Interview with the Vampire

Below is the interview I conducted with Conrad last night:

K: Please state your name and date of birth

C: Conrad Fallulah Hopkins; February 30, 1982

K: You are a LIAR, Conrad Michael! ... born in December of 1974! What is your favorite thing that I cook?

C: Pulled Pork- or, wait! Maybe hamburger pie. I can't decide ...

K: But you never seem to get excited about my hamburger pie...

C: (LOUDLY) You always say that! When do I ever get excited about ANYTHING?

K: Good point. I should HOPE you were excited about our WEDDING.

C: Um ... *SIGH* I didn't EAT our wedding.

K: Fine. How does it feel to be the father of a 4 year old schnauzer?

C: (silence)

K: You know- happy, proud, frustrated, angry, overjoyed, overwhelmed, tired?

C: Yes

K: (glaring) Ok, how does it feel to be a husband?

C: (Silence, then in a frustrated voice) Why are you asking me all these FEELING questions? Guys don't FEEL. I want yes or no questions! But as an answer, I would say I feel more secure.

K: Secure?! Being MARRIED?!

C: Yes, secure. (ugly look)

K: Ok, we're switching to yes or no.
Do you LIKE being married?

C: *SIGH* Yes

K: Do you want some fries with that shake?

C: No

K: Do you looooove Obama?

C: No, because is he anti-gun.

K: Do you loooooooove Hillary?

C: No

K: Do you love John McCain?

C: In God's Way (smirk)

K: Do you want to go clothes shopping wtih me, this weekend?

C: Only if I can shop for myself too. OH and if I can play with the bras.

K: How many kids do you want? (trick question)

C: Negative One

K: What did you think when you first met me?

C: I wondered how long it would take you to come and say hello to me.

K: Because I'm so aloof?

C: NO- because you kept looking at me.

K: WHATever. Were you scared when I first moved to Houston?

C: No, not scared.

K: Nervous?

C: A little.

K: Name some hobbies

C: Guns, I guess listening to my music and um, writing poetry.

K: Uh, no ... not poetry. How about smoking cigars?

C: Ok, yes.

K: What is one of your goals?

C: To retire young.

K: That's EVERYONE'S goal. Give me a better one ... like fixing up an old car, paying off your student loan, designing a house....

C: Well if I retire young, I CAN fix up an old car. But ok- um, to own the largest private arsenal in the world.

K: How do you FEEL about my addiction to shows like Golden Girls, Designing Women and What Not to Wear?

C: I FEEL there's no problem with them, because sometimes I like to watch them too.

K: You're such a girl. Ok, so how do you FEEL about my love of all things Southern?

C: (thinking...) I think it's amusing because you're so hardcore about it.

K: WHAT?! (indignant) You would be hardcore too, Conrad, if you knew ANYTHING about your people, about your heritage ... *sigh*

K: Do you love me?

C: Very much

That concludes my interview with Conrad.

Earphones

HA!

More good news ... I can access my XM Radio ONLINE- and so now I can listen to whatever I want via my headphones. I love to listen to the True Hollywood Stories on E!

The days are going to SPEED by!

Meet Me

I saw this cute blogging site yesterday and the person did a Meet Me type section ... like 10 Things You Didn't Know About Me. So I decided to do that today- and the first person up is ME.

I will interview Conrad tonight and post his thoughts tomorrow. I was busy last night and had no time to interview. I was busy ironing. I wear less than 20% of all my clothes, usually, because I hate to iron! So I ironed last night and now I'll have "new" clothes for the next week!

1. I am pretty much convinced some horrible, dibilitating disease is waiting around every corner to take me. Every pain is a tumor, every headache is a blood clot, every pound lost is cancer .... It's rididculous, completely mental and I am powerless to stop it. WebMD is the worst thing to EVER happen to me. I love to self-diagnose.

2. I am obsessed with the supernatural. I'm convinced it's real and I really and truly think ghosts are out there. I watch shows about it, read about it, etc ... I feel ghosts around me- people I've known ... but I don't acknowledge them because if I ever actually saw one, I'd expire on the spot. So I love hearing about it happening to OTHER people. I do NOT want it to happened to me EVER.

3. I never liked dogs, until I got Blanca. I thought they were dirty, nasty and smelly and I would never even pet one. It's safe to say I HATED them. Then I met her, and it all changed for me. Now I see personalities in every dog I meet ... and I love them all. There is unconditional love- when it comes from dogs.

4. I think OJ totally did it. He just had enough money and enough dishonest lawyers to get him off. He's the first of the celebrities "behaving badly" to get away with something- to find a loophole in the legal system. Were it not for him, I think Lindsey, Paris and Britney would be in jail. Our country totally allows celebrities to run amock with no consequences. OJ started that- and I am convinced he did it. I don't think it was premeditated, more like a crime of passion.

5. I obsessively make lists. I have a To Do List for "right now". I have one for "Long Term". I have a 2008 Goals list- lists of movies I want to see, movies I want to buy, books to read, CD's to buy, clothes I'm interested in. Nothing gives me more satisfaction than crossing something off one of my lists. I prefer to do it, in a bright color and in a heavy ink- like a Sharpie. I don't know- I think it makes a STATEMENT!

6. I'm trying to get to all 50 states before I leave this earth. Right now I'm at 41. Which I think, is pretty darn good. Remaining to visit: Rhode Island, Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, N Dakota, S Dakota, Nebraska, Nevada.

