Forgot to Mention...

I forgot to mention in my last post what was so exciting! I have so much going on in my head that I forget to mention them all...well, most of them.  Got to keep some secrets to myself...hehehe.

Anyhoo, I mentioned on Facebook that a few months ago I was considering taking Real Estate classes to get my license.  I put it on the back burner when I was hired here at Cimarron Hills.  You will see how everything I'm about to write here ties in together.  So I'm ferociously looking for a job. Newspaper, Monster, and even Craigslist.  I find one that I think will fit my qualifications and send my cover letter and resume.  Not even 10 minutes later I get an email wondering if I can come in for an interview.  The quick response made me think "this could be good".  Within the email of course I find out what the business is and where, etc.  When I looked up Cimarron Hills online, it really peaked my interest.  My interview is the next day, so Tim and I drive out to Cimarron the night before and look through the community and the beautiful town of Georgetown.  We eat at the Monument Cafe, which was delicious...they have the best biscuit/bun by the way.

After going through the Cimarron community I go to their website and do a little research so I'm prepared.  I plan what I'm going to wear so I can make a good impression and head out the door with a positive attitude and a big smile.  I get to the office and find that my lip is on the floor and I possibly may be drooling even?  The office is gorgeous and I am already visualizing that I work at Cimarron...are you getting the picture here with the positive thinking and visualization?

I go into my interview with Judie and everything goes well, very well.  I like her alot and we seem to click.  This was a Thursday I believe and I find out I'm the very first interview and she has 3 more that day and another 5 or more Friday.  I keep thinking positive thoughts and go on my way.  I don't hear anything over the weekend or Monday and am just about ready to call when my phone rings.  Judie asks if I could come in for a second interview in about 2 hours.  Of course!  I get ready, put my dress and my cowboy boots on and head back to Cimarron.  She just has one question...why I have so many jobs on my resume!  Immediately I say "Oh that's easy to explain!" and tell her about where we lived in Minnesota and that good job opportunities were hard to come by and how far away we lived from a town of about 10,000, not too mention I spent many years following Shelby and the basketball team around, etc.  She offers me the job....

So...now I'm working as an Administrative Assistant in the Realty Division at Cimarron Hills.  I love my job and working here and as I learn more about the future building plans, etc. I start to think maybe, just maybe I should look into taking those classes.  Then last week a realtor comes into the office because she has a home listed in Cimarron.  I wanted to see the home since it was vacant and she said she would walk me through it. She told me her story about moving here from California, didn't know anyone, took the classes and did very well her first year in a declining market because of the economy.  When she told me what she made that first year, my ears perked up a little bit...well, more than a little bit.  I ask her a few more questions about the company she works for, etc.  I then tell her I'm also a photographer.  She hires me to take pictures of the new listing.  So I also make a new contact and possibly a new market to earn some extra income photographing homes for realtors.

All these ideas start going through my head about taking these classes...if I can do it, how will I come up with the money, when will I take them, I'm new here, will my boss get upset, yada yada yada.  Well you know what, yes I can do it as I've owned my own business, been a legal secretary for 12 years (preparing real estate forms in some offices), I can photograph my listings myself, design flyers and marketing material and the list goes on...I know I can do this.  I research the classes and talk with a few people and decide I am going to do this!  The door is wide open here for opportunity with future development plans here where I work.

Now I need to bring the subject up with my boss.  I did just that and she was on board and said she felt I would make a great realtor!  I looked up the real estate school and signed up for a career fair but it was on a Friday from 11-2.  I'm thinking shoot, I probably work that day.  Looked it up and I was off!  Is this real?  Everything just keeps lining up for me....

