"Everybody, I know you can believe in yourself!"

Tomorrow I'm taking the GRE. I'm feeling uneasy about it, which is strange considering how much I actually enjoy standardized testing. No, you didn't read that wrong. I enjoy standardized testing. Favorite week of school in elementary and middle school (omitting Catholic Schools' Week, of course, oh you poor souls who never experienced that joy) was the week we took our standardized tests. We were allowed to have snacks in our classrooms and there was no homework! All week long! And in seventh grade I volunteered to take the ACT for some Duke TIP thing. But then for some reason, once I got to high school, we no longer had specific standardized testing, no TAKS or whatever. I'm not really sure why. Instead, my beloved standardized tests came by taking the PSAT freshman through junior year. And then, just for fun, I took the SAT my sophomore year with a friend who was taking it for college applications. Because I just couldn't get enough of my standardized testing. I ended up taking the SAT a total of three times and the ACT once (unless you count that time in seventh grade.)

And then the testing stopped. At least until about a month and a half ago when I decided I was going to give myself a month to prepare for the GRE (there was no way I was going to study while I was in Hawaii for a week and a half.) Right after I signed up for the exam Brenden and I headed out to Barnes and Noble, seeing as we now had a good excuse to spend money there (I always feel guilty buying new books knowing I have unread novels, memoirs, poetry, drama lining my shelves already), and bought a GRE prep book. I've had great fun with this prep book- learning clever ways to outsmart ETS (the evil testmakers of the GRE) and, you know, figuring out more of those standardized test questions. I even signed up for a free practice test with Kaplan which I took on the computer, simulating the actual test day procedures (though getting the program to work on the computer took awhile which frustrated me to no end. I actually gave up and took a shower to get ready to go shopping instead while Brenden fixed the problem and got it up and working. What a good husband supporting me in my love of standardized tests.) I did fairly well on the practice exam and was so pleased with my score I didn't study at all the next week. Overconfidence, much? BAD. I did pick up the prep book again, I mean, come on! I paid twenty bucks for this soon-to-be-absolutely-useless-to-me practice book, I needed to at least get my money's worth out of it. I studied some more. Did a little better on the book's practice exam. I'll probably review some more stuff tomorrow and then I'll take the test at 1pm.

And then it will be over. And I won't have to worry about it anymore. And I will be FREE of the GRE! (I said that in a sing-song voice in my head, so that's how you should read it. I wasn't quite sure how else to convey those directions except by explicitly stating them.)

Thank you for letting me rant. This was a post to calm my nerves and remember that, HEY! I CAN DO THIS! And because you actually read through all of that, you deserve something nice. So here's a cute boy who's inspired me and given me confidence in myself. Enjoy!

Yeah...

I've been meaning to make this for awhile now. Is this totally puerile or what?
(go go GRE vocab!)
edited 10/5/11: A better aligned gif file! Thanks Alan!

Basically, Brenden's Best Birthday Bash and other things

(I just realized I never did write about moving into our new place even though I hinted I would. I'll get to it once I can take some pictures of our house that won't reveal what slobs we can be.)

Okay, I was really going for alliteration in the title. Originally it was just "Brenden's Birthday" and I was like HEY! LOOK TWO "B's" IN A ROW. I CAN MAKE THIS EVEN MORE AWESOME. So I did. But in the process I may have lied. I don't actually know if this was Brenden's best birthday bash or not. Considering it was not really a "birthday bash" since we didn't have an actual party, I would suggest that it was not Basically, Brenden's Best Birthday Bash. Ugh, and now I'm a liar and all for the sake of alliteration fun!

On August 30th, Brenden was able to celebrate living 21 years and begin his 22nd year of life. Is that a totally awkward way of wording it? Explained like a normal person, Brenden turned 22 on August 30th. Yay! Way to not die yet! Here's to another year of not dying! (We aim high here in the McQuay household.)

To celebrate the beginning of Brenden's 22nd year of life, we slept in. And then we ate kolaches for breakfast. Brenden and I came up with a very simple and delicious recipe involving frozen dinner rolls, Lil Smokies sausages, and cheddar cheese. After our late breakfast, Brenden went off to school. I went to Wal-Mart to purchase wrapping paper and ribbon to wrap the presents I had been hiding in my closet.

