Today is Hollis’ 25^th birthday! I still remember the first time I talked to Hollis and he was so excited to be getting his driving permit at the age of 15. He told me that one day he would have to take me for a drive in the Honda Civic. Ten years later, he is still taking me for a drive in his Honda Civic.

I could not ask for a more loving and supportive husband and I am so proud of the things he has accomplished. I have been blessed to see him grow in so many ways and could not be happier with the way our life is headed. We are sometimes thrown obstacles that we have to get though, but Hollis has always been there to make me realize that we can get through anything together. Thanks for all that you do and all that you are. You are now 1/4 of a century old! I look forward to celebrating many more birthdays with you! I love you!

Wow, has it already been almost a month since we last updated?  The time has really flown by yet again.  Well, we have been busy.  The week after our anniversary trip to New Orleans we went back North to Ft. Worth for Adam and Logan’s Wedding.  It was great to see the old college crew together again, and even weirder to realize that our group of four roommates are now married.

Surely the highlight of the trip (besides seeing our good friend Adam marry his lovely bride) was to see Chris and Angela’s new house.  The long wait must have been tough for them, but I bet it’s all worth it now.  The wait has paid off with a very very impressive house…you guys should be proud.  I’ve already heard from Chris, that Angela has been busy fixing the place up, even since we’ve been there.  All I could say to Chris on the trip was “Good Luck”.  I’m sure you all remember how moving in to a house with Jessica took a toll on me.

The next weekend, Justin, Katie, Heidi, Jessica and I hit the road towards the south instead of north.  All the way down to Corpus Christi for a relaxing weekend hanging out by the pool in Jessica’s back yard.  We had dinner and drinks with her parents, we got to take the dogs to the beach (See pics here), we ate dinner at the best Mexican food restaurant in the world…Kiko’s, and we spent the evening at a Cory Morrow concert at Brewster Street under the harbor bridge.  It was great to see some of our closest Portland friends at the concert…ya’ll keep in touch.  It’s not until I go back home that I remember how much I miss the constant salty air breeze.  I don’t know where we’ll end up in the long run, but we’ll definitely have to consider somewhere near the beach eventually.  Am I too old to take up kiteboarding?

Jeff C, Justin, Katie, Jessica, and I celebrated Katie’s birthday last week at the Movie Tavern watching “The Hangover” (Happy Birthday Katie!) Then last weekend, the girls drove to San Antonio for Heidi’s first annual bachelorette party, leaving Justin and I in Houston.  Well, we’re obviously not the type to spend the weekend doing nothing, we made a last minute trip back to New Orleans for some hell-raising… at least as well as Justin and I can do it…  Well fine, it was mostly poker in the casino, but we had a great time.  Who knows how the bachelorette party ended up, but judging by the voice mails and text messages I received at 3 or 4 in the morning, they might have had almost as good of a time as we had.  Does anyone know how to upload a voicemail to a blog?

And here we are… caught back up to this weekend.  It’s been so hectic lately that I haven’t even really had time to sit down and think about it all.  Jessica and I talk often about how blessed we are to be able to do the things we’ve done since we’ve been married (and even before).  To look around at friends getting married, buying houses, and some even getting pregnant is ridiculous.  It seems like we’re all “living the good life” at the same time, honestly what could be better?  I owe most of it to Jessica for being a great wife and putting up with me.  She has made the small sacrifices that really make a difference in what we are able to do… including toughing out summer school for an extra couple weeks to pay for these trips, and I couldn’t be more happy that she’s willing to do that for us instead of spending it all at the mall on clothes or on a closet full of shoes.

I’m occasionally reminded of an answer that I gave to the girls to a game they played at one of Jessica’s wedding showers.  The question was, “What is the thing you’re looking forward to the most about getting married?”.  Of course my sarcastic answer was “Dual Incomes!”, completely overlooking the fact that I’ll be spending most of my free time with Jessica.   But the money would be nothing without someone so fun to share it with.  I struggle every day to find a better way to tell her that I appreciate it.  We know that these are some of the best days of our lives and we couldn’t be more happy to share it all of you.  Our friends, our family, and each other are all that really matter in this world, and ya’ll are what make our lives special.  The work that we do on the weekdays, no matter how small or how lucrative it is, puts us one step closer to spending more priceless time with each other… whether it’s in Italy, Mexico, New Orleans, San Antonio or the Burnett’s kitchen table, those days mean the world to us.  Appreciate these days in your lives too.