7. I am terrified to fly. I hate it. I hate being out of control. I can not stand to get into those flying tin cans. I used to cry from the minute I stepped into the tunnel. I used to work with people in Dallas, who refused to fly with me ... I am a HORRIBLE passenger. I've tried reading books on planes, I dated someone once who BUILT them. It doesn't matter ... nothing can convince me they are safe. I am paralyzed with fear every time I fly. I used to do it quite a bit for work; I just sucked it up and did it. The flight to Hawaii last year almost killed me and the flight this year to Spain very well may finish me off.

8. I hold grudges. If I feel you have in any way wronged me, watch out! I just don't let go that easily. I, of course, do accept apologies, etc- but there are some things you just can't let go with an apology. Sometimes people treat you so badly, you have no choice but to truly forgive and FORGET. There a lot of people out there I no longer speak too- because I think they are toxic. Not to other people, but for sure, they are for ME.

9. Mexican is my favorite food. I could eat it every single day for the rest of my life- for breakfast, lunch and dinner. My love started with Taco Bell and along with me, has matured for better food ... but I love it. I don't understand people who don't.

10. I have Graves Disease. Google it. It's changed my life more than you can imagine. It's made me gain weight, it's made me sleep less, given me hives, made me sluggish and tired and now I think it may be effecting my eyesite. I take medicine for it and will for the rest of my life. Every morning, I take a cute little blue pill. I am on the highest dose possible and sometimes, I still don't think it works. As far as diseases go, this is the one to have, but it does cause many small, annoying problems. It won't kill me- unless I don't take my medicine, but it's irritating as all get out!

Ok- tomorrow, meet Conrad!

Karyn

Simple Things

Ah, it's the simple things in life ...

I am having SUCH a good time with these darn $10 earphones. I listened to Kidd Kraddick yesterday morning ... then went onto free.napster.com and just listened to other people's playlists ... heard the Best of Dane Cook, Best of Chris Rock, listened to some 90's country (hey Garth Brooks!), some 80's everything, some old Hip Hop, some ladies of the 90's (Janet, Mariah, Celine) ... it was such a good time.

This morning I listened to Kidd again. Now I am just listening to 106.1 KISS FM as a whole. How comforting to just listen to my old station. I still love and miss Dallas with a passion. I absolutely love Conrad and am happy I made the move I did. I've never had a better job or made more money - BUT, I do miss home ... deeply ... and this sort of makes me feel closer, if that makes any sense. Even something simple like listening to the traffic report makes me feel like Dallas is just right outside the window.

I'm just getting a real kick out of this ... it's really the simple things in life. If I had known I would be so happy, so content and the day would go by so fast, I would have done this a year ago. I have been used to working for smaller companies. When you listen to things on their internet- streaming tends to clog up their system ... makes things run slower. We are a bigger company and I don't understand all things computer, but I understand we are on our own system- along with the other locations for our company- Kentucky, Louisiana, Longview Texas... so it's a much larger system and can handle my streaming. I am just having a ball!

You can even go onto the online site of the library and DOWNLOAD books on tape. I mean SHUT UP! But I tried it yesterday and I found out I could not concentrate on emailing and working AND try to keep up with a story too. I thought I could multi-task better, but this just proves what I've always known about myself ... I am a visual learner. When I was in 8th grade, I had a fabulous teacher, Ms. Baker and she was very into left brain/right brain .... visual/audio and she made us take all these tests. It came up 98% I am a visual person and the fact that I read the way I do and also that I sort of ... and I can't explain this ... but if I look at something, like a crossword or a word scramble, I do better solving it by looking at it, than I do to actually fill in the words or circle the words. I am able to solve puzzles better this way ... and I can easily read 1-2 books a day if I were at home, like on a weekend ... so the fact I could not SEE this book yesterday really convinced me I am visual. Conrad is the opposite- he is very much audio. He doesn't like to read and he listens to music, etc ... all day long. He loves the National Georgraphic Channel and History and Science programs. He gains more from what they say .... I do like them too. But I would prefer to read the historical account or the scientific explaination.

Ms Baker also ascertained I was perfectly left and right brained- which actually makes a lot of sense too. I'm not particularly gifted in math or science ... but I can understand the concepts. I'm not an artist, but I can think and relay my thoughts on marketing ideas and what things should look like- just can't draw them ... that pretty much represents a mid-range on both.

Conrad? I would say is straight up left brained. He can do math problems in his head and he still remembers equations from high school algebra ... can you say FREAK!

I can comment outloud, and have YES, that I wonder what the temperature is in Celsius right now and he can look at me with some disdain and figure out the answer in his head. It's really very disturbing. But hey, I can read and memorize a timeline like nobody's business! So THERE.

Karyn

http://blogthings.com/areyourightorleftbrainedquiz/

Dallas Radio

Hi!

I hope everyone had a happy and safe Memorial Day Weekend.

We had a happy and productive one! Friday I went ahead and stopped at the grocery store- shopped for two weeks worth of food! It was so dead driving home, I was home in 20 minutes so I figured what the hay!

Saturday we were sort of lazy, but we did get to the fondue place AND watched a Netflix movie I had at home.

Sunday we hung three lights and I painted three little arches in the house. They connect rooms and they were STARK white- which looked a little weird coming in and out of painted rooms, into just WHITE. They should have been painted eons ago, but what can I say, I'm lazy ... but no more! They are DONE!

Monday we hung the new ceiling fan and I painted a little hallway/alcove going into the master bedroom. I feel SO good to have gotten all that done! We still have a ton of things on the list, but I feel really good to have knocked out such a big chunk.

