Texas Chic

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Surviving the Storm

Just wanted everyone to know that we have survived Hurricane Ike. There was no major damage to the house, a few shingles flew off and a vent pipe may need to be replaced. There were a few tree limbs and shingles in the yard. Other than that, things fared well. It was definitely scary with the winds shaking the house like an earthquake and listening to the rain ping against the windows was unnerving. But the cats and I hunkered down in the closet and waited out the storm. I did not have a radio (by the way, don't wait to get one like I did everyone should have one no matter where you live) so I spoke to friends and Hakeem to get updates on the eye's position through the night.

At about 7 am, it was mostly over and I began to survey the neighborhood from the windows. The surrounding streets were covered in water, the stretch in front of my house was not. I was glad to see the new house had held up to 100+ mph winds for 7 hours and the street was high enough not be covered. As the rain slowed, the water subsided and neighbors began walking around surveying the damage done to the area. There were several trees in the area that did topple over in the winds. Some missing houses, others not. ( I have some pictures from my neighborhood, just don't have a memory card reader to download the pictures yet.)

My neighborhood has no power still so I am staying at a friend's house till the temperatures go down (a cold front is on the way bringing 60 degree lows) or power is restored. I am grateful that she has power and was willing to let me and the cats come for a few days.

So all-in-all things are better than I expected. I don't think there is power at the office either so work will be delayed for many days. I can only hope that power is restored before next weekend. I am supposed to be off to London/Paris on Saturday to visit Hakeem. I would like to be able to enjoy that time away without worrying about home.

I want to thank you all for keeping me in your thoughts during this tragedy in Houston. Know that I and the cats are well and have taken refuge at a friends house and are safe.

Think Happy thoughts for everyone affected by this Storm.

Saturday, August 16, 2008

Disneyland pictures

I know these may seem out dated now, but they will always be wonderful memories for me.

My arrival was definately a surprise for Corey as I entered the hotel room after 10pm in California. His words were "Mimi, what are you doing here?" Priceless.

He and I had a blast with everyone else there. He only wanted to sit next to me on rides or anywhere else we sat. And was always holding my hand. It was the best 4 days at Disneyland.

Somehow we managed to convince him to ride Splash Mountain. Dixie having the walker, we were able to go to the exit and get on with a much shorter line. Along the way to the exit, Corey (being the very literate eight year old that he is) reads: Warning 50 foot plunge. Which prompts the question, "What's a plunge?" He certainly found out what a plunge is as you can see from his expression, he doesn't like plunges.

Sunday, June 08, 2008

DisneyLand!

My Aunt Dixie is treating my nephew and mom and few other family friends to a trip to Disneyland and has invited me to be a kid again too! We will be there the last week of June and I couldn't be more exicted to surprise Corey (he doesn't know I will be joining them) and see my mom and Aunt.

Hakeem's latest Visit

Hakeem arrived on May 2nd on his latest visit. He was here for 8 too short days. The first night he was here we went to a Rhianna and Kanye West concert in The Woodlands. We had a great time. Erica joined us at the concert, which was her first time meeting him.

On Sunday, Hakeem and I left for a 4-day road trip to "Hill Country" as they call it in Texas. We spent the night in Austin at a great hotel overlooking Towne Lake. I am not sure if anyone else has heard about Stubb's BBQ sauces sold in stores across the US, but the original restaraunt (BBQ sauces started after the restaraunt) is based in Austin. We enjoyed some very good brisket and mashed sweet potatoes there. If you are ever in Austin and hankerin' for BBQ, Stubb's is the place to go (only 3 blocks from the famous 6th St bar sceen)!

On Monday we toured the State Capitol and spent some time on the UT campus as well.

They are so proud of Texas they even engrave it in every single door hinge!

This is the clock tower on the UT campus. We didn't have a map of the campus or anything, so we just parked and started walking...We still cannot believe that we found the Geology building!

After the campus tour we hit the road headed to our campsite for the next two nights at Enchanted Rock State Park, just outside of Fredericksburg, TX.

Enchanted Rock is a HUGE pluton that is now a the surface. (Pluton: an intrusive igneous rock body that crystallized from a magma source below the surface of the Earth)

This is a bird that we came across on the Echo Canyon Trail, it was watching Hakeem pretty intently.

Below are some pictures from around town in Houston after our camping Trip.

Monday, March 10, 2008

Caribbean Cruise

Our boat in Jamaica:

The Gang (St. Arnold's Army members, Erica, Katy, and James) hanging out in Erica and I's stateroom.

Margaritaville in Jamaica

Everyone, I would like you to meet Geoff. I picked him up from street vendor in Jamaica, and then hauled him all over Montego Bay, including the beach. He is a treasured addition to the house!

This is the group of people that were on the Shore excursion with me on Grand Cayman. This is the first stop....Hell.

"Look Mom, I'm in Hell!"

This is hell, an uplifted coral reef. The story goes that the new governor of Grand Cayman (in 1962) was bird hunting and was looking for the birds he shot when he came upon this: to which he exclaimed, "Oh Bloody Hell!"

Another stop on the tour was to the Boatswain's Turtle Farm. There were thousands of sea turtles here. They have a very large pit that contained 100-200 turtles where the avg. age was 35 and the oldest was a 75 yr. old female who was still producing offspring each year!

And they even let you hold the 1.5 yr old turtles!

They were so cute. If you notice my finger is under this ones chin, they are comforted when you rub their neck while you hold them.

And some of you maybe wondering, "why are you visiting land attractions versus the Stingray City tour you talked nonstop about?" Well this picture best describes why. The government shut down all water activities the day we were there because there were 8-10 ft seas. I will just have to go back soon to feed the stingrays!

This is Cozumel, just before we departed. I didn't take many pictures here because I had thrown my back out just before going ashore (never exercise while on vacation!). So I concentrated more on walking (and trying not to look like a hunchback) then taking pictures.