Meme

I read this on Dooce's blog, and even though I'm not "married" I thought it would be fun to say a little something about my life with the other half of my person. And for some of those things to be nice. LOL

What are your middle names?
His is Holcomb and Mine is Joan. His middle name came from his mother's maiden name. It's a tad strange because Zach actually looks quite a bit like his Grandfather. I got my middle name from my Great Aunt. Aunt Joan is the youngest of my grandfather's 3 sisters and happens to be born on the same day as my mom. Weird.

How long have you been together?
7 years, 10 months, and 2 days. And counting.

How long did you know each other before you started dating?
We met once through a mutual friend when we all had dinner together about a year and a half before our first date.

Who asked whom out?
I'm not sure. We both kind of wanted to go see a movie at the same time, but it didn't officially become a "date" until he grabbed my hand in the theater and didn't let go until he left. :D So I guess I'll blame this one on him.

How old are each of you?
He is 28 and I'm 26.

Whose siblings do you see the most?
Zach's. He has more family and we live in closer proximity to them. We see them like EVERY SINGLE WEEK.

Which situation is the hardest on you as a couple?
Finding the time and giving the space. We have a constant flux of company and demands. We're extremely busy together and apart. Sometimes that gets in the way of everything that is wonderful about our life together, and sometimes there's a fight. It always eventually get worked out, and really, not such an uncommon thing. We just have to take a break from everything every now and then before it gets out of hand. Not such a bad problem to have.

Did you go to the same school?
Nope, even when I did finally move to Texas, I never went to school in the Bubble that is the Woodlands.

Are you from the same home town?
No - Zach has lived here in the Houston area his entire life. I was born and raised for the first 16 years of my existence in Lawton/Fort Sill, Oklahoma. I used to miss it a lot more than I do now.

Who is smarter?
Each of us has our areas of strength. Zach's probably smarter though because his knowledge is a tad bit more practical than mine. I can form decent sentences, am great at math, and am full of ridiculous trivia. I say Zach is smarter because his brain is more likely to save our lives in danger than mine.

Who is the most sensitive?
Uh. ME. Sometimes Zach is in a place where he's like "Feelings? What are feelings?"

Where do you eat out most as a couple?
We have a ridiculously bad habit of going out to eat. I'm working on that. There's a lot of mexican and asian food in our life.

Where is the furthest you two have traveled together as a couple?
My hometown.

Who has the craziest exes?
Umm.. probably me because I have more to pick from.

Who has the worst temper?
Zach's random explosions can be HORRIFYING, but I'm more likely to freak out on a regular basis. His temper is scary, but my fuse is definitely shorter.

Who does the cooking?
ME! But I enjoy it most of the time.

Who is the neat-freak?
We both are - just about different areas.

Who is more stubborn?
Tie.

Who hogs the bed?
I know that I do. I have to have the most pillows. I move around and talk in my sleep and who knows what else. Zach is usually right where he fell asleep every morning. I hog the bed, but sometimes he's a little stingy with the covers.

Who wakes up earlier?
I do. Whether it is on purpose for work during the week or just the natural time clock going off on the weekend, I will wake up first. Zach NEVER wants to get out of bed.

Where was your first date?
Deerbrook Mall AMC 24

Who is more jealous?
I don't know. I guess me.

How long did it take to get serious?
About a month. We fell pretty hard for each other because we hadn't been really looking for each other.

Who eats more?
We're pretty even. The days that I have to be reminded to have lunch he reminds me. And visa versa.

Who does the laundry?
Me.

Who's better with the computer?
I'm better at all the things that aren't very useful. He's good with all the programmy-graphicy-stuff.

Who drives when you are together?
I like to let him drive. I drive way more than he does when we're not together.

Quickly.. in case you didn't know

Here's the link to the small page I made for the Race Team:

http://teamfatcat.webs.com

This is the info site for our team for the Gator-o-rama - 24 Hours of LeMons event next weekend here in Houston!

FUN FUN! :D

Dude...

So, yeah, I have a headache the size of ..... I don't know, Texas?

This headache's name is "My LIFE lately." It's been rough. I have had some tumbles. I am exhausted. I know that I've been saying that I've been exhausted for a while, but this is from the inside out. It is way too much to get out and to discuss, but I've made some choices.

I had a wonderful night out last night with the Girls - Jen and Chessy. We went and saw "He's Just Not That into You," and it was awesome. Hilarious. So freaking hilarious. There's so many truths and laughs in this movie. I can't wait to add it to my DVD collection.

Hanging out together and enjoying the chick flick was so fun. And I need more of that. I have more time now and I need to have fun. I don't quite know how, but I'm going to work on that. I need to work on that. I'm wearing myself thin and tired trying not to have fun. It's just that simple. So first thing, more fun for me.

I've had a serious problem with telling people "No" forever. I know that it doesn't always seem like it should be an issue for me, but yeah, I have trouble with it. I know that I've said it in the past, but yeah, I'm going to work on that too. It may not always be a verbal "no," but I can't keep putting myself through all this for no good reason. Sometimes people just need to figure it out for themselves. Sometimes the guilt trip needs to be for someone else. Sometimes it's just got to not get to me.

I've got a good head on my shoulders and an even better heart, so I think I can do this. I have a few wonderful people in my life, and they are here for a reason. They see the "Val" that I usually don't. They see my heart. They see my smile. They see my energy. They see my strength. They see me happy. They see my worth.