Now to the Radio ... so Tosha, my friend here at work, has these earphones she's always wearing. Well, one ear of them anyway- they are those little ear pods. So she wears one and lets one hang so she can still here us or the phone, etc... so I asked her about them. She got them at Best Buy and connects them to the computer ... and she listens to the radio online or sermons, etc...

So while we were out Saturday at the fondue place, we swung by Best Buy and I got myself some as well ... This morning I am listening to my favorite radio station in DALLAS!!!! I have missed them so much- 106.1 KISS FM. I've been gone about a year and a half and I always listened to Kidd Kraddick in the Morning. He's since gone into syndocation, so maybe you listen to him too- but he's based in Dallas where I lived and I'd been listening to him locally for about 15 years ... and Houston just HAPPENS to be a place he is NOT syndicated ... I was heartbroken. Well no more! I have been listening to him all morning. I am SO EXCITED!

So after his show is over, at ten- the world is my oyster. I can listen anywhere in the world. I could listen to a sermon or even a book online. It's like my work day is completely and totally different now. I didn't know how much I'd missed listening to the radio during the day- but it's hard to do here, because we're in cubicle farms ... and I came from a place where I had my own office. SO ... I am totally excited today!

Happy Tuesday to you all.

Karyn

Wedding Memoribilia

I have a terrible headache this morning... and just took four Tylenol. Looking at the computer screen hurts, but I'm going to try to motor through it.

I found the nicest way to keep all my wedding memories together. We have several beautiful new wedding albums but they are not really condusive to storing memories that aren't in the typical 4x6 picture size.

I went to Bed Bath and Beyond and got a photo box. This one is brown leather with fat white stitching- but there are all kinds available and they can be found at just about any store. I just picked this one because I wanted the box with us in the living room and it seemed to match up well. Well, what a fabulous idea! In the box I put in some extra wedding invitations, rehearsal dinner invitations ... my two shower invitations (one has a whisk attached with a ribbon and can not really be put into a book). We have a few wedding programs, the correspondence from the President, the two photo CD's I've gotten with our digital wedding pics ... and eventually our wedding DVD, etc ... I tucked it all into this cute box.

Now the next idea is credited to my Aunt Robbie- but also fabulous! We got so many lovely wedding cards with so many words of advice and from so many people we love. Wedding cards have changed! Today they have glitter and ribbons and cute little die-cut sayings. They are not the wedding cards I remember my grandmother sending out. I couldn't figure out what to do with them all- until my Aunt Robbie mentioned stringing them all together. I found a maroon ribbon left over from the wedding and I took a one-hole punch and punched holes into all the cards, and strung them all on this ribbon and tied a pretty bow at the front. They all stay together and are easy to find AND they fit perfectly in my wedding box!

I think if you are maybe looking for a wedding gift ... this may be something fun to do and give to the next couple you know getting married. With all the scrapbooking paper and materials out there now, you could customize it. I think it's a great and throughful idea! It really was so nice to gather up all my precious wedding memories and put them in my pretty box.

I am going to go get more of them. I have some letters from both of my grandmothers who are no longer with us ... I have movie stubs and friends cards and wedding programs and playbills and so many things I could now bring out of the cabinet and put into a nice box, within easy reach and fun to share!

Karyn

Dragging

This week is dragging ... and I would have thought since I was off on Monday it would go fast. Off on Monday, half day and a luncheon on Wednesday and yet, I feel like this week has gone on for 50 years.

Work is not super busy and I think that has to do with the holiday weekend coming up. Canada had a holiday this PAST Monday so they are all slow getting back to work and then we have the holiday THIS COMING Monday- so people are starting to check out and take vacation, etc- plus all the proms and graduations going on. It's just a slow time work-wise because there are so many personal things going on.

Regardless, this is a fun time ... Conrad and I are fired up about the house again. We need to paint two alcoves- going into bedrooms. We have the paint the master bathroom and we have some extra paint from a goofup and will probably paint the laundry room too. The house was builder-basic and had that flat paint on the walls- so every little stain and handprint shows up on the walls that have not been re-painted.

We also have three new light fixtures and one ceiling fan to hang... and Conrad wants to redo his den. Even though the house is a bit on the small side for us, I am starting to think the smart thing to do is to make the house beautiful and perfect for us and hang on to it for awhile. We could probably get an incredible deal on a house right now, but we'd get hosed on selling THIS one and there's not a thing wrong with it. The closets are terrible, but I think we could probably got to the Container Store or even hire someone and have them re-worked and make them work for us. We are definetly ok in the house and money department ... just like most people we WANT WANT WANT what we want- and right NOW NOW NOW. But I think we can really make this house phenomenal and have a ton of fun doing it. I'm a bargain shopper from way back. Every single light fixture I find at a garage sale and drag back is a huge find!

So ... it begins this weekend with some paint and a few lights. I'm not going to try to do it all at once and burn myself out like I did with my house in Dallas. But I think if we get one light and the fan up and maybe paint one alcove I would say it was a successful weekend- and I think we could get those three things done in an afternoon.

Wish us luck!

Karyn

Short Day

Another busy crazy day!

I have a procedure I'm having done at 2:30- so this is a short day. I also organized a potluck luncheon here at work today- and I totally forgot they fell on the same day. So really, my workday will end at 11 today instead of 1. It will take me awhile to heat up, organize, eat and clean up the luncheon- as soon as it's done, I might as well check my email one last time and head out. Conrad is meeting me at the doctor at 2.

