New York, New York

We're back from New York City!!! We had a great time, and the weather was absolutely perfect. I enjoy travelling immensely, but I am always so glad to be back home where people don't live on top of one another. That being said, here are the awesome highlights of our trip...

A visit to see The Tree
Tons of fun in Times Square
Shopping on 5th Ave. This store was Brad's pick--the NBA Store with a lifesize bobblehead of Yao Ming.Of course, no trip to NYC is complete without a Broadway show. Mary Poppins was really fun!

Siteseeing
By the time it got crowded on Saturday in Times Square, we knew we made the right decision to head home on the 30th. It was nuts! We stayed at the W Times Square and had a great view, along with a perfect location to start our adventures from each day. We crammed in as much as possible in the time we were there: Rockefeller Center, dinner at Tavern on the Green before seeing Phantom of the Opera, a matinee of Mary Poppins (she flies over the crowd, y'all!), pizza in Little Italy at Lombardi's, New York cheesecake, tons of walking, awesome shopping with fun souvenirs, walking some more, and brunch with friends before flying out.

Between all of our travelling to visit family along with this trip, we need to go back to work so we can get some rest!

Happy Birthday Amber!

Today is Amber's birthday! This fabulous mother of two beautiful girls is a wonderful friend from Aggieland.

I hope you have a great birthday! Eat lots of cake!


Me, Mikalah, & Amber

Over the River...

Family Christmas Photo 2007
We've got a quick break between holiday happenings, so I thought I'd take the time to blog about what we've been up to.

We started our Christmas holiday in Corsicana with my family. Friday night my mom had most of the family up to the house on the hill for a fiesta. Saturday morning we got up and ran some last minute Christmas errands, like buying some Christmas presents (whoops) and getting our nails done, you know--the essentials. We picked up pizza at Cici's because we like it and went home to watch the Cowboys. During halftime, we opened our fabulous gifts from one another, which was so much fun!

Sunday night we drove over to Athens to see Santa's Wonderland, a family tradition. My favorite part of the entire land 'o lights would have to be the Lochness Monster (who knew ole Nessy celebrated the birth of Jesus?), a real live Grinch locked up in jail, and the random unidentifiable objects as you exit the park. The family consensus is that they must be Christmas light experiments gone bad. Or else they tried to simulate a giant amoeba. This year during the hour drive through the park, we played "guess the artist singing the Christmas song" (Dad got XM satellite radio from Santa), and I won y'all! I would say, "In your face, Brad," but then that wouldn't be very nice, would it?

Cold night at Santa's Wonderland
Santa and the Loch Ness Monster
Not too sure why ET needed to phone home at Santa's Wonderland

We left Christmas eve to see Brad's family and had a nice holiday with them, and now we're home. For 15 hours. Our NYC-bound flight leaves extremely early tomorrow, so I am in a rush to get the laundry and my packing done. New York, here we come!

From Our House to Yours...

Love,
The Gentrys

Not For Consumption

I am 27 years old and just made my first gingerbread house last week at Laura's gingerbread party. I'm pretty proud of it, and my family's tired of hearing about it, so now I'm bringing it to the blog...

Goin' to the Chapel

My college roommate Amanda is engaged! This hardworking girl is finishing up her PhD and will now add planning a wedding to her list of things to do, right underneath "complete dissertation." Congratulations and YAY!

My lovely Aggie roommates, Alisia and Amanda

The Polar Express Has Left the Station

Look at what I unwrapped at our fabulous White Elephant gift exchange!

This was me, 5 minutes before someone stole the Polar Express from me in our Team White Elephant gift exchange yesterday. I am left with a Christmas cheese serving set, complete with a spreader in the shape of a Christmas light that blinks. So awesome, if I enjoyed cheese at all. But I don't. I should've gone for the already opened First Aid Kit. Lesson learned.

And yes, that is Santa in the background, with his elf.

Apples for Christmas

At this early stage of our marriage, we are still attempting to make it over the river and through the woods to both families at Christmastime. At the same time we like to celebrate Christmas between just the two of us so, every year we choose the best night of the week before we leave on the Christmas pilgrimage to celebrate Christmas. It's pretty much a Christmas date night. Due to other activities this week, tonight was that night!

