Jury Duty

Well, after having to reschedule twice, I did my job as an American citizen and showed up for jury duty. I went, but I was DREADING it! Jury duty lived up to the hype... it was horrible. I absolutely hate not knowing things. The whole time I was at jury duty it was a constant mystery.

When are they going to call my name?

Are they going to call my name?

Why did I not eat breakfast? I could be here for hours!

How many more games of solitaire will I have to play?!

Will I make it back in time to go to the bathroom?

Why did this weirdo just sit next to me?

MAN! They just let 50 people go!

Why am I moving into another room?

I wonder how many calories are in that muffin I just bought at the concession?

Why didn't I just throw the summons away and pretend I never got it?

I should have gone to the bathroom 10 minutes ago. I had time.

Is my phone going to die before I can escape this place?

What?! Our group is changing rooms again!

Oh great, a cop!... Oh, what did he say? I can go!!!! :)

Can you just imagine what happens when I get in a real crisis?

Dog Collar Overload

     I just got back from spending 5 nights at the lake. Minus my car almost breaking down an hour away from the lake and the $1000 bill to fix it, the trip was wonderful.
     I have been out of town on vacation for 11 of the 18 days that school has been out. In the few days that I have been home, I found my self cleaning, organizing, and  catching up on all my riveting shows (Teen Mom, Dance Moms, Love in the Wild... only quality television, of course). Well, in between loads of laundry, I decided it was necessary to organize the 3 "junk drawers" in our laundry room. I knew the drawers were dedicated to the cookbooks, Bailey's stuff, and the 12th Man Towels (knowing Kyle, you know they have a special spot in our house), but all 3 drawers where just a conglomeration of the 3 said things. I started throwing the cookbooks in the top drawer, Bailey's stuff in the second, and the towels in the bottom when I realized the absurd amount of dog collars that were making their way in to the 2nd drawer. Yes, we have in fact become those people that change the dog's collar on a seasonal basis. I'm just not sure how disturbing or awesome it is to have a dog that has 13 collars (and 3 costumes).

4 spring/summer collars, 3 Aggie collars for football season, 1 Texans collar, 1 hunting season collar, 1 Halloween collar, 2 Christmas collars

and I guess the new one she currently has on brings her spring/summer collection to 5

Bay, you're the coolest dog around!

The Girl Trip

     When noon rolled around on May 31st, my summer started! Although I had joyfully joined in on the inevitable summer countdown some time after spring break, I was a little sad to see the year come to end. This was by far my favorite year of teaching, and I just hope next year goes just as well! But, don't let all of that sap fool you, I was indeed ready for a break.

     As previously mentioned, my sisters, mom, grandma, and I had a trip planned. We left on June 1st- my first official day of summer. We spent three beautiful days in Washington D.C. followed by three chilly days in New York. In DC we enjoyed seeing all the typical first-timer sights, and in New York we kind of took it easy. In case you were wondering...

Day 1:

The first day of travelling, for me any way, is all about getting your bearings. We try and plan some low key things on our first days, and this day was just that... minus a whole lot of walking!

• Tour of the Capitol- One of my favorite things we did!
• Walk through the Library of Congress- One of the prettiest buildings I have ever seen!
• Q&A Session at the Supreme Court- Interesting, but ruined by all of the 9 year olds asking irrelevant questions.
• National Archives to see the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution- This was neat to see, but being that our feet, pants, and hair were soaked from the miniature hurricane that came through, we weren't all that sad to head back to our hotel and get into our warm jammies.

Day 2:

Day 2 started with a minor mishap on my part. We were supposed to start our morning off with a walking tour of the monuments. We were almost late to the nonexistent tour. Oops! I hadn't checked the tour website in a month, and there was obviously some rescheduling that I wasn't aware of. So, with a minor adjustment to our highly organized itinerary, our day played out like this...

