A Little Get Away to South Padre Island

If you haven't figured it out, we did a lot of traveling this summer (and the best trip is yet to come!). It seems like we were barely home. After returning from Chi/MO, a few days later we hopped in the car and drove down to South Padre Island. I had never been there before, but James had. We left on Saturday, later in the day then planned, of course! We arrived in Padre, got settled in our room and then took a little stroll on the beach. After we smelled the sea air, splashed our feet in the water and stretched our legs (6 hr + car ride) we called it a night.

The next morning James took off to get our breakfast and his newspaper (his interests were probably in the reverse order!). After eating, we got ready and went to church and Walmart. We picked up some drinks and snacks for the day. We sunscreened up and headed to the pool. It was fun to just sit and enjoy ourselves. James consumed rum, lime and sprite, and given my condition, I experimented with propel and lime. They actually went well together. I was disguising my condition and the lime made the propel "look" like an alcoholic beverage. If you read this post, you will have to ask James how his afternoon around the pool in Padre was. He was hilariously drunk!!

Oh yea, the whole purpose of this trip...I was doing a 45 minute presentation on Monday. So given James' condition and my condition, we called it a night pretty early on Sunday. I woke up for my morning presentation and then we were on our way back towards Kyle.

It isn't often that we can just "drop in" at the Dubuisson house so we added about 30 minutes onto our trip to visit the fam. We had a lovely dinner at Olive Garden and 3 hours later we were back home!

Aggieland Here We Come?

If you didn't know, in May I made a very formal visit to Texas A&M University. I applied for and was selected as one of two candidates for a position they had open. In addition to being able to visit some favorite restaurants in College Station & spend a little time with some friends, I was put through an intense interview process.

Prior to going on my interview, I contacted my interim department chair and let her know that I was a selected candidate for the position. She immediately started the negotiation process, however, nothing would be offered/negotiated unless I was offered the job at TAMU. This put even more pressure on me to "kick ass" at the interview.

Although the interview wasn't easy, I left College Station really feeling like I could work there. I met with several people in the department (many of which I knew from my schooling), but the most exciting visit was with Dean Palmer. He seemed very interested in everything I had to say, and I wanted him as my Dean!! I left CS knowing that the "other person" was still coming for his/her interview.

While I was on the train to the Cubs game, the Department Chair called and let me know that I was the selected candidate. One thing that I did learn was that contract information was incorrect. It was posted as a 12 month position, but would actually be contracted as a 9 month position, and this changed the salary information.

It was time for negotiation to begin. As it turns out, not only did Texas State counter offer salary well above what TAMU could offer, I had additional perks added to my contract. In the end, I still had to pack up my Tx State office for renovations (not part of the the counter offer). I received support for additional continuing education and support for a new graduate research assistant.

As we embark on a new year (but, my 4th at Tx State), I hope it is a good one!

Welcome Millie!

In May, my friend and college dorm roommate, Tara, gave birth to her daughter, Amelia Annaliese. She was born on Saturday, May 19th, 2007 at 3:15 pm. She weighed 6 pounds 12 ounces and was 20 inches long. Since this is really a delayed post, I must mention that she is getting so big and is so cute!

+ or -

Well, the whole time (after visiting Lisa) we were on the Chi/MO trip I was experiencing the nausea/heartburn in the evening. We mentioned a couple times that we could stop and pick up a pregnancy test. It seemed we were always in a rush or following someone so it was never really convenient. Because of the way I was feeling, I did not want to drink alcohol anyways, which was the only thing that would change (except maybe not keeping quiet). So we waited until we got home. Unfortunately, because we pretty much knew what was going on, I didn't do anything special to tell James. He didn't realize that I peed on the stick right away and then I took it to him. It happily confirmed what we thought, I got a "+."

Leaving Chicago/St. Louis

We left Chicago on Sunday after eating Portillo's with Grandpa and Uncle Shawn. James HAD TO experience his first Chicago style hot dog. He was rather impressed with the tomato and the peppers. We were able to visit my cousin Lauren on the day of her graduation party, although we missed the party. Uncle Joey and Auntie Linda once again fed us! We stayed the night in St. Louis (by the airport this time). I had a final meeting on Monday morning and then we flew home on Monday evening.

Happy 1st Anniversary!

We spent our first anniversary with family at my cousin Heather's wedding. We started the day with a Brunch at Grandma's house. We quickly had to turn around and get ready for the wedding. It was a beautiful/fun way to spend the anniversary. Heather and Jeff were even nice enough to recognize our anniversary with a plaque and a special dance.

"Go Cubs," I mean "Go Braves"

Happy Father's Day, Daddy. As you may know, my Dad grew up in the Chicago area and is a die hard Cubs fan. He doesn't necessarily keep up with the Cubs (like know all the players names), but no matter what, his #1 baseball team is the Cubs. James is the same way with the Braves, except he knows all of the major league players and many minor league Braves players. His #1 baseball team is the Braves. Ironically, we were already visiting Chicago for my cousin Heather's wedding.

James jumped on the chance to visit Wrigley field, a dream of his. When we looked up the schedule and saw that the Braves were visiting the Cubs at Wrigley field, I knew we had to go. So my Mom, Becky and I (and James) started preparing a surprise for my Dad. In celebration of Father's Day, my mom bought my Dad's ticket, and then Becky and I made sure we all had appropriate gear. We were all dressed with our appropriate teams (yes, I supported my husband and wore a Braves t-shirt). He did not know he was going until the day before they hopped on their flight to CHI.

We all enjoyed our day at the ball park. James and I rode the train and the L to Wrigley. James and I were also heckled because of our Braves t-shirts. We all enjoyed a combination of peanuts, hot dogs, & beer. James had his first Milwaukee's best and enjoyed it. I think the Braves ended up winning 8-5. This was the game where Zambrano (pitcher for Cubs) got in a fight with his own catcher. Now, the catcher was traded and Zambrano has signed a 5 year contract with the Cubbies.

Worst Car in the World

Okay, things could have been worse, but we were pretty miserable. Since we were going to be doing a lot of driving (all around Missouri to Chicago and back to Missouri) we decided to upgrade our vehichle. We chose to upgrade to a Sebring convertible. The funny thing was a few months earlier James wanted a new Sebring convertible because he saw an advertisement for it's heated coffee mug holder.
Well, we were only 1 day into the trip, it was raining in St. Louis and the convertible top would not come up. This was a frustrating morning because 1) the valet guy was supposed to put the top up the night before (and I normally would self park) 2) I was actually running early for my meeting (I still made it on time). Well, luckily, there was an Enterprise located in the hotel, but they only had ONE car that they could trade out - a Nissan Versa. I am telling you it was awful. Check it out: http://www.nissanusa.com/versa/. My aunt laughed at the car when we pulled up to their house. By this time, we had already spent almost 10 hours in the car and were ready to throw it (I think James really could pick it up). The only time that we were appreciative of the junky little car was when we got to Chicago area and gas was $3.69, at least we were saving on gas.
Needless to say, when we left, I was happy to turn in the Nissan Versa. When the girl asked how everything was, I told her that our convertible was switched to a Versa. She said, "Ohhh, I'm sorry." But, it was really with sympathy.

Lisa, Did Give Me Your Morning Sickness?

After leaving Branson/Springfield MO, we were headed up to the suburbs of Chicago (an 8+ hour drive). Luckily, Auntie Linda and Uncle Joey (and Lisa, Lauren and Kyle) live in Springfield, IL. We were able to make a pit stop at their house - which was a pretty much the mid point of the drive. Uncle Joey grilled us steaks and Auntie Linda made the sides. It was a scrumptious meal and a beautiful night to sit outside and eat.

Ironically, this was the night that I started feeling morning sickness (or night sickness if you want to be technical). As I said, the meal was truly scrumptious, but my tummy was feeling nauseous. The ironic thing about this is that Lisa was there for dinner as well, she is due in December and was still experiencing morning sickness. Later, I was able to put two and two together!

Onto Branson

We went from St. Louis down to Branson for me to continue work. I was actually working in Springfield, but thought it would be fun to stay a little further south. We weren't too thrilled with Branson itself, but we had a nice evening. We stayed in a brand new Hilton. We really lucked out because we were upgraded to a suite. The suite was amazing, a HUGE bathroom with jacuzzi tub, a kitchen with better appliances than what we have at home and a very urban decor. We ate at an upscale Mexican restaraunt since this was going to be the last night "alone" until our anniversary. James also picked out a nice bottle of wine and we visited a five and dime store for a cheap wine cork. We never drank the wine because we got too tired. As long as it survived the rest of the trip, wine could always be enjoyed!

Visiting St. Louis

The first trip of the summer included a jaunt around East and South Missouri. I have been working on a contract with the state health department and had to collect some qualitative data. Although I have visited Missouri several times (whether it was going through Missouri on the way to Chicago or with my work trips) James had not visited the state before. We started the trip in St. Louis. We stayed in downtown overlooking the Cardinals ballpark. James, being the baseball fan that he is, loved the view, even if he isn't a Cardinals fan. We were able to visit and go up in the Arch together. James was also able to visit other places such as the Art museum and a Jazz museum (while I was working).

Finally Starting a Blog???

Well, I just wrote a decent post and then forgot to hit "publish," so it was lost. If you are one of my "blogging" friends, I have probably shared a few frustrations with getting this all going. I have tried a few times to start a blog, but now with Baby Doobie on the way, this is going to be a good way to share stories and pictures with everyone. I have basically become a blogger stalker. I am constantly checking the blog spots of my friends. It is a great way to keep in touch with everyone.

James and I have had some disagreements about setting up the blog site. What I have told him is that I am going to be the parent sharing Baby Doobie pictures and stories. This way, friends and family can check our blog spot at their convenience and I don't have to over load anyone with a bunch of pictures or stories in their email box.

I will catch up our blog spot with our summer stories and then maybe we will have a good ultrasound picture of Baby Doobie.