After a fabulous fajita dinner for two at Los Vaqueros, we came home where our lovely tree greeted us in the window. And then, we exchanged presents. Brad got an iPod classic! Now that he's done with school, he has time for modern technology.

And as for me...well, I scored big time!

What could it be?
A MacBook!
My very own MacBook! Thank you Santa!

Friday Fave Five - The Random Edition

Today's Friday Fave is just random favorite things I'm enjoying this week. I feel like Oprah when I do these posts, with the greatest exception being that I'm not giving you all one of these to take home. (There are many other exceptions, but that is the one that affects you, Reader, the most.)

1. Alicia Keyes song "No One." As in "no one, no one, no wuh-uh-uh-uhn, can get in the way of what I'm feelin'." It's a great song about love, and I'm going to download it from iTunes next Tuesday. You can ask Brad why I am waiting until Tuesday.

2. A great new headband from White House Black Market, given to me by Laura at our gift exchange last night. It goes with probably over half of my wardrobe, so we will be seeing a lot of it.

3. The Mark of the Lion book series by Francine Rivers. I have read all 3 of them in the past 7 days. After a slow start in the first one, I couldn't put them down. I stayed up last Sunday 'til 2 AM finishing the second one. Hils, you would enjoy these books for many reasons, like their SPQR and Pax Romana references, oh and the wonderful storyline.

4. My red coat. It's keeping me nice and warm even though it's super cold outside. Someone very tall gave it to me last Christmas. Genius!

5. Getting new neighbors! Our neighborhood is beginning to erupt with people actually living there. (A street of empty houses is a little creepy.)

Drew vs. The Dentist

My favorite brother is having his wisdom teeth removed this morning. Poor guy!

Drew, I'm praying for minimal pain and effective pain meds.

LYLAB!

Thursday Nights

Shavon, Me, Ashley, Amy, & Laura

Last night we wrapped up our Bible study for this semester with dinner at Mimi's and a gift exchange. It's been a good semester of making new friends, like the ones above, and rediscovering old ones, as in Abraham, Isaac, Jacob...and studying about God's faithfulness. And He is so very faithful!

The Birthday Girl

Me, Sherry, and Mikalah

Today is Mikalah's birthday!!!

Happy birthday, my friend! I have your birthday cake in my freezer...haha!

Stick a Fork in It

He's done, y'all!

My hardworking husband has completed his graduate degree, a Master of Science in Engineering. Graduation was this past weekend, and the relief in his face, in his life, and in his wife has been immediate.

The most noticeable difference so far came on Sunday. We attended the late service at church, ate a leisurely lunch with friends (shout out to the Sloans and the baby dedication celebration), drove home where we both took nice long naps instead of Brad doing homework, and went back to church for the Christmas celebration since we had nothing. else. to. do. Can somebody say glory?


The handsome graduate after he BTHOtu.

Uptown Girl

just might be my favorite Billy Joel song. Unfortunately he didn't play it Tuesday night. I'm sure it's because he's still not over Christie Brinkley, so I guess I can forgive.

On Monday, I received two tickets to hear Billy Joel at the AAC for Tuesday night. I was thrilled! I love almost all genres of music, and of course I have some BJ on my ipod. Ashley and I decided to go for the experience even though we knew we wouldn't know all the songs he sang. His voice sounds fantastic live, and he tore up the piano. The big finale was the Piano Man. It's always cool to see a huge group swaying and singing a song together. I can only imagine what a rewarding feeling it must be for an entertainer to look out across a crowd and see thousands of people singing their song, knowing people enjoy their music. It was a great concert.

If you're interested, you can read more about how we jumped seats and felt guilty and how the DMN reporter left early and missed the best part.

And here's a not great photo of the event...

My dear, darling husband was studying for his FINAL final. PTL, y'all!!!

Caution: Hall Decking In Process

The light crew showed up today to hang the lights on our house.  They are a rowdy and suspicious pair who eat too many chocolate chip cookies and Reese's peanut butter cups. But then again, who doesn't?

One of them is a ninja, a la Jackie Chan.

And I decorated the chandelier.  The next project is the hutch, but it's time for a nap for me.  How does she look, Mom?

Welcome Friends

Tonight some of our favorite people came visiting! My dear friend Alisia (who is the best pharmacist in Fort Worth) dined with us, along with my favorite brother. These are the best kind of Friday nights!

