Ok, let's face it...

My blog will probably never have a cute background, pictures or a great title. Why in the world did I ever delete it in the first place? Not sure, but I did want to provide a few updates on the Haynes'.

1. My job just changed this past Monday. I'm now the Women's Services Community Outreach Coordinator. Yeah, say that one really fast five times. Basically, my roles are to coordinate our Spirit of Women program and our Volunteer program. Although I haven't dove deep into the volunteer program, I'm excited about the possibilities. I think the next few months will be challenging as I reposition myself in a new role and learn to juggle quite a bit.

2. The RACE is just 1.5 weeks away. YIKES and YAY all in the same breathe. I can't believe we are on week 13 of our 14 week training program. I thought next weekend would never come. It has been so much fun training with my friend Bianca. Austin and Chris have been so supportive. This is our priority every Saturday morning and it takes most of the morning (have I mentioned that we are slow?). Nevertheless, we will head to Austin next Friday for our Saturday morning race. Maybe, just maybe, I'll post pictures. Have I mentioned that I haven't been out of this town since Thanksgiving. It was just last week that I was able to drive 70 mph. I hadn't driven that fast since going home in November. Most of the driving I do in Corpus is 35 mph...BORING!! All that to say, "I'M DEFINITELY LOOKING FORWARD TO A TRIP TO AUSTIN!!!"

3. Weddings...well, it's definitely wedding season in America and I was able to help coordinate my first wedding last Saturday. It was a blast! I was just a shadower, but some of my duties included: parking the MOB's car, helping the bride put on shoes, curling the junior bridemaid's hair, tying the flower girls' shoes, holding the train, waiting with the bride and FOB right before the ceremony, straightening the train as the bride began her walk down the aisle, moving chairs, moving tables, finding shoes, etc. etc.

AND I LOVED EVERY MINUTE OF IT...despite the fact I had run 8 miles that morning, then went shopping, then showered and did my hair (and we all know what a process that is) then stood on my feet for four hours in heels, then joined Austin and his friend for sushi and then collapsed at home. I was so exhausted on Sunday. I will get to help BIG TIME with a wedding in June and I'm pumped!

4. Curtains...We officially have curtains in 2 of our bedrooms! Thanks to Austin and my Dad for hanging them, Natalie for steaming them and my Mom for the motivation behind it all (not to mention her steaming). Mom had fun going through my closet and decorating and we also picked up several cute items at WalMart. My family was able to come visit us the first weekend of Natalie's spring break, and despite the unusual rainy cold weather in Corpus we had a blast.

Austin and I threw a bbq for the Ambassadors with the Chamber and ended up having to have it in our garage...thank goodness for a 3 car garage that we can fit about 15 - 20 people in for a bbq. It was loads of fun. We had two grills going, lots of food and great company. I'm glad my family was able to meet some of the people who make up our Corpus Christi life.

5. Grad school...maybe? Austin and I are attending an open house for the graduate school at A&M Corpus this Thursday. Austin is going with me to look at possibly attending this fall. I'm sure there will be many updates on that as it progresses. Anyone ever heard of the GMAT? Any ideas on how to pass it? :)

6. NEED TO GO HOME...that's right I'm officially homesick and need a trip to Marshall. I'm not sure when I'll be able to make it though. (Side note: Mindi, I would love, LOVE to come back as an honorary volunteer to run a cake walk for the picnic. I don't get to help plan anything like that here. SO SAD!!

Ok, think that's all for now. Hope you each have a great week!

Stay Tuned, My Friends

I have a very exciting story about two trees coming soon! I just have to snap a few photos!

A Dishwasher...FOR ME? Really? For me??? WOW!!!

Raise your hand if you have a dishwasher? Oh, wait did everyone but the writer of this blog just raise their hand? Hmmm, that might be because until TODAY I have not had a dishwasher.

Rewind a few months with me....remember the condo....NO DISHWASHER! Ok, now to present day Haynesville. We bought a house with no dishwasher. No problem, first thing on our agenda was to have one installed. We even picked one up off the side of the street (no joke) so we were pretty pumped!!

