Happy Holidays!!

Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, and Happy New Year! We wish love to all our family and friends and are very thankful for all the time we get to spend with them! Love, Simon and Dayna

Halloween Fun

We didn't get all the decorations up this year with all the residual hoopla from the robbery still going on. But we did carve pumpkins and roast the seeds! It rained only a few days after and they molded, but they at least survived Halloween! We got candy but we didn't even get one trick-or-treater :(

We got our insurance check FINALLY and got new stuff. They also arrested another person for our robbery. The only fingerprint they found anywhere was on the truck and it was from one of the guys they couldn't hold more than overnight because he said he wasn't involved. False! Now he's going to jail and we can concretely pin the truck theft to them and that'll make their sentence much longer.

We're getting by and moving on, though being home is still kind of weird. Oh and he let a rat in when he robbed us and left the back door open all night. Ew! They're only cute when they're tame. I've been trying to catch it humanely, but I haven't seen it in a while...I really hope it didn't crawl into a crevice and die...

We got robbed :(

In case you haven't heard, you'll need to call me to reach Simon because his phone was stolen in the robbery. Last Sunday someone came in through the bedroom window (we've had the windows open at night when it's cool and must have forgotten to lock it) and hid in the kitchen when Simon came home that evening. The thief waited until Simon went to sleep before going into the bedroom to steal nearly all of my jewelry and Simon’s keys and phone from next to the bed. He even emptied an old jewelry box from when I was a kid that was pretty far under the bed. I've always teased Simon about being a deep sleeper, but in this case it may have saved his life. Who knows what the thief might have done had Simon woken up while he was there. Simon woke up at about 4am to the tv, xbox, jewelry, liquor, ipod and the TRUCK all gone! The guy just loaded up all our stuff into our truck and drove off with it!

I was at a gala in Fredricksberg at the time, and I had both the dogs because Simon was supposed to be in Houston all weekend. We might have had a lot more missing if he hadn't come home early. Since Simon didn't have a phone he was emailing everyone he knew trying to get someone to help him and call the police. Thankfully my new phone gets email instantly so I woke up and was able to at least get the police to the house, even though they were worthless. I left Fredricksberg at 4am and didn't get to College Station until 9am. I was so scared of Simon being in danger that I didn't stop shaking until Bastrop (about 4 hours into my trip). That was literally the most scared I've ever been in my life, just the possibility of him in harm's way, and me being so far from being able to help and comfort him. Poor Simon wasn't much better off though, he threw up a lot from the stress and fear before I got there.

The jewelry was my biggest loss. They don't take jewelry unless it's real at pawn shops, so pretty much none of mine would work. Even though none of it was terribly valuable, it all had sentimental value to me. It made me sick to think that they'd probably just throw it all away since they couldn't sell it. All the earrings my mom has collected specifically for me from all over the country, things Simon had given me years ago, my Nanny's wedding ring, which I treasured more than anything else...all gone.

Thankfully we got a really lucky break though! I made up a flyer of all our missing stuff and took it to the pawn shops in case he tried to sell any of it. Well he didn't bring any of it in, but one of the employees I had talked to went home that evening and saw her daughter had some of my earrings that she recognized from my flyer! Turns out the thief was just selling them out of his apartment, which was right above hers! So she called the police and they arrested him that evening. My stuff was scattered all over the apartment, along with his marijuana and cocaine. He was even wearing some of it when they arrested him (luckily nothing I cared much about, threw that away walking out the door)! Scary thing is he lived only one street over. Looking out my backdoor I can see his apartment complex across the street.

Among the items still missing are our keys (all the locks have since been changed), my date planner with pictures of me in it, and Simon’s phone with all his contacts, which really creeps me out! Oddly the thief did not take our computer, several other gaming systems, or any of our video game collection. He also apparently had mental illness issues on top of his drug problems and obvious criminal tendencies. So we're trying to move right away! Unfortunately our landlord doesn't want to let us out of our lease at this time...we're still working on it.

Oh and we got the truck back! Some lady called me very angrily about the truck being parked in her driveway just a few blocks down. She figured we were just some drunk college kids that parked in the wrong place after partying too much and was threatening to have it towed. I have no idea how she got my phone number but I'm so glad she called so we could get the police out there to it! They didn't find any prints on it, the keys are still missing, and it reeked of marijuana and cigarette smoke! Took us a few minutes to convince the cop that it wasn't because of us! But he was actually a really nice cop who was trying to help as much as possible, he even waited with us for the tow truck to make us feel more comfortable. After a lot of fighting with the insurance we finally got the truck's locks changed and new keys on their dime. You'd think that'd be an obvious one if they could just come back for the truck whenever they wanted with the keys, but we really had to fight for that one. My opinion of USAA has fallen dramatically through this whole ordeal. I'm still fighting with the property agent for my renter's insurance.

There are still some big things missing: the xbox with hundreds and hundreds of hours worth of game saves from so many years, my charm bracelet with charms from all our vacations, and some other odds and ends, but at least we're both okay. And I got Nanny's ring back finally! The detective on our case is really nice and very helpful. Moral of the story is keep your windows and doors locked and take pictures of all your stuff! Without those we never would have caught him or gotten anything back. We're of course paranoid and uncomfortable in our own home now, but it's slowly getting better. We couldn't eat or sleep at all for the first few days, we're trying to get back to normal now. I'm getting more and more irritated about my planner missing though, apparently I have two tests next week. Wasn't aware of that!

If you need to reach Simon he doesn't have a phone so you'll to call me!

The newest addition!

