The busy McCrea house….

Whew!! Hugh and I have been crazy busy lately. Let me fill you in on all the happenings.

Hugh got a new job!!! He starts work with BBVA Compass Bank next week. He’ll be working as a Vice President in the Wealth Management department where he’ll be in charge of a team of analysts. I am so happy and proud of him! The job comes with a 45 minute commute and hopefully a reason for us to move sometime soon. J We went out this past weekend and shopped for some more “dressy” work clothes. Hugh’s been spoiled the past three years and hasn’t had to dress up very often. I know he’s excited and looking forward to a new challenge.

I finished my master’s degree in Instructional Technology and Leadership this past summer. I was contacted by a fellow classmate of mine and informed that we were only 12 hours away from having our Administrative Certificate. This is a certification that allows you to be a school principal. Now, I have to be honest and say that I have absolutely no desire to ever be a school administrator. It’s just not something that holds much interest for me. But, (and this is a big one) I’m a big believer in not limiting yourself. For all I know, the current position that I hold might require that certificate in another district. I like where I’m at, but I can’t guarantee that I’ll be here until I retire. I decided to go ahead with the classes, and I started last week. It’s been an adjustment to get back into “school mode” but I’m managing! Now, if I can only convince my banker-husband to get his MBA, it’ll all be good.

Gotta love the busy times!

Love,

Friday Thoughts....

Don’t leave your clothes on the floor!

Yesterday Hugh and I had a last minute change of plans and I had to leave the house in a hurry to meet him for some errand running. Since I had come in from the gym in shorts and a sweaty shirt I ran upstairs and grabbed a hoodie that I’d left on the ground the night before. Yes, I know that I shouldn’t leave stuff on the floor but sometimes that just happens. Fast forward to my drive to dinner and I locate a tuft of dog hair on the inside of my hoodie. Then, at dinner with Hugh I kept noticing a distinct dog smell. It seems that Toby had taken the opportunity the night before to use my hoodie as a dog bed. Essentially I think this was just a great way of learning WHY you shouldn’t leave your clothes on the ground. I love my dogs, but I don’t want to smell them all night on my clothes. Lesson learned!

Freezing to death at work.

I work at high school as a “Campus Instructional Technology Specialist”. Basically, I help teachers use best practices in the classroom with the technology that’s available to them. There’s a lot of variety in my job and it’s constantly changing. I love it. What I don’t love is the frigid temperatures in my office. My counterpart and I have a classroom that works as our office/teaching area (we hold trainings for teachers in our room). Before I go any further I want to say that I’m a hot natured person. Hugh and I almost never turn the heat on in our house, and I love it being cold. With that being said I would like to say that our room at work is cold. When I’m saying cold, I mean frigid. It’s actually been registered at 63*F in there. It’s miserable. We both sit in there in our parkas trying not to die. When we’re out of the office and we first open the door, you can actually feel a cold blast of air coming out of the room. It’s ridiculous. We’ve complained numerous times, maintenance has come and evaluated the issue, but we’re out of luck. They can’t figure out how to make it warmer. There’s a small group of teachers that eat lunch in our room with us everyday, and we look like we’re all camping out in Alaska. I’ve actually sat at my desk with a scarf and beanie before. We’re both out of answers on what we can do.

Balls.

This actually happened to me on Tuesday, but I’ve been scarred and feel the need to share. I was at the gym where I’d just finished my workout and had gone to the locker room to get my stuff. Directly outside the women’s locker room is an area for people to stretch, work with medicine balls, personal training, etc. I cam out of the locker room and directly in my line of sight was a man sitting on a mat stretching. The only issue was that his shorts were short and his balls were ACTUALLY OUT AND VISIBILE! They weren’t just hanging out…they were sitting on the mat and taking a breather. I felt like I’d been blinded. It was awful and now I’m scared every time I walk out of the locker room. Ugh. I realize that I’m not a man, but I would assume that one could feel when they’re testicles are out in public. Ew.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Love,

Red River Part II

More Red River!

The town from the ski lift. It's so pretty!

Big Texan!

Hugh and I enjoy watching the Travel Channel and some of its various shows. On one such show we saw a steakhouse in Amarillo, TX called the Big Texan. It’s famous for having a food challenge that involves one person eating a 72oz steak and several side dishes all in one sitting. Neither Hugh nor I are contenders for this food challenge but we did want to see this place. We stopped at it on our way in to Amarillo and had a great time. It’s very large and the food was good (not the best steak ever, but the atmosphere was cool) and we even got to see two people attempt the absolutely insane eating challenge.

The Big Texan.



Skiing

Hugh’s a great skier. He’s been skiing several times in his life and even took a skiing class when he was in college. I’d never been skiing. I decided to take a private lesson early one morning because the thought of me being surrounded by 5 year olds in a ski school class was just too much for me. I like kids, but there’s just only so much one person can handle. J I had a great time learning to ski. I was a quick learner and really enjoyed the whole process. I was able to get off the bunny slopes and up to a green on my first day. I made it up to a blue during the trip and decided that it was as far as I wanted to go. Hugh told me that I just needed to have confidence and trust myself and that I would be even better than I was. He kept telling me I had the ability to ski at a more difficult level, but all I could hear was, “Yeah…you’re probably going to fall over the side of the mountain.” So, I decided to go against my typical personality and I stuck to the less challenging version of skiing. I do enjoy it and I would love to ski more often. I think that with a little practice I would have more confidence and be able to ski just as well as Hugh.

 The slopes!

 Taking a lunch break at the lift house.

Playing in the snow and having a blast.



Snowmobiles

We decided to take a snowmobile tour on our last day with my uncle Clifton. Since there hadn’t been the usual amount of snowfall we had to go pretty high up in the mountains to start the tour. Hugh and I shared a machine and enjoyed the views more than anything. The only downside was that they weren’t able to groom the trails because of the lack of continuous snowfall so it was rough. When we finished we were both sore for the next two days because of the constant slamming on the ground. We did have a little accident on the snowmobile going up a steep grade. There was an ice patch and our machine just started sliding backwards down the hill (narrow hill….on the side of a mountain with other snowmobiles behind us). The machine went sideways and rolled and we went with it. It was a terrifying few moments and I’m pretty sure I lost a few lives, but we were both ok. The tour took us up to 12,605 feet at the top of a mountain. We were above the tree line and it was amazing! The views were awesome and it was so quiet. I loved it.

View from a stopping point on the tour.

12,605 feet! The ski runs you see are the Red River Ski Area.

Hugh in knee deep snow. Gotta love the helmets!

I had to include this. This is Eddie proposing to Chelsey during the snowstorm.

I see many snow vacations in our future!

Resolution Resolve!

I always struggle with the concept of making a New Year’s Resolution. I instantly get caught up in the negative thoughts: “What can I give up or no longer allow myself to have this year?” I hate this way of thinking. It’s like I’m setting myself up to fail so I’m going to try something different this year. I’m going to make a list of what I want to accomplish and then I’ll just strive to make that happen.

Things to Accomplish in 2011.

Be able to run 3 miles without stopping

Lower my BMI by 3 points or lose 20 pounds

Only go to the grocery store once a week

Stick to our allotted budget

Go to Europe

Be more positive in my dealings with family members

Convince my husband to play hooky from work at least once so we can go play

Take the dogs to hike at Huntsville State Park

Take the challenge route on the MS150 this year

Improve my average cycling speed

Seriously reduce the amount of sodas I drink

Keep up the blog!

Work at being a positive, uplifting wife

I know it’s all random and honestly incomplete, but I’ll make additions as I think of them. I think going a different route in this whole “resolution” business will really help me out.

Ready for the weekend!!