I'm Officially a Nerd and I Like It

A hint of nerd...
I've always liked to read.  Usually I have a fictional book, a self-help or spiritual book, and some kind of academic book going all at the same time.  Right now the fictional is the second book of the Wrinkle in Time Series, A Wind in the Door.  It's a SUPER easy read, but really fun.  The spiritual book is an awesome book my friend Tekila gave me when Rob and I got married - The Power of A Praying Wife.  I'm a few chapters in, and I LOVE it.  It's by a woman whose husband is a minister.  The academic book is Buying Your First Home.  It's such a huge purchase, I needed to do more research!!!

The nerdiness is starting to emerge...
I first discovered NPR in 2009 when I was living in Utah County.  I was driving more and more to visit the schools I was working with and found that their news was really interesting and in quick bites.  This was only the beginning of my obsession with Public Radio.  The funny thing about Public Radio listeners, they make fun of themselves, but those that might make fun of them for real, usually don't know Public Radio even exists.  I find that humorous.  

So it started with NPR news, and then I found Wait Wait Don't Tell Me.  I am OBSESSED with this show!!  It's a humorous news quiz show.  Apropo, as I started listening to NPR with the news right?  Here's how it goes-
Host: Peter Sagal - funny guy, and good at keeping the others on track
Scorekeeper and Judge: Carl Kasell - Okay, he has the BEST voice.  AND if you win one of the games, he will record your voicemail message!!  Can't you hear it??  In Carl's voice- "hello, you've reached Lindsey Erwin's phone, please leave a message."  Ha!!   I seriously sent this Valentine to someone once: Carl Kassel Valentine
Panelists: Comedians!!  How can you get better than making fun of the news with comedians?
Games: Okay it would take forever to put the games into words, but basically they quiz the panelists and people who call in, about the week's news and then make fun of it.  Do me a favor and listen to just one show, just one- you'll be hooked:  Latest Episode

You've seen it now, right? The nerdiness? Yeah...
I knew it when I told our friend Preston (one of Rob's best buddies in DC), about the podcast, Stuff You Should Know, and even before I could tell him what it was about, I had to explain what a podcast was.  Fail.  As I've been driving hundreds of miles for work, I've listened to A LOT of these podcasts.

Hosts: Charles (Chuck) Bryant & Josh Clark are ridiculous.  They research a topic to the nth degree and then they condense what they learned into a hour.  They banter, and get off topic, but it's interesting, and I've learned SO much!
Topics: So far I've learned about How Pollen Works, How Cicadas Work, 10 Easy Ways to Save Money, Drag Queens, Truth Serum, How Burning Man Works, How Grief Works, I could go on...


So the final nail in the coffin of nerdy is a recent acquisition: Another NPR show - Ask Me Another  Now, I will admit, this is not as funny as Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me.  BUT it's still fun to play along and quiz yourself.  I've linked to the best one I listened to.  Actor Justin Long is the guest (He was the bartender in "He's Just Not That Into You".)

How They Define Themselves: NPR's exciting new show featuring puzzles, word games and trivia played in front of a live audience.
My Take: You might think, I don't know trivia, but mostly, it's entertainment trivia- movies, songs, books, etc.  There is a host that's a comedian, but again, not as funny as Wait, Wait.  They have an amazing guitarist/singer/songwriter that makes up a lot of the clues in the form of songs.  It's pretty good.

So it's finalized, I'm a nerd.  I read three books at a time, I listen to Public Radio and podcasts, and Rob is always laughing at me (in a loving way) when I get all excited about kitchen stuff.  (THANK YOU again to everyone who gave us wedding gifts and gift cards/money.  We got the kitchen stuff of my dreams!!  Kitchenaid Stand Mixer, a cupcake/cake carrier, a French Oven, a REALLY nice set of knives, and more!  I'm SO ready for Thanksgiving :) :) :)

A note: I stink at spelling, grammar and proof reading, so don't think my nerdiness encompasses any of that!!  And yet, the nerdiness I do have, I embrace, and you should embrace your nerdiness too- whatever it centers on.

Another note: I used Siri to write down my notes about this blog while I was driving home from Houston, and every time I said nerdy, it wrote DIRTY!!!  Read through the blog again with the word nerdy replaced by dirty and you'll laugh.

Wedding Pictures Have Arrived!!!

You can see them here:  http://www.yogile.com/roblinds/

I'll keep catching up and write more about the wedding, but for all those who have been patiently waiting, I thought I'd post these now :)

We go to TX!!

Trip Number One - Rob to Texas

Rob is a great driver.  He also doesn't mind driving for long periods of time.  So...he drove, drove, drove and drove!  We left Thursday, April 25th, stopped in Birmingham, AL to sleep and then drove to Dallas the next day.

The Pilot was PACKED!!  Good thing Rob is great at Tetris.  We had snacks from a cute friend who had made us a road trip package.  She made us a driving DC too!  It was well done.


I, as most of my friends and family know, don't like driving long distances.  I didn't want Rob to go to Texas by himself, so I wanted to go, but he defiantly made it easier for me.  He let me stretch out as we drove, we stopped for food, and bathroom breaks more often than he needed to, etc.  

As we drove into the Dallas Rob told me what building was what downtown, we saw where the Mavericks play, where the freeways went, and stories about living there before.  It was great to hear him reminisce. 

New Townhouse!

We have a greatroom! You can see in and out of the kitchen to the living room; we have two bedrooms, two full bathrooms, a garage and a drive way!!!  It's so crazy.  AND we pay less than Rob's rent in DC.  Loving the housing in TX!!

We even have a pool right outside the front door. 

 

Rob took me to his favorite Mexican restaurant in Dallas.  I told him he was setting my expectations pretty high when he told me how good it was.  It TOTALLY met and exceeded my expectations.  The food was yummy!  They even had chorizo. 

DC has A-mazing food, but I never found a really good authentic Mexican place.  Yay for Texas!  The only thing in the picture that Rob ate- the chips/salsa and the quesadilla at the top.  I just wanted to try everything!  I did take a box home, I will say that.

We moved Rob to Irving, Texas.  It's a suburb of Dallas.  The neighborhood we're in is called Las Colinas.  And what is the identifier for this neighborhood?  Nothing less than HORSES!  Granted I haven't seen any real horses here yet, I love that they have these statues downtown and their flag has a horse on it.

When you all visit (yes, all the family and friends should come visit) we'll go see these.  They're beautiful.  Larger than life size.

Starting with the Mavericks

Rob likes working for the Mavs.  He also works extremely hard.  He's always had a great work ethic and they are so glad to have him. 

After about 4 months working for them, he was asked to be a skit for their website.  The rest is history!  Every time we see it on TV I laugh.  His colleagues from all over the country emailed, text and called when they saw it on ESPN.  Ha, too funny.  It originally aired the beginning of October.  If you haven't see it, it's worth a look: http://www.mavs.com/videos/game-day-get-in-the-game/

Trip Number Two - Lindsey to Texas

Apparently I took no pictures on our second trip.  It was similar, but with my car stuffed to the gills, stopping in Nashville to sleep, and I did drive some.  We left September 1st.  Exactly 3.5 years from when I arrived in DC.  

One thing we got to do before the season ended, was go to a Rangers game!  I am of course, now a Mavericks fan, but I still love baseball.  It was a great game and a great start to living in Texas.

Wedding Video

Well, I learned a little about iMovie from my very talented friend Andrea.  Our pictures however are not high resolution, so.... only the internet world will get to see the slide show we were going to have at the wedding. 

I love our story, and I love seeing little Rob with his bright red hair!!  Enjoy :)

Email

Sometimes when I miss Rob, I will go through our old email or text messages.  It makes me smile and feel closer to him every time.  I decided to pull every sentence or phrase from his first email to July 5th, 2013 that made me smile, and when put into wordle, resulted in this image.

If you're not familiar with wordle - it takes the words used the most and makes them the largest.

This man loves and knows me more than anyone in my life, and together we go through life.  I'm the luckiest woman I know.

I can only hope the things I email, text and say to him bring him as much happiness and convey as much love.