After Christmas, Before the New Year

My grandparents got here on Wednesday night and things have been crazy since then. On Thursday I got up at the crack of dawn and took my car to have my state inspection done, which my grandma thought was a crime against womanhood. "Mary Beth, don't you know that is a man thing and you should not do anything yourself that you can get a man to do for you?!?!" I promptly told her that I could do it myself thank you very much and if she could call and get David up at 7:30 in the morning then she could be my guest. I was not aware that I was living in the 1920s. After that adventure I picked up David and we went to the bank to get my birth certificate then went to his mom's law office to turn in our will information. Yes, we are very old and getting wills already. But I figure it is a good idea to take care of it while we can get it for free instead of having to pay someone $1000 at some point in the future. Then we went to the mall and Best Buy to finish up belated Christmas shopping and eat lunch, then we drove to Temple to the social security office. I am now officially Mary Elizabeth Webster with th US government, so as of now I am Mary Beth Webster to all of you. My corrected credit cards are on their way. So after that I packed for our trip to Kerrville to see David's family on his mother's side.

David and I ventured into the unknown world of privacy on road trips and took our own car down there instead of trying to ride in the car with Linda and Ryan. This time, however, Linda decided to bring her three stinky pugs with her supposedly per the request of her mother. So the pugs were in the car too, and they were in crates so there was really no room for David and me in the suburban anyway. They were supposed to be at my house on Friday morning at 8:15, and I woke up at 7:45 because the power had been off since 1:00 am and my alarm didn't go off. I was not ready to go when they got to my house, and as I was putting the gel in my hair to scrunch it since there was no way to blow dry and straighten it, the power came back on. Grr. We got to Kerrvile around 11:00 in the morning, then went to David's aunt's diner to have lunch with David's grandparents, his uncle David and his wife and three kids, his aunt Debbie's kids, and David's family. It was this tiny place and busy aside from us being there, so after buying about $200.00 worth of fireworks from the neighboring stand me, David, Linda, and Ryan went to James Avery. For those of you who don't know, James Avery is a really nice jeweler that is based out of Kerrville and has a couple of branches throughout Texas, so where we got to go is the actual factory and studio where all the jewelry is made. David got me a pair of earrings that I have wanted for a while, and Linda got a present for her mom. Afterwards we went to the hotel where we stayed to check in and rest for a while, then we went back to David's grandparents' house. We ate pizza and played cards and drank all night, and David's aunt Debbie was particularly funny as a real-life version of SNL's Drunk Girl. We left around 11:00 pm to go to the hotel and get some rest. The next day we went to their house around 10:30 and after waiting for everyone to get there the ladies went shopping and to lunch at a local tea room called Queen B's. We went shopping at Billy's Western Wear where David's grandma tried to buy me a pair of $250 boots and a $130 belt. I did not let her as I refuse to enable her impulse shopping. Then we went to the tea room and it was soo much fun! The tables were set with beautiful china and there were hats hanging on all the walls and we each got to choose a hat to wear. Then we each ordered a pot of tea and our meal. I had broccoli and cheese quiche, tomato and herb soup, salad with raspberry dressing, and a strawberry and cream buscuit for dessert. It was absolutely delish!! I also found a few very special antiques, but they shall remain nameless unless the person they are intended for reads this... After the tea room we spent the rest of the afternoon at the house and later had cake to celebrate David's grandma's 70th birthday. David and I ahd to leave around 7:00 to get home before too late, and Ryan was not far behind. I had a much better time than I thought I would, and I attribute much of it to the fact that David and I insisted on having some privacy from the craziness that is family gatherings.

Today I had lunch with my friend Tami Jo and her boyfriend Josh, and now we are just preparing for David's family to come over for New Years. Tomorrow is the last normal day I have before going back to Waco on Tuesday. I am getting all my hair cut off Tuesday afternoon, so see pictures of Kate Bosworth and Posh below for a reference of what I am going for. Happy New Year!!!