This is Oscar! I love George, but he does not feel the same way about me. In fact he hates me. I can't pet him at all, and I'd be content just to be able to stare at him all day, but he won't even let me do that. He turns dark and hides when he sees me :(

I had been considering getting another chameleon, a different species, for a while now because they are just the coolest little creatures. It's like watching a little colorful alien crawl around, they are so very strange. Well the perfect opportunity happened to pop up and I jumped on it! I was visiting Simmi in Dallas and there was someone offering a young, gorgeous panther chameleon with a nice cage for less than you can usually get the chameleon by itself! George is a veiled chameleon, Oscar is a panther chameleon. They don't have the tall crests on their head but they're much more colorful and usually friendlier. Well Oscar is all he's cracked up to be! He's only 6 months old and already his colors are fantastic (they don't show full color until they're 18 months) and he likes me. He lets me hold him, and I can stare at him as much as I want! When I open the cage to put in his crickets he shoots them off my hand with his tongue, which is way cool! I don't think I've seen him hiding yet. Of course they are odd little creatures, they get so stressed by even the sight of each other they stop eating. So now my desk is flanked on both sides by chameleons!

Just Me, Simon, 2 dogs, and 2 chameleons :)

This is George trying to scare me away when he tried to escape in the yard...little jerk.

Save the Date!

We have FINALLY set a date! May 22, 2010. Simon and I went to San Antonio last weekend and looked at a couple venues before we picked The Club at Sonterra. It's so gorgeous and had a site for an outdoor ceremony where it's almost always breezy so even in May hopefully it will be nice. Now we can get to fun stuff with planning because we finally have the biggest part figured out. It was too hard to plan anything until we had a date/time/venue so now everything is game! We have a wedding website, it's not quite done, but I'll be updating it periodically as we get more details ironed out :

http://www.mywedding.com/SimonAndDayna

We went to Indiana for Simon's Mom's side family reunion over fourth of July weekend. Even though it rained all day on the 4th, it was still so much fun and great to see everyone again! While we were there, Pat and Sharon took us on an engagement photo shoot just for fun. They take wonderful pictures! You can see some of their shots on their website: http://ps-studiophotography.com. We love them! Now we have tons of engagement pictures :)

As we get more wedding details we'll keep you updated!

DONE!

I am done with my first year of vet school! One fourth of the way there! We had our white coat ceremony to signify our accomplishment and now on to better things! I got a job teaching a summer program through Duke University for gifted high schoolers interested in vet medicine. I'm one of the co-instructors so I have to start preparing a syllabus and such, which I have absolutely no experience doing. Luckily there are others involved that all have teaching experience, I'm mostly in charge of the clinical application part since I have relevant experience. I'm looking forward to it though, it should be a lot of fun! And they're going to let me go to Indiana for a few days to see all my future in-laws :)

Simon just had his 24th birthday! That's not to say he acts like a 24 year old though, he wanted Legos for his birthday! But who am I to argue, as soon as he's done building them I can take them apart and build something cooler! He's doing well at work, he's starting to train new developers they're hiring. Simon's easily one of the most capable developers on his team now, and his bosses know it! So he's still enjoying it most of the time. The politics of working for a corporation are a little unbearable sometimes though. But as of June 1st we will have lived on our own for an entire year successfully! Aside from the loans for school we did it all on our own. Of course our families have been incredibly supportive and stocked our kitchen and closets with all the essentials to enable it all! We are unbelievably grateful for everything they have done for us!

Now that I'm out of school, and feeling much more alive, it's time to tackle the house! Spring cleaning a little late this year, but it's definitely time!

Tests are done with for now, whew! In the midst of it all I had an interview and got a job as a teaching assistant for Duke TIP summer vet science program!! It's basically a class/camp for early high school advanced placement kids to come to A&M and learn about pre-vet science and get to see what happens in the vet school. They only picked two TA's and the hours are great! I get a few weeks off before and after during the summer, I don't have to wake up that early and I'll be paid as much as when I work in a clinic from 7am to 6pm from the day we stop school to the day before we start again. Plus I can get new kids interested in vet medicine and actually be able to help them learn. So I'm VERY excited about it!

I had to take care of an ostrich named Zea (pronounced Z) for a week and she laid an egg during that time. It was HEAVY, but unfertilized so I kept it! I blew out all the insides so it wouldn't go bad and now I have this ginormous egg to display.

I've been busy studying a lot so Simon's been keeping himself busy...yes those are legos. Who says getting real jobs and living on your own means we can't still play with toys?!

The vet school first years threw a Masquerade party last Friday for everyone to get dressed up and have fun to forget about classes for a day at least. It was a lot of fun, we made our own masks. Mine matched my dress and was very classy, Simon's was....well typical Simon style complete with duct tape, notebook paper, and sharpie scribbles. It was pretty cute and he even won third place in the mask contest! That in itself shows how awesome his mask was because it was basically a popularity contest for the other winners, but nobody knew who Simon was! It was nice to get a night off and have some fun!

Busy Busy Busy

Too busy to post, but maybe next week after tests....Denise I haven't forgotten about the pictures!

Holiday Cheer

Recap of the Holiday Cheer: You can click on the pictures to enlarge them.

We visited my family and went downtown to see all the lights and festivities, and of course we couldn't escape an Alamo picture. Then on Christmas Eve we went to Simon's grandparents for the feast and got to open presents. We got fantastic presents, as usual! Now we have a grill to expand Simon's cooking ability and feed my constant hunger for meat! We got tons of other awesome presents too, thank you everyone! Back at my house Mom got both of our college diplomas professionally framed so now we can prove we're edumacated. And of course lots of other great presents! Denise gave us all family portraits we took at Thanksgiving, she's getting really good at this photography thing! Overall, a fantastic finish to a wonderful year!