Welcome 2008

Brad and I were recalling past New Years and realized that this is the 5th one we've watched come in together. This time of year holds some of our most special memories from dating. Our first date was to a Michael W. Smith concert, the Christmastime tour. We went on several other dates between then and when we went our separate ways for the Christmas holidays, but our first big meet up was to celebrate New Year's Eve with friends at Lake Texoma. Sweet memories!

Our 2nd NYE--the last one before we married--we were in Corsicana, shooting fireworks with my family. It was cold outside! The next year we celebrated a new year at the Mansion on Turtle Creek along with a chocolate bag from McCormick & Schmick. The past two years we've spent at home with friends, which is a lovely way to ring in the new year, in my opinion.

I love a new year. It brings with it many possibilities--an open canvas, really. We shall see what God chooses to paint over the next span of 365 days. It's an opportunity to set new commitments (not resolutions) and really reach them this time.

But for now, my husband just brought me breakfast in bed. If that isn't a way to start off a new year, then I don't know what is. I hope you have a terrific 2008!

New York, New York

We're back from New York City!!! We had a great time, and the weather was absolutely perfect. I enjoy travelling immensely, but I am always so glad to be back home where people don't live on top of one another. That being said, here are the awesome highlights of our trip...

A visit to see The Tree
Tons of fun in Times Square
Shopping on 5th Ave. This store was Brad's pick--the NBA Store with a lifesize bobblehead of Yao Ming.Of course, no trip to NYC is complete without a Broadway show. Mary Poppins was really fun!

Siteseeing
By the time it got crowded on Saturday in Times Square, we knew we made the right decision to head home on the 30th. It was nuts! We stayed at the W Times Square and had a great view, along with a perfect location to start our adventures from each day. We crammed in as much as possible in the time we were there: Rockefeller Center, dinner at Tavern on the Green before seeing Phantom of the Opera, a matinee of Mary Poppins (she flies over the crowd, y'all!), pizza in Little Italy at Lombardi's, New York cheesecake, tons of walking, awesome shopping with fun souvenirs, walking some more, and brunch with friends before flying out.

Between all of our travelling to visit family along with this trip, we need to go back to work so we can get some rest!

Happy Birthday Amber!

Today is Amber's birthday! This fabulous mother of two beautiful girls is a wonderful friend from Aggieland.

I hope you have a great birthday! Eat lots of cake!


Me, Mikalah, & Amber

Over the River...

Family Christmas Photo 2007
We've got a quick break between holiday happenings, so I thought I'd take the time to blog about what we've been up to.

We started our Christmas holiday in Corsicana with my family. Friday night my mom had most of the family up to the house on the hill for a fiesta. Saturday morning we got up and ran some last minute Christmas errands, like buying some Christmas presents (whoops) and getting our nails done, you know--the essentials. We picked up pizza at Cici's because we like it and went home to watch the Cowboys. During halftime, we opened our fabulous gifts from one another, which was so much fun!

Sunday night we drove over to Athens to see Santa's Wonderland, a family tradition. My favorite part of the entire land 'o lights would have to be the Lochness Monster (who knew ole Nessy celebrated the birth of Jesus?), a real live Grinch locked up in jail, and the random unidentifiable objects as you exit the park. The family consensus is that they must be Christmas light experiments gone bad. Or else they tried to simulate a giant amoeba. This year during the hour drive through the park, we played "guess the artist singing the Christmas song" (Dad got XM satellite radio from Santa), and I won y'all! I would say, "In your face, Brad," but then that wouldn't be very nice, would it?

Cold night at Santa's Wonderland
Santa and the Loch Ness Monster
Not too sure why ET needed to phone home at Santa's Wonderland

We left Christmas eve to see Brad's family and had a nice holiday with them, and now we're home. For 15 hours. Our NYC-bound flight leaves extremely early tomorrow, so I am in a rush to get the laundry and my packing done. New York, here we come!

From Our House to Yours...

Love,
The Gentrys

Not For Consumption

I am 27 years old and just made my first gingerbread house last week at Laura's gingerbread party. I'm pretty proud of it, and my family's tired of hearing about it, so now I'm bringing it to the blog...

Goin' to the Chapel

My college roommate Amanda is engaged! This hardworking girl is finishing up her PhD and will now add planning a wedding to her list of things to do, right underneath "complete dissertation." Congratulations and YAY!

My lovely Aggie roommates, Alisia and Amanda