Brenden and I aren't big on surprises. Sometimes this can be a little sad but usually I'm totally fine with it. I didn't have to ask Brenden what he wanted for his birthday. This summer he took up reading graphic novels/comic books, helped along by a few summer blockbusters (Thor, X-Men First Class, Green Lantern, Captain America.) So he got four new graphic novels for his birthday. That he picked out. And ordered. Oh dear, now everyone knows I'm a liar AND a lazy bum. I did keep it a secret when they arrived in the mail and then hid them (in plain sight!) in my closet. When Brenden started getting concerned that his books hadn't yet arrived, I reassured him that they had indeed arrived and they were simply in hiding. It was fun watching him search all over the house for his books, when they were literally sitting on the rather empty floor of my closet whose doors are always open.

Because I hadn't given tons of thought to Brenden's birthday present, I determined I needed to at least put forth some effort into his birthday card. And guys, I made an awesome birthday card. Would you like to know why it is awesome? It's because Hal Jordan is trying to get Brenden's attention so he can tell him Happy Birthday. And it's not every day that a superhero tells you happy birthday. In fact, it's not even every birthday that a superhero tells you happy birthday.

But even more awesome than the fact that a super hero is wishing Brenden a happy birthday is the fact that I drew and colored this sucker. I did copy an image I saw on the internet so yeah I can't claim the creativity, but I can claim those drawing and coloring skills. (And I might be a little more proud of myself than I should be.) Brenden needed a cool card because he's a cool kid *ahem* cool twenty-two year old adult.

Here's a picture of him with his new comic books!

Yeah, he's a kid at heart (though I don't think any kid should read V for Vendetta.) And I love that about him. He was very happy to get his new comic books. Is it totally irresponsible of me to provide my husband with four new graphic novels as soon as he begins his first semester of graduate school? Or totally awesome?

Knowing that one of Brenden's favorite restaurants is Pappadeux's, I searched for a place with similar menu offerings here in Athens and I found the coolest little place to go for his birthday dinner. It's called NONA for New Orleans 'N Athens. They're located on Broad Street which is the main street that goes through Downtown Athens. Downtown Athens reminds me a lot of The Strand in Downtown Galveston- cute shops, hip coffee joints, fancy and unique little restaurants. It's a lot of fun.

Brenden and I had crab cakes for an appetizer. I had their Creole Pork Jambalaya for my entree and Brenden got a delicious Blackened Catch of the Day (I can't remember what fish it was) with Crawfish Etouffee topping. For dessert, Brenden got Creme Brulee and we also split a root beer float. It was an exciting dinner and we got to try a new root beer (Abita)! That's always fun.

Quick sidenote: Brenden and I love root beer. Every time we go to a grocery store, we check their soda aisle to see if they have any new root beer for us. We've had the regulars: Barq's, A&W, Mug, IBC and we've had some others not available in every grocery store: Dad's, Jone's, Frostie, Hank's, Sprecher's, Stewart's, Triple X, Boylan's, Bundaberg's, Natural Brew, Virgil's, Thomas Kemper, Henry Weinhard's, and Howie's. I'm still looking around for Hires which used to be really popular but for some reason has gone into hiding. I've had it before but Brenden's never had it and I need to share the goodness that is Hires Root Beer.

Brenden's birthday was pretty low-key but that's how we are. And while I joke about him not dying yet, I am truly grateful for the life he lives and willingly shares with me. He's a wonderful, loving, and sweet young man. I'm excited to celebrate more birthdays with him.

In other news, something else we celebrated that week was our first NFL game. Say what? Yeah, we got free tickets to an NFL game. Yeah, okay, it was a pre-season game. And yeah, our team lost. But it was an exciting experience nonetheless! The game was between the Atlanta Falcons and the Baltimore Ravens. Remember the movie The Blindside? Well, Michael Oher plays for the Baltimore Ravens, so we were secretly rooting for them too.

The game was held at the Georgia Dome, which was also home to some of the events of the 1996 Summer Olympics (the Olympic games that gave me the dreams of being a gymnast.) Hence, this fabulously awkward statue:

I really couldn't help myself. I had to take a picture of the statue from an awkward angle. The statue was just begging for me to do it.

