March in Pics

March felt like a whirlwind, with Will working almost every evening at Baskin Robbins, Annelise having various medical appointments for her ankle multiple times a week, and Spring Break with 3 different visitors! Pic recap:

I sang in church for the first time in a while and was thankful to get to serve with my vocal BFF:

And I donated blood, again:

(This time I got a free slice of pie & a cute “I Bleed Orange & Blue” shirt, referencing our Houston Astros, but just also happening to be our high school colors = perfect!)

On March 12th, my & Annelise’s favorite group ever, BTS, broadcast their concert live from Seoul, South Korea in movie theaters all over the world. We can’t afford to go to one of their concerts in person anytime soon, so this treat was as close as we could get! We had a little dim sum dinner before heading to the movie theater & absolutely radiating joy:

(Thank goodness for Google Translate! There were no subtitles for the long interludes where BTS talked to the crowd, and since they were in Seoul, there was obviously almost zero English. I just whipped out Google Translate on my phone and got the gist of most everything they said! It’s incredible to think how dramatically technology has shrunk the world!)

We didn’t take a single picture together with our first super surprise Spring Break guest: my BFF Amy & her 2 sons who all live in Romania came to see her family in a sudden, last-minute trip. The circumstances were a little nuts, but I’m still so thankful for even a few hours with her. She has always made such an effort to see me whenever she’s in the States, and I will absolutely reciprocate when I can get back to Europe!!! *She* took one picture, though - the one evening we could be together, Will was at work, so they stopped to get ice cream from him first:

My mom flew in the next day, and as always, our favorite thing together = restaurants!!! We got to savor not one, but TWO James Beard finalists for this year, Blood Bros. BBQ:

And back to beloved Xochi:

My second super surprise (my mom was planned!) Spring Break visitor was one evening with my BFF Jackie, her daughter Isabella, & 2 of their friends. (They live in LA, but Isabella’s team had a last minute cheer comp here, so Jackie texted me they were coming that night!) It was the first time we’d been together in almost 5 years - what a blessing for our girls to reconnect! Forever grateful for picking up like no time has passed, for 20 years of hilarious stories & memories to regale our children with, and for Jackie being one of the most genuine people I’ve ever known. (Also for sharing tea, discovering the Sat night hot spot is Ross :-D, Isabella’s hair stylist prowess, & venting cheer therapy!)

Apparently National Puppy Day was March 23. Blaise is 100x harder to photograph than Bailey - she is in constant puppy motion!!! Bailey curled up to sleep beside me here for almost 2 hours before Blaise graced me with her fleeting presence :-P

Annelise started physical therapy after Spring Break for the torn ligaments in her ankle - time to strengthen the muscles back to take over the work of her brace = praying for complete & total healing!!!

We have been waiting for over 2 months to get cleared to finally be able to start this. She is going in twice a week for the next couple months & then maybe once a week over the summer, depending on her own progress. Junior year wrestling awaits come August…

Closing with my personal ingenuity: I do *not* enjoy yard work, but for some reason, I’m the sole family hedge trimmer:

When you’re not tall enough to reach the branches you need to saw off, you’re smart enough not to use a ladder by yourself, and you have a truck! #tellmeyouliveinTexaswithoutsayingyouliveinTexas