This next weekend will be time to spend with my family in town for a wedding, followed by a week of nothing (according to my calendar so far), which I’m sure will turn into something.  Our next big trip is the cruise to Mexico around July 4th.  Oh wow, it’s only a couple weeks away.  Well, keep visiting and checking in on us, and we’ll keep you updated on our weekly work and weekend adventures.  Also, let us know what’s going on in your lives as well.  Life is more fun with people to share it with!

I’ll end this surprisingly sentimental post with a quote from a book that I finished reading last night…

“Do not wish to be anything but what you are, and try to be that perfectly” -St. Francis de Sales

Check out some of our photos from New Orleans here…

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2746028&id=8308074&l=e73b9bddf9

This Memorial Day weekend marked our one year anniversary.  We decided to treat ourselves to a trip to New Orleans to celebrate.

We arrived on Friday night after a five and half hour drive and a stop to gamble in Lake Charles.  Upon our arrival, Hollis had asked the Marriott Hotel, where we were staying, if there was a “one year anniversary special.”  The Marriott gave us a beautiful corner suite with windows half way around the room and a king size bed.  The room had a table for eight, a bar, and a nice sitting area with a couch and two chairs.  We were delightfully surprised with the room they gave us and quickly put down our bags and headed out the door to see the nightlife of Bourbon Street.  We walked around Bourbon street, had a few drinks, and checked out Harrah’s casino.  After a few hands of blackjack and a few extra dollars in our pockets we headed back to the hotel to find a letter from the Marriott, chocolate covered strawberries, and a bottle of champagne.  It felt like we were on our honeymoon again!

We took the time to sleep in on Saturday and made it up in time for a nice lunch and a stroll around the French Quarter.  We were able to check out the art galleries, antique shops, and local flea market.  Saturday night we found a delicious restaurant to enjoy and later found ourselves at one of the many “Big Easy Daiquiri” bars enjoying a few drinks.

On Sunday, we woke up early to get in line to eat at Acme Oyster House.  We had heard a lot about this restaurant and every time we walked by it, the line was out the door and forever long.  We got to the restaurant ten minutes after it opened and were the last ones to sit down before the line started.  The food explained the line!  After our nice lunch we decided to take another walk down Magazine street to the River Walk.  We were able to by some souvenirs and enjoy the view of the Mississippi River.  We later got on a street car and drove down to the Garden District where we were able to look at the beautiful homes in the area.  We enjoyed the street car and for $1.25 decided to ride it all the way down the line, which was an hour ride.  We were able to see the Aquarium, some more beautiful mansions, Tulane University, and LOYLA University.

Later that night for our anniversary we got dressed up and went to dinner at a well known local restaurant.  After dinner we walked about Jackson Square and took a carriage ride around the French Quarter.  The carriage ride was by far my favorite part of the trip.  It was very romantic and very informative on some of the history of New Orleans.

All in all, Hollis and I had an amazing first anniversary.  The trip was exactly what we were looking for and we enjoyed every minute of it.  The year has flown by and it is crazy to think of how many things have changed in the last year for us:

• We went to Jamaica.
• I moved to Houston.
• I got a job working with Klein.
• I had a summer job.
• We made it through our first hurricane.
• We adopted Rex, our second dog.
• We went to eight weddings.
• We went to two baby showers.
• We went to four wedding showers.
• We bought our first home.
• We went to Vegas.

I am sure I am missing more things that we have done, but if this next year is anything like this year, then we will once again be busy!  We have had such a great time enjoying each other and learning even more about each other.  We finally have our ‘roles’ in the household and each do our even amount of chores!  I was not expecting marriage to be this much fun, I was expecting it to be a challenging ride, but with Hollis at my side, it has been nothing but smooth sailing this first year.  I have enjoyed learning more about each other and our future goals in life.  I have been blessed to have a husband who encourages me and challenges me to be a better person.  I am looking forward to what God has in store for us this next year.  We take it one year at a time, one day at a time, and right now life could not get any better!  The quote that Justin read at our wedding is very true, “My Greatest wish for the two of you is that through the years your love for each other will so deepen and grow, that years from now you will look back on this day, your wedding day, as the day you loved each other the least.”  As in love as we were on our wedding day, I can say that our love has grown exponentially and we are so blessed to have each other and God as our support system.  Thank you Hollis for always bettering yourself and therefore, bettering me.

Link to facebook photos:  http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2745046&id=8308156&l=5c40849927

My brother and sister-in-law went to the doctor today and found out that they are having a girl!  Her name will be Emma.  They are still deciding between two different middle names either Emma Nicole or Emma Elizabeth.  We can’t wait to have a new niece to spoil! 