• Quick stop in front of the White House... a mandatory first-timer site!
• A few hours spent at the American History Smithsonian and then the Holocaust Museum... and a very brief stint in the National Gallery and Air and Space Smithsonian.
• The Lincoln Assassination Tour- One of the highlights of our DC trip! We had a fabulous tour guide who took you through the events and locations leading up to Lincoln's assassination! We didn't go in to Ford's Theater of the Peterson House, but it was amazing nonetheless!

It is inevitable that you walk a lot of vacation, even if you use public transportation, but I was curious to see how much we actually did walk. I wore a pedometer that day, and we apparently walked over 15 miles that day!

Day 3:

This was our "relaxing" day in DC.

• Georgetown Flea Market- It has kind of become a tradition to scope out a good flea market when we are on The Girl Trips. It was a bit off the beaten path, but it was a fun couple of hours. I found a super cute necklace that was created from vintage pieces, my sister and mom bought some photography from a local artist, and my grandma found an antique mirror!
• Shopping in Georgetown- After the flea market, we had brunch at Serendipity, and we proceeded to shop around Georgetown's cute main stretch.
• Arlington National Cemetery- It might be shameful to admit, but I wasn't all that excited about going here. However, it was very neat, and I am glad we went.
• Monuments Tour- Since our mishap from the day before left us without seeing the monuments, I found another tour company that took us for a twilight tour of the monuments. The Lincoln Memorial was my favorite, and I happened to run into some students and teachers from my school that were on their 8th grade trip!

The last 3 days of our trip were spent in New York City. Since this would be our fourth time in NYC, we were able to skip all the major touristy things and kind of lay low.

Day 4:

We arrived in NYC fairly early, and we were welcomed with rain and chilly weather.

• Uptown Tour- We took the ultra-touristy double decker bus tour of uptown NYC. Overall, it was interesting and we learned/saw some new things, and I have no shame in admitting that we took a bus tour. :)
• 9/11 Memorial- We had gone down to Ground Zero a couple years back, so it was neat to see the progress that has been made. They have built 2 fountains in the place of the twin towers. It was very inspiring to see.

Day 5: 

Hands down, this was the most care-free, random day we have ever had on The Girl Trip.

• Today Show- My mom loves Kathie Lee Gifford and has wanted to stop by the Today Show for years. We walked down to Rockefeller Center from our hotel and waited only 10 minutes before my mom got a glimpse of Kathie Lee and Hoda. It made her happy. :)
• Tea at the Plaza- Another tradition of sorts has been going to tea. We went to tea at the Ritz when we were in London 2 years ago, and it was so fun that we insisted on going while in New York. Our experience at the Plaza was so-so, but I guess we can check that off the list.
• Shopping- We pretty much shopped and strolled the streets most of the day... fine by me!

Day 6:

Our favorite New York day!

• Canal Street- Canal Street is were you can go buy cheap jewelry, scarves, and knock-off merchandise. It is kind of hit or miss, but we had a great time that morning and came away with a lot of cute stuff!
• Greenwich Village Food Tour- This was one of the very best tours I have ever done. Our tour guide had the best stories and commentary, and we were taken to some of the greatest little restaurants and shops around Greenwich Village.
• Chelsea Market and the Highline- I'm glad we went, but I wouldn't recommend this to anyone that is on a time schedule. There just wasn't that much to do or see.
• Once- We went and saw Once that evening. It was fantastic, and it won the Tony for best musical (and other things) last night! 

All in all, it was a great trip! I was kind of sad to come home except I did miss 2 very important people.

     I am horrible at remembering or wanting to take pictures, so I will try to get those from my sisters... if I remember to do that. That would probably be more interesting than reading my ramblings.

    I must go now... I need to pack for the lake. I'm leaving tomorrow morning. Oh the joys of being a teacher and summer vacation!

Wife vs. Husband

For the past 10 years my grandma, mom, two sisters, and I have started travelling together every summer. We have affectionately coined our summer travels as "The Girl Trip." Well, since we haven't gone on The Girl Trip since 2009 due to my wedding and, a year later, my sister's, I haven't left Kyle alone since we married. He on the other hand has been to a bagillion bachelor parties and a handful of weekends at the deer lease, so I am no stranger to "Kyle-free" weekends. (I'm a self-proclaimed loner, so "Kyle-free" isn't necessarily a bad thing).

