The Empire Strikes Back, in My Backyard

When I was six years old watching Star Wars with my brothers, I never imagined I would some day be watching it with my six year old son. I also never knew how much boys really liked Star Wars. I always enjoyed the ewoks and of course always wished I looked like Princess Leah, but that was the extent of it. Joshua on the other hand, is fascinated by all of it.

He pretends to be Luke, or Han Solo, Ben Kanobe and sometimes even Yoda. He is always a "good guy". He makes me or Scott pretend to be Darth Vader, or storm troopers. He is so creative and really uses his imagination.

If you remember The Empire Strikes Back, you remember how Luke was taken prisoner by the ice monster and wakes up hanging upside down with his feet frozen in the ice ceiling. He has to use "the force" to get his light saber and cut himself down just in time to kill the ice monster. Well Joshua has created this scene on his play set in our backyard. He asked me to take pictures for him, and I couldn't resist sharing them with everyone.

You will see in the pictures how he is hanging upside down and reaching for his light saber with the force. He also had me pose with the red light saber so it looked like he was fighting Darth Vader.

I also took some shots of him next to Scott's Bonsai trees. There is a peach tree and an olive tree.

Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed the pictures.

Until next time...Peace and Love

Movin' On Up...

Yesterday my boss Kelly asked me to come to our district meeting a little early. I agreed, of course, but I couldn't help wondering why. I went over all of my responsibilities in my head over and over again, just to make sure I hadn't REALLY messed up somehow, but I couldn't think of anything. So when we finally sat down to talk, I had no idea what to expect.

Kelly explained to me that he was asked to take over a project in Houston for 6-8 months and that the general manager of our Samsung account was going to take over as district manager while he is out. So that left the general manager position open at Samsung and he said he couldn't think of anyone better to fill that spot than me. He let me know that this would not be temporary, I would be staying there even after he gets back. He paid me a huge compliment by telling me that I was by far his best manager and he knew I would do very well there.

The Samsung account is a 24/7 manufacturing facility and the cafe is open 24 hours a day as well, so this is going to be a huge responsibility for me. I am going to be in charge of managing both the day and night shifts, as well as having a weekly meeting with our client there. I shouldn't have to work many evening or weekend shifts, but I'm sure there will be some. I'm not excited about that, but I can handle it since I'm getting a very nice raise with this position change. There is also a chance that we will take over another cafe on the Samsung campus, so I would be responsible for both accounts, that would mean another raise!!!

So those are the details I know so far. I'm not really sure what I'm getting into, but I am excited to move on in my career. Please keep me and my family in your prayers, I'm of course very nervous about messing this up and falling on my face! It's just nerves, I know, but I can't help it. I think my first day is May 5th.

Until next time...Peace and Love

Take me out to the Ball Game...and next time stay there!!!

Last night Scott and I decided (last minute) to go out to the Round Rock Express baseball game. It is just a couple of minutes down the road from our house so we were walking up just as The National Anthem ended.

When we got to the gate, a man handed Scott two free tickets, so we just bought another one and saved $24 just like that!! What a bargain! Then, to make things even better, it was $1 hot dog night at the ballpark, and everyone knows that ballpark hot dogs are fat free, so we loaded up!! This was turning out to be a great decision. Joshua was so excited he was quivering!

We settled into our seats and ate our deliciously fat free ballpark dogs and cheered on the team. We all three did the chicken dance. ( If you have never seen Scott do the chicken dance be sure to ask him to do it for you the next time you see him. ) We ate peanuts and Joshua loved tossing the shells on the ground. Of course we had to get cotton candy too, so Joshua was on a sugar high, he sang and danced to all of the music. We had a ball!!!

At the top of the 9th inning Round Rock was down by 4 runs so we headed home, as it was getting late for a school night. We all slept soundly with bellies full of healthy ballpark treats. This morning Scott turned on the news just in time to catch the sports report and he came out of the bedroom exclaiming, "Round Rock came back to win in the 9th inning with a home run hit!!!!" Needless to say we were so disgusted with ourselves! I can't believe we missed that! Oh well, we still had a wonderful time and Joshua is probably still buzzing around on that sugar high on the playground at school!

But that is the last time I leave the baseball game early! That's for sure!!!

Until next time... Peace and Love ... Pray for Momo ... Kara

Steaming Hot Bowl of Yoga

This Saturday I went to Bikram Yoga with my friend Audra. This is the yoga class that is done in a room that is 105 degrees on average. You can check it out at www.yogagroove.com I was a bit nervous about going, but I thought what the heck I might as well try it out.
When I stepped into the room it was like stepping into an oven, literally. I was overwhelmed, and thought to my self, "I'm never going to make it!" But I did, I lasted the entire one hour and thirty minutes. I did not succeed in doing many of the 26 stances that are done, but I did a few and was in awe of the people around me balancing their twisted bodies on nothing but the tip toes of one foot!! It seemed almost unreal and as you can imagine the sweat was pouring off of people. It looked as if there were water hoses pouring on people, fortunately the sweat rolls off onto towels not just into endless puddles of sweat, which I had kind of feared.
The instructor said that feeling nauseous or dizzy is very normal and if that happened that I should just "take a knee". I took a knee several times, and at one point I almost passed out, everything went black. The instructor came to my rescue with a Vitamin water and it helped out a lot. I finished up the class with the floor exercises and actually stayed in the room a few minutes after the instructor had dismissed us just to let myself reflect. It was actually quite peaceful. It was not like any other exercise I have ever attempted before and everyone is very respectful. I felt great afterward and as they describe it on their website, I got a feeling of "well being". I plan to go again and hopefully get to a point where I can do more of the stances. I think the different stretches would be great for my back and my overall body.
After class Audra and I picked up Joshua and went to lunch on the roof of Whole Foods on 6th street. We feasted on sushi!! Mmmm, delish. I'm glad we ate after the class because hot sushi in your belly has got to be bad!!!
On Sunday Scott, Joshua and I went and looked at bonsai trees in a couple of places. We also went shopping. Scott has made beef stroganoff for dinner and it smells delicious....so I better go.
Until next time...Peace and Love...Kara

Here goes nothing

Well, my brother Cody has inspired me to start this blog. I think it is a genius way to keep my loved ones in the loop without feeling guilty for not calling/emailing everyone. It's not that I don't want to personally touch base with my loved ones, but you all know how hard it can be to squeeze in a phone call during the day when you are trying to get dinner cooked, homework done, dogs fed, bathe a stinky kid and then fall into bed exhausted...

Anyway, I will post an entry when I can and I hope you all will check out my blog on occasion. I have really enjoyed keeping up with Cody's life and I would never have had enough time to talk on the phone long enough to hear about all of his adventures, but while I am forced to sit on yet another pointless conference call at work, I can just log onto Cody's blog and read about what he has been up to. So it is my hope I can maintain a relatively interesting amount of material to keep all of my friends and family informed about what is going on in my life.

For now, I am about to have to pry Joshua's brand new Nintendo DS from his tense little fingers and try to get him to bed. I just bought it for him today as a reward for doing so well in school. I'll keep you posted on how it works out. I have my concerns of him becoming one of those gaming geeks that never goes outside and never develops communication skills like a normal human being. I know this stereotype well, as many of my customers are computer engineers and cannot even manage a meager "fine" when I ask them how they are doing.... but that is a can of worms I won't open for now. But as I glance over at my son, drenched in sweat as he plays Star Wars Legos on his game, I think it will work out just fine. Besides that he is already dark tan from swimming everyday this week. He loves the outdoors just as much as his new game. Hopefully we will find an even balance.

Until my next entry...Peace and Love...Kara