North Dakota Trip

So last week I flew up with some colleagues to visit Hess' North Dakota operations. I tell you what -- it was a great trip! We flew up Monday on the Hess charter flight out of Sugar Land -- direct flight into Williston, ND with 7 other Hess employees. Williston is a very small town (~1,500 people) and Applebee's was where we hit dinner that first night. It is one of 3 restaurants in town!

Tuesday was off to view our 3D Seismic Acquisiton which was already underway. It was about an hour outside Williston and about 10 minutes from our Tioga Office.
Here is the helicopter bringing a bag to drop at a new location (bag contains geophones & extension cords, which a group of folks walk to and hook up). This is our Staging Area. This is also the helicopter we got to fly on!!!! What a beautiful day it was! Jason and Kevin -- our seismic bird-dogs, doing what they do best. (standing around chatting) HA HA
Geologists doing what geologists do best (looking at squiggly lines). Actually, Rob the Hess geologist (far right) was a GREAT tour guide. Here he's showing the group some of what he analyzes.
The group of us by the big Thumper (this is what actually shoots the seismic waves down into the earth.) Pretty cool! You feel the ground shake! And yes, that's me on the left in a hardhat. :)
Aerial view of the local wildlife (cows) from the helicopter.

On Wednesday we headed into Stanley in HURRICANE FORCE winds to tour one of our land rigs. Like I said -- a great trip overall!

"Country-Casual"

Check out these to studly dudes! Robert & Taylor all geared up for the evening.
Kenny the Scotsman
Jamie & Jennifer
So on Saturday Robert's colleague (Bartlette) and friend (Dave) got married at their home in Bellville. Robert said it's "country-casual" and to dress country. Well shoot -- I can do that -- but that's typically in jeans and boots. So I put my thinking cap on and knew what I'd wear. It meant a quick run to Shiner to buy a new pair of dressy boots (Yes, I looked for them in Houston but no luck -- I had found them at Beran's in Shiner a couple weeks ago and KNEW I should have bought them then!). Anyway -- as you can see I had on my dress, jean jacket, pretty necklace borrowed from Jill and of course -- my new brown boots. CUTE! Howevvvvvver -- when we get to the wedding, there are no other women in "country casual"! Ohhhh man! I didn't know how to react. So I just decided I was going to get drunk and started straight away on the crown & sprite. It didnt fail me and soon after the reception the ladies donned their boots too. Maybe they were envious of me being so comfy in my 'country-casual'! HA HA HA

Bella

I just thought this was a cute picture of our Bella Rose that was taken a couple weekends ago. She's so fun! And she loooooooooves her Granny (my mom).

Port Royal - ohhh the memories

So it was Port Royale (with the "e') back in the day and the rock slide is gone and it was immediate family this year -- but our first trip back to Port A, Mustang Island and Port Royal was GREAT!!! 2 new tube slides replace the rock slide which I went on ohhh about 100 times - no exaggeration. The beach was really nice (Thanks Ike!) and well -- you can't go too wrong with a weekend with the Chumchal's. We definitely have to go back next year and for an additional day!


HOWEVER -- it can never go without a few kinks. We spent the first 45 minutes at Pohler Tire Center in Shiner getting ALL the stems replaced on the Suburban (which also needs new tires). Robert and I nearly broke up. We had to leave early on Sunday to bury a very dear friend of the family. Luckily it was a great temperature outside so the water was perfect and the sun too. It did get windy on Saturday evening -- but it only made the scenery better as we laughed for a good 30 minutes at a couple of guys trying to barbeque! Quite amusing! I believe the one guy's fajitas went from tenderized beef to jerky, REAL QUICK! :)

Here's a few pictures -
The pools are still as awesome as ever:
I think this is Jenny going off the slide - hee hee - good times!Look at those studs and hot momma!
Playing in the sand is fun at ANY age!
Up-close with our Colossal Castle

Papo's Tractor

So Jaace is into fixing up and driving tractors lately. The other weekend, while mom and dad were gone, he thought he'd teach Robert Jr to drive my Dad's tractor. I put a big no on that, yet he did it ANYWAY! Teenagers! ha ha ha

This weekend we had my dad's birthday celebration and Mamo's which is in a week or so at Mamo's house. It was really good!!! All of us on the Migl sider were able to get together -- it was great!

