spring breakin'

Top 10 Perks of working in schools: 

10. Enriching the minds of children  

9. Hilarious, irreverent stories  

8. Chewing gum in school without getting your folder signed

7. Mariachi band in the cafeteria for Cinco de Mayo

6. Afternoon appointments with Ellen Degeneres

5. Peacing out of work at 3:30 PM

4. Thanksgiving Break

3. SPRING BREAK

2. Christmas Break

1. Summer...duh

This week I am savoring perk #3 on the list, Spring Break! These 7 glorious days consist of many unordinary things, but most importantly: not setting an alarm, eating breakfast on the couch rather than in the car, shopping for things other than groceries, catching up on some reading, going to bed past Tate's bedtime and not having to bribe anyone with stickers.

at Kona Grill

My mom called me Sunday evening to pitch the idea of coming to Houston for a few days. It took no convincing as I quickly thought of manicures, eating out, shopping, talking, and more talking. What a great idea! We would be happy to have you stay at B306! She came in Monday afternoon and is currently sitting on my couch. So far we have been very productive. Mani/pedi: check! Shopping: check! Sushi: check! We even found time to go to the grocery store, cook meatloaf and mashed potatoes AND make 130 special surprises for Brikki's wedding.

with two desserts

We also did some not-so-fun stuff like take my car in to get new brake pads, but who cares about that, right? That is just depressing. But, at least I had a buddy to go with me.

craft time and Glee

So far, SB2011 has given everyone a chance to share their talents. Mom has been able to express her gift of gift giving by doing just that, I've used my gift of hospitality while fixing her up on our couch for a few nights and Tate is using his strong work ethic to...well...work. OK I guess not everyone gets a Spring Break, but don't worry he still reaps the benefits. I brought him lunch at work, got him a swim suit (that fits!) at the mall, and I still have plenty of time to run pre-birthday errands.

cutie alert

This week has been a blast so far! Whhhew. I need to pace myself, seeing as it is only halfway over.  Thursday the Barretts are coming to town and Friday is Tate's birthday! Can you say, fun overload? Nope. I can't either. Long live SB2011!

xoxo

"I don't understand why Cupid was chosen to represent Valentine's Day.  When I think about romance, the last thing on my mind is a short, chubby toddler coming at me with a weapon."  ~Author Unknown

Although there were no toddlers or weapons, our third Valentine's Day was ideal. The celebration kicked off Sunday evening and concluded Tuesday. I guess when there is so much love in one relationship, you really can't limit your expression to just one day. Right. 

Day 1

Sunday night Tate told me that "all the guys were hanging out and that I should probably just go to Catherine's." Seeing as how "all the guys" have never made plans in advance before, much less made plans for me, I  knew not to ask any questions. Tate dropped me off at Catherine's where I met up with the other wives and he headed off to his super secretive mission. 

Little did I know the guys were going to the store to buy groceries and make us a Valentine's Day Eve dinner. Turns out all the other husbands caved and told their wives the big surprise, leaving me as the only clueless wife with the only husband that can keep a secret. :) We headed over to the Pittmans, as instructed. We walked in to dim lighting, the smell of steak and four husbands in the kitchen. What a sight! The table was set and there were even Valentine's decorations. They did such a great job! They came around and took our order, served the food and did the dishes afterwards. We weren't as surprised as we appear, but we did feel the love. Thanks to "all the guys:" Brittan, Colby, Andrew and Tate for a wonderful Valentine memory! 


Day 2
Monday morning I woke up to an Einstein's bagel! Although it is my fave, sleep still outranked the toasty breakfast surprise, so I slept a while longer before scarfing down my cinnamon raisin bagel and coffee. Throughout the day Tate got little notes that stated simple reasons why I love him. I started this tradition last year. It's a good one! I keep a list throughout the year of specific things he does/things about him that I love, then I write them down to give him on V-Day.

Last year I gave him a box with all the notes inside, and this year I hid them around the house, in his lunch, on the mirror, in the car, etc. The last note was in his Valentine's card and read, "I love you for being my co-chair for life." As many of you know this is a reference to StuFu which is where we met and served as Student Recruitment co-chairs. For V-Day, I got a brick installed at the Ed Crenshaw Student Foundation Building with our names on it. This is where we spent most of our time together Senior year, learned that the other wasn't so bad or "the devil," as Tate referred to me, became good friends and a year later got engaged. That evening, Tate came home from work with a dozen roses and my Pioneer Woman Cookbook! For those of you that are not loyal subjects to the PW, you need to check out her recipes and website here. I am a little obsessed! I made brisket tacos for dinner, which is probably our favorite meal right now. Sadly, it is not by PW, but I'll give you the recipe anyway. 