I don't always see it. I've let a lot of the hurt and ugly in the past ruin the good. I haven't even tried to learn from all this that's been going on, and really that's just too dangerous of a thing. I really don't ever want to have to try to learn whatever this is again. I've become obsessed with the checks and balances, and well, sometimes things just don't level out. I've got to remember that. I've got to believe in myself again. I've got to believe in good again. And hopefully with some time and a lot of effort, I will. For me.

Sunday Sum Up

This weekend has been pretty nice. I've made no strict plans, and well, that worked out pretty good for me.

Friday after work, I went to visit Zach. His bosses and the new girl weren't there, so I figured "Why the hell not?" I stopped on my way and bought us Slushies at Sonic and went to kill some time while his work clock ran out. It was nice. It went by way quicker than I had expected. We laughed and joked as we sat next to each other on the computer. We flirted here and there. It was nice to just enjoy each other's company with no other reason or distraction. It warmed me up - stealing little kisses between phone calls and emails, playfully pushing each other around in Office chairs, and giggling at whatever stupid thing that was said or silly face that was made.

Zach mentioned that a comedian was coming to town on tour. This prompted a little argument because I had Stephen Lynch mixed up with some one else. I thought Stephen Lynch was dead. I don't know why, but I heard something on the Radio and got the stories crossed years ago. But apparently Stephen Lynch is NOT dead. Which is great - he's hilarious.

Here's a link to one of his CD's which was the most recent Comedy Central Special I think - Here

So we talked about him coming to Houston. And Zach bought us tickets to go. It's my valentine's day present. Now I really need to come up with something. Doh.

The rest of the night we just hung out some more at the house. We met Chris at Taco Cabana, where I think all the employees were doing drugs. They were some major crack heads. Seriously. Zach was wearing some shirt with some random logo from a made up place. The chick at the register asked Zach if worked at a karaoke bar. Then another guy kept putting up chairs on the tables even though it wasn't even 8PM.

The guys went back to the house and worked on the Jag. I'll really be glad when all that is over. I don't even really remember going to bed, but I did.

Woke up early the next morning. Made a yummy big breakfast for Zach, Chris, and me. I really enjoy cooking and Chris told me that one day I'd have a real kitchen. LOL They were going to work on the car for the day again, so I just figured I'd chill or go somewhere. Chessy wasn't busy so I drove out to hang with her. She was super cute as usual. It was sunny and springy outside and she had the perfect Sundress. I'm so glad that it will soon be spring again and I'll feel a bit better with more sunshine.

We went and drank some Starbucks. We chatted with Jen and some of the other girls at work and off. Chessy got me back into crocheting from the glorious Motif book. We figured out the problem and eventually got on a roll with it. We took it back to her house so we BOTH could crochet. We drank coffee. She got me addicted to General Hospital.

No seriously, I'm so going to watch it off the internet now. Do you think Spinelli's going to live? I mean - who is going to survive now that the OR blew up???

And we crocheted for HOURS. I'm going to make a wrap or something. I need new potholders too. YAY! It's nice to finally enjoy crochet again. I've relaxed a little now and it's so much easier now. So wonderful!!!

I eventually went home... Boys were still working on the car. They quit and we watched Pineapple Express. Oh geez, that stuff's hilarious. Then we went to bed.

Today was Taylor's birthday party. She liked the bracelet and she's already made 2 designs for Converse, so our Gift certificate will definitely help. She's so funny. It is hard to believe that she's 12, but at least she still thinks we're fun and cool. I know that will eventually change so I really cherish days like today. We had Granny tacos, and now I'm going to be full for a few days. LOL

Now we're home again. Chris and Zach are working on the car. I read for a little while. I thought about crocheting, but I'm trying to give my hands a little rest. Gotta try to stay relaxed - back to work tomorrow. Hopefully it won't be a week of Mondays again.

Another recent obsession

Here's another way I've been spending all my free time. A few weekends back, Chessy, Jen and I spent the late afternoon to evening playing SingStar at Jen's apartment. It was hilarious. It was awesome. It was all my love of karaoke, music videos, friends, and such all wrapped into one and we didn't even have to leave the house or pay for overpriced drinks.

I have since bought the game pictured for myself at home. It came with 2 microphones and I sing sing sing all by myself. Honestly I'm just gearing up for the next drunken night we have at my place. I'll be well versed in all the songs that I'd never really known the words or notes to before. It will be awesome, and I will be victorious. Strike that, I will be SingStar.

I've also ordered 2 other games of the same series off eBay. Yeah, thanks. Another obsession.

It's kind of awesome being able to use the same excuse/thought process as the Boy does when he's home sometimes:
"Oh there's chores to do? Eh.. I'll get to them after I play my video game."

This could be trouble, but at least I'm distracted!

What can I say... I'm a hooker.

So yes, on one of my girly trips out recently, I bought this book. I don't know what it is, but lately I've had a bit of creativity block.

OK I take that back. I've had a huge motherload of creativity iceberg block. It sucks. I can't think. I can't write. I can't draw. I can't knit. I can't crochet. But that said, I've REALLY been trying to get out of the slump with that.

This book is wonderful. It has gorgeous pictures that inspire to do circles, squares, hexagons, triangles, and other assorted shape motifs in crochet. I has the pictures. It has wonderfully written instructions. It even encourages you to learn how to read the cute little charts that I never was quite sure actually meant anything.

I've drooled over many many many of the motifs. Sadly, I've yet to accomplish one. I start in on one.. and well, it looks funny in the yarn I've picked to use, looks too small or too large with the gauge of hook I've chosen, or just plain just doesn't look like the pictures show it should.

I'll get over it soon and it will be glorious. At least in the mean time, I'm getting a lot of practice in unraveling and learned how to start the PERFECT circle.