Did you know that countertops have to be a certain height to have a dishwasher? Well, they do and ours are not that tall which means hours upon hours of washing the dishes...BOO! And, because the countertops are not that tall the hours upon hours of washing dishes also adds to lower back pain.

Yes, I'm whining. Does it really bother me to wash them? Not really, I've kind of gotten used to it. Well, today my life changed....kind of.

See, we have a work room off our our garage (any man's dream). The work room houses my washing machine and dryer. No, they aren't in our house, but it's not too hard to walk to the shop and put the clothes on to wash.

(INTERMISSION - - Sorry this is such a long post).

Well, we haven't had hot water out in the shop because the hot water heater broke, but one of our friends gave us theirs. The were getting a new one and didn't need it anymore. So, today Austin and Chris installed the new hot water heater, a new faucet and sprayer for the sink....AND TO MY SURPRISE AND DELIGHT...my DISHWASHER.

Now, you may be thinking one of two things:
1.) Why would Melissa be excited about a dishwasher thats 20 yards from her kitchen?
2.) You can take the Haynes' out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the Haynes'

My response:
1.) This is so exciting because when I get home from my Pampered Chef shows, I can go straight to the work room and put my dishes in the dish washer! No more washing them by hand!
2.) You might be right. I'm thinking we might be the first family to have an outhouse for our DISHES!!! HEHE!!

Well, I still can't use the dishwasher. It seems it has to have electricity. Yes, we have electricity in the shop, but I'm not sure what it takes for the dishwasher. The boys just told me it needs electricity.

Ok, have a great week! And, think of me the next time you open your dishwasher and feel the nice steam on your face. It could be that I'm hunched over the sink scrubbing away!!!

Scrub on,

Mel

ALMOST A WHOLE MONTH?!?!?!?!

Wow, I'm surprised anyone actually checks my blog these days. Well, it seems that the past month has just FLOWN by. Keep reading for random updates on the Haynes'!

- We've decided to move forward with getting our foundation fixed. In Corpus it seems that everyone has bad foundations, well our house is no different. The back room was an add on and it has literally sunk about 4 inches from the other parts of the house. I'm super excited about having this room fixed because we're getting new tile and painting. The current colors are some random pink and green....WEIRD!

- I'm currently working 3 jobs. I have my full-time job at the hospital, my Pampered Chef job, and now I am going to be working part-time for a special events company. It's not too overwhelming though. I only do about 2 PC shows a month and I will only do about 1 special event every other month. My first event with them is to help with a wedding in March...I AM SUPER EXCITED!!

- I am getting a new job, new boss and new office at the hospital because my position was eliminated by our Division office. I find out next week exactly what I'll be doing, but I'm pretty pumped...AND VERY THANKFUL I STILL HAVE A JOB!!!!

- Austin's ribs are healed and he is not riding dirt bikes at this time. :) His friend just bought him a chest protector to get him to start riding again, but Austin's a little leery.

- I'm still training for the half marathon. This week will be our 8 mile Saturday. I'm a little nervous, but we'll get through it. The boys (our husbands) have been great to bring us water during our runs and take us to eat at CHACHO'S TACOS afterwards...YUMMY!!!

- Probably the biggest event I've ever planned is coming up in 2 weeks. It's a national event that we're hosting locally for the hospital. It is a day focused on dancing for cardiovascular (heart) health. It's a four hour event that consists of 5 different dance lessons (Line Dancing, Zumba, Salsa, Hip Hop and Belly Dancing), 4 dance performances including local Irish dancers, a physician speaking, a national (local) celebrity as our emcee, health screenings, a proclamation by the mayor, a presentation to our hospital by the American Heart Association and a lot of people. We're hoping to have between 500 - 1,000 people in attendance throughout the day. Needless to say, I've been a little busy at work! I'm super excited about it and tell everyone I meet about it. I'm also SUPER READY for it to be over! I'm tired of waking up thinking about dancing.

Ok, well that will do it for now. Thanks for being faithful blog readers! :)

Random Facts of Thursday

Hello faithful blog readers!

It's Thursday night and Austin and I have been to a mixer and dinner and he is now playing a video game. What a perfect opportunity for me to blog! :)

A few random (and quite useless) facts about the Haynes:

- We love sushi. It's expensive and takes forever to get, but we LOVE it!

- We have a pink ceiling. That's right, we've lived in our house for 4.5 months and we still have a pink ceiling in our living room. GROSS! We have to get the foundation fixed and then we'll update paint/tile! 

- We prefer to eat on the couch. We eat there probably 99.7% of the time.

- Austin doesn't like mushrooms.

- We live 1.5 blocks away from Austin's best friend Tony. We actually lived with Tony for the month of August.

- I'm addicted to the show House.

- Our laundry room is detached from our house. It's an outhouse!

- Our favorite outfits are t-shirts, athletic shorts and tennis shoes.

- Austin wears jeans to work everyday. 

- I really want a dog named Snappy, well Snapopolis Mildred Haynes, but Snappy for Short. When I get her, she will be a Schnorkie; half Schnauczher (spelling?) half Yorkie. So cute!

- Austin has an air soft gun and likes to rampage his friends when they are least expecting it. 

- We have a random neighbor that has guests over all the time and they like to park in front of my house. For some weird reason this drives me crazy and I want to RAM their cars with mine. No, Daddy, I have not driven the Escape into any other vehicles. :)

Ok, I think that's enough for today. I will blog more later!

Mel

Give me a kiss...and a garage door that CLOSES!

Austin, Chris, Bianca and I all went to the Corpus Christi Ice Rays game tonight. The Ice Rays played the Mudbugs so we were pretty excited about going...BORING! The game was so boring! Shreveport definitely put on a better show. We used to have fun going to the Mudbugs games. Corpus Christi has a long way to go to be an exciting evening out!

Well, Austin and I were featured on the kiss cam. Secretly, I always wanted to snatch a kiss on the cam and tonight it happened! TOO FUN! I actually knew the guy with the camera which is how we were on it. The guy also works at a local tv station as a camera man so that's how I met him. 

Stubborn garage door. We have this crazy garage door that WILL NOT shut in the mornings for me. It's kid of crazy, but it just won't close. In the evenings, it loves to close. Austin has even had to come home from work to close it. WEIRD, huh?

Week 2 of training is almost over (only 2 more days) and I've come to a conclusion...I AM SO SLOW! I did 3 miles yesterday at 12 minutes per mile. BOO, Mel...BOO! I think I would like to shave a minute off per mile for the half, but we'll see.

Thanks for the encouragement gals! I'm really excited and I'm trying to stay positive. 14 weeks seems like a long time, but it's fun to keep an update on here. 

Kelsie - Please tell Michael that I could never ride a bike for 100 miles!!! 

Sorry there aren't more exciting things happening in the Haynes' household.

13 the's number...

That's right...it's been 13 million years since I've posted. Actually, just less than a month but who's counting?

I'm 13 weeks away from a great physical challenge. Many of you might remember that I was planning on running a half marathon last November, but I forgot to sign up in time and CAN YOU BELIEVE IT SOLD OUT? Seriously? Those things sell out? Well, it did and no amount of begging the girl in California putting on the race got me in. So, here we go again...

My good buddy, Bianca, and I are putting ourselves to the test to do a half-marathon in April. She did the run in November and did great, but this time we want to run the entire thing. So, for the next 13 (well 12.5) weeks we are in complete training mode. Running 3 days per week, Cross Training 2 days per week, 2 days of rest, and NO MORE SOFT DRINKS (at least on running days). 

We are currently one and a half weeks into our training and although the running portion is actually easy at this time, finding the motivation is NOT! Thankfully, our husbands have jumped on board and are completely committed to helping us achieve our goal. For me it means that I'm not allowed to skip a day unless I'm at the hospital or throwing up in bed. Thanks, Austin! It also means that on race day the boys will be there to cheer us on and will be hoping for great speed because I'm certain they will have a tee time immediately following.

So, the next 13 weeks in the Haynes' household will focus on Melissa making the time to exercise and train. Also happening in the next 13 weeks: my good buddy Megan will be giving birth to a great little boy (he has to be great b/c he's my nephew), we are having a few large events at the hospital, and I'm sure there will be lots more going on.

Hope all are finding this year to be good so far!

Mel