Friday Fave Five

Today's FFF is a collection of my current favorite seasonal experiences. Like most folks, excepting Mr. Scrooge before the ghosts visited him, I love this time of year. I think one reason is because we are more intentional in getting together with the ones we love. Anyway, here are my favorites for this week.

1. Decking our first halls with my husband. It's a Team effort around our house because I have zero patience for tangled Christmas lights.

2. Josh Groban's Christmas cd, Noel. Silent Night (Track 1) is everything you would hope from Josh. Glorious! And so far I've gotten weepy everytime I've listened to I'll Be Home For Christmas. You'll understand why if you listen to it, which I highly recommend.

3. Starbucks Non-Fat hot chocolate. I might be okay with putting a few Christmas decorations up before Thanksgiving, but I can't drink this if it's not cold out. It's good, non-fat, and you get the happy red cup.

4. Turning into our driveway and seeing our very first big Christmas tree lit up in the window of our very first house. It's a dream come true, really.

5. Pulling out the Christmas dishes and serving up a plate of warm food. Why is it that the Christmas season makes you want to cook more? I'm going into uncharted territory to bake my first real cheesecake tonight. We'll see how that goes...

Feel free to pass your sights and sounds along!

Shout Out to My Husband

When I got home from Bible study tonight, some Christmas decorations that I wanted to put up but hadn't had the energy to were exactly were I wanted them. The boxes of other stray decorations were out of sight, and even the laundry was put in its proper place. HUGE, HUGE blessing.


Thank you BWG!

Christmas Countdown

So Thanksgiving is officially over. In typing that I realize how sad it is that the day was little rushed, at least by the retailers. But seriously, did you see the deal at Best Buy for the 50' Samsung DLP? It was long discussed at our post-Thanksgiving table.

I was amazed at the readership's commentary on shopping in Dallas malls and the outcry over any display of Christmas paraphernalia pre-Thanksgiving. Never before have I had such a hot topic on this blog, so thanks for sharing your opinions. I continue to hear feedback from closet Christmas music listeners and from those who boldly went ahead and decorated their entire houses before Thanksgiving day. But I'm not going to call anyone out.

I think I found a happy medium in the decorating. I pulled out just a few things the afternoon we left for Thanksgiving, but have left the tree decorating until today. Today is a day of firsts at our house. First time to put lights on the house. First time to decorate a tree over 4 feet tall. And for the first time ever, I have the majority of Christmas gifts bought, and it's not even December yet. Nice!

Thankful

Wednesday nights I help Miss Amanda with Mission Friends at our church. We teach pre-k and kindergarteners about Baptist missionaries around the world. Each night as we end our circle time, we go around the circle and let the kiddos pray. Although sometimes all we work on is minimizing the distractions, most of the time listening to them is one of the sweetest parts of my week. Some are praying outloud away from their house for the first time, and we love encouraging them.

A few Wednesdays ago was one of those nights that for a moment took my breath away. We had one that thanked God for just about everything that he could think of: for the roof, for the church, for the sidewalk, for school, for the dog, for supper, for Mom & Dad. I thought to myself..."when was the last time I just sat down and thanked God?" In college, I had a bulletin board that I would just write random things I was thankful for on all the time. Not falling on my face down the stairs when I tripped. Finding a $5 bill so I could go out with friends to dinner and not eat in the Commons. Finding a parking spot (Ags, can I get an Amen?) not in fish lot.

Most of the time I take the little stuff for granted. We serve an amazing God who has quite honestly given us many things we don't deserve--the biggest of course being His Son and the grace and mercy that came from His sacrifice on the cross for our transgressions.

Today I am thankful to be close to the ones I love all day long. I'm thankful for a husband who is a servant leader. I'm thankful that I have the ability to work and that I enjoy my work. I am thankful for my healthy family. I am thankful that I have had some mini-vacations over the past month that have refreshed me. And I am thankful that I can wear tall boots regularly for the first time since last February!

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day!

Live Blogging from Thanksgiving Eve

We're watching the Aggies in the NIT semi-finals, and currently, they're winning!  My mother is whipping up the dish she's supposed to take to my Grannie's for lunch tomorrow.  It's a Thanksgiving/Christmas lunch staple in our family--cream cheese corn.  In honor of the high calorie holidays, here's the recipe. It's easy to make, and easy to reheat, which makes it especially perfect for potluck style gatherings.