Day 3
Our final day of the Valentine's celebration ended with an ah-maze-ing meal at a local restaurant near our apartment called Haven. I had read the rave reviews about this seasonal restaurant and had been wanting to try it for months. Tate, understanding my basic need for fine cuisine (which should have been on one of his notes throughout the day),  surprised me with reservations! This place uses only local, fresh ingredients. The waiter actually told us the name of the boat that was used to catch their fresh gulf fish of the day. Understandably, Haven was packed on V-day, so we hit it up the day after for a post Valentine feast. 

As we were shown to our seats, I spyed a table covered with a a bouquet of flowers, a GIANT teddy bear, candles and wait for it....a balloon. I got worried for a second, but then we took a sharp right to our table, and I was quickly relieved. We drank tea out of mason jars. I, of course, had to try the shrimp corndogs and shot of lemonade I'd heard so much about. Much to my surprise, they tasted like corndogs with shrimp in the middle. Who woulda thunk it? For dinner, I had the beef loin, Tate had free range chicken and we got a side of the cheese grits (best part). Yum. We were too stuffed for dessert, but we are definitely going back sometime for dessert on the patio. 

Thanks for a great Valentine's Day  Week! I love you with all that I am! 

tollesons come to youston

Oh hello, long time no...type? A lot Some stuff has gone on in the lives of the Baylor Barretts since I've seen you last. Where to begin...

Shawn and Lynley made the 5 1/2 hour trip down 45 a few weekends ago to visit us in Houston. I say 5 1/2 due to the fact they took the scenic route, seeing an extra hour and a half of the greater Houston area. It was so great to spend time with them, especially since it was Shawn's last weekend before he shipped out for Spring training in Arizona. 

They got here late Friday night and we ate dinner at the apt. I'm used to cooking for my ironman-in-the-making and not accustomed to cooking for pro baseball players. Shawn went back for seconds and came back to the table with 2 carrots, a sliver of chicken and spoonful of mashed potatoes. It was great, but not near enough. Lesson learned. 

Saturday morning the husbands went for a Saturday morning workout while others slept in well, I would say slept in, but 11:00 AM is considered early morning for Lynley. Later we went to lunch at Little Bigs, jockeying for a table in the sunshine, preferably by the golden retriever. Lunch was followed by a tour of Houston's finest sights- The Beercan House. Yep, you guessed it- a house made entirely out of beercans. I don't know if I am proud or ashamed to admit this fine establishment is located not too far from our apartment. Sounds trashy, but looks amazing  pretty cool. and shiny. This man drank 39,000 beers over a period of 18 years to complete this lustrous  project. His family must have been so proud? As we parked the car and got out to take a quick picture, we found out this place is actually a "museum." I use the term "museum" loosely (hence the quotes), considering we paid $8 to look at nothing but an old house adorned with few beer quotes from Mr. Beer Man himself. Ok- I just realized I am spending way too much time on the Beercan House...moving on!

The rest of the afternoon was filled with guacamole, watching Baylor basketball on the air mattress and Scattegories. For dinner we took our guests to Houston's own Escalantes. Always good! Later we met friends at Barcadia to play some old school arcade games. Sad to say, my hand was sore the next day from too much Track and Field. Sunday we got up, went to our new Sunday School class, Cord, and had lunch with friends at Five Guys. It was a great weekend with the sis and bro! I am so honored they would spend their last Texas weekend with us. Love you guys and can't wait to get to Arizona or where ever Shawn will be to do it again! 

Stay tuned, more catching up with the Baylor Barretts is coming soon! 

Coming Attractions: Valentine's Day and Waco Weekend  

the waiting game

As many of you know Tate is {hopefully} going to graduate school come August. woo woo! {this sound is much like that of Bubb Rubb's whistle tips} You may be wondering, Why is he going back to school? Well, maybe he wants to further his education, or maybe he wants to continue on his never ending quest for knowledge, or maybe, just maybe, he is tired of calling me "Master Barrett" and wants to share the title.

Either way, the GRE has been dominated and the applications have gone out. Now...we...wait...
We wait until March to hear back from following schools in no particular order: TCU, Baylor, Arizona State and Duke. If it were up to Grandma Flo, she would pick them in that exact order to ensure we don't get too far away from her. If it were up to our friend and fellow Houstonian, Meredith, she would pick Rice, which you notice is not on the list. However, she has added a "miraculous scholarship to Rice" to our prayer request list in our small group thrice, so we shall see.