Buying fireworks...

OK, so Linda refuses to learn how to use her camera, so she told me and Ryan to take pictures for her. She did not specify what she would like the subject of the pictures to be...













The whole family!!


How I want my hair done, not my face done, just to clarify........

Christmas Presents!! Yay!

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!!! We did here at the Tait/Webster house. I got everything I asked for plus more, it was a beautiful day, and there were no fights to speak of. David was very allergenic, though, which will have to be fixed before next Christmas. The only downer thing was my dad not being here, but we got to talk to him for a while, even though he sounded pretty sad. But to lighten the mood, here are some of the things I asked for and recieved!

First, here is kind of a representative spread of what I got, and now that I am older there is pretty much an explanation for everything. Except for DJ. She was a Christmas present three years ago, but is not included in the spread this year.



First, I got some very comfy pj's/clothes from Victoria's Secret's PINK line, which I like. My mom also got me the Natalie Dee Cupcake + Multivitamin = Super Breakfast t-shirt, which I love.



Next are my Born shoes that I have been wanting for a while. Let me explain that now that I am an old workin' woman I have to have comfortable shoes to wear all day. While I find these attractive as well as comfy, they do not compare in cuteness to my high heels or knee-high boots. But I definitely tried to wear my 5" Mizrahi heels that I mentioned in a previous post last week to work and before Jess and I could go on a shopping trip for exhibit supplies we had to drop by my apartment so I could change shoes. I attribute the fact that I am horrible at walking in high heels to my already extreme height issues, so it is not really all my fault.



My mom also got me The Complete Works of Jane Austen, which I am excited to read. I love all the movies based on her books and Pride and Prejudice is my fav movie of all time, but I have never read the book. This is disappointing to many of you I know, but because I have to read so much for school I don't have a lot of interest in reading for pleasure. I hope to change this now that I have graduated. Although, this blogging thing is what I seem to be doing so far...



David and I jointly got The Office Seasons 1 and 2, and I got underwear and a martini shaker and various other things from Santa. I don't even want to know how he knows my undie size! For shame, Santa! I also got two different Victoria's Secret bags.



Things that are not shown are a laptop glove for my new mac, a keyboard protector for my new mac (which I am typing on right now), two board games, a bunch of DVDs, and the new translation of The Aeneid (which I translated myself over the course of 2 semesters of Latin). Nice.

And now, in a completely seperate act of revenge, are pictures of my sister being extremely unattractive, followed by pictures of both of us being just plain ugly. You likey?!?!

Merry Christmas!!!

Hello everyone out in blogger land!! I hope everyone is having an amazing holiday break with their families and friends. Today at my house has been spent knitting, cooking, and preparing for the big luminary/light show tonight. In our new neighborhood putting out luminaries and Christmas lights is a big freakin deal, so we have been opening the bags and getting them ready for the past hour or so. However, it has been raining pretty steadily for the past few days and is really wet outside, so we are not really sure if we will be able to put them out. Even if the luminaries are a bust, there will be a ton of people driving by to look at Christmas lights, so it's all good. Tis also the season for every fattening treat imaginable, which my mom has been slaving away in the kitchen making today. There is fudge and chocolate chip cookies and gingerbread cookies and pecan sandies and sherry tea cake cherry coconut bars, not to mention all of the regular food for dinner tonight. Today is probably my favorite day of the year because we get to have a ham. We do not do both at Thanksgiving, and I look forward to the Christmas ham every year. I know I could go get a ham any time I wanted to, but then it wouldn't be special, now would it?!? I have spent the past few day wrapping presents, which I consider my specialty, and it is nice as my sister and I have gotten older that we now have smaller, more expensive things instead of lots of large cheap toys and such.

