Summertime!

Well, it's summertime. And with summertime comes all sort of craziness and fun. Let's see, where to begin... As usual, I have been on a crazy summer travel schedule. In May I spent a weekend in Chicago with some of my oldest and greatest friends. We ate, and ate, and ate some more. We had deep dish pizza (um, twice), bread and cheese, and lots of good drinks. We solved the worlds' problems and talked all about the important things in life (boys, life, and work, in that order). It was a good time, as always, and next time, I am sure we will pick right back up where we left off. That's what happens when you have known people for 20+ years.

After Chicago we headed up to the lake house for a weekend of sun and babies. The minis were in rare form, keeping us all busy and giggling. Those little girls just get cuter ever day, and I love watching them grow up and develop personalities. Brylee learned to wave (finally!) on this trip, and we worked on getting them to go to bed earlier than midnight (still working on that while at the lake apparently). I got one hell of a sunburn on this trip, and peeled for weeks and weeks afterwards.

In June I spent a crazy 2 days in San Angelo and Odessa, Texas. Basically, El Paso, but small town. This was a work trip, and while the scenery and area was less than exciting, the kids and the work I was doing made it totally worthwhile. I was working with 12 kids from these small towns, who thought NASA was the most amazing thing they had ever learned about. It's trip like these that remind why putting up with my pain in the ass management is worth the job I get to do. After San Angelo, it was off to San Diego for Andrea's PhD graduation, which, let's face it, was basically drinkfest 2012. After my cab ride home from the airport, I was met with a glass of wine at the door, and suddenly life got a lot better. Andrea took care of a pretty amazing spread for dinner, and we sat, drank wine, ate appetizers, and figured out life. Rishi was there, so it basically a wedding reunion. Well, minus David, but he wasn't exactly missed...Saturday was graduation day and then a fancy happy hour turn dinner to celebrate. Happy Hour meant about 5 mojitos in a couple of hours, so you know I was feeling no pain. Andrea and I had total pillow talk that night, and discussed things that cannot be repeated on the internet. ;)

After San Diego, I took a little travel break, and Colleen came into town for a weekend, before spending a week working with our WISH program at work. It was a fun week, with 42 awesome high school girls from across the country. Despite some serious chaos at certain points, I think the girls had a good time, and there was some serious team building within our staff at work as we overcame a few hurdles. This week Jess and I headed back to the lake for a few more days of relaxation and sun. Now, with the minis, relaxation has taken on a whole new meaning. Instead of relaxing on the deck with a drink, we now relax by napping along with a cute little mini. Brylee has totally stolen my heart because she knows her Aunt Debs will always put her to sleep, so she picks up her blanket, crawls up on my lap, looks at me, and puts her head on my shoulder. We curled up on Wednesday morning and took a 2 hour naps on a bunch of pillows. She is cuddler, and will sleep forever if she is next to someone. It is so cool how much she loves her Aunt Debs though, and I love her and her little sister so much it is not even funny.

Now I am back in Houston and working on the second half of my summer travel. So far, a trip to LA is on the horizon for Dad's surgery next week, and then a cruise in August. Our trip in October to New York is booked and good to go, and other than the last two weeks, the walking has been going well. Currently I have a swollen foot after kicking the boat propeller yesterday while swimming. I don't think it is broken, but it is nicely bruised and makes wearing real shoes a little bit difficult. Anyway, I have been on some interesting walks, which helped me determine that 3pm in Houston summers will never be a good time for a five mile walk. Ever. But, I am enjoying the challenge and seeing the changes as the distances become easier. It has been hard, but it is amazing when I think about how easy a long walk is compared to what my friends and family have gone through in their fight with Breast Cancer. Keeping that in mind makes the walks worth it, and the money even more important. =)