Audrey's Blog

Happy Anniversary from Plano PD

Yup ... you guessed it. Plano PD wished me a happy freakin' anniversary by gifting me a speeding ticket. I'm not saying I didn't deserve it, but of all days?!?!? Oh, well. There are a couple of things worth mentioning with respect to this traffic stop:

I was way overdue. For the amount time I spend on the road and the proportionate amount of time I spend speeding (hey, let's be honest!), it's a small shocker that I haven't gotten a speeding ticket since something like 2000. For that, I'll be grateful.

I was pulled over in the exact same spot a few months ago. Yes, I am an idiot. The spot where I got pulled over is one of the biggest speed traps in all of Plano (for anyone interested in learning from my mistakes - the trap is on the south bound access road of 75 coming off the Parker Road exit where they sit in the parking lot of one of those businesses, usually the CitiBank building). If you just let off the gas coming off the highway, it's not enough to slow down before they pop ya'! In my case, this ticket was for 58 in a 45 - this time. Last time, I think it was something like 62 in the same 45. Oops! Here's the interesting part … notice I said I hadn't had a speeding ticket in 8+ years. I wasn't lying. I didn't get a ticket that time … at least not for speeding. You see, I was driving Chris' car. And, homeboy hadn't gotten around to renewing his registration OR getting his car inspected (of course, in his defense, he was only 3 days past due on the inspection, so I didn't get a ticket for that). I think my genuine frustration with Chris was enough to convince the officer that I was innocent of deliberately trying to defraud Collin County & the State of Texas. So, instead of the speeding ticket, he wrote up the registration which is easy enough to take care of (if still a little annoying!). Sweet! But, I suppose that today was all about Karma coming back to bite me in the a**. Of course, there was nothing else for him to write me up on, so I suppose the speeding ticket was all he could do, and he couldn't possibly have let me off with a warning. Oh, NO! Karma was having nothing of that.

So, sometime in the near future, I'll be spending 6 precious hours learning how to be a defensive driver and hearing all of the "cops are pigs" stories that are inevitable when you get 20 driving delinquents into the same room. Yippee.

On a related note - I am very excited to report that construction has begun on the main lanes of Hwy 121 between Custer & 75 (right by our house)! The construction is scheduled to be completed in 2 years. BUT, here's the catch … with the very active construction zone, Allen & McKinney PD have started staking out that corridor. Since the opening of what are to become the access roads (3 lanes both north & south bound) almost 3 years ago, each stretch between traffic lights (which are a mile plus apart) has essentially become a glorified drag strip. The speed limit is 60. However, go 60 on this stretch of road, and you'll feel like the tortoise getting passed by a whole lot of annoyed hares. So, now that it is a construction zone with all of the associated construction workers, the fuzz is out in force. This afternoon, I saw THREE Allen PD patrolmen on the north bound side between Custer and Alma alone (a stretch of about 1.5 miles). For anyone who drives this stretch on a regular basis … you've been warned!

8 Years of Wedded Bliss

Okay … I admit … maybe every day of the last 8 years hasn't been pure bliss, BUT on Tuesday (March 25^th) Chris and I will CELEBRATE 8 years since having said "I do". As with any marriage, we've had our ups and downs. Thankfully, the ups have far outnumbered the downs, and I am eternally grateful to be married to a man who I still love and adore with all my heart and soul with the added bonus that he makes me laugh every day.

Since our anniversary happen to fall on the Tuesday after Easter this year and Chris just happen to get Good Friday off, we decided to spend the day to together. As Chris so astutely observed, this is likely to be our last quite, kid-free anniversary for the next 18 years. We definitely wanted to take advantage!