Sooo, this is my mom's new dog Duncan's first Christmas, and he and DJ were very festive this year. See pics below for the Santa-type fun!! The only bad thing about this Christmas is the fact that my dad is in Iraq. We are very lucky because he has been able to call about three times since I have been home, and we all got to talk to him for a really long time today. He is really sad he has to be over there, but he told me they all finished their work today and will get to rest and eat all day tomorrow, barring a huge disaster. He said there will be a huge amount of food all day, and then tomorrow night his boss Gen. Odierno is throwing all of his senior officers a private dinner that he gets to go to, which will be really nice for him. Below are some pics he sent me from their Christmas celebration in the palace he works in...




My dad and General Odierno

And I forgot I don't have the pics of the dogs being festive, so they will come later. Sorry!!

In other news Jennie came to visit us yesterday and we had a blast!! we went out to lunch with David and Ryan then came back and goofed around for a while before everyone had to go home Oh! I have a movie recommendation. Mom and I inadvertantly watched "Just Friends" with Ryan Reynolds and Amy Smart last night, and it was hilarious!! I highly recommend it. Well, mom is making the sweet potato cassarole right now which I am very excited about. We are about to deliver tins full of homemade goodies to our neighbors, so they will be excited about that!! I hope everyone has an amazing Christmas, and I wil be sure to update you with the haul I get tomorrow morning!! ~MB

And for your viewing pleasure, pics of me an my sis earlier today being REALLY ugly! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

FREE AT LAST!!!

First, let me say that the pictures from the pevious post are my sister Carol, not me, even though she is wearing a t-shirt that says my name on it. That is an old-school airbrushed shirt with a ying-yang on it from Gulf Shores, AL. There has been some confusion, so I thought I would clear that up.

SOOOO, I am coming to you now as an official COLLEGE GRADUATE!!! I graduated from Baylor University with a Bachelor's Degree in Museum Studies and History on Saturday, December 16 at 10:00 am. That is when it started, but I really graduated around 11:40 am. I am soo excited to be done. I just found out that I will be the Collections Manager for the Dr Pepper Museum starting January 8, which is also the day David starts his job at L3. Here is some of the stuff that has happened since Thanksgiving break...

As some of you know, my dad is in the Army, and the Tuesday after Thanksgiving I drove back home to see him off to Iraq. This is his second tour, and he was not too excited about going again, as you can imagine. So Monday and Tuesday were spent eating at all the places he wanted to before he left, so we went to Olive Garden Monday night, this little cafe for breakfast Tuesday morning, and the Texas Roadhouse for dinner Tuesday night after we dropped off his things on post. It was sad, but we didn't do the whole sit-in-the-gym thing, which made it a little easier to bear. So after we dropped him off I had to drive back to Waco for class the next day. :(

So on my way home to see dad before he left I got to pick up my brand new Mac computer from the FedEx store in Temple!! David and I decided to go ahead and get it, and I am LOVING it so far!! My old computer is not talking to me anymore, so I am sure it would appreciate being bought by someone who will love it forever! I understand my computer is not like a stray I am trying to find a good home for, but I get attached to my computers and make them personal, so I do feel like I have abandoned it in a way. It is a great computer, so if you are interested let me know! I am also thinking about listing it on Craig's List Waco, so check that too. The Mac is amazing and I love all the cool features it has. I am also very lucky because for my graduation my parents got me the Adobe Creative Suite which has Dreamweaver, Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, and a bunch of other applications to help me with my web design ambitions. LOVE IT!!!



Next on the list is my growing obsession with two particular things: Natalie Dee and THE OFFICE!!! I love both!! Natalie Dee is so freakin hilarious that I can hardly stand it, and she is totally mine and Jennie's kindred spirit. I bought my self a Dinosaur Vice Principal shirt (see pics), and Jennie got me the You Will Blog About This shirt plus a Will Knit for Tattoos bag for Christmas. I LOOOVE Dinosaur Vice Principal, and the blog shirt is double great because it combines my love of blogging and Chinese food! YUM!!!! So, The Office is the best show ever. EVER!! I love it so much. I am dying because the new episodes don't come out until January, and then we get to find out who Michael took to Sandals Jamaica with him!!! Ahhhh the suspense is killing me!! The most entertaining character is Dwight K. Schrute, who has his own bobblehead doll, which Jennie gave me for graduation. LOVE IT TOO!!!! He is the guardian of mine and David's new TV, which we purchased as our Christmas present to ourselves. It is sexxxy!!!