So yesterday I went to the Career Fair, in my dress and cowboy boots, and talked with about 30 different realtors, agents, business owners, etc. and also with the director to sign up for classes. While I'm there, I run into the broker of the agent that came into the office and shared her story with me about how she got started in real estate.  You know, the lady that set a fire under my butt.  I told the broker about how I met her agent and how impressed I was and she said that this lady was the Realtor of the Year for 2010 in her office. Wow.  Is this a coincidence that all these things that are happening?  I don't think so.  I thought to myself when I left yesterday who would be the first person to send me an email and guess who it was?  The one person I thought would and that is the broker of the agent I met.  She was a very positive and cheerful person who had a great story as well.  I've now had three emails and I forgot to mention one guy I met was a photographer as well!  We talked for quite a while and he share some information on a tool I didn't know existed...an wide angle lens that I can attach to my iphone! I can buy it at Best Buy for about $15....see, there is a reason I keep meeting all these interesting people...

And, an agent from one of the other businesses I visited with gave me a wonderful CD to listen to in my car.  Guess what it's about?  How a positive attitude can affect your life and business...I listened to it on the way into work and got all pumped up again!  Alot of points he makes are the same as The Secret.  Common thing going on here don't you think?  He mentions a bunch of positive thinking books and authors and I'm going to go out and get a few of these....

I have to give Tim some credit here as well as he has been telling me for months "Ask for what you want, ask for what you want".  You won't get anything unless you ask for it, right?  So go on, ask.  You might like what you get in return. I'm loving it.

A Great, Positive, Exciting Week!

Here's a little story of something that JUST happened to me about 2 minutes ago...I am at work and walked over from my office to the main Clubhouse/Admin Office.  On that little trek, I walk behind the clubhouse where I pass the 18th hole and the practice putting green.  About a month ago I found a couple of golf balls in the shrubs so now every time I walk over there I look for those white, little dimpled balls. I know, silly, but entertaining to me nonetheless.  I'm really a simple gal.

So a few minutes ago I walked over and on my way I told myself "I'm GOING to find a golf ball today, I know it and I believe it!" (Oh, and I visualize it) And lo and behold, I look below the shrubs where I found the first two a month ago and there lies a single golf ball!  It gets better :)  Since I was now below the shrubs near the 18th hole, I had to take a different path to get back up to the clubhouse...well wouldn't you know it, I found TWO more!  I know this sounds SO simple BUT little things like this happen to me ALL the time now!  I love how it brings a smile to my face and brightens my already bright day...for real.

For the past year I've been really focusing on positive thinking and starting the day off being grateful and with a smile on my face.  Years ago I remember people always telling me to "smile".  I must have just had the most awful expression on my face for strangers and friends to TELL me to smile! Wow.  I used to dress just a frumpy as I felt and it evidently showed.  I bought the DVD The Secret many years ago and loved everything about it.  I tried to incorporate it's message into my life but it just wasn't working.  A few times it did and after I made a life changing decision to move back to Texas and focus on my happiness and got away from the negativity that was my life, things changed drastically and very fast.

I have watched the DVD quite a few times this year and have really focused on my attitude and being grateful for what I have, not what I don't, and having a smile on my face all the time to everyone, even strangers.  It is amazing how just walking into a room with a smile on your face attracts people to you...doors open and opportunity just seems to appear everywhere!  It's what you do with those open doors and opportunity that counts...and I'm going to keep smiling and walking through every open door and seize every opportunity that is thrown my way!!!! Watch out people, cuz this little Texan is raring to go and is burning a bright new trail! Yee Haw!!!

Yet Another Great Weekend

 The Bistro...

 The peach and pecan cobblers...to die for!

Bikes on a fence...Tim loved them and wanted a picture!

An old Coke machine that worked!  I had to have one...the original old coca cola bottles. $1.10.  They cost her $1.00 and the .10 was for the two nickels she gave me to put into the machine to get my coke!  It was ICE COLD too! Delicious!

 Our little B&B cottage...ain't it cute?

Tim and I drove to the quaint little Town of Salado Saturday afternoon and stayed at a cute little Bed & Breakfast and just drove around and enjoyed the surroundings.  We checked in and then went to a little Bistro and shared a bottle of Chardonnay and I had a bowl of their Chicken Tortilla Soup as I had not eaten and was starving!  We were looking forward to a nice dinner so I didn't want to get full but yet had to put something in my tummy to go with the delicious wine we were sharing.

While we were in this adorable Bistro we started talking to the neatest young couple and their one year old little girl.  He overheard us asking about where to have supper and chimed in "do you like a good steak?"  Well ummmm, YEAH!  We love a good steak and usually share a ribeye as they are so big...he said we had to try Johnny's as it was pretty much the best steak he's ever had and he has sent many people there to eat and they have all loved it.  AND on Saturdays their special is a Sirloin dinner for Two.  And let me tell you, this is not just a little sirloin, it was an inch thick and 32 oz!!! Plus we each got a salad and a choice of potato....we are both potato freaks so he had the mashed and I had to have their fries because I have been "searching" Austin for my favorite kind of home style fries.  When she told me they make their own fries I knew that would be my choice...well, it would have been my choice anyway...and so to top it off they were THE fries I've been searching for!  So for $41 (included a $7 tip as they were wonderful and the young girls' deserved it because Tim teased them relentlessly) we got: a huge 32 oz med-rare DELICIOUS Sirloin grilled over a mesquite pit, two salads, mashed potatoes for him and home fries for me, Texas toast for two (which I only had a bite because I wanted to save room in my tummy for the steak), a neverending glass of Sweet Tea for me, one Michelob Ultra for Tim, and a peach cobbler with a huge scoop of ice cream and the unbelievable pecan cobbler with huge scoop of ice cream!  Great service, atmosphere and even better yet for Tim, owned by an Aggie alumni!  So there were cool pictures all over from A&M.  Well worth the money and only 45 minutes away, so we WILL be making a road trip to Johnny's again soon!

We found the cutest barn that was being set up for a wedding so we went inside to check it out and it was like the barn in Hope Floats with all the little white lites everywhere...we looked at all the pictures on the tables and the decorations and saw the koozies that had the date and name of the couple and guess what? They were Aggie alumni as well and had A&M on the koozie! What's up with the Aggie theme goin on here?

Drove around the little town and took a few pictures and saw a few things we wanted to take pictures of the next morning.  Tim is getting so good at find things that he knows I would love to shoot...he's becoming quite the Assistant and is fun to just joy ride with and look at the beautiful countryside we call Texas.  It is so relaxing and actually exciting to find a cool old car, truck or barn to shoot pictures of!  It's like find a treasure or something...it is just so much fun and so enjoyable to have someone to share my love of photography with and who just "gets it".   Last weekend we were on our way to New Braunfels and I was trying to take a picture of my last quart of moonshine in the car and having a difficult time doing so without it being blurry.  All of a sudden he stopped the car and I thought it was so I could take a non-blurry of my moonshine so I immediately said thank you and gave him a little kiss for doing so...he then pointed to the right and there sat a really cool old car that he knew I would want a picture of...It kind of took my breath away when he does things like that because I'm not used to it and it is just thoughtful and sweet.  All I can say is it is a wonderful way to enjoy each day being cherished like that by someone :)  just plain amazing really....

So then Sunday we get up bright and early (around 6:00 a.m.) and drive around to get some sunrise shots and some of a big ole' red barn we had found the day before.  Stopped at Roy T's Donut Shop to try their donuts as one of his friends that he works with said we had to try them...well I only had a half a donut because they didn't compare to Round Rock Donuts in the least and I wanted to save my calories for my first ever B&B breakfast!  We drove around some more and found the coolest old police car and four old volkswagon bugs sitting in a field all in a row.  Tim found both of these...see, he's getting really good at being my Assistant!

Then back to the B&B for a breakfast of Egg bake with sausage and cheese, fresh strawberries, bananas with cinnamon sprinkled on them, cinnamon rolls and biscuits with four types of preserves. It was pretty good but I'm still a better cook and all I could think of was what I would be cooking for breakfast if I ran a B&B! Silly me....

Then we drove our short jaunt back to Austin and enjoyed Sunday with his daughter Jordan before she starts school Tuesday.  Decided to make my own batch of chicken tortilla soup since I wanted to prove MY tortilla soup is better and have actually been craving it lately for some reason...made it from scratch (including the corn tortilla strips) to put on top.  Only thing missing was fresh avacado as neither one of us wanted to venture to the store. 

I proofed our pictures from the weekend and posted them on Facebook then took an hour long nap...watched the neatest show about catfish noodling in Oklahoma.  It made me want to go noodle for catfish!  Only thing that really bothered me were all the snakes they kept showing swimming in the river! Creepy...

We were going to top the weekend off and go see Jon Wolfe again at Nutty Brown Cafe but he didn't play until 8pm and we knew we wouldn't get back until around 11pm...both had to work and just were a little tuckered out.  So finished my book and went to bed at 9pm!

Just another wonderful weekend with great memories to file away in my little blonde head.....loving life right now...can you tell?

Two Blogs To Share

Sorry I have been remiss in many posts lately, but I have stumbled onto another wonderful blog that I can't stay away from!  And I found it by reading one of my other favorite blogs no less!  The first blog I would like to share is one I found a little over a year ago while looking for free fonts to use with my photography.  It took me to a site where I could download the coolest fonts for free...I loved the site so much and while perusing through it I noticed a tab at the top labeled "Blog"...so of course my curiosity got the better of me and I found a great one...great pictures, great recipes, great ideas and on and on...I have actually made some of the recipes on this blog and they are good! I love her craft ideas and she has some great "give aways".  I find myself salivating at her pictures and all the places she gets to travel (I think because of her blog), and all the yummy desserts she gets to test and take pictures of...I even purchased one of my camera straps from a site she recommended because I saw it on her camera and fell in love with it!  Anyhoo, this blog is called http://www.kevinandamanda.com/   CHECK.IT.OUT.PEOPLE (check out her scrapbooking room) It is to DIE FOR.

So onto the one I'm currently addicted to...I found it by reading through a post that Amanda had made on Photoshop Actions and photographing food.  This blog has so many interesting "tabs" to click on that I can't get caught up!  It's a good thing my job isn't too busy yet so I have time to inhale this blog.

She has great recipes as well, a photography section that I can't stay away from, a handsome husband that she calls Marlboro Man, 5 children and they live on a big ranch.  I read yesterday that she is going to have a show on the Food Network the end of this month too!  She has an entertainment section and writes about movies (I LOVE MOVIES) and television shows, etc.  and she wrote a book about how she met the love of her life, the Marlboro Man!  I found that a few days ago and can't stop reading it either!!!! What a cute real life romance story!

Now I'm warning you women friends of mine right now that you will love this blog!  I mean she even had a post on cute things to do with Mason Jars...I mean I KNOW there are all sorts of things to do with Mason Jars but I wanted to go home and do all these things too because they looked so cool in her pictures...I'm gonna start looking for Mason Jars at Goodwill now LOL

So before I go back to a pivotal point in her book, I will share what the name of her blog is:  http://www.thepioneerwoman.com/

I'm tellin ya, get ready to be on the computer for hours on end...I'm getting ready to click back on there and read a few more chapters of the Pioneer Woman's romance with the Marlboro Man...see ya later chickadees!!!

Recipe of the Day ~ 8/10/11

Beef Gravy ~ You can also use chicken in this recipe

2 lbs. sirloin or round steak (I used venison as we had a lot and it was delicious), cut in small pieces
1 can cream of mushroom
1 can cream of chicken
1 pkg. onion soup mix, mix with about cup of water
1 can mushrooms (pieces and stems or whole, whatever you prefer)

I usually salt and pepper the meat, and sprinkle some Lawry's Season Salt on as well. Place meat in casserole dish.  Mix the soups and mushrooms together and pour over the meat.

Bake in oven at 250 for about 4-5 hours.  Meat will be very tender.  I serve over white rice or egg noodles.  Super easy and tasty....I used to make this in the Fall when it started getting chilly outside.  It's good anytime of course and makes great leftovers.