This week is really flying, which is wonderful- I can't wait for Memorial Day weekend! I think we are devoting one day to the house- we have some minor painting and about 5 light fixtures to hang ... and then one day I think is devoted to fun- I think we're kicking around a movie and fondue day ... maybe fondue is cheaper at lunch than at dinner?! I don't know ... and one day is devoted to sheer laziness, which we are REALLY good at! We can lay around like the best of them. I have three books from the library I can be reading, new bubblebath to try out, etc, etc ...

Two more days!

Karyn

Hopkins

I am officially Karyn Abercrombie Hopkins.

I dropped Elizabeth (sorry Mom!) .... really my everyday name will be Karyn Hopkins- but for email and work purposes, it will show up as Karyn Abercrombie Hopkins (not hyphenated) ... anyway, exciting stuff!

I got a little teary-eyed there at the Social Security Office. It's really weird to like "belong" to your daddy all those years and now all the sudden, you don't. You "belong" to someone else... weird that women have to sort of take on someone else's name- but I'm not going to get into all that because it would be a hard subject to try to take on.

Point is, I was proud to be an Abercrombie all those years and now I'm proud to be a Hopkins. But I could not completely say goodbye to Abercrombie, so I kept it. I think it was a good thing to do.

Anyway, taking a day off really puts you behind- so I gotta go - but more tomorrow!

Karyn

Weekend

Hey!

It was a good weekend. We found out we really are old people trapped in 30 something's bodies.

Friday night I DID win many games of Sequence. I AM THE CHAMP!
We had a little cookout at our friend's house and hung out. We got home after midnight which is something we NEVER do ... so we slept til after 8 on Saturday morning which is also something we NEVER do.

Saturday was errands and hanging out. Conrad's sister was in College Station a little over an hour away for the weekend- so we headed up that way for dinner. We stayed afterwards and talked for awhile and once again, hit the driveway somewhere right around midnight. We were so proud! Don't tell US we're homebodies!!! Sunday morning, I think we got up around 8:40 WOO HOO!

Then last night I barely slept and this morning I'm tired.

On the agenda today is name change. The marriage license came back from the County Records office and we're good to go. The closest office (NOT DOWNTOWN) is in Conroe- so I am about to head to the Social Security Office and get this taken care of. As soon as the new card comes in, I can handle HR, the bank and the drivers license place. That'll be one thing checked off the post-wedding list!

Karyn

Babies

I have the distinct pleasure of talking about babies today.

My cousin in Virginia had a little girl about two weeks ago ... and I have another cousin in Texas who has just found out her baby will be a boy- I think she'd due in October. Of course, we discussed my buddy in Dallas who's having a baby - I think in June- who received the fabulous booties from Uncommongoods.com and now, my sister is talking about procreating.

I think that's fabulous and I thought I'd post here, because I really don't want you to think I'm a baby hater. I'm not. I love babies. I like the way they smell and all the funny things they do ... I think kids are great, I just don't want to BIRTH any myself. I have never had even the slightest desire. I knew from the time I was a tiny kid that I would never be a mother. It's just not in me.

I think people, like my cousins and friends who genuinely want children and try all different methods to have them- be that natural, with some help, adoption, etc ... should go all out. I think it's wonderful. I have a wonderful family myself... and all those people started out as children ... I'm very much looking forward to getting to know my new little cousins and my nieces and nephews and nieces and nephews by friendship ... and spoiling them and playing with them and babysitting and GIVING THEM BACK!

Conrad is completely and totally ready to be the cool uncle and the uncle that all the kids run to when they're in trouble or they've done something and they need someone to break the news to the parents- broken windows, dings in the fenders, not wanting to go to summer camp, broken hearts- we are READY!

Maybe we need to get some kind of Aunt Karyn and Uncle Rad Children's Day Camp set up. You bring your kids to us and since we're not emotionally attached and we aren't experienced in the day to day stuff, we can compltely and totally whip your kids into shape without feeling guilty. We can make them do homework, get along with their siblings, learn to clean their rooms in a timely and orderly fashion - since Conrad fancies himself a bit of a Yard Master- we can set him up with teaching the kids to mow and use a weed eater- maybe some lessons on how to kill and eliminate weeds. I could hold some sort of lecture on how to haggle and get the best for your money- sort of "beat down" the garage sales holders and flea market shopkeepers, if you will, in order to receive the best deals ... maybe a furniture repair seminar ... Blanca, God Bless her, has always wanted to be a therapy dog- she just can't seem to behave enough to pass their tests ... but not at Aunt Karyn and Uncle Rad's Children's Day Camp! Blanca would be an EXCELLENT therapy dog and we would not require her to go through any of that formal pesky training - or licensing. She doesn't bite unless you pick her up around her stomach and we've almost got that flea problem solved. Your kids would be perfectly safe with her, although I am not taking on any responsiblity for contraction of Lyme Disase. I'm fairly certain your kids got that from YOUR house.

Also- I can't be held responsible for allergies due to pine nuts, peanuts or milk, etc ... kids are allergic to everything these days! They need to come to me with a bracelet or a piece of paper or something stating they have allergies and you know what- to be safe, maybe everyone should just pack and bring their own lunch. But nothing perishable ... I don't want stuff to go bad while we're out doing our laps or working in my fabulous vegetable garden!

I'm totally in. All this could be yours for the low, low cost of $1300.00 per kid.

Let me know if you're interested.

Aunt Karyn

Thursday

Is it really only Thursday? This week is dragging for me, for some reason. I wish it were Friday already- Friday at about 1PM.