Dinosaur Vice Principal says: "Do your homeowrk and quit being a dick!"






Dwight guards the TV!!






So enough about new purchases, I was totally sick all last week. I think everyone I know has been sick this winter. Maybe because it is 75 degrees outside when it should be 30!!!! It is colder today though. I had a sore throat which turned into a sinus thing, so I was not feeling too wonderful during graduation. However, I did suck it up to go to a Shake N' Bake party. We ate Shake N' Bake and macaroni and cheese and drank beer at Jessica's house, then moved on the Jennie's house where we ate Twinkies and Hostess Cupcakes and watched Talladega Nights. It was a lot of fun, but I felt so bad:( I am still not totally over it, but I am getting there. Just when I thought things might settle down, my dog DJ is sick today and I have to take her to the vet. What is wrong with her is kinda gross, so I will spare the details, but I will say it is a backdoor issue. Fun fun.

Well, I know there was more I wanted to update about, so I am sure I will think of it later. Just know I am free, and now will have much more time for this kind of thing!! YAY!!

~MB

The Thanksgiving Madness has Begun!!!!

Are they professional pics? You be the judge.....

These are some pis I took in Salado yesterday for Carol and her friends for their yearbook page.

bye bye bye

This is my sister and her firend Jess acting like straight-up men.

Workin' 9 to 5!

So, I am now sitting here in my parents' house by myself since they have both gone upstairs to obsess over the high school football game in Cedar Park by holding the radio up to their ear. I personally could not give a shit, but whatev. Coming home is always fun, but I forget how un-used to it I am. This is illustrated in dog form when DJ came in to my parents' house tonight and was humped by my mom's new poodle Duncan. Duncan has not been neutered yet, and we have high hopes for his ball-removal operation. He is sooo excited all of the time, and having another dog to play with, especially an enticing female one, is almost too much for him to handle. DJ likes to play, but the constant sex is getting a little old. She is a lady!

In other news I am happy to announce that I was officially offered a full-time job at the Dr Pepper Museum yesterday, and I have accepted! I pretty much knew it was coming, but Jack actually sat me down and we discussed the nitty gritty of salary, benefits, and job description yesterday. This is pretty exciting for me, since I have worked really hard for two and a half years to get this, and I love my job. David and I are excited to stay in Waco for a while, and we hope he enjoys his job as much as I enjoy mine.

Today at work Jessica and I put up the Dr Pepper and the Military exhibit, which turned out wonderfully!! It is so colorful and bright, and really patriotic looking. Here are a few pics from it, so come to the museum and check it out! You won't be disappointed!!

Of Morals and Country Music.....

Friday night was the first time I had been home on a Friday in a long time. Usually I have plans Friday nights and I go home Saturday mornings, especially right now since my dad is about to leave again at the end of the month. So I get home Friday night and eat dinner and there is a knock on the door. Turns out that my dad had a consultation with like the 5th cable guy about getting the addition on our house rewired, and he finished all his jobs during the day and came back Friday night with his supervisor. What he didn't tell my dad was that it was going to take every cable guy in Harker Heights and Killeen to get it done, so at one point there were about 10 cable trucks in our driveway and 16 cable guys working on the house. The were absolutely hilarious, and there was not much to do since they were working on the TV and the Internet, so me, my mom, and me dad sat around and drank almost 3 bottles of wine between us as we were watching the doors to make sure the cats didn't get out. but i didn't really feel bad, as I have the article my dad cut out of the paper about how red wine is good for you to back up my drunken actions. HA! I love wine, and home improvement is definitely funnier if you are drunk.





So many cable trucks! Partay!!


DJ also was not aware that Duncan was going to be there when she got to my parent's house this weekend. She just thought he was visiting! We only had one humping incident, and thankfully he is getting neutered the day after Thanksgiving. They both went to the beauty shop Saturday morning, and they are both so fluffy!!!



So here is what happened Saturday...

Saturday afternoon I went to a friend's wedding. I have known her and her family for a long time, but in actuality I was not invited, my parents were. This is fine with me as she and her brother were not invited to my wedding, just her parents were. This was a space thing, as I am sure it was for her yesterday. Anyway, we get to the place, which is beautiful. We go down to the amphitheater, which is where the ceremony will take place, and it is this cool limestone background with limestone terraced seating with trees all around and the weather was just perfect. So, this is where it started to get weird. Affixed to the back of the amphitheater is a HUGE wooden cross, which would be fine except that if you do not want to have a Christian ceremony that beautiful place is pretty much out. So the wedding starts and she is beautiful, and her dad gives her away, and everyone is crying. Well, I wasn't, but I was enjoying it. So right off the bat, the preacher, who obviously did not know them, called her husband-about-to-be the wrong name, and that kind of set the mood for the ceremony. The first reading was the typical 1 Corinthians, and then they said their vows. His were all about him being the head of the household and how he would be the spiritual center of their family and he alone could make her complete spiritually and all of this REALLY misogynistic stuff. Her vows were about her respecting him as he guides her spiritually and how she will support him as the spiritual leader of their home and be there at all times to support him in his spirituality and his leadership of her. Ugg. And then there was the reading "Of Husbands and Wives" which basically said that she was inferior to him and she best not talk back to him. Ugg times two. OK, so here is my fundamental problem with all of it. I think that if that is really what you believe then that is how your ceremony should be, and I have absolutely nothing against a wedding that addresses the spirituality of the union of two people. However, I know my friend, and I cannot in a million years see her being OK with ANY of what was said. Throughout the event it was obvious that the unique touches like the U2 song that was played as they left and the coffee bean centerpieces were all her, and the weird male chauvinist stuff was not. It really confused me. The worst part is that is was not really about them, it was about God. I think it should be about both if that is what you believe in, but why have a wedding if it is isn't to also celebrate the relationship the two people have, instead of how their relationship is only valid if they put God above each other. Anyway, it was way weird, mainly because it was not at all what I had expected from her. Other than those few minutes of confusion, the rest of the evening was wonderful! The food and drinks were good, the band was good, and they looked really happy.

Soooo, after that I was going to a Dierks Bentley, Randy Roger's Band, and Miranda Lambert concert with my sister and her friend Holly. I was not too excited as I am an old lady and don't like staying out late, but I made myself go and I am glad I did. So we got their late because of the wedding, and we were supposed to be meeting Carol's friends there and they were up at the very front. We got there before the thing started, and there were about ten ros of people on the floor between us and them, and it took us like 10 minutes to work up the courage to push through the people to get up to where they were. So once we did we were getting horrible looks from the girls around us because I am so tall. Well bitches, I can't do anything about it, so step off! So we maneuvered around so everyone could see, and after we did that they were nice to us and we had a good time. I felt bad, but I can't really do anything about how tall I am. So the show started and the Randy Roger's band came out first, and even though they were the opening number, I liked them the best of all. So of course there were the assholes who waited until right before Deirks Bentley came on to try and push their way up to the front, and there was this one guy in particular who literally shoved middle school girls out of the way to get up there, like he knocked them over in his fervor to get to the front. We almost got him kicked out, but he found a pocket and settled down. He is lucky the crowd of pre-teen girls didn't shank him with their sharpened pink Moto RAZRs!!! Now, let me just say that Deriks Bentley is a tiny little man. He was also not very attractive in person, but entertaining none the less. This all leads to the fact that I am puzzled with peoples' reactions in big crowds like that. We live in a world that is supposed to bring us closer together, but because of the Internet and what I am doing RIGHT NOW we are way more uncomfortable then ever to be in a small confined space with other people. This is why I am never surprised at people's reactions in crowds. It was fun, check out the pics below!

