December Update

It's been awhile since my last post...sorry to any fans out there. :)

Things are crazy in my life. The cats are doing well. Althea has finally stopped putting weight on, she is stable now at 10 lbs. Chester has been at a very healthy 13lbs for more than a year. They still love to play and cuddle together.

In Mid-November my friend Erica, found herself needing a change in her life and found a job opportunity here in Houston. So I opened up my very small apartment to her and she moved in. This made me even more anxious to buy a new house to move in before Mid-February. So I started doing my research on mortgages, houses, the market, etc...for the area that I live now. (I absolutely love the Heights Neighborhood! Albeit expensive but definitely worth it.) The first weekend in December I went out with a realtor to look at 10 houses. There were a few good ones throughout the day, but each one was missing something that was important to me. So by the last house I thought it was over and I would have to expand my bounds.

Then I walked in to the last house (which was the cheapest one on the list!) and fell in love with it. :) 1,746 sq. ft., brand new house (never been lived in), no housing association fees, with a great living space (and huge kitchen), and a wonderful master bath. And after my Christmas Bonus came through at work I was pre-approved for a mortgage!

I still have to sign the contract with the my buyer's agent, put in a bid, etc...but I am very excited about owning a home and having more space. No more moving every year!

And other big news in my life is that I will be traveling over the holidays. I will be able to get home for Christmas to my family in Washington. I am very excited to see everyone as there has been quite a few hospitalizations in my extended family over the past year. And I will be flying to London to spend New Year's with Hakeem. We haven't seen each other since late August, so we are both very excited. Another colleague of mine here in Houston will be visiting his Fiance then so we will be able to hang out for the eve.

And of course the count down has now begun! Only 68 more days till we set sail for the Caribbean Cruise!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Althea's Baby pictures

Hakeem and I on vacation in Texas

Last week Hakeem flew into town and we spent the time touring through Texas and having a good time away from work. We went to a friend's party, an Astro's baseball game, a movie, Carlsbad, NM and Carlsbad Caverns, the Alamo and the Riverwalk in San Antonio, laid by the pool, and watched the season opener of the Huskies football team. We also had the pleasure of meeting up with Bala, a classmate of his from University of Manchester, for lunch the last day Hakeem was here.

Here are a few pictures from our travels:

Hakeem at the Natural Entrance to Carlsbad Caverns

At the New Mexico - Texas border

At the Riverwalk in San Antonio

At an Astros baseball game

Surya and Hakeem with Surya's new car

Whites City, NM waiting for the bats to come out

Hakeem driving my truck...yes I actually let him drive

In the Caverns listening to information about the cave formations

Katy and James's Wedding

Katy and her dad

" Who gives this bride?"

"We do."

"Get it in there..."

Colorado Rocky Mountains

This past weekend I had the pleasure of traveling up to the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. The weather was beautiful and the air was fresh (and thin). I thought I would share some of the wildflower and mountain pictures with all of you.

This is the state flower of Colorado, the columbine, it comes in multitudes of colors.

By chance, I looked down while walking along a trail near the condos where we stayed and saw a FIVE leaf clover! This is not photoshopped folks!

So we hung out at Winter Park Resort for the day and took the ski lift up to the top (10,700') for lunch. I had never been on a ski lift before....this was taken near the bottom, by about halfway up there was no way in h*ll I was going to let go with either hand to take more pictures. At this point, the friend that I rode up with turns to me and says, "We could have put the bar across us...". I said, "WHAT F*@#ING BAR?!?" :) But I survived and I really was looking forward to going back down the same way. However, a lightening storm rolled in during lunch and they shut the lift down. We had to be bussed back down to the resort (9000'). And of course the diesel bus was from 1950 and there was standing room only...loads of fun. But here are some of the pictures from the top, it was beautiful.

Here are some of the flowers from around the condos...

10 yr High School Reunion

Earlier this month was my 10 yr. high school reunion in Tacoma, WA. There was a disapointing turnout (less than 40 classmates) , however we all had a great time. I was able to reconnect with a few people that I truly missed through the years.

Here are a few pictures from that night:

Cuddling kitties

Chester has begun to accept Althea's presence on top of the scratching post. He will occasionally allow her to come up and wrestle. Below is a picture of them actually cuddling (they were sleeping until I accidentally woke them when getting the camera ready).

She's a beggar

Althea loves to beg. Chester has just recently (because I don't do this very often) began to scream at me while I dish up some canned food for him. the other day I put a little gravy on his nose during the process. Althea smelled it and she also started screaming for food.

Also, I was eating lunch on the couch this past weekend and she smelled my Chicken and rice casserole and started screaming at me for a taste. Generally she only meows when she smells food and when she wants down from my arms. But she is still pretty cute when she is begging. :)


I took this picture this past weekend as well. Everytime I tried to put Althea on the cat tree at the same time as Chester, one of them always jumped down before the picture could be taken. Here she got up there on her own.

Last night before bed, Althea was lying next to me and Chester walked up and started giving her a bath. Then this morning I see that they are wrestling and both chasing each other.

I think they are pretty much best buds now.

New kitten

On Sunday I went to the SPCA here in Houston and found a kitten for Chester and I to adopt. HE was named Sprinkles, two months old, dary grey tabby (but the stripes run parallel to the back not across), and VERY cute. I paid them the money, HE was taken away to get fixed and I went home to think of a name for my new MALE kitten.

Yesterday I went to pick HIM up. I had wanted a mature MALE name to go better with 'Chester'. So I had decided on Albert. I loved it....then I picked the kitten up out of the cardboard carrier. I felt stiches on the kitten's belly...The lady standing there asked me if I would change the name from Sprinkles. I said I had thought it was a male and was thinking of Albert, however I don't think it is a male. She said oh? I showed her the paper work where it clearly states M for sex of the animal. She then turned to me and said..., "Oh then it must be."

Correct me if I am wrong, but I am pretty sure that a male cat's 'junk' is not found in the belly region!!! This lady and the whole office there at the SPCA did not know what was going on or anything.

So the moral of the story, always check under a cats tail before picking one out.

So now instead of Albert, Chester and I have Althea, a very tiny, playful and lovable FEMALE kitten. She is doing very well and Chester and her are playing already.

Althea

A few more pictures from London

LONDON, May 2007

I had a great time in London. It was definitely too short of a visit with Hakeem, but great to see him nonetheless.

This is in Brighton, on the shoreline of the English Channel

The pier is in the background, which had a decent sized amusement park and arcade. The pier is made of steel not wood. I still find it hard to believe that all that heavy stuff is just sitting on top....


Here I am at Buckingham Palace, they had just done the changing of the guards, no ceremony due to the rain.



This was taken from inside a capsule of the London Eye. Again it was raining so the view wasn't magnificent or anything but it was still cool to be able to see everything at once. The River Thames is in the background.