I have such problems being motivated lately- at work, at home, anywhere .... I think with the wedding now behind us, it's like a big giant SIGH and then- you're just lazy. We did get gifts put away and we have hung some pictures and put together some furniture .... but the curtains are still sitting on a chair, not to mention the curtain RODS are no where near the walls- unless you count propped up against them. I need to paint at LEAST four areas of the house and have been there 1.5 years- you'd think by now I'd have gotten some motivation and ok, ok- we did get the core of the house painted (living room, kitchen, dining, entry) and two bedrooms during that time, but STILL ... the ultimate in laziness!

I discovered fleas on my baby last night. FLEAS!

So today I am off to the store to get some flea stuff. There has been a mama cat and three baby kitties hanging around lately- not only did the mama cat scratch my baby's nose, she also hisses and threatens all of us when we go outside in OUR own backyard ... and now she has brought in fleas. Last night Conrad called me to come outside and that stupid cat was lounging on TOP of our neighbors house- just sitting on the roof, like nothing was going on. She is MEAN! I wouldn't let Conrad call Animal Control because I just can't bear it- if they put the mama and her babies to sleep, but really I wish she would MOVE ON. But she really is the most unpleasant cat you ever met- Conrad said it's because she's wild- a ferrel cat.

I guess that's it ... not an exciting post today.

Oh, Oh!

But this past weekend I did buy the movie with Hillary Swank in it- called "P.S. I love You". Well I LOVED this movie! Her husband dies of cancer and on her 30th birthday (a few weeks later) she gets a cake delivered and a tape recorder with a tape from him- and he says that he is going to help her through this and she'll be getting a letter from him, etc ... and she does. For an entire year- letters are sent to her with instructions for her to do something nice for herself, to clean out his stuff, to get a new job, etc ... it is a WONDERFUL movie. Totally my new favorite one.

Ka

Couples Night

We have been officially invited to our first married couples night! I am especially excited because there will be MEXICAN beer there. I have been dabbling more in the domestic side of things- but I'm making a run for the border on Friday night!

We actually have hung out with these people before, it's just that now it's the three old married couples hanging out- instead of two old married couples and us swinging singles. HA! Now we're just going to be the only married couple without kids ... and the only married couple who has ZERO intention of having kids. I imagine in our child-bearing years, so maybe for the next ten or so, we'll be fending off all sorts of RUDE questions like: WHAT? You're not going to have kids? Then why did you even bother to get married? Well you'll change your mind- it's different when they're your OWN kids. It's very selffish of you not to want kids. I just don't BELIEVE it... yadda yadda yadda

Yeah- NO IT'S NOT. It's not different. Children are still kids and we still have no desire to have them. When the ten years are up- and we're well into our 40's, people will just give us sympathetic looks and maybe whisper behind our backs about our misfortune ... and talk about the poor childless couple. Which is fine, we won't be able to hear you from our FABULOUS LAKE HOUSE on the weekends. HA HA!

But alas, that is not what I want to talk to you about today. I want to talk about games today ... and more specifically my new favorite one. The last time we went over to our friends we were introduced to SEQUENCE and I love, love, love it. So much so I registed for it and my good buddy Candice (the mama from yesterday's post) got it for me for my Dallas shower. I was SO HAPPY!!!!

The game is hard to describe, but you and your team member are basically making sequences of five (twice) - you can go up and down, across or diagonal. If you have a Queen of hearts and there is a two of Spades next to it- you hope your partner has the two of Spades ... then there's something with the Jacks. The one-eyed Jack means you can take a piece of ANOTHER TEAM'S off the board- thereby destroying their plan! ... the two-eyed Jack is wild, so maybe you need a three of Diamonds to complete your sequence, so you use the Jack instead. It's BRILLIANT!

If your home has SEQUENCE, then it is a complete home indeed. If it does not, you need to take yourself to Target IMMEDIATELY and rectify the situation! This is the MOST fun game and the more teams of two you have, the better. It moves fast and it causes you to get very angry with your teammate and talk smack to the other teams around the table. When you're playing you begin to fancy yourself the wittiest, smartest, most strategic person on the planet. You start to wonder why the government isn't giving you daily calls to solve all their problems ... and why they haven't come to YOU to solve this whole Iraq business- because when you are playing SEQUENCE you're the smartest person on the earth. If you lose the game, then it was clearly your teammates fault- other people can't be trusted.

Anyway- run don't walk to pick up this gem! I will be playing it Friday night and I hope Adrian is my partner again because he is as ruthless and stuck on himself as I am and we make an UNBEATABLE team! He also semi-sort of introduced me to Conrad ... so I LOVE YOU ADRIAN!

Ka

Uncommon

Oh and second post of the day ... my friend got her package from Uncommon Goods.com
so now I can talk about it!

She's pregnant with a little boy- and her shower was the day of our wedding, so we could not attend. We sent her the cutest little booties. It's a pack of I think 5 or 6 socks that LOOK like cowboy boots- one of every color.

If you know someone who's having a girl, they have the same thing, but they're Mary Janes.

It's the neatest thing- very unique! Your kid looks like they're wearing shoes, even when they're not. Wish they had that for adults!

Congrats Candice and Kevin!

Ka

Memorial Day Weekend

The older I get, the lazier I get.

I always look ahead, towards a holiday weekend with such grand plans. We're gonna go CAMPING! We are going to rent a CABIN! We'll cook out every night ON an actual fire- who needs a grill! We'll play frisbee on the lake with Blanca and go for walks around the lake every night ... and when we're not cooking, we'll find all the local mom and pop places to eat ...

We actually DID do this Labor Day weekend when we were dating between Houston and Dallas. We rented a cabin and took Blanca and went all around Gun Barrel City and had the best time. It seemed like such an adventure and for the first time, we weren't meeting up in one of the cities we lived in.

Now, two years later, we're old. Or we're lazy or something. We had many options for Memorial Day weekend and I was fully on board for a camping trip with friends, but Conrad says he just wants to stay home. All my grand plans don't sound so grand now ... and I am a-ok, all of the sudden with staying home. We even tossed around going home to Dallas, but his brother in law will just be getting home from a 12 day work trip and we know WE wouldn't be up for company after that. Of course, we have many other places to stay in Dallas, but with the kiddos and all, we normally stay there and try to hang out with them. It's a central gathering point. SO ... it looks like Houston it is.

I DID tell him if we do stay home, we are at LEAST leaving the house and going out ... like to Galveston for the day. Or Kemah- the boardwalk at Kemah is very nice ... or we can go to Lake Conroe and have lunch or something, but we are leaving the dadgum house AND the city we live in. I am far to young to feel this old. Or act this old ...

This is what working an 8-5 and driving 2.5 hours a day round trip will do to ya. I'm trying to get up the energy to start Turbo Jam again. They say if you do something for 3 weeks consistently, it will become a pattern and you will stick to it. So I just need 21 days of juice to either walk, Turbo Jam or go to our little neighborhood gym.

Ya'll pray for me!

Ka

Water of Life

Well, I've taken up drinking.

I've pretty much had too- if I ever want shelf space in my fridge again. I was being the hostess with the mostess a few weeks back, and I purchased some beer for people I knew would be in and out of the house, wedding week. Not all of it was drank, but some of it was. My stepdad and mom flew in - and so on their way to the airport, they dropped off the remaining beer THEY bought ... and then my brother in law and father in law had done the same thing- kept beer at the hotel, so THEY dropped their beer by the house too.

At the end of wedding week the only thing in our fridge was beer, BBQ sauce (favors from the wedding) and assorted corsages and my bouquet. It smelled like a funeral (flowers) in there. I got rid of the flowers, kept SOME BBQ sauce and poured the rest out ... and now I am working my way through the beer. It's slow going. I'm not the professional I guess I fancied myself to be.

In the past two weeks, I've gotten rid of maybe six bottles. The most I pack away is two at a time - although I KNOW I could handle more. But Conrad usually eyes me with some concern each time I get one from the fridge - but WHAT am I supposed to do? He COULD help a sister out- but no, he says his drinking days are behind him. Whatever. I'm taking one for the team. I've developed quite the taste for Bud Light- in bottles. Good stuff. I am now a bottle snob. No cans for me.

Anyway, during down time this week, I'm going to look for recipes using beer. I already know about the beer can chicken and my mom used to make these beer weinies which I know I like ... I'm going to look for some other things.

You all will be pleased to know I DID go Green this weekend and went right up to the Dollar Tree and got a beautiful plate and mug set to use at work. It's red and white. Very festive. I'm going to be like Martha Stewart eating my pimento cheese sandwiches while the rest of the girls kill the enviroment one cup at a time. We hung some pictures we got for our wedding ... and Conrad mowed the yard. I went to the library, the fresh air market (which is now open WOO HOO!), the bank, Wal-Mart, the list goes on. We did get out on Saturday for a nice late lunch/early dinner and then went to Bed Bath and Beyond to get a few things we registered for and didn't get. We had $250 in gift cards and STILL have $66 left to spend!

... and do you know gifts are STILL coming in? It's like an extended Christmas. I got another gift card today and every other day there's a box by the door when I get home. Miss Manners says you have up to a year to send a gift. I'm not sure we have room for one year's worth of this ... but, it's been interesting!

That's all for now!

Waiting on beer thirty!

Karyn

President

We finally got a card from the President!

I had posted before that I had received a letter saying he would not be able to attend our event and that we were in "consideration" for a response, which I laughingly called the "offical turndown". It was from his Events Coordinator.

We got our card last night, but it wasn't a turn down.

It was a hand addressed envelope to Mr and Mrs Conrad M Hopkins ... It was a lovely card, nice card stock, vanilla with a full color, foil Presidental seal at the top, centered. I should have brought it to work so I could copy it and put it here, but it was just a little note with something to the effect of how special and wonderful marriage was and some little nugget of advice like "don't go to bed mad" (that wasn't it... but that was the gist). It may have said something like marriage is first and foremost a special friendsship ... and then best wishes for a happy life together. Signed by George and Laura Bush.

VERY classy! It will for sure go into the scrapbook. You know Jenna Bush is getting married tomrorow, here in Texas. It's a pretty low key event, I understand and I'm glad she did it that way. They appear to be down to earth people. Most Texans are. HA! HA!

Anyway, we were tickled to get the note. STILL nothing from Her Majesty The Queen. You would THINK I would have gotten some sort of regret or something. I thought the English had impeccable manners? I guess not?

The weekend is shaping up to be relaxing and boring! WE LOVE IT!

The fresh air market/produce stand I go to is opening TODAY and I am so excited! I am going first thing in the morning. They have the best corn available and for almost free. Conrad wants to head there and get that. I'm in the market for some fresh blueberries (I make killer muffins from scratch) and peaches (I also do a good cobbler) and I'm looking for some squash and things I can make for my lunches that Conrad won't come NEAR.

I've also decided to do my part to help the Earth. I've plans to go to the Dollar Store this weekend and purchase a plate and a nice coffee cup and bring them up here to work. I don't want to bring my personal stuff that's part of a SET, but I need to bring something up here that I don't throw away. I'm ashamed every time I drink coffee out of the styrofoam they offer here. So I am off to get that this weekend ...

and we DId say that after the stress of the wedding and now the house is put back together, we may take off tomorrow and do something fun. Maybe go see Ironman and have a nice lunch ... or take in an Astros game or something. We're craving something different from the norm.

Happy Weekend to you all!

Kah

More Pics

I love that everyone keeps sending me pictures. It's so great to see all the perspectives from everyone .... all I can tell was there was a lot of dancing, drinking and cigar smoking going on! ... and SOMEHOW I have become known as "The Bride with the Beer" ....

Happy

I am sitting here at my desk this morning and I realize that I am happy. For the first time, I think in my entire life, I am happy.

I've certainly had TIMES of happiness and things that made me happy. There are events that happen, like when I get to see my family, a great dinner out, a raise at work- all of those things make me happy, but I've never BEEN happy.

Something inside me has been broken for a long, long time. It's made me neurotic and scared and high strung and paranoid. I've been this way for as long as I can remember. I'm a very tense person. My family laughs, but I think it's sort of sad, I'm known for this statement, when I was a litle kid. No matter what I did, or where I went or who I was with, my question was ALWAYS "It ain't gonna kill me is it?" Kinda funny, kinda cute- but mostly sad. I think there was something very, very wrong or "off" with me for a long time.

I don't think I was depressed or am depressed, but I know a chemical imbalance for sure runs in parts of my family. Most of the time, I'd rather be alone with a good book that with anybody else. I'm sad a lot, I think a lot, I'm always paranoid and when my knee hurts, I'm more likely than not to announce I have a brain tumor. I've been saying goodbye to people and missing people my entire life. That part won't change- my family is spread all over the country.

I also had some toxic people in my life which are no longer. I dreamed about two of them last night- we no longer speak and we never ever will again- and I'm ok with that. I have a hard time forgiving and I can hold a grudge like nobody's business ... and I don't miss these two people. It's just the thought of them still makes me angry. I dream about them about once a month and it's really something I have to let go- but them just not being around, is probably a good thing and a step forward in progress.

BUT, about two years ago, I started coming around. I started to not be AS paranoid. I started realizing if my car payment was three days late, things were going to be ok. I started really relaxing and trying to enjoy myself. It's been a SLOW process ... it's probably, I think, credited to Conrad more than anyone. He's very calm, very reasonable and I've learned through some stressful times and some paranoid times that he loves me no matter what. Besides my parents, I'm not sure I've ever experienced that. I've always been told romantic love is NEVER unconditional and maybe not- but it would take LOT for Conrad not to love me anymore. I know I am loved and secure and as long as he's around, he'll make sure nothing ever hurts me. He's the first person I've dated that HASN'T hurt me. He never hurts my feelings, when we quarrel- he's the first to offer the olive branch. He tucks me in every night and runs little errands for me and does things like picks me up a candy bar when he runs to the gas station- so I know he's always thinking of me. He definetly puts me first in everything ... and he loves my dog. I am the luckiest person in the world.

Moving to Houston and leaving all I knew was stressful. Selling and leaving my first home was heartbreaking. Coming to a new city and getting a new job and making new friends was terrifying. Waiting on an engagement drug on FOREVER ... planning the wedding was fun but it seemed it would never get here. Now it has come and gone and I feel a peace I've never before experienced in my life.

There are still problems in the world, in my life ... I'm not as skinny as I want to be, I still have Graves Disease, I still worry about people, I still miss my family and friends, I still live in Houston :) , I still wish I had more money and wish my bills were all paid off ... I could still get sick, any of us could .. but for once, I am incredibly peaceful and happy and still.

Cool Websites

Gosh, now that the wedding's over, it's hard to find stuff to blog about. I spent more time on wedding things that I guess I had originally thought. I do though, continue to take pride in the fact that I was a low maintenance bride... and for the wedding we had, you would never have known it.

I have had fun these past few weeks... sending out gifts. I found a website a long time ago and just recently rediscovered it- it's called Uncommon Goods.com. I love it. It's a website with very unique and different things - things *I* don't believe you could find anywhere else. I had my sister and a friend of mine help me out with the wedding, pretty unexpectedly- so I sent them both gifts from the website. They are SO cool.

The first is a set of BAD DOG Tumblers. My sister has TWO bad dogs in her life, and I thought she would appreciate them. The second was a pair of cozy red slippers for my friend ...that are filled with herbs. You can put them in the microwave and heat up all the herbs and they will soothe you- or so the advertisment says. I'm totally a spa girl and anything I can do to make my house or my life more like a spa, I am IN! Regardless, both super cool! I wanted some for myself. I also ordered one more thing for someone, but she reads this blog and I don't want to give it away... she will see soon enough. But also super cute. It had nothing to do with the wedding- more to do with a party we missed and she lives in the Dallas area. I will post on those, when I know they've gotten there.

Anyway, I think this is a place I'm going to visit around Christmas-time for sure. There's also a cool place called delight.com which has some neat stuff too. They are more eco-friendly and green and have a lot of recycled things. I received some of my wedding gifts from there. I LOVE random stuff! I hope all our family and friends do too, cause this is where I'll be shopping for awhile!

Karyn

Monday

Happy Monday!