Oh I Love Target!

Ok, so I am admitting an obsession of mine right here, right now. I LOVE TARGET!!! I love it because you can go there and get a huge bad full of relatively attractive clothing for $100.00, and the same size bag full of work clothes for $150.00. Nowhere else can you do that!! I have a really hard time justifying spending a lot of money on pants and tops. I end up selling everything in consignment at some point anyway, and if something was really expensive it makes it harder to part with based on principle. However, I do not have a problem shelling out the big bucks on shoes and purses and wallets. My favorite pair of shoes right now is the pair or Borns I bought in Las Vegas after my Target loafers failed me miserably. Don't get me wrong, the loafers are really cute, but they were not up to the 15 minute walk inside the hotel to get to our convention room. I wear them more now that I am usually in the safety of my very small office at work. Any, I love Target. I can safely say that about 90% of the clothing I wear on a regular basis at this time is from there. I also love the dog clothes, which DJ can smell when I bring them home. Wednesday I got her and Duncan matching Mr. and Mrs. Claus outfits for when we take them to get their pictures taken with Santa this Christmas. I love buying make-up there because there is a big selection and it looks clean and organized, unlike at Wal-Mart where it looks like someone just walked down the aisle with their arm extended randomly knocking things over. I love their shoes and jewelry because they are cheap but cute, and look like the designer ones I can't always afford. I do want to say that if you see me in a pair of cowboy boots, those are Steve Maddens for real; I did not buy them at Target. Target is one of the only places we registered for the wedding, and once we find an acceptable place to live our entire house will be furnished with Target things. The best thing about our Target is that it is right by Panda Express. I LOVE PANDA EXPRESS!!! I love their chow mein and orange flavored chicken. I actually just got hungry thinking about it!! So, usually when I am wearing lots of Target things I try to balance them out with a few of my more expensive items, like my Borns or Steve Maddens or ridiculously expensive GAP jeans, my mom's vintage Agner knee-high boots, my Giani Bini pumps, or things of that nature. And always my Coach purse. This makes me feel less like the penny-pincher that I am, except that I am only a penny-pincher with tops and pants.

So, I know this sounds all superficial, but I am a girl and I love to shop. Especially when I can replace my whole shirt wardrobe for $100.00. I work hard for my money, and I don't have any kids yet to drain every penny I make or a mortgage or a car payment or anything like that, so I am going to enjoy my money while I have it. I enjoy buying Vogue and looking at all the expensive things, but I also find comfort in the fact that if I ever bought one of those things I would feel ridiculous and never want to touch it for fear of staining it. I have only ever bought one really expensive pair of work pants in my life, and i have worn them constantly for almost 4 years now. The point of this lecture is to inform those of you out there on a tight budget that there is an answer, and it is Target.

So, another money dilemma I am in is that I want to sell my computer. I have a very nice Toshiba laptop that I got for my graduation present back in April, even though I don't graduate for another month. At the time the laptop that I had was falling apart, and I was about to have to take 2 online classes, so I needed the upgrade. But, it was right before I started work on the website at work, and I learned to love all that Macs can do. Now I want to buy a Mac laptop, but I don't have the money. Ideally I would like to keep my Toshiba and just buy the Mac too, but I don't think that will fly with the mister. My Toshiba has a huge hard drive and memory, wide screen but still small, and great speakers. I love it but I want a Mac too. I just want everything! Let me know if you are interested in buying....

Well, I am too tired to write anymore, but what can you do? I am going to sleep...

~MB

Two of my Target favs...



This is a sweater i am loving right now. It is all bunched up around my boobs becasue the plunge goes down to my tummy and you are supposed to wear a shirt under it, but I was too lazy to put another one on. I have a grey one just like it!




These are my fav shoes. I never wear them because they have a 5" heel and I am 5'10" flat-footed, but they are good for work sometimes. Very cute!