Naturally, the girls and I are so excited to travel together again, but I have noticed several extra items appear on my "take care of this before you leave" list that weren't there pre-July 10, 2010.

What is Kyle going to eat while I am gone?

What groceries will he need?

Will he remember to make the coffee?

Will Bailey be okay?

Does Kyle have enough clean clothes?

Will he remember to take out the trash?

Does Kyle remember to not delete Dance Moms: Miami?

Obviously these are things that I don't need to worry about. Kyle isn't helpless or anything, but still, I'm a control freak caring wife.

My husband's thoughts before he goes out of town... "bye, I'll call you when I land."

Training for a Triathlon

No, I am not training for a triathlon, but Kyle is in full fledged training mode. I'm not really sure when this whim hit him, but let me tell you, it came full force. This doesn't really surprise me about Kyle. (Maybe he is channeling his previous life as a race walker). He is very passionate towards anything he does, yet I wasn't the most encouraging of his new undertaking.


Scene: Kyle is researching information about triathlons on the computer. Allie sits nearby playing on her phone. Bailey snores in the background.

Kyle: Hey Al, I think I am going to do this sprint triathlon in August.

Allie: Oh, really? That sounds fun.

Kyle: Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Allie: Yeah, uh huh.

Bailey: zzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZ!

Kyle: And then, blah, blah, blah....

Allie: Yep, sounds neat.

Kyle starts the whole swimming and running thing, but he doesn't have a bike. In my mind the triathlon thing is about to fizzle out. Well, Kyle comes home last Friday, and he seems a little more eager to go to dinner. Being that I eat lunch at 10:30, I'm always ready to eat. Typically I have to force Kyle out the door for an early dinner, but this particular night he was ready to go!

Allie: Where do you want to eat?

Kyle: I don't care.

Allie: Let's just go eat at Ruggles and then we can go buy that suitcase that I wanted.

Kyle: Great! Then, we can go buy my bike!

Allie: Seriously?

At this point, whatever. I get it. He wants to try this. No big deal. Let's go get this bike.

Scene: Allie and Kyle go pick out a road bike that in no way fits in to the budget. Allie is fairly supportive, and Kyle is ecstatic! The two return home... Kyle riding a bike through the front door and Allie rolling a suitcase behind him. All seems well until...

Kyle: Al, come check it out!

Allie: Oh no!!! That is not staying in the bedroom!!

Kyle: Where else am I going to keep it?

Allie: This is so stupid!! Why did you buy this bike?

Kyle: What are you talking about?

Allie: We have no where to keep a bike in this apartment!

Kyle: Why are you saying this now?

Allie: I didn't realize that we were going to have to keep this in our bedroom!!

Oh the joys of living in an apartment... mixed with an exhausted, crazy wife. No need to fear. We fixed the problem. Kyle called the apartment office and told them we would need a storage unit. This was to be a great solution to the bike in the bedroom situation.

Well, let's just say it's not as much of a storage unit as it is a mere sliver of a closet.

Smallest storage unit I've ever seen! But, a happy wife is a happy life. :)

Nevertheless, Kyle has enjoyed his rides to Brays Bayou, and while he's off riding, I enjoy dreaming of my looming summer vacation!

Kyle's 27th

   

Silly b-day poster I made for Kyle

         Kyle's birthday is on May 6th and his brother's is on April 26th. It seems that it is easier to get the family together to celebrate both birthdays at one time, so this year, we started Kyle's birthday celebration 9 days before his actual birthday. Now Kyle could care less if we actually celebrate his birthday, but to me, birthdays are a big deal. Growing up, my mom would make us stay upstairs the night before our birthday so that she and the rest of our family could decorate the breakfast table with elaborate birthday decorations and gifts. It was so exciting to anticipate coming down stairs the next morning to see how the table would be decorated. So, if Kyle likes it or not, birthdays will always be a big deal to me!