Uncle Allen helped Jaace get Mamo & Papo's tractor started and here he is tooling around the house & garden! It was really cool to see him up there -- Mamo drives it in parades and I can remember Papo up there riding around like it was yesterday! Still miss him terribly....

Joane relaxing after lunch -- which was YUMMY!

Weekend Wedding

Robert & I along with all of my family joined the Raab's to celebrate Dawn & Matt's wedding. Everything was really nice! Dawn looked stunning and Matt cleaned up pretty good too!



Here's a few pics of the Chumchal gals and their men:

The Popp's - Jenny & Nick
Jill & Thomas
Robert looking cool in his new shades:
Us before leaving the reception.

Kemah Boardwalk - Post-Ike

The Aquarium Entrance:
Outside along the boardwalk/play area:
Joe's Crabshack:
Landry's:

Do you know what a buffet is?

I do! And I've been wanting one! And I've finally purchased one! Yay!

So back at the end of August Dillard's was having an "extra 40% off clearance prices" sale and of course my mom HAD to call me and tell me about and I just HAD to go! Dillard's should pay her a referral fee or something for as much as I "invest" there! :)

So I went to West Oaks Dillard's first, which I haven't been to in AGES but something tugged at me to stop there. I'm glad I did. I found 3 buffets I liked, only 1 of which was with the extra 40% off. I was heading to Wharton that weekend and wanted Robert to see it but wouldn't be able to till Saturday. The guy at West Oaks said the Sugar Land store had one in-stock and I could check there to see if I liked it and if it matched my table. But of course he encouraged me to come back to him for the purchase.

So Saturday I detoured to Sugar Land and LOVED the buffet AND it was the ONE that was 40% off! YAY!!! AND -- yes it gets better, I got it for over $150 LESS than the guy at West Oaks quoted me! It was a steal really!!! I walked out of there with the 2 pieces: the buffet and the hutch for UNDER $650. And it looks GREAT with the dining table! I love buying furniture!!!! Now I need to look into buying a HOUSE to put it in, for goodness sake!!!!!

Here it is!!!! So preeeety! (but I'm biased)

Robert thought our new Shiner bottle cap sign would be a great finishing touch. Hmmm I dunno!

This is it up close and personal -- but MY look at that DUST! Crap! I need to clean it for sure!

NIGHTMARES

Houston traffic post-Ike that is!

I know for a lot of folks traffic is the least of their worries. Power is still out and OH MAN I couldn't imagine that! Again -- friends & family -- my offers still stand for a warm shower and AC!

Yesterday was the first day "back to normal, sort-of" for Houstonians. It's taking 1.5 to 2.5 hours to get home from work. The lights down Westheimer, San Felipe, Memorial are out, so everyone is trying to get to a main artery like I-10, 59, 45, whatever -- and so it's taking UNREASONABLE amounts of time.

I left the office last night at 7:10, to catch a 7:18 bus which showed up at 7:40. The HOV lanes are closed to thru traffic, except buses, on I-10 due to construction. Well we were supposed to be able to get on them, but couldn't because the bus was late! So at 8:50 pm I FINALLY made it to the Park n Ride! Which meant still time to get to the house, ~ 20 minutes.

EVERYONE is so frustrated with traffic, but all we can do is cope

Shiner Braves' (8th Grade) Football Game

Go Jaace! So we (Robert, myself, Rob Jr & Matt) were able to make it to Jaace's first 8th grade football game in Shiner on Thursday (9/18). It was good fun and Jaace did pretty good. He made several tackles, 1 sack, and 1 fumble recovery!

Shiner Braves 8th Grade Team WON -- 36 to 14 (they played the Poth Pirates, a 2 or 3-A team)

Jaace - #64

Matt, Jr & Robert doning their Shiner Gear!

Jaace in Action (coming off the field for a bit)

Matt wearing Jaace's helmet -- after the VICTORY!