Brenden and I don't really have any game day clothes so we wore two of the few red shirts we own- mine a basic polo, Brenden's a t-shirt from Youth Conference. We took this picture quite a bit before the game started so there aren't many people in the stands yet.

And we took this picture after we started losing the game and ability to score anymore which is why there aren't many people in the stands here either.

At the game there were concession stands. At these concessions stands there was funnel cake. This funnel cake was $6 and that one dollar difference between $6 and $5 broke my heart. You see, I really, REALLY wanted funnel cake but I told myself that there was no way I was going to spend more than $5 for it (I didn't really want to spend $5 on it either but I really wanted funnel cake.) Even so, I begged Brenden to buy me funnel cake and he insisted we need not spend $6 on cake fried in a pot of oil. But I still begged and begged. Because how does cake fried in oil not sound absolutely delicious? So he promised me we would make our own later that week. And I told him I wanted some right then and there. And I continued to beg. And then he ignored my pleas for the rest of the game. And I was so sad.
BUT!
We did end up making our own funnel cake later that week! And it was DELICIOUS! Also it was fun. Way more fun than paying $6 for a single cake would've been, I bet. I don't actually know though because I didn't do it.

I made the one on the left, Brenden's is on the right. He didn't have quite as much luck with the pastry bag as I did.

We made a lot of funnel cake. And we ate a lot of funnel cake.

Yeah, I think it was better than paying $6 at the football game. Yum!

Updates!

A few things have happened since our last post here:
- Brenden's birthday
- A trip to Hawaii (Me, my mom and my sister)
- My birthday
- Evette's birthday
- Finally getting our second bedroom in order (it's only been, what, two months now?)
- General Conference

Maybe someday I'll write about them.

Summer Part 2

Wow. Has it really been almost two weeks since I last posted? And here I was thinking I'd be posting more often. I suppose this is still more often than I've posted the past few months. Once this post goes up, it will be the third post of the month! That beats this year's current frontrunner's (February's) grand total of two!

As promised, this post includes:

Plants:




















SUV vs. Honda Civic:
















Girls Camp:
















And a short trip to the capital of the best of all possible states:




















Alright, alright. I'm showing off now. I just wanted to prove that I do sometimes take pictures of things that are slightly noteworthy. So this post might include more pictures than usual (it already does! this is a record-breaking post!).

At the end of June, Brenden and I took a trip out to Georgia (pronounced: "JAW-JA")to find somewhere to live. Having had previous experience in finding a place online and signing a contract WITHOUT PRIOR EXAMINATION OF THE UNIT, I wasn't about to do that again. Was it worth the 12.5 hour drives to and from Athens, Georgia to make sure we found a place we liked, in an area we liked, that we would be living in for the next twelve months? YES.

This is a picture of the outside of our unit:




















We live in a townhome-style triplex unit on a little street of triplexes. We've got much more space than we need, a very welcoming aspect of our new place, especially when compared to our last closet of an apartment. Hopefully we don't fill it up with more things than we need. (Although, you could argue that there's already more things than we need in there. Hello Brenden's Lord of the Rings and sword collections!)

On our trip to Athens, we were able to meet our new ward. One of the families in the ward invited us for dinner that Sunday evening. Emily (wife/mother) had been helping us throughout the summer in our search for housing. One of the professors I worked for at BYU put me in touch with Emily since Emily's husband was one of her former students. They are such a nice family and we love our new ward. It reminds me A LOT of my old ward in Galveston. Lots of graduate students, young families, converts, and older families- just a really big mix. Everyone is so welcoming and friendly.

While we were in Athens, Brenden and I checked out the State Botanical Garden which is where I took that lovely picture of those flowers. Here's another cool picture:




















We've been meaning to make our way back there but haven't had the chance yet. It was a really beautiful place with several walking trails.

