Next Chapter…
*Update* 10/06/08 - Photos links have been added to this post.
Well I guess this is the next chapter of life… what am I suppose to do now? Oh yea, get a job in a recession. Piece of cake! I hope everyone caught my sarcasm there. 
Seeing as my degree lends me to the public sector, non profit, humanitarian efforts, or business I’m kind of out of luck. I have applied for the jobs I can find and would prefer to work for a non profit or in a community setting in the public sector. I let you all know when something comes of any of my efforts to find a career. It sure is a good thing Sean has a job… or we’d be eating a lot more beans and rice. For now if does feel good to be done with my degree and get to work on some things I’ve been putting off, due to the lack of time during school. I’ve got some photography projects that hopefully I can work on for the next while. As I get some of them done I will try to load them up for you guys to check out. It will be some family archives and some personal projects as well. I’ve also recently taken up sewing and am working on some stuff there too. And my latest reads… not to do with school!!! have been about all the crazy green stuff available to us today. Green meaning eco-friendly. I’m going to try and not go nuts with this, but it is really interesting. Did you know they can make cloth out of bamboo? That the Agave plant, same one used to make tequila, can also be boiled to make a natural sweetener that is actually ok for diabetics to eat? And there’s a website out there on how to make homemade organic beer? How cool is that! I’m thinking about adding a tab to our main website so that I can add interesting facts and websites I find. Though I’ve got to work on my website building skills. Sean loves this stuff but is a firm believer that I should learn it too. I’m ok with that, I tell him the same thing when it comes to changing Abigail and Olivia’s diapers when we watch them.
Talking about Sean, he is doing well in his job. He likes the folks he works with and is looking forward to the future projects. Right now they’re trying to finish up some things they’ve been working on for a while and he’s ready to move on to new things. He’d also like a little more time for his hobbies and for cycling. He had a week off and that helped to cheer him up a bit. Also we were able to go on a little trip to Fredericksburg and go home and see the family. Vacationing always makes a person feel better.
By the way, we celebrated our first anniversary exactly a month ago. We enjoyed a quite day together and Sean made me dinner at home. It’s crazy to believe it’s been a whole year!
A lot has happened this year that I just haven’t had time to talk about or post photos of. I don’t think you all want to read a billion pages per event, so I’ll just list them with a brief synopsis and if you’d like you can look at some of the photos from the even by clicking on the link:
Camping with Adam and Jessica, March 7-9, 2008, For spring break we went on our first camping trip together with our friends Adam and Jessica at Choke Canyon State Park. Sean had to learn what camping in Texas was like. He didn’t care for the bugs much.
Los Angeles, March 19-23, 2008, I traveled to visit my friend Allison in Los Angeles. She moved there right after our wedding last year to peruse a Masters degree. We had a great time as the weather was amazing. We also spent a day at a spa and I had my first mud bath!
Lilly’s First Birthday Party, March 30th, 2008, Mike and Jen’s daughter Lilly turned 1 on March 19th and they had a celebration at their place. There were all sorts of babies hanging around.
Dad’s house, April 11-13, 2008, For those that don’t know my dad is building a house. It’s a cute little number and he is doing most of the work on it himself. Though he has had some family help. The weekend we went home we helped to make and put up the tresses for the roof. He’s gotten a bit further along since then. The next time I’m home I’ll get some updated shots to show you.
Mark and Dee’s Wedding, April 25, 2008, Mark called on a Tuesday and says are you busy this Friday? I almost fell out of my chair, but of course Sean and I wouldn’t miss this event for anything. They had a small ceremony and party down on the beach. It was beautiful + they were happy and that = a wonderful wedding. We couldn’t be happier for them. Mark’s like a brother to me and I’m glad that he’s found someone great to spend his life with.
Abigail and Olivia, May 2-4, 2008, This was a full weekend and it was mostly about Jame and Melissa’s beautiful little girls. For those that don’t know they adopted twin girls and on May 2 they went to court to finalize it all. We were unable to attend that, though I will try to steal some photos to show you all from their doting grandmothers. We were able to attend their baptism and the party after to celebrate. Unfortunately I was a bit absent minded that morning and forgot our camera. But never fear I’m sure grandparents and friends will come to the rescue. We’re very happy for James and Melissa and feel proud to have them, and their girls, in our lives.
Melissa Graduates, May 9-10, 2008, It was a long time coming but I graduated Friday May 9th at 10am. I was a little proud to have my daddy, husband, and family their to support me. I can also brag a little because I graduated cum laude, meaning I’ve had a stifled social life for the last two years. My family took me for lunch after the ceremony, Huts mmmm. For those that don’t know it’s a great burger place. We also had a party the next evening at our house. We didn’t take any photos of that, but we enjoyed the company.
Allison’s Graduation, May 10, 2008, Allie and I graduated the same weekend so I was unable to attend her graduation, but both of our parents were able to be there so I’ll have to get some photos from Mom. She also had a party that evening with some of her friends. It sounds like it was good fun with good friends.
Julie’s Graduation, May 16-17, 2008, Our Julie-girl graduated the week after. Her and Allie have both gone into Nursing. Lucky for them there’s no shortage of jobs in that field. They’ve both been hired and start work soon. Friday we went to Julie’s school graduation and then Saturday we had a family lunch and went to the UT school wide graduation. For those that have never been, the fireworks are pretty awesome.
Sean becomes a citizen, May 23, 2008, For those that haven’t heard Sean applied for his United States citizenship and that Friday he went though the official court proceeding to become a naturalized citizen. I have to admit I was pretty proud and thankful he was willing to do that for us. Though I’ve got to start working on a new strategy to winning my political arguments. I used to just default with, “well you’re not a citizen anyway.” Not going to work now. He’s become pretty politically opinionated since then, too.
Celebration, May 24, 2008, My mom put together a party to celebrate graduations, citizenships, and weddings. She and my uncle Larry got bar-b-q and set up a tent in the back yard. It was good food, good fun, and a lot of faces we hadn’t seen in a while.
Memorial Day, May 26, 2008, We had to come back from seeing family early because Sean had to work Memorial Day, but that evening we were able to go over to James and Melissa’s house for friends and good food. I bought the girls their first bikinis, which I have been informed by dad will be their last while their in his house, and we got a little wade pool. We tried to get them all in the pool, Abigail, Olivia, and Lilly, but it was only Abigail that liked it. She’s going to be a handful as she grows up.
There have been a few other events such as visits home, our anniversary, visiting some family in Waco, jury duty, and my 26th birthday, but if I try to go into all of that… well I’d be typing for ever. Sorry for being so long-winded. Sean and I hope you all are doing well.
- Melissa
P.S. Beth’s moving back to Texas! We found out about a month ago that Adam will not be reenlisting in the Navy and they are moving back to Texas. I don’t know all their plans or what’s in the future for them, but I’m sure glad their all going to be closer to us. Safe travels guys!