Although we don't know where we will be just yet, this grad school thing is nothing new. Tate has been talking about going back to school since we were engaged. For some reason, it never dawned on me that if he went through with this whole process, I too would go through my own version of it on the job front. When I said "yeah, babe, sounds great, go get em!" It hadn't hit me yet that I too would need a pep talk to  fill out applications, update my resume, schedule interviews and pray for direction. Well now that I think about it, it's probably a good thing I didn't think it through.

Tate's application process is complete, and now mine begins. It's such a helpless feeling, waiting to hear back. Knowing that someone is looking at you on paper, reviewing your life's accomplishments and deciding if you are worthy for their cause. Yikes! It's down right scary.

This is somewhat off topic, but hang in there because it will come full circle:
I am reading the Bible through in a year {as I just admitted this to all of you, I am hoping it will hold me accountable to follow through}. Finishing the book of Mark, I am reminded of story after story pertaining to people of bold faith.  Real people that believed, without doubt, that Jesus would meet their need and in turn were restored. Currently, God is dealing with my heart in this area--unadulterated faith. Not just asking for something to happen, but confidently knowing that God will see it through. I am leaning on this as we move into this next chapter of our life. With legitimate worries buzzing through my head, I have the confidence that God will provide. Provide direction for school, provide the means to make it happen, provide a job in that area, and provide a beautiful golden retriever puppy :)

I am anxious, yet excited, about the new chapter that is already being written! There are so many new things to come, so many things to do and so many things to look forward to. However, all we need to do now is...wait...

grown-ups are overrated

I was in fifth grade, sitting in the church balcony at FBC McKinney. I covertly plucked a sacred VISITOR card out of the pew in front of me and began filling it out to pass the time. It was probably during another one of those tithing sermons, and I wouldn't be able to use this info for another 50 years anyway...or so I thought. I remember filling out my name as Danielle Whitman, in reference to the boy I had a crush on at the time. We actually "went out" but never said a word to each other. And now that I think of it, we never officially broke up, so I guess we are still technically together. Oopsie. Anyway, I scribbled down my gender, address, phone number and my dream age, 20 years old. After all, this sounded like a prime age and I couldn't wait for the endless possibilities being a "grown up" had offer...

When I grow up, I am going to go to Target every Sunday afternoon instead of taking naps. 

When I grow up, I'm going to leave my bed unmade every single day. 

When I grow up, I'm going to talk on the phone past 10:30 PM. 

When I grow up, I am going to go Fun Time Live twice a month to slow dance with my boyfriend instead of just once.

Tate tells me his list was quite different:

When I grow up I'm going to live alone. 

When I grow up I'm going to be a real cowboy. 

When I grow up I'm going to have kids but not a wife. 

You'll be relieved to know only one of the things on that list has been fulfilled, and although Tate thinks he is a real cowboy, I was referring to our bed being unmade. I was reminded of this little list few months ago when we went out to eat with family friends. As the cutest little flower girl in the world was finishing her lunch, she looked at her mom and said, "How much more do I have to eat?" I thought, wow I'm a grown-up and can eat however much or little I want. Although picking at my food while not having to answer to anyone is rather freeing, being grown-up isn't all it's cracked up to be. Frankly, it's just overrated. 

Tate and I have passed a lot of milestones in the past year, crossing over into adulthood. We had to take money out of our savings to buy boring stuff like tires, call and make our own doctors appointments, negotiate rent, price car insurance, pay taxes, and lots of other boring, grown-up stuff. 

Tonight was another milestone. We went to one of our favorite restaurants and had to....ask.for.the.manager. Dun, dun dunnnn.  This is such a mom/dad gesture, but hey when you are using good entertainment money out of your own Dave Ramsey budget, things get real. We won't name this restaurant to avoid compromising the sterling reputation of their famous cheesecake made in their factory, but let's just say service was fair sub-par crappy non-existant. I will spare you the details, but long story short we were unsatisfied and my heart was racing as we asked to speak with the manager for the first time in our adult lives.  After speaking my mind and consuming a free slice of cheesecake, I felt satisfied. Instead of the usual compromise, we had stood up for ourselves in a public setting to people we didn't even know. It was one small step for the Barretts, one giant leap for the transitioning grown-ups of the world.