Ah, It was nice to have a few relaxing weekends with nothing to do, but as Summer gets closer, so does the busy schedule. We kick it back off on Friday afternoon when I pick Jessica up from school on our way out of town to New Orleans, LA. Google says that it’s a 368 mile, 5 hour 49 minute trip which will mark the standard for our longest (only) out of state road trip as a married couple, and Jessica’s second out of state road trip ever. I’m not so worried about the trip there… It will be exciting to show Jessica the never-ending, poorly maintained, causeway over the swamps of Louisiana leading to the Mississippi River in Baton Rouge. We may even take pit stops to see the casino boats of Lake Charles and the campus of LSU on the way there. It’s the return trip that won’t be as fun. 6 hours of driving with only Houston and work on Tuesday to look forward to. In between we’ll be staying on Bourbon Street, just a small walk from the bars, shopping, gambling, food and beads that make New Orleans famous. Check back next week for pictures.

Did I mention why we’re going to New Orleans? Well it’s our 1 year anniversary of course… tough to believe that it’s already been a year. It wasn’t until I looked back at my last few hundred Facebook pictures that I realized how many cool things we’ve got to do since our wedding day. And that was supposed to be the toughest year of marriage? Jessica makes it easy to look forward to the next 20.

And on a serious note, I want to take this space to publically thank Jessica for everything she’s done for me in the past year. Even after “dating” for 8+ years, there has been plenty to learn in the last 360+ days of marriage and sharing a home together. I’m more and more confident every day that we made the best choices we could have made in our relationship, and I continue to learn from her about the effort that it takes to keep up a successful marriage. She must be a natural at doing the right things because I’m pretty sure that I’m a pain to get along with every day…Either way, Jessica, thank you and I love you.

On Wednesday the 4th and 5th graders at my school participated in our annual Field Day.  The kids were really excited about field day and I loved it because I was able to hold it over their head for good behavior!  Even though some of my students had to sit out for bad behavior in the morning, we ended up having a wonderful day.  It was great to be able to see my students interact outside of the classroom situation.  They had wonderful team work and huddled together many times to strategize!  Here is a class picture of Mrs. Miles’ Marvelous Aggies!!

We have finally been able to stay in Houston the past two weekends. It has been great to be able to enjoy the house and get things done! Here are some things we have done in the past two weekends:

· I was sick with a sinus infection and missed a day of school.

· We went to Corpus to see Becca and Drew Dueitt get married on April 25^th!

· My students completed their TAKS test, we are now awaiting the scores and hoping for the best!

· We have gone shopping for some new furniture: a long table for the front lobby, a liquor cabinet for the pool table room and a new pool rack, but have yet to find anything worth buying.

· We were able to buy some curtains for the dinning room and for our bedroom.

· We hung out with Hollis’ old co-worker Lewis and his wife Emily at their new house in Katy.

· I was sick with a stomach bug and missed another two days of school.

· We had another fun Wednesday night playing trivia at Baker Street with the Abshires!

· The Cluiss’ drove the Civic back to Houston for us to drive because the BMW needs the clutch and the brakes fixed which was going to cost us a pretty penny! Thanks!

· The Abshires came over to hung out on Saturday and we were able to go out dancing and enjoy their company while the dogs played!

· We canceled our cruise to Mexico because it was not going to port in Cozumel, but were able to rebook the cruise when the travel band was lifted and we were able to save $280 a couple!

Even on our free weekends, we have managed to stay very busy. It has been very enjoyable being able to do whatever we want whenever we want! We have a lot of exciting things coming up that will keep us very busy and are enjoying every minute of our life!

Here is a picture of Mr. and Mrs. Dueitt from their wedding in Corpus on April 25th!

Hollis and I along with my mom and dad at Becca and Drew’s wedding.

Reliving Old Times

It had been since last Aggie football season that we had been to College Station…We were due for a return trip to Aggieland.  The occasion was Justin’s birthday, a ring dunk or two, and the Maroon & White game.   We ended up having a few last second hic-ups with scheduling and finding the dogs a place to crash, but Brent and Sarah were able to hook us up with a place to stay.  They were even nice enough to let Touché’ and Rex harass their dog and cat all weekend.  Overall, it was great to see everyone again and to share a drink or two (I think it was just two, I can’t remember) with some of our best friends. We just need to find a way to keep in touch with everyone.