About a week after we got back from Athens, it was my sister's 18th birthday. In Gariby celebration style, we had a huge dinner for her at our house in Galveston. Any excuse for a celebration is welcome at our home. My mom has a tendency to throw big parties for everything you could imagine (birthday! graduation! new job! someone is hungry! nothing to do tonight!). And they are so much fun. Really. Sometimes I worry that I'm too sarcastic that people will never take me seriously. But seriously, whenever my mom has a dinner party at our house, everyone leaves in a good mood, full of food, with to-go boxes (no, really, she buys styrofoam to-go boxes specifically for these occasions), and so tired. It felt like every weekend Brenden and I went down to Galveston, there was some kind of party. Sometimes we'll be having dinner Sunday evening and then invite someone from church to join us and suddenly we'll have the whole neighborhood over with plates full of pancit and eggrolls. AND THEN my mom gives them leftovers. Because we ALWAYS have a ton of food. My mom could probably be a fairly successful caterer and party planner if she really wanted to. I mean, she already kinda is. Although she didn't cater the food for our wedding reception, she basically planned the entire event.

And look how much fun was had:















Every weekend was like that. Minus the fancy catering, gorgeous venue, tons of presents, and big dress. Also, give or take a few hundred people. But yeah, basically every weekend we went to Galveston we came back to Houston full, exhausted, and happy. (And with my occasional headache that comes from exhaustion.)

Next topic: SUV vs. Honda Civic
Thankfully this is a fairly painless, short story. It could've been worse. I remind myself of that every time I look at our little Civic's front bumper and mismatching headlights. This was one of the few times I was actually driving home from work (Brenden usually takes the wheel). We were almost home (probably about 10 or 15 minutes away) when we stopped at a red light at the intersection on Hufsmith-Kohrville and Spring-Cypress. Suddenly, the SUV that was stopped in front of us decides now would be a good time to put his car into reverse. At a red light. In front of us. I lay on the horn, trying to inform him that "Hey! Maybe you didn't realize it but there are people behind you at this red light on the busy road at rush hour in a Houston suburb." The driver didn't get this idea until his car went up on top of our little Civic's front bumper and he couldn't back up anymore unless he laid on the gas. Brenden looks up from his book, "What happened?" as I sat there SO ANGRY. I put on our flashers, roll down my window to calmly inform (I was struggling here) the other driver we needed to pull into a nearby parking lot. The light had turned green right after he drove on top of our car, of course, so it was fun (read: "ridiculous") to drive across the street and traffic to the nearby automotive store's parking lot. Our car was drivable (thankfully) but he did do some damage, cracking the bumper, knocking some stuff out of place, you know, the regular stuff that happens when someone's SUV briefly sits on top of your Honda Civic. His insurance took care of everything, which ended up being about $1800 worth of damage. If the adjuster had originally determined that it was going to be that much (she had estimated around $600), our car probably would've been totaled since our car is crappy. We lovingly refer to it as the "Crappy Honda." Anyway, the accident happened on a Monday and we were going to Galveston that Friday and I was driving out to Girls Camp the next Tuesday from Galveston. Sooo that meant I got to drive the Crappy Honda down to Galveston (1 1/2 hour drive) and then out to Louisiana (3 1/2 hour drive) with things not quite where they were supposed to be on the car.

Cue transition to next topic: Girls Camp
Each year, Camp Edgewood, a beautiful Boy Scout camp near the Texas/Louisiana border hosts the League City Stake for Girls Camp. I went to the same camp when I was in Young Women's so many years ago (guys, I turn 23 next week. what?!). And while the camp itself is beautiful and the company is nice, I missed my last two summers of Girls Camp because one summer I was crazy and the other summer I was working. So to make up for those two lost summers, I did the unthinkable and volunteered myself as a Girls Camp leader for this summer. It was Stef's last summer and she wasn't really planning on going so I told her I would go so she would go. So I went and she went and it was good.

It was really good. I didn't know the girls I was going to be working with because they were all so young back when I was in the ward or they had moved in since I went to college. I thought it was going to be awkward and that I would mix up their names and they wouldn't feel that comfortable with me because I was a stranger. But it wasn't bad at all. In fact, it was enjoyable. And wonderful. And fun. And basically, it was the best year I'd ever had at Girls Camp because I came to love these girls and I felt our Heavenly Father's love for them. I really did. I could see how much potential they had as daughters of God and I wanted all of the opportunities in the world for them. I wanted them to know what they are capable of. I wanted them to know that I loved them. And more importantly, that Heavenly Father and our Savior loved them.