The weekend was a good one. ALL of the thank you notes are out ... ALL of the Mother's Day cards are out. Our house is ALMOST back to normal. The wine rack has been assembled. I got my grinders AND ran to Linens N' Things last night and bought a new lamp for my side of the bed. Conrad had a nightstand and lamp, but my side didn't. My boss got me the cutest table, so I went to LNT last night with some of my gift cards and got the lamp. SUPER CUTE! The lamp is different than Conrad's, but I did match the shades - so they look very funky in there!

I cooked beef stew last night. YUM! Getting it in the pot was rather comical. First of all, I went to the store on Saturday morning and got a few things- carrots being one of them. Yesterday I went to add my carrots and nothing- they are on the receipt, but nowhere to be found! I looked everywhere and even my truck. So I went out to Wal-Mart and picked some up, got the Mother's Day cards and came home. Then about an hour later, I went to add my potatoes ... opened up the pantry and WOW, did you know potatoes can ROT? I mean ROT?! Well, they can ... it was really disgusting and I had barely just gotten them a few weeks ago. Off I go to Kroger - picked up some potatoes and came home. What should have been an inexpensive dinner, made with things I had on hand, and easy turned into a two hour shop-a-thon. The good thing was it was delicious! We both loved it. I don't know why I don't make it more...

Then something else funny happened. On Saturday, on the way to get my griners, my phone rang. It was Music Town. Conrad had driven himself crazy last week hunting down the newest Testament CD which came out on Tuesday. Being the good wife I am- I went to Best Buy here in the Galleria and they showed me that there was none anywhere in Houston and all were on order- coming in within two weeks. I said forget THAT- this boy is foaming at the mouth to get this CD. Everyday he comes home sad about it because he heard a new song off the album. So I called Music Town, which is a little place near our house- very "High Fidelity", if you've ever seen that movie- and they special ordered it for me. Should be in on Monday (today), they said. But they called Saturday and said it was in. So I told the guy I would send Conrad. But what I really said was, "Ok- well, it's not for me. I ordered it for my boy- I mean, HUSBAND. I will send him". I had never said it outloud before and boy was it weird! I laughed all the way to BBB. I have a husband. Huh. Wierd.

Anyway, he got his CD and I am new wife of the month!

Karyn

Gettin Stuff Done

It's already a good weekend!

Over half the thank you notes are out!
I mailed my dad's rehearsal dinner gift- which was a picture frame he couldn't get back on the plane.We put all the checks and cash we received (thank you!) into my business account for safe keeping. (The account is about to be used for business, but for now, it's empty). We've made a list of things we need or would like to have OR needs to be done to the house and will go over that tonight- but the money received will go a long way towards helping with that goal! I also just wanted all that stuff out of the house. Very stressful trying to remember where all the checks and cash are! :)

Conrad cleaned out the garage, we both put away gifts into their rightful places. I went across the street to see if the neighbor with the pretty yard wanted the leftover flowers from our reception. We know we'll kill them and we know she won't! I can't stand to waste anything- a trait from my grandparents- and I would hate for these lovely plants to die.

Conrad has gone off to the gun and knife show downtown and I am about to hit Bed Bath and Beyond. I wanted the salt and pepper grinder we registered for and also the tiered lazy suans. We need those for the spice cabinet. Everything we registered for that we didn't get is 20% off ... plus I have a 20% off coupon PLUS we scored major gift cards. This is MY KINDA SHOPPING!

I hope you are all having wonderful weekends! We are- and back to real life. But our life was always pretty awesome to start with, so this is no sad thing!

Karyn

Back to Normal

Life is pretty much gonna get back to normal this weekend!

Our Best Man is a Texas State Trooper and he had some business in Huntsville these past few days. He came to stay with us last night and that was good. I felt SO guilty that I barely had any real QUALITY time to spend with anyone during the wedding, him included. So we had a nice dinner and talk last night. He's going back to the Dallas area today. I chuckled this morning as I was leaving. In the driveway was my shiny red truck and a Texas State Trooper car. Most of our neighbors, thanks to my loud and excited proclamations- as we were heading to rehearsal Friday night- know we got married this weekend. You KNOW they all went to bed shaking their heads, wondering what post-marital drama had occured in the house that we had to call in the State Troopers. Imagine their confusion when they saw the car still there this morning!

The house is a complete and total disaster area. It looks like a tornado formed inside and just exploded. We have gifts everywhere, BBQ sauce favor bottles everywhere ... cards, ribbons and decorations from the wedding EVERYWHERE. I put my dress and petticoats on one of the guestroom beds and while they served me well during the most important day of my life, I won't ever wear them again and so I think they really should go on Craigslist ... not sure why people keep them. They take up SO MUCH room and someone else could enjoy it. We are not planning on having kids and even if we did, any daughter of mine who married later on, would surely want her own dress, in the style of the time. I think I hear a GARAGE SALE in my future!

This weekend we're heading off to a gun show. If you know Conrad, this is no surprise. We need to clean up the house, we have absolutely no clean clothes to wear and we need to start writing our 200 thank you notes. :)

That's the plan.

I've been married almost a week. Hard to believe!

Karyn Hopkins

DJ

The DJ took pics too ....
There is an album of 200 pictures there.

REALLY great ones. Check them out when you have time.

http://www.ondeckentertainment.com/hopkins/album0.html

More Pics ...

Well... I need some more ammo against Conrad. I spent months torturing him with talk of him being a married man, saddled with the old ball and chain... never a free man again, until death do us part. Nothing phased him. He still showed up on April 26th. Then he tortured me every time a love song came on the radio- threatening to sing it at full volume during the wedding. He never did.

Now we need new threats ... something new to hang over each others heads.
Marriage should be fun!

More pics....