Cream Cheese Corn

3 cans of shoe peg corn

8 oz. cream cheese

1 stick of butter or margarine

1/4 cup of milk

1 fresh jalapeno, diced

1/2 cup of grated cheddar cheese

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Over low heat, melt together the cream cheese and butter combined with the milk.  Drain the corn.  Mix with the cream cheese mixture.  Add the jalapeno, then top with the grated cheese.  Bake in the oven for 20 minutes.

Have a happy Thanksgiving!

The Great Outdoors

Jeopardy Style: What are new shoes, party lights, and an air mattress?

If you answered "necessities for a Gentry camp out," then you're right!

Last night we went camping with our Sunday school class at Mineral Wells State Park. Everyone says it's a great place to climb and rappel, however I am a big chicken so things like that don't really get me as jazzed as they do say, people whose initials are BWG.

He e-mailed me at work yesterday morning to say he thought he would probably find out a lot more about me by taking me camping. I replied, "Exactly what do you expect to learn that you don't already know?" to which he said, "Good point." Anyone who knows me knows that I am not really a fan of nature, I don't like being cold, and I can't stand getting dirty.

So camping is basically my own Perfect Storm.

Here are the pictures...the proof that I braved the storm and lived to tell about it. And don't tell Brad, but I had a good time.

Sitting around the campfire.

Celebrating Chris's birthday with an Aggie cake!
The wind promptly blew the candles out as we stepped outside with it. Note to self...

I saw Bambi and his mom out running around this morning.

The view from our campsite.
Good times!

Breaking News

Mr. G has finished his Masters report.

The Hallelujah Chorus is playing on repeat in my head.

It is a brilliant paper, and I'm so proud!

Way to go, Mr. G!

Saturday in the Park

NorthPark, that is. And instead of thinking it was the 4th of July, you would think there are only 5 shopping days before Christmas because it was that crowded.

Today Drew and I ventured over to Big D, where the shopping is marvelous and people dress up to go to the mall. I read once that the "What Not to Wear" people were out and about in Dallas a few years ago, and that scared me into thinking that jeans and an old college t-shirt at the mall could equal public embarassment on cable tv, so I can understand why the Dallas folks dress up.

But I digress.

The mall was super crowded. And let me just tell you that you should expect an iPod for Christmas because everyone and their mama was in the Apple store buying iPods. We did some browsing, a little trying on, and finalized our Christmas list to send to our mama because she's ready to shop.

Right now I am blogging on Drew's new MacBook, and it is so cool I can hardly stand it. The pic above is courtesy of photobooth. I don't know if I could permanently make the switch though, but it is tempting, let me tell you! I just finished making Paula Deen's triple chocolate chip cookies for my husband who just walked in the door from school.  He has only one more trip to Austin, and he graduates on his last day of that trip!

Brad informs me that even though eggnog is out on the shelf and he loves it, he does not want to drink it until after Thanksgiving (side note: I don't drink eggnog. It is gross.)  Is anyone else completely set against NO CHRISTMAS until after Thanksgiving?  I mean, I'm not putting up my tree or anything!

I have no comment on the Aggies' performance today. Thank you.

Gridlocked

Nothing kicks off a weekend better than sitting in traffic on your way home. Not really, but at least I can console myself with Christmas music on KVIL. The Huge Exception is the hippopotamus song. It is the opposite of my favorite.

This weekend will be very fun--my favorite brother is coming ito visit, which is always a good time, and I have a baby shower for a dear friend. And I fully intend to start my Christmas shopping! Should be very relaxing.

I hope you and yours have a very merry weekend!

Viva Las Vegas

So since last Saturday, I've been in Las Vegas and just got in yesterday. I attended a software conference there. I had a great time but am so glad to be home. Some people go to Vegas to gamble, but the shopping is where it's at. I spent plenty of time after conference sessions at the Grand Canal Shops in the Venetian and the Forum Shops at Caesar's. And Fashion Show Mall? Love it.

For the first few days of my trip, my mom and my aunt came out to stay with me and tear up the town. They left Monday morning, and the rest of the trip was all business. But while they were there, I did get to see some of the sights.

