Last weekend Big A and headed up to Oklahoma to spend some quality time with each of our families and we attended a wedding of a dear family friend of mine. I have known her since I was about ten years old and although my earliest memories of her include her running for student council in sixth grade, she has grown into a beautiful woman and I wish her and her new husband all the best! The wedding was so much fun and it’s definitely gotten me excited for the next one I’m headed to in August!

This weekend was one of many things, including father’s day. We don’t usually make a big to-do of any of the “days” but I always give my parents something small and somewhat of a kind gesture. I know that put them through lots of things and it means a lot to them to hear me say “thank you”, so to all those out there who either did or did not hear it: Thank you. You’re great. You made a difference.

Thank you dad, I love you.

I spend a lot of time doing the same things. I work Monday through Friday, I work out, I make dinner, I watch TV, I’m a pretty typical adult (without kids). So lately I’ve been trying to find new ways to stimulate my brain during my day to day routine. I’ve been doing this, not only to entertain myself, but to gain knowledge – both culturally and educationally to make me, what I believe to be, a better person.

Because I know so many of my readers have a similar life schedule as myself, I wanted to share a few things that I’ve been doing that way some of you may also breach out and better yourselves:

This week has been a series of hurtles to get up and around. I swear every day I’ve woken up and wanted to slam down on the snooze button to sleep for days. 

But alas, this is not college and I have a job-so that sucks. 

But why so tired? Last weekend I had a bachelorette party to attend that lasted from (basically) Thursday to (basically) Sunday. I had a good time (mostly) and got to spend some quality time with my sister which is a pretty rare occurrence these days as she lives in Missouri and I live in Texas. But a quick recap: 

Thursday: pizza and a late night chat with roomie & sis

Friday: drive to dallas / beers with Big A and sis / bachelorette kick off at Blue Fish in Dallas

Saturday: late breakfast / pool time / dinner @ BWW’s / dancing and bachelorette glory at Gatsby Nightclub in Dallas (seriously so great, go if you get the time!)

Sunday: goodbyes to the group / breakfast with Big A & sis / drop sis at the airport / relax

Overall it was a really good weekend but it certainly drained me and left me feeling weary for the week. It’s only Wednesday and I’m dying for Friday to make an appearance. I have only a few plans this upcoming weekend, one of which is to see the Jurrasic World in 3D IMAX!!! I have been planning this since January and I absolutely cannot wait. 

Bring on the weekend!

So on a Sunday afternoon, Big A and I hit up Arlington Globe Life Park to watch the Rangers take on the Red Sox. We went to the Hall of Fame first where Alliance for Children was hosting a luncheon and a silent auction. It was actually a great little set up: all the hotdogs and baked beans you could eat, beer you could drink, and cotton candy and popcorn to take into the game!

This was actually my very first real baseball game so it was quite the experience. I’ve been to TONS of high school games, but no college, no professional – naturally this experience had to be documented!

When I left off, we had just finished up walking with the dinosaurs in the Morian Hall of Paleontology at the Houston Museum of Natural Science. Once we left the museum, the plan was to go the Museum of Fine Arts, but truth be told, I really didn’t want to go. See, museums are not exactly my idea of fun.

 So starving and undirected we decided to walk a mile or so through a little park to get some lunch. The park was thriving with tons of people out enjoying the weekend. But aside from all the happiness around, paddle boats and kiddos whizzing by on bikes, the park itself was quite beautiful. It had a trail along the side with a massive fountain in the middle that poured off into a lake area. There was art, there were structures, but more importantly in the center of all that, there was lunch!

After lunch, we drove through Rice University –which was gorgeous! It’s tucked away in the middle of the city and so worth your time if you have a moment. But we were on a mission to see an exhibit called the James Turrell Sky Space (read more, here) it was so fun and so cool. Big A could probably give you a few more adjectives than that, but I had a good time.

After the museum, lunch, and sky space we went on one last adventure before calling it a night: the Downtown Aquarium. Now, you have to understand, just like zoos, I’ve seen SO MANY aquariums. So on the whole, the Downtown Aquarium was a little anticlimactic. They had fish and they had turtles and that’s pretty much it. There two things that made the experience memorable: 

Now what you have to understand is that this is the day that I wrecked my car. So all day I was feeling a little down. However, the day turned out wonderful with memorable experiences and I was happy and at peace when I finally took my shoes off. 

So after a long day out we returned to our penthouse to relax before getting some Italian. We were lounging about deciding where to go eat when out of complete idiocy; I dropped my phone and broke it for the rest of the weekend. I lost all my pictures that I didn’t take on the camera. I was, to put it plainly, completely devastated. The day had come and slapped me in the face in multiple ways. My car, my phone, in the most teenage way possible, the world was crashing down. 

But Big A was having none of that. The weekend must go on. 

So I put on a pretty dress, drank the best peach Bellini I’ve ever had, and ate Italian until I felt so full I would pass out. 

We ended that day with hot cocoa before bed. Happier then, than I’ve ever been.

Sunday was technically our last real day in Houston.

I woke up that morning feeling blessed and loved so I really wanted to do something to make it extra special.

I woke up first, got in my car, and headed down the road to Shipley’s Do-nuts and picked up a dozen (half glazed, half maple) doughnuts and two coffees. Unfortunately on my way back home for what I thought would be a sweet breakfast in bed, I ran a red light and got in my first car accident in 7 years. It was minor really, but at eight in the morning it wasn’t exactly the best way to start the day.

After I picked up the rest of my dignity (Big A insisted we continue the weekend head on and smiles on!), we went out for the day and we had big plans: the Houston Museum of Natural Science and the Downtown Aquarium.**

The museum was fun, but for the most part it was a bunch of small exhibits about science: a lot about oil, a little about space, atoms, and then some random exhibits featuring artifacts from Egypt and China. But by FAR, the most incredible exhibit there was the Morian Hall of Paleontology.

I don’t know a lot about dinosaurs, who does though, really? But I do know more than most people. Aside from a real obsession with Jurassic Park, I’ve read loads of books and articles about paleontology. But sadly, I’ve never actually seen dinosaur bones. But on Sunday all of that changed.

I walked into the Morian Hall and was taken aback by sight of what was before me. Creatures bigger than I could imagine stood before me and I stood in awe. It actually brought me to tears. It was so moving and so incredible. It was an experience of a lifetime.

“Because the history of evolution is that life escapes all barriers. Life breaks free. Life expands to new territories. Painfully, perhaps even dangerously. But life finds a way.”