To-Do List

The To-Do list on the iPhone has been growing larger and larger, but it’s actually a relief.  Jessica and I have moved passed the huge stressful house projects and have moved onto the numerous little things that we need to get caught up on (Change air filters, write more in the blog, work on getting started on some of our long term goals in life, find out what’s making that noise in the attic, etc.).  These are much less stressful and easy to knock out in a day.  Usually if I can knock one or two things off of my list every day I’m pretty satisfied.  Thanks again to Jessica’s family to help us with the landscaping

Social Networking

This is where I get nerdy, so feel free to skip this section if you just don’t care…but really it’s ok to be nerdy. No is watching you read this anyway right?

Besides the blog, I’ve been working on ways to stay in touch with the people I know, trying to find ways to get back in touch with people I used to talk with, and trying to meet new people that could become great contacts in the future.  Now I’m set up on Facebook (have been for a while), LinkedIn (the business version of facebook), I even have a twitter account that I’ve hooked up to the facebook account.  Social networking is much more fun and beneficial when it’s social, so why not sign up and give it a try.  Here are links to my profiles…

http://www.facebook.com/people/Hollis-Miles/8308074

http://www.linkedin.com/in/hollismiles

http://twitter.com/hmiles619

Astros Baseball Game

Old friends always ask, “How do you like living in Houston?” …And my answer is always the same, “Well, at one point, Houston was last on my places in Texas where I want to live. But now I love it, It really is a bad place to visit because of the traffic and sprawl, but it’s a great place to live because you’re never bored in Houston.” Well that rang true again last week when I got lucky enough to get the free company tickets for the Astros game vs. the Dodgers. Justin, the girls, and I had a great time.  How can you not have a good time with a view like this?

Marathon Man

For those of you that don’t know, Chris ran a marathon (26.2 miles) this past weekend in Oklahoma City. Most of you know that I was a pretty serious runner when I was younger, which means two things,

1) I can seriously respect what a huge lifetime accomplishment that this is… As much as I ran in my lifetime, I doubt I ever broke the 7 mile marker. So this is at least 20 miles longer than my longest run ever. No matter what happens from now on, Chris knows he’s tough enough to finish a marathon, low blood sugar and all.

2) I’m so burnt out on running that I don’t ever see myself gaining the desire to do anything like this ever in my life. But either way, congrats Chris on the 4000 calorie workout; I’m sure you’ll be sore for a while.

Finally A Free Weekend!

For the first time in 10 weekends, I’m scheduled to be at home doing nothing when Saturday and Sunday roll around. In the last ten weekends I’ve done the following…

-Attended 4 weddings

-Traveled over 5000 miles

-Slept in 8 different beds (if you count the floor as a bed)

-3 Baseball games (Astros, CC Hooks, Aggies)

-Spent way too much money on food and travel

-Participated in about 20 toasts

-Played 3 rounds of golf

-Hung out with nearly every good friend I have

Well, good. Now we’re caught up. I can cross you guys off my to-do list.

Two weekends ago, Hollis and I along with Katie and Justin drove to Dallas to see our good friends Julie and Jeff.  It was our first time to see their place and the first time to see them since August.  The girls had a great time catching up and shopping while the boys enjoyed a few games of golf.

We spent the next week anticipating our three day weekend.  We were able to enjoy trivia night with the Abshires at a local bar on Wednesday and drinks at Berryhill on Thursday night.  Hollis and Justin enjoyed some more golf on Friday morning while I prepared for my parents to come in town.  We were looking forward to accomplishing a lot on our long weekend!

My family came to town to help us with our landscaping on Friday.  When we bought the house there were beds that were already made but full of dead plants.  It has taken us a while to pull out all of the dead plants and finally get the yard ready to landscape but this past weekend we were finally ready.  My family came up in the early afternoon on Friday and we got straight to work.  The five of us, (Hollis, Kayla, my mom, my dad, and myself), planted about 30 plants and worked for four hours on the landscaping in front of our house.  After working for four hours, my dad finished installing a light by our garage and we were off to a nice Itallian dinner at a local diner that Hollis and I found down the street.  The feel of the restaurant makes you think you are in Italy and they have excellent friendly service.  We enjoyed some amazing pizza and spaghetti and went back to the house to go to bed.  Who knew landscaping could be such a good work out and so exhausting!!

On Saturday, while the girls were shopping in Old Town Spring, Hollis and my dad woke up early to play golf with my dad’s friend Mike and Hollis’ buddy Justin.  That night we all went to dinner to celebrate Easter as a family and went to a show called Artania!  The show was a version of Cirque de Soleil with Russian horses.  It was very entertaining and a lot of fun!

Last night Katie and Justin joined Hollis and I at Rice Baseball Statidum to watch our Texas Aggies beat the Rice Owls 7-3.  It was great to be able to be around so many Aggies again and made us look forward to our trip to Aggieland this weekend!