Mom & Aunt Sheri on the Journey to Vegas

In the lobby of The Venetian

I stayed in the Venetian, and it is quite luxurious. For two of the nights I had an entire king bed to myself. And there were 3 flat panel tvs in my room. One in the sitting area, another in front of the bed, and a third in the bathroom.

My Mom and I in the Bellagio Conservatory

On the Strip in front of M&M World. Yum!

Sisters on the Strip in front of New York New York

While I was gone, my dear husband attended the 50th wedding anniversary party of his grandparents in Texarkana while attempting to write his Masters report. I am so proud of him. I am happy to say that the end is in sight, and he plans on being finished with the rough draft this Monday!

Praise the Lord! Hallelujah!

Reason I Like My Phone #513

I just realized I can blog from my phone. Let the games begin!

Mystery Blog Guests

This will come as no surprise that I track who visits this blog. I know many of you out there visit this site and don't leave us a comment. Please feel free to tell us who you are and how you got here (we probably have friends in common) even if we've never met. We'd love to meet you.

If you're wondering, "is she talking about me?" The answer is most definitely yes--I am talking about you.

Have a great Friday!

Washington D.C.

Another destination is checked off my list! For the first time ever, I can say that I have visited our great nation's Capitol, Washington D.C. And I must say, it lived up to my every expectation.

This past weekend I travelled with Ashley to D.C. for some sightseeing and also to watch her dad and my pastor run the Marine Corps Marathon. More on the marathon later, because it was awesome and deserves its own post.

We left Friday on The Company Plane and got into Baltimore around 7 PM. We caught a crazy shuttle to the Greenbelt Metro station, bought our tickets and got on our way to Arlington, VA. Once we were on the green line, two men behind us were arguing with conversation laced with profanity. Nice. They started inching closer and closer to one another, and we were certain they were going to fight. This is fantastic for two girls alone on the subway. We were slightly scared so at the next stop we jumped up and sprinted to the next car. With all our luggage. Sprinting.

So once we finally got to the Rosslyn station, nearly 3 hours after our flight landed, we got to the escalator to take us to street level. It was the tallest, steepest, most frightening escalator I've ever been on, and I was sure it was Jacob's ladder taking us to heaven. It was that tall and the picture I have does not do it justice.

We met up with the Dean family and promptly went to bed. Long day!

First thing Saturday morning we went to the Holocaust Museum. Amazing. Go see it. It might begin to help you understand the enormity of that event in history. So after a bit of a teary beginning to the day, we walked past the Washington Monument (huge) on the way to the National Archives.

Ashley and I went on from there to see the White House. Howdy George and Laura!!!

Then we went back, rested our feet, and got ready for dinner at a neat restaurant overlooking the Potomac to celebrate Allison's birthday! The picture from the post below was at that dinner.

The next day we got up and watched Bro. Mike run the MCM. It was amazing, and like I said, I will defer discussing this event in another post because this one is getting pretty long.

After the marathon, we grabbed lunch at Five Guys, which was recommended by Anthony and Allison (Ashley's bro-in-law and sis) before setting out for a marathon of our own...seeing all the sights we had left on our list and finding a souvenir. We walked and walked and walked. First we went to the Capitol and got some great pics.

We stopped in at the National Air and Space Museum and saw the Wright Brothers plane, along with Dorothy's ruby slippers which were stationed there during a Museum of American History renovation.

Next we walked all the way down the National Mall past the World War II Memorial, to the Lincoln Memorial. From there, we saw the Korean War Veterans Memorial, which is a little frightening, but awesome. After all that walking, we decided it was time to head back and get some rest since we were flying out early the next morning.



I have to say that the national landmarks were seriously larger than life. We live in a great nation, and those public servants who have come before us make me proud to be an American.

Weekend Wrap-Up

I went to DC this past weekend for the first time. It was a wonderful trip, and I made some fun new friends! It was great to finally meet the Kirchners who relocated just before we promoted into our SS Department. They are excellent tour guides. I saw tons of the sights in the city, as well as watched Dr. Dean run the Marine Corps Marathon. Both of these experiences will have their own posts as soon as I have a little more time.

Yesterday I got in around 1 PM and spent time catching up with Brad, napping, and overall avoiding cleaning the house. Today was a day of working, grocery shopping, and starting the laundry. No fun!

I will empty my suitcase today only to pack it back up again for a business trip on Saturday. I'd feel sorry for myself except for the fact that it's in Vegas, and I'm staying somewhere really fun.

More details and pics from DC later!

Dinner Saturday Night

Fiesta Night at the Gentrys'

This weekend we had a nice relaxing time in town doing some of our favorite things--hanging out just the two of us and entertaining our friends.

Friday night we had some of our Fort Worth friends over for Fiesta Night. I tried a new recipe my mom gave me which went over pretty well! She told me that it makes a lot of food, which might have been the understatement of the year. We'll be eating leftovers through the middle of the week, and that was after feeding 8 people! Below is the recipe...we'll call it Fiesta Casserole.



Fiesta Casserole

2 lbs. ground beef (I used about 1.5 lbs...was afraid it wouldn't all fit in my dish!)
1 onion
2 cans Ranch Style Beans (don't drain!)
2 cans mushroom soup
2 lbs. shredded cheese (I bought the Mexican blend pre-shredded)
1 can Rotel (don't drain)
2 T. chili powder
1 t. garlic powder
corn tortillas, cut into strips - enough for two layers

Spray a deep casserole dish with Pam (I used my 9x13 corningware). Brown the ground beef with the onion and drain the grease. Combine all the other ingredients with the beef. Place a layer of the corn tortilla strips in the bottom of the casserole dish. Add a layer of the beef mixture on top of the tortilla strips and top with 1 lb of cheese. Repeat with tortillas, beef mixture, then cheese.

Bake on 325 for 1 hour, and you and Santa Anna's army are ready to eat.

We added a salad and some of the Lipton's Mexican rice (boil the water, add the pre-mixed packet) to the meal, and rounded it out with a sopapilla cheesecake. Oh, and let's not forget the pre-meal salsa and guacamole. Leave your calorie counting at the door!

Friday Fave Five - Halloween Candy

As I shopped in my neighborhood grocery store last night, I was inspired for this Friday Fave Five. Hope you have a great day, and feel free to add your own Halloween candy in the comments!

1. Candy Corn Pumpkins (aka Mallowcreme Pumpkins). These are delicious and remind me of my childhood. My mom introduced me to them at a very young age. If you stop by my house during this season, you will most likely find a bowl of candy corn pumpkins sitting around.

2. Reese's Fast Break. This is a hard one to find sometimes (but I found them last night!) I might be the only person in the world that counts this as their very favorite candy bar.

3. Double Bubble Gum. I loved finding pieces of this in my plastic pumpkin at the end of the night!

4. Hershey's Milk Chocolate bars in the shape of some Halloween character. Why this makes it taste even better I'm not really sure.

5. The old standard Three Musketeers. I'm a fan of tradition, and it's so good!

Ode to My iPhone

Oh my dear iPhone,
How did I communicate before thee?
With your screen so clear and amazingly button free!
Your features so intuitive,
Your internet abilities so sprightly,
I fear my husband might try and steal you
So I will lock you up nightly.
Steve Jobs, I do appreciate
the keen insight and R&D
You Apple folks put into
making this lifestyle device for me.
I can check my e-mail anytime!
I can know the weather too!
I can look for directions when I'm lost on the road,
And you double as my iPod too!
You're my fun camera.
You're my favorite alarm clock.
You're my kickin' new gadget.
In short, dear iPhone, I think you rock.

Shout Out to Discount Tire

It was another quiet week at the Gentry house so this post is about a whole lot of nothing. I am getting back to normal (well), and this week I'm going back to the gym and considering getting in shape. If nothing else, I at least need some more energy. We'll see how it all works out.

Last Friday when I got out of my car at work, I thought my tire looked a little low. I had a Co-Worker come out and check it for me (Brad was at school), and he confirmed that not only was it low, it had a nail in it. That makes two tires with nails in a month. Ah, the joys of living in a construction zone. Here is where my shout out to Discount Tire comes in though: I bought the road hazard warranty on my full set of tires ($14 per tire), and they either fix the flat or replace the tire if not fixable, for free. So I got a new tire. Thanks DT!

Tomorrow I head to College Station to do some recruiting of new grads for The Place That I Work. Can't wait! While I am there, I am going to drop off some of our leftover moving boxes at Coach Fran's. Good thing we held onto those. Dear Aggies!