Quote of the Day ~ 8/10/11

You live longer once you realize that any time spent being unhappy is wasted.  ~Ruth E. Renkl

Oh What a Beautiful Day Yesterday Was...

 Yesterday Tim and I drove "Pops" to Oklahoma to meet his grandson...we conveniently met in the middle where of course a casino happens to be... I haven't been in a casino since I left Minnesota so I was excited to be able to play the slot machines a little bit.  Tim was looking forward to playing the crap tables but unfortunately for him, they only had card tables.  So I played the slots for a little bit while we were waiting for Mark and hit a $300 jackpot after about 20 minutes...played for about 3 hours and left even, after a few drinks and lunch so it was fun.  BUT the best part was the drive there and back...and all the great pictures I got along the way...and the little treasure of a town we found that we are definitely going back to in the very near future!

 We were on IH 35 and lo and behold we see this old car parked in front of this building with old signs and very old gas pumps...I mean, how perfect can they set this picture up for me? Really!  It was hot out, but the blue Texas sky had just enough pretty clouds floating about to make a beautiful skyline.  The colors of the signs and the old rustic wood, along with the car and gas pumps...wow.

 And to top it off parked right next to this building was this old black Ford truck with a tractor to the left and a red old barn behind it set up another great shot....is this real?









On our way yesterday morning we saw this huge junk yard full of old cars and trucks and Tim promised he would stop on our way back so I could shoot some of them...as usual, he made sure I got my images...he parked in the ditch off the access road and helped me onto the top of my Explorer so I wouldn't get a 1st degree burn from the 105 degree heat, drove the car veerrryyy slowing while I'm hanging on with my camera and telling him when to go and when to stop for each shot...I had to be on top of my car because of the extremely high fence :)  It was hard to get the individual cars as they were jammed packed and I could only get what was close to the fence...but I was happy with what I got, but also itching to climb the fence and get more...and I normally would have, but there was a cop parked around the corner.  Dammit.  I can't tell you how many times I have trespassed and climbed fences to get a shot of a cool old barn or vehicle. Too many to mention...very exhilarating I might add :)  And I was excited to be able to use some new actions that I downloaded last week.  This action is called "Old Western" and I can see I will be using it alot! I Love It!

Now I don't usually take pictures of newer cars (70's), but I downloaded another action called "Seventies" and had to try it out as well...I Love this one too, especially with this image, but want to try it with an image of a person (young girl) dressed in seventies themed attire...just got to find a willing subject...

This old jeep (I think that is what Tim said it was) jumped out at me as well when I saw it sitting there but ended up not being one of my favorites after I played with it...I still like it though.

This old truck was in a field south of Fort Worth.  Ever accommodating as Mr. Tim is, he stopped again for me :)  I can't say how wonderful it is to have someone that will go out of his way to help me get my pictures and enjoy it as well.  Makes for a very enjoyable day. Oh yes, and I had to "stop and squat" so I got my shot and some relief!  A little "tmi" but everyone has had to pee by the side of the road once in their life, right?  If I have to go, I'm going...no more suffering for me! As least until I get an indecent exposure ticket maybe? Neh...

This of course is the same picture as above but with a different vintage action...amazing how it changes the whole mood of the picture.  I love the look of this image too!

After we took the pictures of the old white car in front of the building with the old gas pumps, we drove around the little Town of Salado and found some more great things to snap.  Most of the places were closed because it was after 5pm on this glorious Sunday, but we did stumble into a little antique store and found some treasures to purchase.  I will post pictures of those later.  There are a lot of  Bed & Breakfast places, wineries and antique stores waiting for us to explore but since they were closed we decided we had to come back and book a room at one of the B&B's and enjoy this quaint little town over a couple of days.  Looks like we will be going back in a couple of weeks....can't wait!

This old stagecoach was parked outside of the The Stagecoach Inn (hence the name), which is a little restaurant we are excited to try out as well...along with the many wineries in town...I am excited about strolling around Salado and taking many, many more pictures...check back in a couple of weeks for more photos of Salado, Texas! I know where I'm bringing my friend Patti when she comes in December!