Here are a few snapshots of Kyle's 27th b-day week!

     This year was a little bit different because Kyle was going to be coming home from a bachelor party on his birthday. Since he left on Thursday afternoon and I wouldn't see him until 8:30 p.m. on his birthday, I wanted to make sure that his birthday week was special! Like I said, we started 9 days before May 6th with a yummy dinner at one of our favorite College Station restaurants, La Bodega. It was a great time to catch up with Kyle's family, have delicious food, great cocktails, and my favorite- a strawberry tart!

La Bodega

     I had been wanting to take Kyle to breakfast at Rio Ranch since we moved back to Houston after college. There is nothing super wonderful about eating here, but I have so many memories of eating there after church when I was little that I had to take Kyle there at least one time. So, last Sunday after church, we headed over to Rio Ranch for a little birthday brunch. Kyle still hadn't opened his cards from his parents the few nights before, so we decided to bring them in to the restaurant. Every time the waiter would refill our coffee, Kyle would open one of his birthday cards. We had such a fun time talking over coffee (and a lot of food), and it will always be such a special memory for me.

Only picture from Rio Ranch. Horrible pic!

     This wasn't apart of the birthday plan, but on Tuesday, Kyle found out that he had passed his last exam for a certain designation he was working on for work. This was a huge deal as the test are extremely hard, so we decided to head out for a celebratory dinner. We enjoyed a long, relaxing dinner on the patio at Daily Review Cafe. I'm so glad the test results came during his birthday week because it made it all the better!

Dinner at Daily Review

     But most of all, my favorite birthday moment of the week came on Kyle's actual birthday. I of course wanted this to be the best day, and I had planned a surprise for Kyle. We are going to New York this summer, and Kyle is a Sopranos fan. There is a tour company that takes you to landmark sites from the t.v. show, and Kyle was very interested in going. I had been feeding Kyle lines about us not having enough time, how I had never seen the show, and that I just plain wasn't going to do it! Well, all the while I was planning on doing it. This will be fifth time to New York, so I am willing to do whatever Kyle is interested in doing. So, back to the birthday. I picked Kyle up at the airport at 8:30 p.m. He was fairly grumpy as he had been on a plane all day... on his birthday. I was trying to keep him in a good mood since I knew I had a surprise waiting for him at home. Upon arriving at our apartment, Kyle walked in to the Sopranos Season 1 playing on the t.v. and a giant "Admit One" ticket to the Sopranos tour in New York. He was so surprised and excited, and thankfully, his bad mood wore off. To top it off, we used our china and Waterford for the first time and ate Italian food in honor of Tony Soprano.

Sopranos surprise!

Sopranos surprise!

     Kyle, you are the best! I love you more and more everyday! I'm so glad I decided to "Smile with Kyle"... still smilin'!

What's Up With the Schielacks?

Since I haven't written a thing in 2 months, let me give the quick version of an update. Here is a small glimpse of what I believe to be memorable happenings since February. Remember, memorable is a relative term...

We went to more rodeo performances than ever. Reba was the best!!

I had a wonderfully long visit with my childhood bestie, Sarah, over Spring Break.

Bailey went through another terrible season of allergies-lots of Benadryl, anti-itch cream, medicated baths, and extra snuggle time.

We attended Megan and Ryan's fabulously fun wedding in Austin.

Kyle went to the emergency room... and then again two days later- different reasons.

Our niece, Leighton, was baptized.

We bought Aggie football season tickets. Whoop!

I started planning our summer trip to Boston and New York.

We decided we were going to buy a house and just as quickly decided against it.

We babysat our nephew, Miles, for a whole day-by ourselves.

I read 5 books.

We watched season 1 of Mad Men.

We went to more concerts, happy hours, dinners, and social outing with friends than we have since college.

And, we have made plenty of time to do absolutely nothing... just the way we like it!