Marky Ford's Wedding

Mr & Mrs Mark Ford

Forever Friends - Jamie, Karena & Dulle

So Jenn and Mark finally tied the knot a few weekends ago at a really beautiful ceremony in downtown San Antonio and an awesome reception at Pat O's near the Riverwalk. Karena and I met up with Ang and her crew there. We had SUCH a good time catching up. A nice relaxing (but short) weekend in SA.

CONGRATULATIONS Mark & Jennifer!!

The gals - Karena, Jamie, Angela & Emma

The Hodges' Family - David & Karen, Molly & Hawkins

View from our hotel room at the Emily Morgan. We overlooked The Alamo (all the trees in the lower left area) and the Riverwalk (between all the buildings and the Hyatt).

After Hurricane Ike

Hey everybody -- I hope this finds you well. We (Robert, myself, my roommate Stephanie) all survived Hurricane Ike with no real damages. Robert had TONS (about 10 bags) of tree limbs and leaves down, 2 sections of fence down and power out for maybe 12 hours. Seems like every fence in his neighborhood and the surrounding were down! Stephanie's house only had a few shingles missing, her front tree leaning a bit and power out for about 18 hours.

I was in Downtown at work on Wednesday. I didn't have my camera out quick enough to snap a few pics, but nearly EVERY tree was down and there were more windows out than I expected. Our building, One Allen Center had a few windows missing from Floors 17, 19, and 20-something. I'm on Floor 18 -- so was missed. The walkway between Three Allen and the Allen Center Parking garage had several panes missing. Chevron took over the old Enron buildings and it looks like they have quite a few windows out -- but that was a building of glass. I did see the JP Morgan Chase building from a distance and as shown on TV, it was by-far hit the worst. There were other buildings around Smith & Dallas that had plywood up and windows out. Crazy.

Slowly things are getting back to normal. PLEASE let me know if there is anything I can do for those that have been impacted. This country-girl can still rake leaves and move trees! :)

Here's just a few pics:

Robert taking down the boards on the windows.
The JOKE of a broom he made me use to sweep up the leaves. I''ll be buying him a new one soon!
Me hauling a bundle of limbs to the frontyard.

Our stack of leaves & limbs.
House just around the corner from us with NO fence standing. So many in his neighborhood fared this way.

Hurricane Ike -- My Status

I hope this finds everyone safe and sound, or as safe as possible after Hurricane Ike hit the Houston area.

Robert and I are in Shiner with my family. We have no idea when we'll head back to Katy or to work at this point.

PLEASE let me know how you are!!!!! Drop a quick note on here or email me.

Jamie

AeroGarden

I love my AeroGarden! Never did I expect when I mentioned it to my sisters that I'd actually receive it for my birthday this past March! Talk about excited. Well this past June I actually made the time to put it together and get it going and holy moly -- it's really cool!!!!



Herbs-a-plenty:

Just look at the basil -- it's done so well!!!

This picture doesn't even do it justice. Looking at it today it's 10x as big!

Thanks Jenny and Jillian for my awesome, easy-to-use garden!

Reality ...

Wow! Ohmygosh. Did ya'll see this? Jaace is as tall as me (if not taller -- I've got 3" heels on!!!!).

I just noticed this. Awww. Makes me sad a little. He's grown up so much. He'll be in 8th grade this year and turn 14 in December. I can still remember the day mom & dad told us she was pregnant like it was yesterday. I'm sure some of ya'll can remember it too. Now he's playing football, into girls, growing his hair out, just all those "growing up things". I just love him to pieces!

Astros Games

Yep -- 2 Astros games in 1 week. Won one, got annihilated on another. Still good fun!

Hess Global Supply Chain Seismic Team outing:

Robert & Jamie after the Astros game on Saturday:

Karena & Drew after the Astros game on Saturday:

Road Trip

We survived!

Houston to Kinder, LA to Mufreesboro, AR to Little Rock, AR to Nashville, TN back to Houston. All in 5.5 days. 2,100 miles. 14 hrs 59 mins ride home. And we all are still talking! :)

It was great to see the Salerno's & the Costner's! Thanks all for a great time!

Jaace, Robert Jr & Matthew on-stage at the Ryman:

Jaace & I posing outside the Grand Ole Opry:

Carrie Underwood at the Grand Ole Opry: