My Balcony Garden

This is my favorite place in all of Houston. I go out to my balcony to think, daydream, plan my day, and clear my head. I love nothing more than plopping myself on the chair with my cup of tea and letting the day melt away. It is like heaven to me.






Here are some pictures of my garden at sunset. Since it's winter, there aren't tons of flowers, but I hope to have lots of bulbs this spring.





And, of course, my really cute pansies and violas. They are one of my favorite flowers to grow in winter, since they are so cheery. Maybe I'll go out tonight with my tea . . .





On a side note, happy New Year to everyone! I pray that 2006 will be a blessed year for everyone!

Paradox of the Day

There is a McDonalds at the Texas Heart Institute.

on missing Atlanta

I've definitely been surprised by how much I miss Atlanta. Of course I miss my family and friends the most, but lately I've been missing other things too. I've started reading the AJC online--it's not quite the same as the normal paper, but it'll do (Not that the AJC is a super great newspaper, it's just nostalgic to me). I remember in high school I would check every Saturday to see if McEachern High School won another football game. I remember looking to see what concerts were coming up. I remember saving comics to send to a friend in Peru. And I remember reading the Home & Garden section to learn more about flower bulbs.

Not only that, but I miss the Atlanta radio stations. I remember listening for my favorite song over and over and over again. I remember when Sarah and Carla and I stayed up all night, calling the station to get a shout out in (and our favorite song requested). I guess these stations were like the soundtrack to my childhood (mostly my teen years).

I never thought about missing little things until I moved to Houston. Houston just isn't the same. I'm glad to be here, but one day I hope to get back to Atlanta and enjoy all the things I now miss.

I hate doctors

Okay, maybe that is a little harsh . . . however, nothing gets me more nervous than going to the doctor. All day today I was progressively getting more worried about my 3:15 appointment. I know I have absolutely nothing to worry about, and it's not like I'm scared that they'll find some horrible disease or something. I just don't like having to deal with waiting in the waiting room, all that insurance stuff, filling out all those forms, and getting poked and prodded.

*Sigh* Oh well. At least its all over now. I'm glad it's done--now I don't have to go back for a whole year. Yay!

Happy Birthday!

Here's a shout-out to Ashley! I hope you had a great birthday! (on the 26th)

Christmas pictures

We had a really awesome time in Dallas for Christmas. It was great to see Hubby's family and relax--plus, Stu's dad gave us a digital camera for Christmas. We love it! Now I can put many more pictures up. Yay!

On Christmas day, Stu's relatives came over for dinner and fun. Here are some pictures from the party . . .


Stu and me



Me, Peyton (my sis-in-law), and Christine (Stu and Peyton's cousin)



Stu's Aunt LeAnn and cousin Olivia



Group picture!



The Booth Clan: Me, Stu, Peyton, Bobby (my father-in-law), Terrie (Stu's stepmom), and Clint (Stu's stepbrother)

Now that we have a camera, I should be able to put up many, many more pictures. Be prepared. I may get camera-happy!

Update

I am being very bad! (Blogging at work) Hubby and I are leaving for Dallas after work today, so I won't be around until Monday or Tuesday. We are very excited! It will be a lot of fun to see the in-laws and celebrate with them. Hopefully I'll get some great pics! Merry Christmas to all!

Seven 7s

Okay. I don't know if Ashley means this Beth, but I figured I'd go ahead and do it anyway. So here goes . . .

Seven things I hope to do before I die:

1. Learn to live more like Christ
2. Have kids and raise a family
3. Be fluent in German
4. Travel all through Europe--including Australia ;-)
5. Make many more meaningful friendships
6. Have a garden I can be proud of
7. Finish all the quilts I promised to make

Seven things I cannot do well:
1. Sing
2. Dance
3. Drive (Poor Hubby!)
4. Be diligent about cleaning
5. Crossword puzzles
6. Make conversation with strangers
7. These silly quizzes

Seven things that attract me to my husband:
1. He's eternally patient with me
2. He's really cute!
3. He's always encouraging me
4. He's responsible and supportive
5. He knows when to say "sorry"
6. He has a great sense of humor
7. He makes me want to be a better person

Seven things I say often:
1. You goober! (To my husband)
2. Hello, my name is Elisabeth Booth and I work with your doctor and several other doctors here in the clinic . . . (to my patients)
3. Houston drivers are so stupid! (After getting cut off by one)
4. I need more flowers for the balcony (when the others die)
5. I don't wanna get outta bed
6. I love you, Stu!
7. Um . . . I don't know

Seven authors, books, or series I love:
1. Hamlet
2. The Zion Covenant series by Bodie Thoene
3. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
4. Macbeth
5. Pretty much any Shakespeare play
6. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
7. My crockpot cookbook (I love trying new recipes!)

Seven movies I watch over and over again:
1. Pirates of the Caribbean
2. Finding Neverland
3. Star Wars (the original trilogy)
4. The Lord of the Rings
5. Chicago
6. Shrek
7. Cinderella (the Disney cartoon)

Seven people I want to do this (if you don't have a blog, then e-mail me):
1. Sarah
2. Ariel
3. Julie
4. Lauren
5. Kristy
6. Ruth
7. Carla

Happy Anniversary Stu!

I can't believe Hubby and I have been married 2 years now. The time has gone so incredibly fast. I don't mean to sound sappy, but I love you Stu!

Picture Time!

Here's a pic from my work's Christmas party a couple of weeks ago:


From left is Ali, Dr. Ismail, Afsaneh (my boss), me, and Stu. We had a lot of fun and ate a lot of good food!

(Don't you all love the new glasses? I got them a couple of weeks ago because, apparently, I am very nearsighted in my right eye.)

on Names

Last night at Dinner Club we had a really interesting conversation on names. Mainly we were thinking of creative names that are funny with a person's last name. For example, one girl (my Houston friend Sarah) mentioned that her maiden name was Bull. Her husband jokingly mentioned that she should have changed her name to Tara or even Hora. Someone suggested that Hubby and I name a child "Vaughn" or "Fawn" (try sounding that out with Booth).

Growing up, I was really interested in learning about the history of names and what they mean. I remember looking through name books and picking story characters based on the meaning of the name and how the character was supposed to be like. (I'm sure you remember that Ashley!) We would also spend hours pouring through Ashley's baby name book looking at interesting names and thinking about which ones we liked or which ones we'd name our kids. (My favorite name was, and still is, Taylor for a baby girl.)

Check out this baby name website. I checked it out and it's really fun. Just type in any name and it will show you the popularity of the name from 1880 through the present. It was interesting for me to learn that "Elisabeth" was the most popular during the 1980s.

No more blogging!

Okay, I think I'm getting a little obsessed. I keep reading other peoples' blogs instead of working. Bad Beth. So I think I have to cut it off cold while at work. No writing or even reading between 8 and 5. I have plenty of time while at home, so I might as well use that time instead.

Crazy busy

Well, I definitely did this to myself, but I have so much to do this weekend in preparation for the Christmas dinner thing tomorrow. I have to clean the apartment, shop for supplies to make Christmas cookies and dinner tomorrow, and actually do all the cooking I need to do, by 6 tomorrow. If you were to see Hubby and my apartment, you would understand that it will probably take all day tomorrow to make the place presentable for company. (I am not known for my cleanliness).

So tonight I must go shopping, bake 14 dozen cookies, and hope that I can get everything I need done tomorrow. I better stop blogging and start my list!

Stupid Brain

Sometimes I think my brain likes to play social suicide. I think it's against me for making it think too much. I had a good time last night at the Christmas dinner, but for some reason whenever I'm around a group of people, my brain freezes up and can't think of a word to say. Not only that, it seems to get stuck on the thought that I must look really stupid for not saying anything to these people and they think I'm mean. Stupid brain.

*Sigh* It's very, very frustrating. I shouldn't think about it cuz now I'm all frustrated again.

Let me try again . . .

Another attempt at posting this pic:


Yay! It worked! This is the really cute wreath I saw. Isn't it adorable? Like I said, I wish I thought of it!

Okay, Maybe I need Some Help

I tried to put the picture in, but I guess it didn't work. I'll try to put it in soon!

Cute Christmas Wreath

As a way to raise money for charity, my work asks some employees to decorate Christmas wreaths to auction off. They hang them up every year on the 1/4 mile long bridge between the main building and the clinic building (which I walk nearly every day). Here is one of my favorites:



Isn't it cute? I wish I had thought of it!

Christmas is almost here!

I've been gearing up for Christmas for quite some time now, but I'm really excited about the next couple of weeks. Tomorrow I'm going to my church's Women's Christmas Dinner. I'll be seated next to most of my new Houston friends, and I'm very excited to get to know them better. On Saturday Hubby and I are hosting dinner for several couples from our church--we plan on making a big Christmas dinner. Since I love to cook, I am very, very excited!

Oh, and did I mention cookies?! I making many dozens of cookies this year to give as gifts. I'm very excited, since I love to bake (did I mention that I love to cook?) and I'm trying many new recipes this year.

I love Christmastime--knowing that Christ came to this earth as a baby just to save me--it's very amazing just to think of it.

Well, this year I'm praying for snow. It snowed here last year, so maybe it will this year. (I know, I know--I'm in Houston!) Oh well.

So I've created a blog spot!

I finally got my act together and created a blog. Well, not really, since I have a blog on livejournal.com. I tend to be lazy about blogs, so we'll see how this goes. I'll change things around later. I'm very computer illiterate, so I'll have to figure things out as I go along.