When we take a day off together, our entertainment is usually pretty tame but entirely enjoyable, and today was no exception. Chris began the day by offering me a "Let's Make a Deal" style choice for breakfast with 2 "doors" to choose from. The cool part is that I got to see what was behind "Door #1" before I had to decide if I wanted to risk it all for what was behind "Door #2". It turns out that he had chosen 2 of my favorite breakfast haunts that I hadn't gotten to go to in ages. We arrived at "Door #1" - The Original Pancake House, and I had a huge decision to make. I *love* their pancakes and everything else on their menu is equally mouthwatering. After a huge hesitation - after all, I still didn't know what was behind "Door #2" - I decided that I could pass this up. I devoured huevos con papas made with fresh green chilies and home salsa that was served with a side of 3 of the fluffiest buttermilk pancakes topped with fresh whipped butter and maple syrup. I was in breakfast heaven! (BTW, "Door #2" turned out to be Poor Richard's Café which would have been an equally yummy choice!)

After breakfast, we saw Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who. It was simply who-tabulous, and I would highly recommended for adults and kids of just about any age!

The afternoon consisted of a nap for me (the Reedlet got me up at 3:30 that morning!) and then a trip to Lowe's to pick up a couple of items.

We topped of the day by heading to one of our favorite Italian restaurants - Mama Emilia's in downtown McKinney. We started our feast with scrumptious calamari and yummy balsamic vinaigrette salads. For his main attraction, Chris had one of their classics - Pork Osso Buco, braised pork shanks served over a cabernet mushroom risotto. I chose the Beef Pizzoli - beef tenderloin tips in a spicy marinara served over linguini. They were both superb choices. The finished off with their aptly named Chocolate Decadence. Lest you think us total piggys, I must say in our defense that we each brought home fairly large portions of our main dishes which have already been devoured.

Overall, we had an incredible day together celebrating our anniversary. How much luckier could we be???

A Tale of Two Fridays

The past 2 Fridays in my life have both been somewhat noteworthy but in completely and totally different ways …

After closing my best month ever in February, I decided to take a day for myself. It took a lot of schedule massaging (no pun intended) to clear an entire day, but I managed to do that for Friday, March 7^th. And, it was a perfectly lovely day! I treated myself to a spa facial and a full hour massage. After it was all said and done, I was one very relaxed girl! To top off the day, we went over to a friend's house for a delicious homemade dinner. The best part is that I didn't have to cook or clean a bit. Woo hoo! I hadn't had a day like that in a very long time.

In startling contrast … this past Friday, I had a day full of appointments starting with a quick stop in to the dentist to check out a minor tooth ache. Yeah, right! It turned into a surprise ROOT CANAL. And, let me just tell you … a root canal while you're pregnant sucks! No wonderful laughing gas to help you relax while they drill and drill and drill. Nothing more than Tylenol for the pain that persists afterwards. So, an hour and a half and $2000 worth of dental work later, I left their office a very unhappy camper. And, to top it off, I ended up going for 6+ hours without eating a single freaking thing. Under normal circumstances, that wouldn't be such a big deal, but I've very much gotten into the habit of eating about every 2 hours. It helps to keep up my energy, and I have a theory that the baby appreciates it, too. By the time I sat down to try to eat something around 1:30 Friday afternoon, I was one seriously cranky pregnant woman. And, it took an incredible amount of skill not to dribble my food down the front of my shirt since I was still slightly numb from the locals. Ugh! I guess the good news is that I finally found a dentist here in McKinney that I really like - Dr. Markham at McKinneyDentist.com.

So, there's my Tale of Two Fridays. I wonder what this Friday has in store for me??? Oh, well. Here's to hoping for something maybe not quite so noteworthy. Have a great week!

Snow Again???

This is just bizarre … even by Texas standards. Snow TWICE in a week in MARCH!

And, yes, that's snow blurring as it's coming down. Yikes!

Snowy Morning

The snow fell steadily all night here in northern Collin County. Reports are that we totaled out with 2-3". The results were beautiful, but I have to take back my comments last night about the roads being treacherous. They were awful this morning. So much so that Chris is working from home today with me! The good news is that the sun is already out and everything is melting away. By mid-day we'll probably be left with a nasty, slushy mess. Grrreaaat!

Snow in March … Seriously.

Well, it is Texas. So, I guess almost anything is possible. It's not like there's a huge accumulation or the streets are overly treacherous, but it's definitely snowing at this moment here in McKinney. Go figure!

And, yes, those are flakes falling.  That's how good my little Canon Elph SD750 is!  :-)