It was a wonderful week. And while I could've done without the lame burn ban (how can you camp and NOT have a fire?), the huge spiders in the bathroom and shower, the flooded tent, and the heat (oh, the heat), it was much easier to take these things in stride as I came to love the beautiful girls I was privileged to work with that week.

Me and Stef in the mess hall:
















I love this picture of Cindy. She was one of the first years in our ward. Super cute girl:




















Oh, and as evidence of the heat. These two pictures were taken after a 5-mile hike at 6am.








































All of that is sweat from a five mile hike at SIX IN THE MORNING when the weather was supposed to be cooler or rather, less hot. Yup.

Earlier in the summer, Brenden and I were hoping to do a short Texas history tour celebrating the 175th anniversary since Texas gained its independence from Mexico. We wanted to visit some of the nearby (meaning, within 3 hours of Houston) historical points of interest (The Alamo, Goliad, Gonzales, Washington-on-the-Brazos, Austin, San Jacinto, the Blue Bell Ice Cream Factory). Unfortunately, we weren't able to take the trip. BUT! My brother, Chris, called me up one evening and asked me if I wanted him to buy me and Brenden two tickets for an Iron & Wine concert in Austin on July 29th, you know, two days before Brenden and I were going to move to Georgia. Of course, we did what any sensible person would do. We said yes. That's what sensible people would've done, right? Go to Austin, Texas (about a three hour drive away) three nights before they have to move across the country. It's not like we needed to pack or get a moving truck loaded the day after the concert or anything. Oh, wait, we did.

So Brenden and I drove out to Austin Friday morning around 11am, stopped at the Blue Bell factory in Brenham, ate some delicious ice cream and continued our drive. I'd been to Austin a number of times growing up. I went with my family for family vacations, with my eighth grade student council for a student council conference, with some of my high school friends for state academic competitions, and with my parents for college visits (UT and St. Edward's). With my Austin city experience, I knew that if we had time for it, we were going to eat at County Line Barbecue because if there is one thing the capital of Texas knows, it's good barbecue. I dreamt about this place when I wasn't in Austin. Which is actually rather ironic because, as Brenden and I discovered when looking up County Line's address, apparently, there are TWO locations in Houston. Local Houston friends and family! Go to County Line Barbecue!

This is a picture of Brenden eating ribs there. Yes, there is a gun above his head for decoration. Classic Texas: Barbecue and guns. How much more authentic can you get?




















We also went to the Texas Capitol. It's a really beautiful building with fun things like light fixtures arranged in the shape of a star, spelling "TEXAS" in the points of the star. The Texas Capitol was one of the first buildings in the state to get electricity when it became available and they were going to show their Texas pride with it. There's no holding back that Texas pride:




















That evening we met up with Chris and his friend Sidney for the concert. It was a good concert to ease Brenden into more popular music concerts. The venue was an old opera house and the music was soft, acoustic goodness. (Random: The venue was the Paramount Theatre in Austin. I went to a concert the summer before at the Paramount Theatre in Seattle.) Sadly, I didn't take any pictures. But we already know how that goes. After the concert, we made the drive back to Houston, getting in around 2 or 3. I can't really remember but it doesn't make that much of a difference since Brenden and I had to get up before 8 the next morning to pick up our moving truck. Brenden's friend, David Ludlow, and my dad, brothers and cousin, Jonathan, showed up to help us load the truck. Then we drove down to Galveston, moving truck and all, for a going-away party/luau.

My mom put together a huge party on the beach to send off my sister and me and Brenden. We had tables and tables of food. Originally we had three tables and once we filled up those tables and still didn't have our main dish set up (the lechon! roasted pig!) my dad had to make a trip out to the church to pick up another folding table.

This is a picture of a few of the people that showed up at the party (along with the pig!):














It was definitely a success and my mom sent people home with food, as usual.

The next day was our last Sunday in Texas. We went to church and then we had dinner at our house and invited people again, as usual.

We burned stuff in our guests' hands while other guests looked on in awe:




















We also hugged friends while I wore Stef's Brad Paisley shirt:
















And the next morning we left for Georgia: