories (tripods, camera bag, sd card)
• Kyle told me that the next day we were going to go buy the fancy SLR digital camera that I've been wanting for over a year
• Kyle and I went out to Fogo to Chao (fancy all you can eat Brazilian restaurant) for our most expensive dinner in 5 years.
• Food Coma ensued.
• Came Home and Watched Gilmore Girls episodes (my choice) in bed until it was time to crash.

Painted Apartment

After finding out how much it would cost to paint our apartment back to the special shade of Sherwin Williams off-white paint that it is, we decided to only paint one wall....a blue wall in the bedroom. It may not be the total apartment paint makeover originally planned, but I love it. So calming...

On a side note, the quilt on the bed was made for us as a wedding gift from Kyle's grandmother last summer. It's our summer comforter because it is WAY too hot in Texas for a down comforter during summer.

Nerd Post

Tonight at 11:01 p.m. our time facebook opened up a vanity url free-for-all.  And I got....*drumroll please*.....facebook.com/vanessa.moore! I'm just so excited to get something with my married name in it. I ended up with a personal email that contains my old initials and married name.  Apparently there are a billion semi-tech savvy Vanessa Moore(s) in the world.  Finally I've claimed my new name for a small piece of my social networking self. Mission accomplished. Time for bed...

Storm Craziness

Nothing like a massive thunderstorm with three tornadoes touching down within ten minutes of where you are huddled in your bathtub alone with the dog to make you think about the importance of things.  I can't believe that the first night Kyle works a late theatre gig in over a month a crazy storm decides to sweep the city of Austin leaving his wife freaked out.  I will say one thing...I got everything together like a pro. As soon as the TV man told me to take shelter immediately, I grabbed flashlights, candles, lighters, a water pitcher, granola bar and reading material.  I could have camped out until morning if necessary. I prayed harder than I have in quite some time as I heard through the bathroom door that a third tornado had touched down across 183 from us. I'm so thankful that everything ended up being okay and we survived. I still don't know if my car survived the hail...I'll check when it stops raining. So my girls night of painting nails, blogging, making rice crispy treats and watching chick flicks turned into a night of huddling in the one part of the bathroom that I didn't get to cleaning last weekend. Lovely...

Salt Lake City and Moore Marriage #2

At the end of May we traveled to Salt Lake City to celebrate Kyle's brother, Devin's wedding.  Pictures coming soon!

The Job Update

Almost a month into the new job and I'm still loving it and learning like crazy. I have so much more to learn before I'm anywhere near ready to fly solo, but I am starting to work on a few of my future accounts. I'm going to have accounts. That alone is a huge deal to me. The fact that I will actually have control over multiple accounts after working solely on one major account with a team of people. It's just nice to have a little more responsibility and to feel the support of your team. Everyone has been really great about building me up and pushing me to make judgement calls and give my opinion.

All in all, things are going well. Sometimes I feel lost and confused, while other times everything just seems to follow perfectly in place. It's amazing how a higher stress job can actually be more enjoyable than one that you could do with your eyes closed. I'm just taking things one day at a time, but I definitely feel very blessed to be working.

Miracles Happen

I'm still in complete shock. I found a new job and I start Monday! I received the official job offer exactly one month to the day of the lay-off. This just does not happen.... especially with the economy being what it is currently. I'm not saying any of this to brag. I'm just so fully aware of how blessed Kyle and I have been. 

Even in the short time of a month, I have learned more about myself and seen our marriage strengthened. While I've always leaned on Kyle for support, I had to learn to let him carry me when I couldn't stand on my own two feet. He fully stepped up to the plate to make sure that we could survive financially if it were to take several months for me to find a job. I'm so glad that I'm going to be able to help contribute again and take some of the weight from his shoulders.

The job itself is an amazing opportunity for me. I will be a Search Marketing Specialist at a company that specializes in marketing for small financial institutions. Essentially, they help provide the marketing tools and internet presence necessary for smaller banks to compete with the megabanks like Wells Fargo, Bank of America, etc. I will be learning all of the ins and outs of search engine marketing, client relations and business strategies. The other major perk...I get my own office! It's small, but it's an office. I am completely terrified and yet totally excited for Monday morning. Yet another new chapter begins...

The Waiting Game

A couple of interviews have taken place and now it's only a waiting game until I find out whether or not I need to continue with the job hunt.

Let the Interviews Begin

I scheduled my first official interview for tomorrow since the job hunt began. I've had two other companies request an interview, but they were both part of that same job scam. It's extremely difficult to search for jobs in the advertising/marketing category. Half of all the postings are for sales position...and full time salesman I am not. Hopefully the interview will go well, but if it's not a perfect match, at least I will get some interviewing experience again. ...And it only took 3 weeks to snag an interview somewhere. I'm excited to start this process again...and only a little nervous.

Job Scamming

So....I got my first interview request this morning....too bad it was part of a job scam. It's just a good thing that I did a little background research on the company before returning their call. This particular company was part of a group of around 30 marketing companies in the scam. Basically, by the second interview I would have found myself at a folding table outside of a local grocery store trying to sell products like car wax to customers as they leave. Not the job for me. You live and you learn. Thankfully, I didn't have to learn the hard way.

Let the Job Hunt Begin...

And so the job hunt officially begins. The resume has been updated and the cover letters written. I've applied to my first two job postings in the Search Engine Marketing world and I'm feeling optimistic about getting the ball rolling.

Everything Happens for a Reason...or so they keep telling me

Last Monday I had the chance to finally feel what many other Americans have felt before me...what it is like to be laid off from a job. For those of you who haven't felt the special feelings associated with this experience...they are not fun. Friday was a normal day at work. Everything was positive and going strong. Monday, after about an hour of work, several of us were notified that the company had lost their biggest account which meant that three of us were being let go. The entire conversation felt like an out of body experience for me. I'm still trying to piece together everything and figure out what my next move will be. I guess this is the way the cookie crumbles in the real working world. 

On a related note, I'm guessing that the blog is about to undergo a few changes as I begin this new chapter in my life. Things are about to get random as I go about finding a new job, attempting to save money like crazy and exploring a few of my untapped interests and hobbies that I never had time for. Here we go...

Green Spring Cleaning

I ended up buying the new issue of Real Simple Magazine while we were stranded in the Chicago airport. Words cannot describe how much I love this magazine. I love the paper, the photography, the articles....total inspiration in a magazine. I have a few leftover Amazon gift cards from work rewards that just might have to go towards a subscription.

When we started running low on some of our staple cleaning supplies a few weeks ago, I started looking into making my own natural cleaners. I put off actually beginning the process of making everything, but then was so excited to see that green cleaning was one of the main focuses of this month's issue. There is a whole section that talks about the many cleaning uses of a variety of basic household products like baking soda, vinegar and lemons. I can't wait to get started!

Chicago Trip Recap

Our first trip as a married couple since the Honeymoon was amazing! We had a blast and I'm pretty sure that we saw just about everything that there was to see in the Loop area of Chicago. We had one definite thing to do everyday (something we had bought tickets for) and then a long list of random things that we wanted to do at some point during our 3 day stay. We did absolutely everything on our list. The weather was fantastic, which apparently was not the case for the week before and after we were there. We had the chance to catch up with Kyle's friend/college roommate from Missouri and spend the day with him and his fiance. We still might consider moving there at some point....but I think that it would be a long time for now. We definitely do not have the money for that city and I just don't know about the windy cold weather. Even if we never live there, I'm really glad that had the opportunity to go explore the city together. 

Pictures soon! They are on Facebook already.

Travel Voucher = Endless Possibilities

American Airlines has recently cut back the number of flights they offer. The problem is that they are now overbooking many of their flights....which was the case on our nonstop flight from Chicago to Houston. They offered a travel voucher for $300/ticket if anyone was willing to take a later multi-stop flight. I really wanted to get home, so I resisted this first offer. While we were in line to board the plane, the man behind the counter started talking to us and expressing how badly they needed two more people to give up their seats on the plane. Finally, he offered us $400/ticket travel vouchers that are good for a year and have no black out dates. We gave in, had lunch in the airport with a food voucher they gave us and ended up back in Austin at 2 a.m.

Yes it was a VERY long day and a VERY late night for us....but now we get to go on another trip in the next year. Airfare is expensive, but $800 should go pretty far if we really keep an eye out for the deals. I can't stop thinking about where we could go. The possibilities are endless!

London?

Bahamas?

SanFrancisco

Disney World?

Time to start saving up again!

Gone to Chicago

It's been a while since I last posted, but life has once again swept me away into its craziness. Kyle and I are leaving for our Chicago trip on Thursday. We are completely consumed with getting ready to leave in the meantime...so I will definitely be posting several trip blog posts when we get back and a ton of pictures I'm sure. Happy Saint Paddy's Day!!

Real Simple Macaroni & Cheese with Cauliflower

Real Simple Magazine's Macaroni & Cheese

Recipe Available Here

Last month I had a coupon for Real Simple Magazine, so I bought the February issue for the comfort food recipe section advertised on the cover. I absolutely LOVE Real Simple magazine, but each issue typically runs $4-$5...so I only buy them occasionally as a special treat. I've been dying to try this recipe in particular...and tonight I did! Kyle has to work until 2am tonight and I am trying to stay up to see him (hence the making mac 'n cheese at midnight.)

My Version:

I was really expecting this macaroni to be magical macaroni...didn't quite live up to my expectations. For all of the cheese that I put in it didn't actually have a lot of taste. It's still pretty good. I'm proud of myself though for finally starting to do/make things that I have been thinking about over the past few months. Go me!

Austin Adventures

Last weekend Kyle's good friend (and best man from the wedding) came to stay for the weekend. In an effort to show him a good time, "Austin Style", we took him to Kerbey Lane Cafe, EZ's, Peter Pan Mini Golf and Alamo Drafthouse to see Slumdog Millionaire before the Oscars. 

Nathan getting ready for golfing

Dixie & I riding the whale

Dixie being eaten by the whale

Sunday afternoon we managed to make it down to the Austin Kite Festival. It was really fun just getting out and doing something Austiny. I loved seeing all of the different kites that people had. I think my favorites were the octopus, peacock, owl and pirate ship kites.

"Let's Go Fly a Kite.."

Our Family at the Kite Festival

Tool Thief

Friday night between the hours of 10 p.m. and 10 a.m. a mysterious tool thief stole all of Kyle's tools out of his truck. They took the tool box that I gave him for Christmas (which was full of the tools that he uses for work) as well as two other tool bags. We've already notified the apartment complex as well as the police. We know that nothing is going to be making it's way back home, but at least we now have a police report number to use for insurance, or at the very least, a tax refund. Needless to say, we're bummed. We spent about $60 yesterday on replacing the absolute essentials that he needed for his gig today, but it will be a long time before everything is replaced. He had been collecting his tools for years and we have figured that it was about a $500-$800 loss. Real bummer....  I hope the tool bandit is caught if he strikes again here.

Candles Candles Candles

I've been making an effort recently to figure out things that I like/love. This may seem silly and extremely easy for the average person, but I've never been one of those people that walked around with an invisible list of things that they liked or were "so them." I guess that I am just on a mini personal journey to discover a little more about my style...so from time to time I will be posting random things that I like and/or love.

Vanessa's First Favorite Thing......CANDLES!!!!

I absolutely love candles. They can create a relaxing or romantic mood and they smell so good while they do it.

My Personal Favorites:

Illuminations Candles

www.illuminations.com

WoodWick Candles

www.virginiacandle.com

(They make crackling noises while they burn.)

and the new....

DixieDIY Candles

dixiediy.etsy.com

(Homemade candles in vintage containers by my friend)

Quote Journal

Back in the early days of high school, I kept a quote journal for a few months. The other night I found it while organizing our bookshelf and decided that it was time to start a new one. I loved reading the random collection of quotes that I had pulled from all over the place. Each one had stood out to me and I still found most of them to be interesting and beautiful today. I'm the type of person that owns a billion journals with the first few pages of each filled out. It's so much easier for me to blog about my personal life than to write them by hand in a journal or diary for some reason. It may seem that my posts are few and far between at times, but this blog is actually my best attempt so far at staying on top of journaling my life.

Despite the fact that I still own many of this almost empty journals, I decided to by a new one to serve as my after college/after becoming a married lady quote journal. I stopped by Barnes & Noble on my way home from work on Friday and purchased this pretty leather-ish journal:

Peter Pauper Press Filigree Journal

I tried so hard to pick one that wasn't blue because it is already my natural tendency to be drawn to pretty blue things....but I couldn't resist. I kept picking up others to convince my self that I loved them, but after returning to this one three times, I knew it was the one for me.

First Married Valentine's Day!!

This year to celebrate hearts & love day we decided to keep things a little more low key. We both were in need of a day to recharge. I had a baby shower to go to in the morning, so Kyle made me breakfast while I got ready. After the shower, we went out for a nice lunch together at a local restaurant. Kyle's biggest Valentine's gift this year was an individual massage for both of us. His massage was scheduled first, so I dropped him off on the way home. When I opened the door, there were some beautiful flowers and chocolate truffles waiting for me that he had set up while I had been gone in the morning. While Kyle was being massaged, I set up his gifts (chocolate, a candy toolbox and a book) next to where my gifts had been placed. Next, I went for my massage, which was super fancy. You got to adjust the room temperature, you could have the bed heated and she even put lavender oils on the headrest. She used hot stones for part of the massage...which was Amazing! I'd never had a hot stone massage before, but I have to say that I'm definitely a fan now. Sooo relaxing....

We spent the rest of the afternoon watching movies at home. That night we attempted making lasagna for the first time together from scratch and then had our own romantic, candlelit dinner at home. No crowded restaurant, no super expensiveness and no waiting or reservation necessary.

All in all, Valentine's day was everything that I hoped it would be!

Chicago, Chicago--that toddlin' town.

Chicago, Chicago--that toddlin' town.

Chicago, Chicago--I'll show you around. I love it.

Bet your bottom dollar you'll lose the blues in Chicago, Chicago.

The town that Billy Sunday could not shut down.

On State Street that great street, I'd just like to say-

They do things that they never do on Broadway.

They have the time, the time of their life.

I saw a man, he danced with his wife.

In Chicago...Chicago...Chicago.

That's my hometown!

~Frank Sinatra

It's official... the plane tickets and hotel reservations are on my credit card. We're going to Chicago in March! So excited!

Busy Busy Bee

Life is definitely starting to pick up again... but in a good way. Work is busy, but not nearly the same level of craziness that Quarter 4 was. I was very motivated at the beginning of this quarter and am trying my hardest to keep that drive. Everything is flying around so fast during Christmas that you feel that sense of urgency to get your ads up as fast as possible. Now that the season is over it's hard to get that driving force back... but I'm certainly trying.

On another note, I am also making an effort to finally get organized to start all of the little projects that were put on the back burner during the holidays.

These projects include:

• Organizing Wedding Cards
• Printing Wedding Pictures
• Putting Wedding Picture in Albums

(...noticing a trend here?)

• Journaling
• Reading -- for myself and Book Club
• Apartment Fixes
• Cutting Clutter (fighting my pack rat tendencies)

Our Semi Wedding Anniversary ~ 6 Months!!!

That's right...It has been six whole months since our beautiful wedding on August 2, 2008. I seriously cannot believe how fast the months have flown by. On the other hand, it's hard to remember a time before we were married. Everything is just so natural. I love him now more than ever and he is by far the best roommate that I have ever had (despite the whole socks under the coffee table thing.)

Six months may not seem that long, but it's still a big deal to us. Unfortunately, tomorrow is going to be a very long day of work for Kyle and I will be working until at least six. No matter what time we both get off though, we will be going out for a nice dinner to celebrate and then coming home for a sparkling cider toast with our wedding champagne flutes. We're excited!

The NewlyMoore's Super Bowl (More Like Awesome Commercial Night) Party

My Homemade Super Bowl Bundt Cake

Recent Happenings

(more to come later):

• Pop Princess Sing-A-Long at the Alamo Draft House
• Church Couple's Game Night at Our Place
• New Hires at Work

Life Goes On...

I'm officially back in the blogosphere again. Honestly, I didn't forget about the blog for an entire month like I have been known to in the past. I really just needed a break from putting any obligations on myself. Every time I started to write a post, I would end up deleting it because I couldn't finish. Sometimes it can be difficult to write a new post after one that meant so much to you. Everything that I could set next to my last post seemed trivial to me. But in the end I know that life does go on. There is no appropriate "next post"...so I am simply going to start writing again. Back to normal. Back to life.

Learning to Cope & Comfort Together

I posted the title yesterday because I wanted this post to be date accurate. Yesterday my 97 year old grandfather passed away. He was hospitalized last Thursday for pneumonia, but everyone seemed optimistic that he would pull through without a problem in three to four days. I, however, saw it as the beginning of the end and took the news rather hard. Something told me that this was it. Kyle walked in almost immediately after I hung up the phone, and automatically switched in to super husband mode. 

As the days passed, the doctors in the hospital discovered more and more problems. He had a massive infection on top of the pneumonia and was having difficulty swallowing and breathing. As the week went on our personal prayers changed from wanting him to get better to letting him not suffer and comforting the family. Kyle would sit with me every time I got off the phone and comfort me.

Yesterday morning they put a feeding tube in to help him get nutrients and medicine. At noon all of the kids were called to agree on a Do Not Resuscitate  order. I called my mom on the way home from work to hear the latest update and she said that he was turning around. His vitals were improving and she was going back up there the next day instead of last night to be with him. I got home and one of my good friends came over to sit with me because I had been bummed all week. About 10 minutes after she left, I got the call saying that he had stopped breathing and passed. I ran to the door, opened it, and Kyle was there. He had just gotten home from work and immediately just hugged me and wouldn't let me go. 

My grandfather was 97 years old. This was only the second time in his entire life to stay in a hospital. He still walked over a mile a day and lived at home. He still had a super sharp memory and could tell you stories from his childhood, historical facts and random information on every former President of the United States. During his lifetime he held numerous work positions. He was a minister for years. He was a teacher of just about every subject at one point or another, but history was always his favorite. He was a football coach for a season, even though he had never seen a game before. He married people, buried people, taught them, and lived to see his great grandchildren. There was a part of me that honestly thought that he would never die. I knew this was impossible, but he was such an extraordinary person who lived such a long life that I thought maybe he was special somehow. It is so incredibly sad and hard to let him go, but at the same time, how can you be upset when he had the life he did? I'm so thankful that I found the gospel before I had to deal with this blow... it really is a great source of comfort in itself. 

I don't know what I would do without Kyle in my life. He has been an amazing source of comfort on  several occasions since we got married. Both of us have had a grandparent pass away while we were dating. Both of us had no idea how to comfort the other at the time. I really think that we have grown even closer since the wedding and we have such a strong understanding of each other now that he knew exactly what I needed. He just sat with his arms around me in silence while I dealt with the initial blow. When I calmed down, we went and picked up comfort food from this small local restaurant. By the end of the night, he even got a small smile out of me. I am just so grateful for my husband and love him more than anything in the world. So if nothing good can come from this situation, at least I was reminded of that.

New Year ~ New Resolutions

Every year we all make New Year's Resolutions...and a little while later we give up. I've decided that the more resolutions I make, the more likely I am to actually succeed at one of them. So here it goes...

Vanessa's 2009 Resolutions:

1. The obligatory: Get in Shape

2. Read Scriptures Daily and Learn more about the Gospel

3. Be a Better Wife, Daughter & Friend

4. Start Saving More

5. Making Time for Me Time

Ringing in 2009

This was our first New Year's celebration away from our families. Every year we usually spend the afternoon and dinner with the Freeman family and then head over to the Moore's for a long night of friends, family and fireworks.

This year, we had no definite plans except that Kyle had to blow things up on New Years Eve. We both got off of work at a reasonable time and relaxed at home for a little while before having dinner at Kerbey Lane with Dixie and Justin. 

Then, we left with Dixie to meet some other friends at the fireworks stand before going in search of the perfect "legal" play area for the boys. The guys spent a bunch of money on those giant firework packs that you see at the stands every year, while Dixie and I filled our little brown bag with Pop Pops, Sparklers, Ground Blooms and Roman Candles (for me.) We first drove down this road in front of a limestone factory that was supposedly public property. Within about a minute of our three car caravan turning down the road, we saw that lovely glow of police car lights behind us. Luckily, the officer didn't give anyone a citation and simply notified us that it was completely illegal to do fireworks in that entire county. 

We went back to the fireworks stand and asked the people in line where they were planning to go. They told us of a nearby neighborhood and we made our way there with only 30 minutes until midnight. We ended up just pulling up to a house that was shooting off their own firework display and asking to join in. In the end it was a fun (slightly terrifying for Dixie and me) experience that won't quickly be forgotten.

This was just one more of those experiences that didn't go as planned at all, but somehow turned out well after all was said and done.

Mission FINALLY Accomplished

Kyle and I officially finished our wedding thank you cards this week! Words can not describe how glad I am to finally be done with them. We were so incredibly blessed by everyone's gifts, but as the last gifts arrived several months after the wedding, they unfortunately became one more thank you card in my mind. I only know of about five people who will not be receiving thank you cards from us due to our lack of an address for them or our lack of knowing who they are at all. We did the very best we could and I declare the Moore wedding done! Now, we just get to play with all the pictures and enjoy the memories!

The Year of Five Christmases

Christmas Number One:

Kyle & Vanessa's Christmas

Christmas Number Two:

Christmas Eve with the Freemans

Christmas Number Three:

Christmas Day with the Moores

Christmas Number Four:

Christmas Night with Moore Church Friends

Christmas Number Five:

Post-Christmas Celebration with Vanessa's Relatives