Goals Update - July

Wow...July is over. It went by slow at first, but then flew by at the end. July was a very busy month for us with lots of changes...our apartment lease ended, we moved in with my grandparents temporarily, we took a weekend trip to San Antonio for a wedding, JOSH GOT A JOB, and now we're looking for a new place to live. Whew...that's a lot!

Here's the July update:

1.   Blog – I definitely kept up with the blog well in July. I caught up on everything from June and posted other things as they happened for July. Good news is that there should be more coming as football season starts up.

2.   Marathon Training – At the beginning of the month, I didn't do so well with running/walking/working out since I was in the final days before taking the second part of the CPA exam and then packing like crazy to move (although I did get a good work out packing and moving boxes...), but for the past 10 days or so, Josh and I have been going on evening walks around the neighborhood. It's been nice and relaxing and we're getting in a little bit of exercise.

3.   CPA – On July 7th, I took the second part of the CPA exam, BEC. I'm still waiting to get my score back on it and should have it back in the next week or so. I've started studying for the next part which I'll be taking on August 18th. After that one, I'll start up studying for the last part which I plan to take at the beginning of October. Hopefully after that I'll be done!

4.   Books – I finished book #6 early in the month, but haven't started book #7 yet. It's been a crazy month packing, moving, and studying, but hopefully we'll get settled somewhere soon and I'll be able to get back to reading.

5.   Clean out the clutter – We cleaned out a lot as we packed to move, but still have lots to go through when we unpack. Unfortunately, we ran out of time packing and just had to throw everything into the boxes without having a chance to really go through everything. We did take a big load to Goodwill and will probably be taking more in the next few months as we move, unpack, and get settled. 

August is starting out on a good note as it brings us the certainty we've been waiting for. It's nice to know where we'll be now, so we can begin the next phase. We'll be looking for a new place to live and getting moved in and settled soon, so that the chaos of football season can begin!

Go Eagles!

Josh finally got a job!! He'll be coaching and teaching Health at Richardson High School. This is the same school he did his student teaching at last fall where he helped coach football. We're very excited since we'll be staying in the area and he already knows most of the coaching staff! This fall will be interesting as we jump into the full-fledged coaching life. We got a small taste of it last year with his student teaching, but this year will be a bit different since he'll be on the payroll and won't be able to skip out when he wants. I'm excited to see what this fall holds and if you're looking for me on Friday night, I'll be at the game! Go Eagles!

Here's the 2012 Varsity Football schedule if anyone would like to go to a game with me:
8/31 - RHS vs Irving MacArthur
9/7 - RHS @ Frisco Wakeland
9/14 - RHS @ Allen
9/28 - RHS vs JJ Pearce
10/05 - RHS @ Dallas Sunset
10/12 - RHS vs Lake Highlands
10/19 - RHS vs Dallas WT White
10/26 - RHS @ Dallas Skyline
11/02 - RHS @ Berkner
11/09 - RHS vs Dallas Jesuit

Pinterest-Inspired: Canvas Photo

I made this photo on canvas project quite a while ago, but haven't posted it yet. It was very easy to do. I followed the instructions from here and was able to easily complete it in one evening (minus the waiting for it to dry completely part). It turned out great and is proudly displayed in our home.

Pinterest-Inspired: Aggie Sign

I saw this sign on Pinterest and immediately thought it would make a great wedding gift for some friends that are getting married soon. I'm incredibly happy with the way it turned out and ever happier because they loved it!

 

In the works...

Russell and Katie opening their gift

Cruise: Day 5 - At Sea

The last day of our cruise was spent at sea. We went to a towel folding class to learn how to fold towel animals, chilled out on the deck, watched an ice carving, and gambled a little bit more!

Ready to learn how to fold towel animals!

The dead chicken

Our puppy dogs

Josh with his puppy.

Me with my puppy.

Working on the elephant

Our elephants

Mommy and baby seal

Beginning the ice carving...

Showing off his completed sculpture. He carved it in 17 minutes!

The finished product

With our wonderful waiters...they took very good care of us at dinner every night.

Towel animal #5 - the flower

Cruise: Day 4 - Cozumel

Day 4 of our cruise was spent in Cozumel. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate with us that day and decided to storm all day, so we didn't get to go on our excursion. We had a really cool excursion planned to drive dune buggies to a beach to snorkel stopping at a nature conservatory and lighthouse on the way and way back. It's still an excursion I'd like to do, so hopefully we can do it on the next cruise. :) We did get off the ship and wandered around the pier for a little bit getting soaked.

Waiting out some of the rain before heading back to the ship

The dune buggies we were supposed to get to drive.

This picture doesn't even do justice for how hard it was raining.

Our ship, the Carinval Triumph

Since it was pouring and walking around in the rain got old, we got back on the ship and spent our day watching Harry Potter on the deck from under the covering.

Our waiters dancing for us again!

Towel animal #4 - the rabbit

Cruise: Day 3 - Progreso

Day 3 of our cruise was spent in Progreso, Mexico. It is a very small little port on the northern side of the Yucatan. We took a short bus ride through town to the Mayan ruins at Dzibilchaltun, where we had a tour then spent some time exploring the ruins.

Port of Progreso - very small with a loooong pier (4 miles) into town

Our tour guide, Jose

A chapel built by the Spanish

The cenote where a lot of people went swimming.

Most of the structures didn't have names. Some of them had numbers, but other than that there wasn't identification for them. This one is Structure 3b.

 

 

Temple of the Seven Dolls

The picture on the left is the road walking up to the Temple of the Seven Dolls. The picture on the right is looking out one of the windows back up the road. The temple is about half a mile from the rest of the ruins.

Our waiters entertaining us at dinner dancing to Apple Bottom Jeans. It was definitely entertaining!

Towel animal #3 - the turtle

 I have a lot more pictures from Dzibilchaltun that I'll put up on facebook.